'Play All' in Music Library ??

[BobAtTorrey]

It seems natural to want to play an entire album in Music Library. And the Wiki discussion for Music Library ays: Files can be played individually by clicking on the “Play” button, or the whole album/collection played by clicking the “Play All” button.

But I don't see any reference to "Play All" in Music.xml, or the Keyboard Reference on the Wiki, and none of the keys on my 34-button Hauppauge remote cause it to 'play all' when I have an entire album selected.

How is playing an entire album accomplished in Music Library?

Thanks .... Bob

[sub]

"Play All" is a button on the left of the screen.

[BobAtTorrey]

Yes, I know. But when I view a list of albums, having one of them selected/in-focus, I can't, using the remote, get to the Play All button without losing the focus on the album. (I'm talking about using a remote and MVP.) And even using GBPVR on my PC, with the focus on an album, clicking 'Play All' does nothing.

So I assumed the Wiki documentation referred to a button function, as or the whole album/collection played by clicking the “Play All” button doesn't, in fact, seem to work when the focus/selected object is an entire album.

??

[sub]

Yes, I know. But when I view a list of albums, having one of them selected/in-focus, I can't, using the remote, get to the Play All button without losing the focus on the album. (I'm talking about using a remote and MVP.) And even using GBPVR on my PC, with the focus on an album, clicking 'Play All' does nothing.

Play All plays all the music files in the current folder, so it doesnt matter what you've got selected on the right. I assume you thought it plays all the files in a folder you've got selected on the right - thats not the case.

[BobAtTorrey]

Sub,
Yes, that's what I assumed. Doesn't that seem the most natural thing? The folder displays with the album art, so the notion is obviously "I have selected the album". Now hitting just Play to play the entire album seems most natural and intuitive. GBPVR is so good, it really seems anomalous for this one thing to behave so counter-intuitively. Any chance of just making Play plan an entire album when the album folder/icon/name is the focus?

Thanks,

Bob

[sub]

Its your lucky day. I happen to have just yesterday finished adding that feature for the next release, but I can give it to you as a patch. Its close to what you asked for, but shuffles the set of songs before starting playback. Just hit your remote's Play button when you have a folder selected.

[BobAtTorrey]

Sub,
Thanks! A question, though: People don't always want tracks shuffled. Consider, for example, listening to an opera, musical, or symphony, where tracks matter. There's already a Shuffle button in on the Music Library screen. Shouldn't that guide whether or not objects are shuffled?

Cheers .... Bob

[smelcher]

BobAtTorrey,
Have you looked at the MusicLibrary2 plugin? I believe it does what you are looking for.

[BobAtTorrey]

I have actually. I'll admit though, with sincere respect and admiration for those who write and generously share their plugins, that I'm now trying as much as possible to stick to straight gbpvr as I've previously shaped our use (and wife's training) on plugins that were subsequently abandoned by authors. Additionally, I have a few small TVs so have relied on skins, such as Flat Blue-High Vis, and now Blue Retro SHV, that are visible on our TVs, and sometimes the skins don't support plugins I might want to use. So, I don't rule out using a plugin, but tend to avoid it.
Thanks for your recommendation, though.

[reedmikel]

Here's another vote for making the [Play All] button on left side of the screen work the way Bob asks for. It seems unintuitive to have to navigate down into an album's folder (seeing all the albums' songs listed), then selecting [Play All] on left menu... Much easier, and more intuitive, to be able to highlight the album's folder, then either select [Play All] on GB's onscreen menu. Additionally, being able to press the PLAY button on one's remote (once an albums' folder is highlighted) could also start playing all songs in that folder.

OK, while I'm on a roll: I have my music files stored in folders named by Artist. So say I have a top-level folder named ARTIST1. Inside the Artist1 folder I have 2 subfolders named Album1 and Album2. When navigating thru my music folders with GB, I'd love to be able to highlight the ARTIST1 (parent folder) and simply press my remote's PLAY button. I would expect it to play all songs from ALBUM1 and ALBUM2...

Thanks!!