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[grossmsj]

This is probably easy for the experienced, but I can't figure it out and I have tried...
I have files of both 16 bit and 24 bit depth. In many cases, the whole library has duplicate albums where there is both a 16 bit (for my iPod) and 24 bit version. I also have an Astell&Kern player that will take 24 bit files.
How would I create a view that showed me either the highest bit depth version of an album or the lowest? So, if I only had a 16 bit depth album, that would show, but if I had both a 16 or 24 bit depth version, only the 24 bit depth version would show.

Thank you,
Scott

[mojave]

I found the answer in this thread.

Customize view and choose ". . . Set rules for file display."

Under Modify Results add these two rules:

Sort by: Bitrate (z-a)

Limit (advanced):  -1,1,[Name]

Or just select Custom under Rules and paste this in:

~sort=[Bitrate]-d ~limit=-1,1,[Name]

[mojave]

The Smartlist and Search - Rules and Modifiers in the wiki explain the ~sort and ~limit modifiers.

[grossmsj]

Perfect!
Thanks so much Mojave for giving me a solution and showing me how I can learn to do it myself next time!
Scott

[MrC]

mojave - your thread link above is busted.

[mojave]

I fixed it. Thanks.

[grossmsj]

Well, I've run into a problem working with this solution. The problem is that if any file has a duplicate name on another album, the file with the same name on the subsequent album gets deleted, regardless of Bit Depth.
For example, if I sort all my Wilco albums this way all the files on "A Ghost is born", "A.M." and "Being There" are fine. But when I get to the album "Kicking Television" (a Live album), files like Misunderstood, Company in my Back, etc. that are on "A Ghost is Born" are deleted.
When I get to Sky Blue Sky, it sorts all the 24 bit depth files fine. But subsequent albums like "Summerteeth" are now missing songs previously listed on the Live album.
So, it seems that if there is any precedence at all for the [Name], the second instance is deleted. Actually, what is desirable in my case is to just delete the lower bit depth version of the same file name on the same album.
I'm sure you have a clever way to do this, maybe using playlists(?), but I can't figure out the logic or the right expression to do it.
Thanks again!
Scott

[grossmsj]

Let my start by saying that my implementation of the 'sort by bit depth, eliminate the bottom duplicate' approach is not robust. A more robust solution would still be desirable. This may just be a different way to implement this, but I couldn't figure it out for the reasons noted above.

I DID find a solution to my more general problem. I want to have a list of files that would either be my 'Go To' files to play on my stereo, or would be placed on my Astell&Kern portable (which handles 24 bit files). This reduces to having a preferred list of files. In practice, this meant I needed to create an 'unpreferred' list (see below) that could be selected against.

I needed the unpreferred approach for the following reasons. Most of the time, the 16-bit version is not preferable to the 24-bit version. But I have a couple files where the 16-bit version is preferred. More importantly, I have some files that are 16-bit where one version is preferred (e.g. a remastered release). So the original would be unpreferred the the remastered would be preferred. The reason for the curious 'unpreferred' approach is that I need to select for either a preferred or unpreferred version. The default case for most music is the sole 16-bit version of most of my music. If I set all of these to preferred, then when I got a remastered version I'd have to 'unprefer' the original preferred file.

So it became a task of finding all the duplicate files (easy with the 'duplicates' modifier), sorting by bit depth to grossly separate the 24 bit from 16 bit versions, and then selecting those I preferred the least. I selected these and bulk tagged them with the Comment field set to 'unpreferred' (this has to be created in the first instance). This was a lot easier than I though it would be with judicious sorting (i.e. most of my 24 bit files are in a 'superfolder' titled "My HDTracks", so you can sort by this too).

Now, I can set up either a View or Smart Playlist that includes the modification "Comment" "does not contain" "unpreferred". This now shows all the files I want to see all the time or load to my A&K120. The 16-bits are all still there and I can load those to my iPod (for the car) using the 16 Bit Depth modifier.

I guess this isn't elegant, but it works. Mostly it required me to understand exactly what I wanted to do and learn a few of the basic features better. I'm still daunted by expression language (which is NOT 'easily understood' by most mortals despite the claims of the Wiki).

[MrC]

it sounds like you have worked out a reasonable approach.

... which is NOT 'easily understood' by most mortals despite the claims of the Wiki ...

Does the Wiki expression page make this claim?  Hmmm...

Languages of any sort take time to learn, and practice is paramount.  Understanding the language, and being facile in it, are two entirely different learning curves, the former being much smaller than the latter.

[grossmsj]

From the Wiki...
"This language, commonly called the expression language, is simple to learn, simple to use, and can greatly enhance your experience using Media Center."
 
Anyway, life is too short to stop learning...
Scott