Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[sthomp]

Is it possible to sort a playlist based on the number of tracks it contains from different albums? For example, if there were 3 tracks from Album A, 6 tracks from Album B, and 9 tracks from Album C, then all Album A tracks would come first, followed by Album B tracks and then Album C tracks.

Thanks!

[vagskal]

It might be possible to do this in a smartlist with the new global variables. An easier way of achieving this would, however, be to create a new categories view where you set the rules for file display to the same rules as you have in your smartlist (Customize View => Set rules for file display; you can export/import your rules), set the category to Album and the list style to Thumbnails and sort by Track #. If you select all items shown (ctrl + a) and issue a play command (right click), the tracks should play in the order you want.

[MrC]

You can also set the rules for file display to include only the Smartlist/Playlist, so you don't have to replicate the rules.

If you set the Sort By to Number of Files, you'll get the sorting you want in a Categories view (and the list style can be either Thumbnails or Details).

[sthomp]

Thanks for the ideas. I've just tried creating the category view, and it's getting pretty close to what I was looking for, but there's one thing I can't figure out.  Most albums are grouped separately, listing the total number of tracks in the "Number of Files" field, as expected. However, albums with multiple artists list each artist/album line separately, with 1 as the Number of Files. I tried using the Grouping setting (Customize View > Show Categories In This Order Album > Edit > Library Field: Album > Grouping: Checked > Grouping Size: 1), but this led to strange results in which one album was split across multiple list entries, while other albums were combined into one.

I assume that I'm missing something about how to group them so only the Album field is considered, and not the Artist field. What am I missing? Thanks!

[MrC]

They are being grouped by Artist, which will vary with compilations or multiple artists albums.  As your first category in the view, use [Album Artist (auto)] instead of Artist.  You can use an expression such as:

    [Album] - [Album Artist (auto)]

instead of a stock field.  You should return the grouping size to its default value.

[MrC]

Attached are a couple of screenshots showing the expression, and results.