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[optimxr]

I can't seem to control the order of name, artist and album fields when loading in my tracks to the playlist. I have attempted to make adjustments in Library Tools>Fill properties for file name>Template but any changes I make are ignored during the copy process. My expectation would be to have a group of tracks that are in any various orders to be conformed to what the Template settings are. What am I missing here. Any suggestions would be welcome. 
Using MC26 on Windows 10 Pro machine and loving Cloud Play.

[wer]

Items added to a playlist are assigned a Seq(uence) number, in the order they were added to the playlist.  First item added is #1, and so on.

My suggestion is to read this:
https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Playlists

It explains how to permanently re-order the playlist, and how to temporarily sort it however you want.

[optimxr]

Thanks for responding, wer. And thanks for the Playlist link, I think I have seen that before but it was a good refresher for me. I may have not made myself very clear but my main concern is the Name, Artist and Album fields and which columns they end up in while building a playlist. I thought there was a way to change these under the Library Tools menu but I haven't been able to get it to work. This is also affected when I upload my playlist on Cloud Play. The columns are sometimes reversed and I am not sure why. Any thoughts?

[wer]

I don't understand your concern.  Post a screenshot showing what you see, and descibe exactly what you actually want.

If you're just talking about the left to right order of the columns, drag them around.

[optimxr]

I will work on putting some screenshots together that show what I mean. Shouldn't take more than a couple of days...'til then.

[optimxr]

Wer, sorry for the delay, the Coronavirus has dictated much of my time recently. I have replicated my issue several times and I will attach a screenshot of the original list and then what I am seeing in the playlist. What I would like(expect) is for all the columns to have their correct data(name,artist & album). If there is something I need to do for the original list to make this happen, I am unaware of what that is. I do understand that you can manipulate the columns in the playlist as well as the data and add the graphics. I have been successful in doing this but would like to avoid this action if possible.

[wer]

Don't worry about it...

Ok I'm starting to see, but we're not there yet.

I'm a bit confused, because of some of the things you're saying.  You refer to a copying process, but there is no copying process involved in building a playlist in MC.  Your subject line "Building Playlists reverses the order of Name and Artist fields" is objectively false, because adding something to a playlist does not alter metadata in MC.  Something else is happening, other than what you think, but you don't know what it is.

First we need to clear something up.  You might be using incorrect terminology; I'm not sure...

You mention two different things:
1. Loading files into a playlist
2. Library Tools -> Fill Properties from filename

These are two totally different things, and are unrelated to each other.  #2 acts on metadata of files that are in the library.  #1 is just adding files to a playlist, assuming they are already in the library.

I can see that your files in the playlist don't show the metadata that you want.  But are these files already in your library, or are they new files that you're trying to add to your library?  This is the important question.

Your first pic is from windows explorer, fine.  Your last two are of playlists.  Can you find these files in your library, apart from in the playlist?  If so, is the metadata correct there?  Show me that.

Playlists are irrelevant.  Whether a track is in a playlist or not, or its order in the playlist, does not affect its metadata.  MC is not WinAmp, where you have to put something in a playlist to be able to play it at all.  With MC, first you import files into the library, and you make sure the metadata is correct. This seems to be where you're hung up.  After that is done, you can add them to playlists or not at your whim.  Adding to a playlist never alters metadata.

You might know these things, but I can't be sure; some of your terminology or process is confused.  No offense intended.  But if you definitely knew all this, you probably wouldn't be here asking this question.

Also show me a screen shot of your fill properties from filename dialog that you're using.

By the way, I notice the files are WAVs, and WAVs don't support all the tags that some formats like MP3 or FLAC can.  MC will read WAV tags if they're there, but if they're not present, you'll have to enter the missing data manually, or use the fill properties from filename feature, if appropriate.  That last part it seems you're onto already.

Lastly, describe with precision exactly how you are adding these files to the playlist.  Describe the steps.  Because I also gather you're complaining about the order they appear on the playlist.  Someone the other day was confused about the same thing.

The order of items in a playlist is under your complete control.  When items are added to a playlist, they are assigned a Seq(uence) number.  This is their order in the playlist.  It is the order they were added to the playlist, always.  First added is Seq #1.  Second added is Seq #2.  Once they've been added, you can reorder by drag and drop other means.  But if you have not explicitly reordered them, the Seq number is the order in which they were added to the playlist, period.

So for example, if you want Phase Dance to be first on the playlist, there are exactly 2 and only 2 ways that can happen: either it's the first song you add to the playlist, or you add them in whatever order and then you move it to first position.  That's it.

I'll expect you to figure out the order problem accordingly.  But we need to figure out why your metadata is wrong.  So get back to me with those new answers and screenshots and we'll see.

[RoderickGI]

Your subject line "Building Playlists reverses the order of Name and Artist fields" is objectively false, because adding something to a playlist does not alter metadata in MC.

Alas, not quite true, if a Playlist in m3u format compatible with iTunes was being imported.

There was a possibly related fix in MC26.0.48.
26.0.48 (4/1/2020)
1. Changed: When importing an M3U, we count the artists and names and switch them if there are more artists because iTunes does not follow the specification.

See https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,124681.0.html.

So optimxr, update to MC26.0.56, then test again.


Carry on Wer.

[wer]

Hi again Rod.

Interesting, I never saw that one.  But I never import m3u playlists from Itunes either.  So that issue was you have files in the library with good metadata, then import an itunes playlist that references those files, and MC would mess with the metadata?  That's very rude.  But I still think my statement was correct (enough), because I was talking about an in-library file, and you then click on it and do add to playlist. That never alters metadata.  Adding to a playlist and importing a playlist are not the same thing... That issue thread is talking about importing a playlist.

But we still don't know exactly what importing/copying/whatever he's doing.

Stay tuned for our next exciting episode!

[RoderickGI]

Yes, you have it correct. That was a very unusual problem and a bit difficult to believe it was happening. But it was. Fancy Apple not following standards in their exported m3u Playlist files! 

I was going to say in my earlier post that optimxr needs to describe his workflow and how he reproduces the problem. But you are all over that, so I'll leave it to you. 

[wer]

If he turns out to be Australian, I'll of course graciously step aside.  I wouldn't want to impinge on your territory. 

[RoderickGI]

Let's see... nope. Northern Arizona. All yours. 

[wer]

Could be an ex-pat.  You never know! 

Of course, no Australian would ever move to Arizona.  So you're probably right.

But he could be in prison in Arizona!  Statistically that's actually quite likely, isn't it?  So you might be needed after all!   

[RoderickGI]

I don't know. Australia is mostly desert, so Arizona would feel like home.

I quite liked it the times I was over there. Some great gorges for photography and rock climbing. Great state to store retired aircraft!

[optimxr]

Hi wer, sorry for such a long delayed response. So the main thing I discovered was about 1/2 of all my tracks were not in the library(not sure why) so I manually imported them. I also updated the app from 26.0.30 to 26.0.69. I wasn't quite sure what you meant by filename properties dialog, but I think you might mean the information bubble that comes up when you mouse-over each track so I have attached a screen shot of one of those. I understand you comments as to the order of the tracks in the playlist and I have  no problem with that, they are easily moved around using the mouse. As to my playlist building process, there has been some confusion on my part because I initially was trying to select track lists in MS Explorer and drag-n-drop them into the playlist builder but if i selected over 12-13 tracks the options were shifted to Windows Media Player, not JRiver Media Player so I selected smaller groups of tracks and often lost track of the full list. I am now selecting those same lists and putting them in JRiver playlist first, then select them all and dragndrop them into the playlist builder and things work much better. BTW, my default player is set for JRiver, not Windows Media Player. One more important detail is some of my tracks were derived from other playlist and I am finding that not all the metadata is embedded with those tracks. My solution for this is to look up the information online and insert it while the track is in the JRiver playlist and that seems to solve the problem for me. I hope I answered all you questions and thanks again for your help.
optimxr