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[ORourke]

Hello all,

I'm new to JRiver and this forum. Finally came to the realization that Apple and iTunes don't really have my best interests at heart and decided to upgrade. Have been slowly learning this program for the past month and a half. It seems I figure something new out every day but this issue has me stuck. It is probably something simple but I finally decided to ask for help.

I'm slowly adding my music library into JRiver album by album. Some from my iTunes library and other albums I'm ripping from my collection. I rate the 5 star songs as I go and have created a Smart Playlist for this. My problem is when I go to play this list (or really any playlist in JRiver) it will either play one song from the list, or sometimes not even that, and promptly play the first song from my first album in the library alphabetically. Selecting playlists to play seem to get my library acting strange. As of right now I only have just under 900 audio files in my library and when trying to fix this playlist situation sometimes it will say I have over 10,000 in Playing Now. As I peruse the list it's just multiple copies of my library. I have cleared the Playing Now screen dozens of times both using my desktop (Main Server), laptop (Client) and iphone (JRemote). Somehow I'm repopulating Playing Now with my whole library and multiple copies actually. When I select just an album to play everything works smoothly.

I'm using Media Center 26.0.3 and Windows 10 Version 1909 on my desktop and laptop. The JRiver library files are on my desktop. The media files are on a Synology NAS. I mainly listen through an Oppo BDP-103 linked via ethernet cable to my NAS. I also listen with headphones to my laptop and DAC. Occasionally listen to a Pioneer XW-SMA3 wi-fi speaker as well.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. I'm somewhat of a novice when it comes to networking (really most things) and think this might be the issue. Most likely I'm doing something by mistake but I'm willing to learn. Thank you.

[RoderickGI]

First, confirm the version you are on. MC26.0.3 was a very early version that was never released publically. I assume you are on MC26.0.30.

Next, update to MC26.0.69. Thread for it at the top of this board: https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/board,63.0.html

Then confirm the problem still exists, and if so document that exact steps you are taking to reproduce the problem.

[ORourke]

Thank you. Yes, I was on MC26.0.30. I installed MC26.0.69. Imported a couple of albums this morning, listened to them and it worked flawlessly as usual.

Then I tried to play my "5 Star" Smartlist. There are currently 93 tracks I have rated 5 stars. That's what the Highly Rated folder also said when I opened it in JRemote. I played the first track and turned on shuffle mode. The 93 tracks turned into 3001. It played eight "five star" songs and then played the first song from my first album (alphabetically in my library). I then shut off my stereo (including BluRay player (renderer) and JRemote). Looked at my main library on my desktop. The "5 Star" Smartlist on my desktop had the same 3001 tracks. There were the eight "5 star" songs listed and then several whole albums alphabetically and then a half dozen more "5 Star" tracks and then several more albums. Etc. Etc. The 93 tracks were interspersed in between the albums and the whole library was repeated almost four times.

I checked the settings for the Smartlist. Made sure the only rule was "Rating is 5 Stars". Hit apply and then OK. There are now 7459 files in the playlist. It's baffling.

[ORourke]

Okay. Two more things. I just made a new playlist by manually selecting all files (93 of them) that had 5 star ratings in my library. Labeled it today's date and listened for close to an hour. No problems. Still 93 files. Great.

 I then started looking around at the JRiver Smartlists that are automatically listed when you first download the program. There is one called 100 random songs. There are 743 songs in that playlist. It looks like my complete library up to about a week ago (04/27). No multiple copies.

[RoderickGI]

I can't talk to JRemote for iOS as I no longer use Apple products. Perhaps if you stick to using the laptop as a MC Client to try to work out what is happening. If this problem doesn't happen using the laptop, it could be an issue with JRemote for iOS, and someone else will have to step in. Or you might find a setting in JRemote around adding files to Playing Now versus replacing files, and shuffle, etc.

iTunes works very differently to MC. I think what's happening is just a result of the way you are using MC. I tested using the  "Audio -- 100 Random Songs" Smartlist various ways, and it is working fine.

MC has:
Playlists, which are sequenced static lists of tracks.
Smartlists, which are sorted dynamic lists of tracks populated by rules.
Playing Now, which is like a Playlist, but is created when tracks are played, or tracks, or Playlists, or Smartlists are added to it. Playing Now is much like a Playlist, but it is what MC plays. MC doesn't play Playlists or Smartlists, it just copies them to Playing Now, and either starts playing them immediately, or doesn't, depending on settings.

All three, Playlists, Smartlists, and Playing Now, can be shuffled. In Playlists and Playing Now you can also drag and drop files, to add or resequence tracks (note the "Seq" Sequence column on the left), or click column headers to re-sort them.  Also in Playlists and Playing Now you can save that new sequence with the "Update Order" function. You can re-sort Smartlists but they don't have a defined sequence, and the content is defined by its rules.

Check all the settings in "Options > General > Behaviour" and "Advanced".

There are settings that define what happens when you add play something or add something to Playing Now. In your situation, it sounds like Playing Now had a whole lot of stuff in it, and then you played the Smartlist, which added to the existing content and shuffle the tracks.

Check that Playing Now is empty before you play the Smartlists. If you don't "Clear Playing Now on exit", then add a Smartlist to Playing Now, and have "Start playing when files added to Playing Now" set, plus Shuffle turned on, then you could get what you are observing.

There are also multiple ways of starting playback, via the right-click menus on many parts of MC. So even if you don't have Start playing when files added to Playing Now" set, you could right-click a Smartlist, Playlist, or Album, and select "More Play Options > Add (play now)" and see what you are seeing. Check out the other right-click menu options, like Send-To.

Explore all of the above, learn, and enjoy!


Oh, plus read the Wiki.
https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Playlists
https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Smartlists
https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Playing_Now

etc.

[ORourke]

I truly appreciate that response. There definitely is a major learning curve with this wonderful program in addition to unlearning what I'm used to with iTunes. I just have to work out where my mistake is being made. Looks like it's going to be a fun weekend of exploring JRiver, tinkering with music files and cocktails at home. It's not like the bars are open anyway. Thanks again and take care.