"Shuffle Just Songs" setting ignored.

[Valas]

In library settigs / shuffle, when you set the header shuffle to "just songs", and then try to use the shuffle button at the top of a playlist, it does "songs and categories" regardless. Very frustrating.

 

Changelog shows build 971-972 at the top. Unsure if I'm up to date.

[Valas]

(repeat set to "jump to first song"). Its been a recurrig annoyance and I just now figured out what it's doing instead. I just want to play a single long bgm playlist, shuffled, on repeat, and its annoying when the software overrides that and changes lists on me. Especially if I'm on the highway. Now to fix it I need to find somewhere to pull over.

[andrewilley]

That option in Settings=>Shuffle only affects what happens if you are currently viewing an artist who has several sub-albums. The default Shuffle icon works by picking one album at a time, and it plays each one in shuffled order. If you set the Settings=>Shuffle option to 'Shuffle Songs', then the categories (i.e. Albums by that Artist) are ignored and all the songs are picked at random from within the whole list of that artist's songs.

As to your specific request, in order to play a single Playlist in random order and then repeat it as a new shuffle, you would first go into the Playlist and just tap the 'Shuffle' icon in the header. I do this every night in fact. Once it has started playing, check that the Repeat icon in the Player Screen is set to 'Repeat Category' (if you leave it set to 'Advance Category' then at the end of the current playlist, the next one will play).

Andre

[Valas]

When I go into the playlist and press the shuffle icon it pops up "shuffle songs and categories" and then starts playing. Thats the one I'm complaining does not behave as expected.

 

I had luck for the first time just half an hour ago (I think) by hitting 'play' on the playlist, and tgen going into the currently playing song and making sure the repeat and shuffle options are set to "jump to first song", and "shuffle just songs".

Until today, I thought when I opened a playlist and pressed shuffle it was doing "shuffle just songs".

Only once I realized it wasn't, did I start digging through settings and conclude maybe that setting was the reason why, but setting it appropriately didn't fix anything. 

Anyways. If the shuffle button insude the playlist's header should be doing shuffle just songs like I had expected and not understood what it was doing, it's not doing that.

[Valas]

Pic related

[andrewilley]

Please read my previous reply. The 'Category Items Shuffle' option in Settings=>Library=>Shuffle is only for Categories which contain sub-albums, not for playlists. It simply forces shuffling of all of the songs in the contained albums, rather than picking an album to shuffle, then another album to shuffle, etc. Note the circled text:

When you are listening to Playlists (which have no sub-albums to initially sort by, they are already just a flat list of songs) the Shuffle header icon will always shuffle all of the songs in the current list first. Once that playlist is complete, it will perform one of three actions:

• If Repeat mode was set to 'Off', it will stop after all of the songs in the current playlist are finished.
• If Repeat mode was set to 'Repeat Category', then the same playlist will be reshuffled and played again and again (which appears to be the functionality that you want).
• If Repeat mode was set to 'Advance Category' (which is Poweramp's default mode), the system will randomly pick another playlist and shuffle all of the songs from that playlist too, and so on until all playlists have been played.

Note: If 'Single Song' or 'Repeat Single Song' modes were in use when you tapped the Play or Shuffle header icons, the default 'Advance Category' mode will be chosen instead - as it would be meaningless to shuffle a single song.

For more info, please see the Guide:

Andre

[Valas]

I read the guide whilst trying to troubleshoot it myself before I made an account, and I read your reply and responded to it. I did not misunderstand you, nor did I fail to read what you wrote. You seem to not understand me, though, since you're still talking about that setting which I only tried to as one of my attempts to fix something myself that already wasnt working properly. You have explained why that didnt fix it in your first reply. Repeating it or telling me to re-read it doesnt solve the bug.

 

It does not behave how you are saying it behaves. It would be nice if it did though.

The shuffle button at the top of the inside of a playlist plays a couple of tracks before randomly jumping to a different playlist (and when clicked it shows the shuffle songs and categories popup I screenshotted).

It seems to also ignore my "repeat category" setting I had before clicking it. It doesnt even finish the list before switching.

It does not shuffle and play the entire playlist and then use my repeat settings to decide what to do next. Thats the bug this thread is discussing. Not the the setting I changed after reading the guide to try to fix it myself, which you explained in your first reply does not apply to playlists, which only explains why I was unable to fix it myself using options in the settings menu.

 

You did, in your first reply, explain that I misunderstood the source of the bug. Yes. But that header shuffle button us still broken and still doesnt behave how youre saying it does.

Edited November 4, 2023 by Valas

[andrewilley]

Sorry, but you kept mentioning "Shuffle Songs/Categories" as being your problem, which I don't think it is. I thought you had misunderstood what that mode meant - i.e. if you were at the top-level Playlists view it would pick a playlist at random and play all its song shuffled, then (if not set to Repeat) pick a new random playlist and play its contents shuffled, etc. But is should always finish one playlist completely before moving on. 

Your most recent post mentions that this expected behaviour is not happening for you though. The only thing that is meant to cause playback to move to a new playlist before the current one is finished is pressing the >>> or <<<  buttons (Next/Previous Category). As I said, I use this mode every night, and it never jumps from my night-time-music playlist unexpectedly.

When this problem happens next, could you check Settings=>Headset/Bluetooth=>Last Processed Commands and see if something else has randomly generated something like a pair of 'KEYCODE_MEDIA_NEXT' events or something else that triggers a "PlayerService NEXT_IN_CAT" action.

A few people have been reporting some odd behaviours on newly updated Android 14 Pixel devices with Shuffle/Repeat mode when they are connected via Bluetooth, you don't mention anything about your device or output method, but could this be related to your problem?

Oh, and just to check, you don't have anything left in the temporary Queue category that could be restarting do you?

Latest PA is now build 976 by the way, but I doubt that's your problem.

Andre

[Valas]

I havent been paying particular attention to what speakers I'm using when it happens. It has happened while I'm bluetooth paired with my car, or my headphones, but I thought it had also happened sometimes while I was sleeping and just using the phone speaker. I will heck this bluetooth command log last time it happened. Will they be timestamped? I'm in the middle of driving across the continent and just visiting family for another day before etting back on the road, if it happens again while I'm on a highway, it might be 20+ minutes again before I can find somewhere to pull over and check.

What about the unusual popup that happens when I click the header shuffle button at the top of a playlist? Unrelated bug? I just checked and it *does* change my shuffle setting to "songs and categories" from "just songs", which is neither what I would expect ir want when I go into a playlist and tell it to play on shuffle.

And I'll update on the play store if mine is out of date. I might not have auto updates on. I have some apps on my phone where newer builds that make the app terrible that I've stopped updating and rolled back to old versions that worked better (like MX Player for videos).

[Valas]

K. Just updated Poweramp.

I have Android 11 on a Samsung A50. It wont go to Android 14, its a couple years old.

I should now have 976, I think. I was checking the changelog because I cant find an about screen that shows it proper.

The playlist header shuffle button still changes my shuffle setting to songs and categories from 'just songs'.

I'll let you know if there are unexpected bluetooth events next time I get an unexpected playlist change. It was a bit jarring to go from chill sleep bgm playlist to my louder more intense work focus playlist.

Edited November 4, 2023 by Valas

[Valas]

4 hours ago, andrewilley said:

Sorry, but you kept mentioning "Shuffle Songs/Categories" as being your problem, which I don't think it is. I thought you had misunderstood what that mode meant - i.e. if you were at the top-level Playlists view it would pick a playlist at random and play all its song shuffled, then (if not set to Repeat) pick a new random playlist and play its contents shuffled, etc. But is should always finish one playlist completely before moving on.

I did misunderstand what that 'default' setting meant meant before I made the thread. But I only discovered it existed while trying to troubleshoot the cause(s?) Of why when I shuffle a playlist it switches playlists on me, and how to fix it. So once you pointed out that that setting was not related to my problem in my first reply that was a good clarification, but it didnt fix the problem.

And 'shuffle songs / categories' still seems relevant as thats what pops up on my screen, and what it changes my shuffle setting to (visible on the playing song) when I press the shuffle button at the top of the playlist.

I dont want it jumping categories either mid playlist /OR/ at the end of the playlist. Or are you saying that option has no effect on category if repeat is still set appropriately?

Edited November 4, 2023 by Valas

[andrewilley]

First, yes Last Processed Command logs are timestamped so you can tell what event happened when.

The recent issue I mentioned only seems to be affecting a few Android 14 users, so it won't be the problem here. I have almost the same daily setup as you - for three years a Samsung A70 with Android 11, and more recently a Samsung A54 with Android 13.

To further clarify, there is absolutely no difference between "Shuffle Songs" (which keeps the Categories in order) and "Shuffle Songs and Categories" (where Categories are shuffled too) while you are listening to one playlist. This is also true if you want to repeat that playlist ("Repeat Category") or stop at the end once all of the songs have been played ("Repeat Off").

The differences between those two modes only occur when playback moves on to a new Category, i.e. to a new playlist. This can happen either automatically (if you have enabled the 'Advance Category' mode) or manually by pressing the '>>>' button:

• In "Songs" mode, the next playlist will be chosen as per the predefined sorting order for the Library list.
• In "Songs/Categories" mode, the next playlist will be picked at random from all the Playlists.

So to reiterate, unless you have Repeat set to 'Advance Category', the regular "huffle Songs/Categories" mode is exactly the same as "Shuffle Songs".

None of this solves your issue of playback jumping away from the current Playlist before it has finished though, which should not happen unless Poweramp receives a command asking it to change to a new category (or some Queued songs kick in).

One thing you can check (although probably NOT while driving!) is the Track Counter, located to the left of the Repeat button. Note: if it's not visible you can enable it via Settings=>Look and Feel=>Player UI>Show Track Counter. While you are listening to a shuffled playlist of nnn songs, the counter should start at 1/nnn, then the next song will be 2/nnn, and so on until playback reaches nnn/nnn at which point the Repeat action will define whether it stops, repeats again, or starts a new Playlist. If that number changes unexpectedly (such as to 1/xxx for a new list) then that's when your issue is occurring. 

Andre

 

[vetdoctor]

@Valas Valas- I have great sympathy for you. Several times I've sworn there's a bug in the app, only to find it was between my ears.  One suggestion for trouble shooting this. Make a short, but long enough playlist. Hit the play button on top, then the shuffle button on top, ignore what flashes on the screen. Go to the first song and press and hold until you see the repeat options. Choose "repeat category". Now, touching the song icon on the screen, rapidly flip the songs to the left. You can rattle through the playlist that way and see if you have acontinued issue. You can use screen video capture to show what is happening if needed. 

@andrewilley  If I do these settings, does Poweramp remember and do it for every playlist or do I need to do it each time I do a playlist? 

 

[vetdoctor]

Following my own advice: Open playlist and click the shuffle button on the top left,  next to the play button. Only one option is available, "Shuffle songs and categories" (There isn't a clear off/on of the shuffle- the icon is white arrows on black background regardless). Hit the top play button and the first song starts playing. Tap the song and the shuffle icon on it confirms, "Songs and category". Press and hold the repeat button and choose, "Repeat category". Now ***If I manually flip*** I can force it to choose a random next playlist. If I let the last song finish, it will continue in the same playlist. 

[andrewilley]

@vetdoctor For shuffling from a playlist songs view, there's no need to use the 'Play' header icon at all, you can  just use the 'Shuffle' icon alone. If you use the 'Play' icon first then playback will commence from song #1 in the list, and you'd then need to adjust the Shuffle mode in the Player Screen. That would still work of course, but it's a couple of extra steps.

The Player Screen's 'Repeat' mode is sticky by the way, once you've set it to 'Repeat Off', 'Repeat Category' or 'Advance Category' then that won't be changed if you subsequently use the Play or Shuffle header icons again.

Note: Repeat mode actions apply to automatic playback only. If you manually press the '>>' (Next Track) or '>>>' (Next Category) buttons when you are at the end of a playlist (or album, etc) then it will do what it says on the tin and move on to the next song anyway - which would be in the next list/category. 

Andre