[johan77]

I must agree that I find the current behaviour a bit illogical. I open an album, select a song in it to get something from the speakers. Then I move on to another song down the list or possibly another album and select "enqueue". Now, I would have expected this enqueued song to start playing after the current song ends because I haven't queued any other songs. But instead, XBMC will walk down the list of the first selected album before it reaches my queued songs.

I propose the following solution:

1) Playing from the queue takes priority over autoplaying next song.
2) Remove the "autoplay next song" option and make autoplaying next song standard behavior. If a user wants only one song to be played, s/he can simply queue that song (see 3) below).
3) Playback stops after a queue has been completely played, or after an "autoplay next song" list has been completely played.

EDIT: I see that most of these have been brought up above already.

[DarkHelmet]

I must agree that I find the current behaviour a bit illogical. I open an album, select a song in it to get something from the speakers. Then I move on to another song down the list or possibly another album and select "enqueue". Now, I would have expected this enqueued song to start playing after the current song ends because I haven't queued any other songs. But instead, XBMC will walk down the list of the first selected album before it reaches my queued songs.

Uncheck "autoplay next item" in the music settings. This way the song you choose will start playing and nothing will be added to the now playing list. Now if you choose another song and "enqueue" it, it will be put behind the currently playing song, because no other songs will be automatically enqueued when autoplay next item is deactivated.

I have to disagree that xbmc's behaviour is illogical. It is abolutely consistent and logical.

I'd just need three tweaks: The "enqueue after current" as an option in library or files view and "move after current" in playlist view.

And then I'd like to be able to play a playlist WHILE I'm still creating it in the playlist editor without having to save it first and then load it again. Now if I add songs to that playlist later (or while playing it) right now I have to save the changes, load the now changed playlist again and then play it. The items in the right hand window of the playlist editor would have to exported to the now playing list to achieve this.

Most of the problems mentioned here could be avoided if the playlist editor would let you create a playlist "on the fly". "Erasing the playlist" just happens because you're using library or files view when it would be more logical to actually use the playlist editor, because that's what you do - create a playlist.

One thing about the playlist editor though: It doesn't look as fancy as the library view with thumbnails, fanart and what not. I guess that's why many people prefer the library view, when they should actually be using the playlist editor.

[johan77]

Uncheck "autoplay next item" in the music settings. This way the song you choose will start playing and nothing will be added to the now playing list. Now if you choose another song and "enqueue" it, it will be put behind the currently playing song, because no other songs will be automatically enqueued when autoplay next item is deactivated.

I have to disagree that xbmc's behaviour is illogical. It is abolutely consistent and logical.

I'd just need three tweaks: The "enqueue after current" as an option in library or files view and "move after current" in playlist view.

Alright, well, while a feature can be argued to be logical or not, what's important is whether users perceive the functionality as easy-to-use or not, and that ties into additional factors like experience with other software.

Adding "enqueue after current" and "move after current" tweaks adds unnecessary complexity and thus, is likely counterproductive for improving usability. The solution I proposed did the contrary by removing the "autoplay next song" option.

[garyi]

What I don't understand is the usumption I have queued an entire album. I have not and I guess XBMC has.

I have just press a song to play thats the end of my input until I choose something to queue after it.

Now I supposed if I turn off auto play next tune, then I can expect songs to stop after each one, which would be very very annoying.

Anyhow sorry I caused arguments. But to me logic is if I have not explicitly started a playlist, i.e. simply pressed a song to play then as far as I am concerned clicking another song to add to queue is starting the playlist and should be the next song in the list.

If I have not clicked to queue a song then XBMC should assume to play the songs in the album from the track I originally selected.

Seems pretty obvious to me.

[rwparris2]

This is a perfectly normal function to have in a mediaplayer.

I understand what is wanted and why it is wanted, but can you name a media player that does this?
I haven't played with many outside of xbmc/winamp/vlc so that's why I'm asking.

[johan77]

I understand what is wanted and why it is wanted, but can you name a media player that does this?
I haven't played with many outside of xbmc/winamp/vlc so that's why I'm asking.

Spotify works like this:

You basically have two modes of input to what's being currently played, "play" and "queue". Anything in "queue" will be played after the currently played song is completed, and after that, any "play" entries will be played. In other words, the priority works like this:

1) If you have selected a song or album to "play", the first entry will be started played back immediately.
2) Any "queued" songs will be played.
3) Any additional songs in the "play" list will be played once "queued" songs are completed.

Windows Media center, if I recall correctly (since I threw it to the wolves in favour of XBMC) works in a similar way except that if you "play" something, the queue will be truncated immediately, meaning that if you start building a queue, you have to reorganize that queue if you want something to be prioritized over the other queued items.

[Mental Block]

To start with people should read the postings in the thread and the manual and learn how to turn off 'Auto play next item" (http://wiki.xbmc.org/?title=Music_Settings) and stop moaning about a great feature, it makes it so much easier to listen to a whole album.

My personal opinion on this thread is if you have "Auto play next item" on then the system should work just how it does now. However if you turn this off you get greater functionality to allow easier creation of playists.

On selection of a song:
If there is nothing in the playlist then the song should be added and the playlist started

Otherwise present options:
Enqueue - sends song to bottom of playlist
Play next - inserts song in to playlist below currently playing song - doesn't change playlist in any otherway.
Play Now - inserts song in to playlist below currently playing song and then system auto skips to next song to make it seemingly play now - doesn't change the rest of playlist in any otherway.

You would still be able to bring up the context menu on folders but this would only allow enqueue\play(if playist is empty) which would always add all the songs to the bottom of the playlist.

The above doesnt really directly answer your questions Jonathan but I hope it helps with what I would think is a logical system. I think my answer to your question would be option 2 or 3, but I have to say I struggle to know the differance. I think an example would be helpful

[garyi]

I am the original poster and turning off autoplay next item totally goes against what I was requesting. You read the thread!

[jmarshall]

Yes, noone has answered my questions. I guess I haven't explained things very well. Let me have another go.

Currently we have just ONE list. Thus, when you have "auto play next item" turned on (which is and always will be the default), it'll automatically queued up the remainder of the tracks in that folder (in fact, ALL tracks in the folder, but will start from the one you played). Thus, when you queue up a track it's placed at the end of that list, which is why you see the behaviour you do. As DarkHelmet and Mental_Block suggests, turning "Auto play next item" off essentially gives exactly what you want for the most part, at the disadvantage of not having things continue to play once the single song that you've selected has finished.

What I propose, to improve this situation, is have essentially TWO lists internally, which are then merged into one list for displaying and playing from: The "Autoplay" list and the "Userqueued" list.

When you play an item or queue an item it'll go on the "user queue" list. Anything auto-played, on the other hand, would be placed only on the "Autoplay" list.

The tricky bit is how to weave these two lists together to create the single playlist to present to the user that is intuitive.

As my previous post suggests, the key is knowing when the "Autoplay" list should be cleared or changed.

To expand on my previous example, consider the following:

Action: I play Song1 from Folder1.

Result: Thus, the autoplay list will contain all of Folder1, excluding Song1, and Song1 will be on the userqueued list. The two lists weave as you would expect, giving a single listing of Folder1.

Action: Now I go to some other folder, and queue up another song: Song2 is queued from Folder2.

Result: Clearly Song2 gets added to the userqueued list, so that the userqueued list contains Song1 and Song2.

The tricky bit, however, is what happens with the autoplay list. As I indicated earlier, I see 3 options:

1. Just wipe it out. (i.e. user queued stuff always kills autoplay list)
2. Leave it as-is. (i.e. user queued stuff never touches autoplay list)
3. Change it to something else. (i.e. user queued stuff always changes the autoplay list)

Results for each of these options:

1. Song1 plays, then Song2 plays. After that it stops.
2. Song1 plays, then Song2 plays. After that, the rest of Folder1 plays.
3. Song1 plays, then Song2 plays. After that, the remainder of Folder2 plays.

Which option makes most sense? I'd think it would be option 3, but I'm not certain that that is in fact the best option!

Cheers,
Jonathan

[stokedfish]

Maybe he's looking for sth like the Amarok "queue track" feature within the playlist?

[johan77]

Yes, noone has answered my questions. I guess I haven't explained things very well. Let me have another go.
[...]
Results for each of these options:

1. Song1 plays, then Song2 plays. After that it stops.
2. Song1 plays, then Song2 plays. After that, the rest of Folder1 plays.
3. Song1 plays, then Song2 plays. After that, the remainder of Folder2 plays.

Which option makes most sense? I'd think it would be option 3, but I'm not certain that that is in fact the best option!

Cheers,
Jonathan

I'd go for solution #1. Imo, the queue should only hold items that have been actively queued by the user. Consequently, playback should stop after a queue ends. Then the user have the choice of selecting a song to autoplay (which truncates the queue) or queue more songs.

[rwparris2]

I think #2 with separate 'Queue' & 'Play Next' context menu items makes the most sense. Imagine you're not playing an album but a playlist. So you select a song (song1) from the playlist and then the rest of the playlist is automatically queued.

Now, you browse through your library, pick a song (song2) from an album, and queue with 'play next' or whatever. Would you really expect it to kill the rest of the original playlist you loaded? Or to play the rest of song2's album instead of the original playlist you loaded?

[garyi]

I appriciate any thought from the developers.

However my feeling is if I do not queue an item then the system should simply play the track I selected followed by any more in the album.

If I queue an item then it should be played next and everything stop at the end of the queue.

[DarkHelmet]

I'm not sure I'd like that system with two lists: one autoplay list and one list of enqueued songs. What list would show up if I choose "show playlist" from the context menu?

I still think the now playing list is quite fine and with "auto play next file" turned on I still think xbmc's behaviour is consistent and logical.

Give me "play next" or "enqueue after current" and I'd be satisfied. "Play next" should move that track to the position under the currently playing song in playlist view but leave the list the same otherwise (songs after that song I just enqueued or moved do not "follow").

For anything else there should be the playlist editor. If you could make playlists on the fly from there I think many of the problems here would not exist. Therefore though the playlist editor should include all the fancy looks (thumbnails, fanart, etc.) from the library view. My guess would be that's the main reason why it isn't used at parties like it should. (That and that you can't play the list directly from the right hand side of the editor without saving and reloading the list).

[snoxbox]

I think option 1 is the most intuitive. The playlist view should only show user queued songs. The Autoplay list should be hidden from view.

That makes the most sense to me. Why does playing an album create a playlist? I just want to play the album. However, if I queue stuff, I expect it to go in a playlist.

That way you can browse, play songs etc., and if you like, add it to the playlist. The user queued playlist is never altered by playing a track.

That is the perfect system for me. In fact, it sounds pretty much like the how the old system worked