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Author Topic: Can MC auto-create a log file?  (Read 5648 times)

jagdriver

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Can MC auto-create a log file?
« on: April 11, 2006, 12:25:45 pm »

Is there a way to generate a log file from a random playlist so I can learn afterr the fact what track played when? This would be nice for my 48,000 track collection, many tracks of which I've never heard before.

Thanks
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marko

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Re: Can MC auto-create a log file?
« Reply #1 on: April 11, 2006, 01:21:12 pm »

I don't think so.

but, you know about smartlists?

if you right click on 'playlists' in the tree and then click on 'add smartlist' (notplaylist) you will see a dialogue.

give the smartlist a name, then click on the advanced button and enter the following into the field to the left of the advanced button:

[media type]=audio ~sort=[last played]-d

you can take this a step further if you like.

up there in the top-right corner you should see 'options'. hover over that and choose 'customise current view'
In the 'columns to show' section, click on the 'add' button, and choose field.
choose 'Last Played'
with 'Last Played' selected, click on the 'move to top' button
click the OK button.

You should be looking at something like this:



you could construct various interesting lists, or even viewschemes, based around [last played].
This is just a basic smartlist to get you rolling, have a play around and have some fun discovering the possibilities :)

edit:
if you're more interested in what you've not heard before, make another smartlist using the search:

[media type]=audio [number plays]=[] ~sort=random

to see those tracks listed randomly.

jagdriver

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Re: Can MC auto-create a log file?
« Reply #2 on: April 11, 2006, 01:34:21 pm »

Well, then, I'd to request this as a feature in a future build. I'll play around with this suggestion, but it's not exactly what I'm seeking.

I have a collection of over 48,000 tracks that continues to grow all of the time. Much of the collection I've never heard and often we'll be doing our listening in the hot tub outside when I either hear a track that I'd like to feature more prominently, or hear a track that necessitates deletion altogether. If I know that "mystery track A" was heard between, say, Mark Knopfler's "Shangri-La" and Doug Sahm's "If You Got the Dinero", then I'd be able to easily go back in to MC and perform whatever task is required.

So what I'm looking for is a running list (an ASCII flat file would be perfect) comprised of today's date, each track start time, artist name and track title. It's not necessary that a new list be generated for each session, but rather the list may be ongoing, much like a Windows system log file.

Thanks
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hit_ny

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Re: Can MC auto-create a log file?
« Reply #3 on: April 11, 2006, 01:55:46 pm »

If I know that "mystery track A" was heard between, say, Mark Knopfler's "Shangri-La" and Doug Sahm's "If You Got the Dinero", then I'd be able to easily go back in to MC and perform whatever task is required.
But don't you already have a list in PN that your random play smartlist gave you ?

what am i missing here  ?

..or is it a madhouse where you live with everyone adding stuff ;)
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jagdriver

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Re: Can MC auto-create a log file?
« Reply #4 on: April 11, 2006, 04:16:32 pm »

Sorry... what is PN?

Heretofore I've just been using conventional playlists. Because the tracks playing randomly, I have no record of the "mystery track", nor could I easily identify the artist given that many tracks are from CD compilations.

I maintain a log file would be most desireable.     :D
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JimH

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Re: Can MC auto-create a log file?
« Reply #5 on: April 11, 2006, 04:18:34 pm »

Playing Now in MC's tree.
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hit_ny

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Re: Can MC auto-create a log file?
« Reply #6 on: April 11, 2006, 04:33:35 pm »

Heretofore I've just been using conventional playlists. Because the tracks playing randomly, I have no record of the "mystery track", nor could I easily identify the artist given that many tracks are from CD compilations.
Try what marko posted above, if you get a smarlist to randomly generate and then Add to PN, you will have a sequence of tracks. Turn off random play.

OF course if you want to select a particular album and then have it random play, i dont think its possible atm to know the track sequence.
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Doof

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Re: Can MC auto-create a log file?
« Reply #7 on: April 11, 2006, 09:26:56 pm »

Marko's suggestion will give you a list of all of your music, in the order it was last played. You can even add the last played date and time as a column. Wouldn't that give you what you're looking for?
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jagdriver

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Re: Can MC auto-create a log file?
« Reply #8 on: April 13, 2006, 01:19:41 pm »

OK, the PN list idea is good. I have successfully used TechSmith's excellent SnagIt tool to capture the PN scrolling list as a PDF.

Question is, if MC can generate a PN like this, why on earth can't it just automatically dump the same list to a log file? This is definitely an enhancement I'd like to see in a future build.

Thanks to those who reminded me of the PN list.

Jag
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jgreen

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Re: Can MC auto-create a log file?
« Reply #9 on: April 13, 2006, 01:37:04 pm »

I'd like to ask the same question in a different way.  If the "Recently Played" list can log each song played in the order played, is there any way to force it to log duplicates?  Recently played (along with the "last played" field) is ALMOST a log as it is.  Only if you play "Stairway to Heaven" twice in an hour (or day, or year) it's only going to retain the last entry, deleting the prior.  Any way around this?
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jagdriver

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Re: Can MC auto-create a log file?
« Reply #10 on: April 13, 2006, 01:54:51 pm »

Why would you want to play "Stairway To Heaven" even once?      ;)
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jgreen

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Re: Can MC auto-create a log file?
« Reply #11 on: April 13, 2006, 02:02:39 pm »

I'm going to play it all day, just to spite you guys. . . .Now does anyone have an on-topic response?
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jgreen

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Re: Can MC auto-create a log file?
« Reply #12 on: April 13, 2006, 02:56:40 pm »

FWIW, I have 2 different versions of "Stairway to Heaven", 3 versions of "Freebrid", and 5 versions of "Layla".
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jagdriver

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Re: Can MC auto-create a log file?
« Reply #13 on: April 13, 2006, 02:57:59 pm »

Rock on!
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Doof

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Re: Can MC auto-create a log file?
« Reply #14 on: April 13, 2006, 04:01:35 pm »

FWIW, I have 2 different versions of "Stairway to Heaven"

Is one of those versions by Dread Zeppelin? :)
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JimH

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Re: Can MC auto-create a log file?
« Reply #15 on: April 13, 2006, 04:06:44 pm »

And I ask myself, why are there so few women on this forum....why oh why?
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jgreen

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Re: Can MC auto-create a log file?
« Reply #16 on: April 13, 2006, 04:56:52 pm »

Chicks dig Clapton, that's a well-known fact.
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jagdriver

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Re: Can MC auto-create a log file?
« Reply #17 on: April 13, 2006, 05:05:35 pm »

Probably Lez Zeppelin, would be my guess.
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John Gateley

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Re: Can MC auto-create a log file?
« Reply #18 on: April 13, 2006, 09:26:33 pm »

To second what everyone else is saying: use a smartlist and check your playing now.

I use a smartlist to create a mix of mostly stuff I haven't heard enough to decide if I like it, and some old fogey stuff, some young punk stuff and some stuff I really like. The smartlist is random (and regenerated every time I want, though that doesn't happen often) and very long so I don't notice repitition. But the listing is there if I need it, I just scroll through playing now (and often change the category of a song from unknown to something else).

And to neatly tie up the other loose end: I'm on the horns of a dilemma. Stairway to Heaven, Freebird, and Layla are categorized as Young Punk, since they are from my era. Perry Como and Bing Crosby are Old Fogey, since they are my parents' era. But I'm getting old enough now I feel guilty every time I see some ancient decrepit rock dinosaur labeled as young punk in my collection. What to do?

j
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