INTERACT FORUM

Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Advanced search  
Pages: [1]   Go Down

Author Topic: Please explain "group by" within 'Customize View' dialog box  (Read 2283 times)

Gl3nn

  • Galactic Citizen
  • ****
  • Posts: 384

I've got my default Audio view set the way I want it, sorted by Album then track #.  The list is displayed as I would expect when "Group By" is set to NONE.  When I change that choice to ALBUM the entire sort and display order is changed - looks like (I'm guessing) by Artist then by year.  What am I'm either missing or doing wrong?  I'd like the display details to simply be the large album thumbnail alongside the album tracks, sorted by track.... but I'd like the Albums to be in alphabetic order. 

I don't understand what 'group by' is doing here.
Logged

Matt

  • Administrator
  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 42388
  • Shoes gone again!
Re: Please explain "group by" within 'Customize View' dialog box
« Reply #1 on: July 23, 2009, 08:42:31 am »

Pick 'Album' grouping from the A-Z submenu.  The default 'Album' grouping does smarter sorting that looks at artist, year, etc.
Logged
Matt Ashland, JRiver Media Center

Gl3nn

  • Galactic Citizen
  • ****
  • Posts: 384
Re: Please explain "group by" within 'Customize View' dialog box
« Reply #2 on: July 23, 2009, 12:30:34 pm »

Perfect, thank you!

I would have never guessed that in a bazillion years.  That preset selection name should probably be altered somewhat.  ;D
Logged

MrC

  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 10462
  • Your life is short. Give me your money.
Re: Please explain "group by" within 'Customize View' dialog box
« Reply #3 on: July 23, 2009, 01:24:45 pm »

I asked and received a good response regarding sort order and defaults:

http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=52512.msg358069#msg358069

I'd like to reiterate my opinion about the value in providing a UI that shows and facilitates discover of these defaults.  It feels mysterious to me.
Logged
The opinions I express represent my own folly.

MusicHawk

  • Citizen of the Universe
  • *****
  • Posts: 796
Re: Please explain "group by" within 'Customize View' dialog box
« Reply #4 on: July 23, 2009, 06:33:55 pm »

Discovering how the so-called "Album" grouping works was an ah-ha discovery for me too, after lots of banging on MC trying to get it to "behave".

Definitely, it should have a name that indicates it is not simply sorting/grouping on Album, much like "Album Artist (auto)" has a name that provides a clue. But even that causes questions. Maybe there should be a naming convention for internal/MC-manipulated fields, bolted-in compound-fields, views, etc. Not sure "Album (auto)" would do it, maybe "Album+Artist+Year" as the name of this special grouping option?

There are similar things going on in MC's Images mode when Album grouping is used for photos. For instance, it seems to insist on sorting newest-to-oldest, which is not how a classic physical photo album would be organized. It's OK to have special handling, but it should be explicitly special and properly named and there should be no restriction on the user overriding it. Since "Artist" isn't a common field for images, I'm still not sure what the Album view/grouping is doing with photos.
Logged
Managing my media with JRiver since Media Jukebox 8 (maybe earlier), currently use Media Center for Audio/Music and Photos/Videos.
My career in media spans Radio, TV, Print, Photography, Music, Film, Online, Live, Advertising, as producer, director, writer, performer, editor, engineer, executive, owner. An exhausting but amazing ride.

Gl3nn

  • Galactic Citizen
  • ****
  • Posts: 384
Re: Please explain "group by" within 'Customize View' dialog box
« Reply #5 on: July 23, 2009, 07:47:57 pm »

I love MC... and I love the JRiver folks and the website and users' ability to ask questions here and request enhancements... and I have been and will be a lifetime customer of MC regardless... but I'd sure love to see better and more thorough documentation.

I know there's disagreement in this topic but, well, that's just my opinion.  Maybe older folks just RTFM more... :)

Peace!

Logged

taklamakan

  • Recent member
  • *
  • Posts: 21
Re: Please explain "group by" within 'Customize View' dialog box
« Reply #6 on: July 23, 2009, 11:19:58 pm »

I couldn't agree more about documentation (and being a lifetime customer).  I wonder if the 'Weird Problems' thread in Jim's sig ever helps anyone.
Logged
Pages: [1]   Go Up