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[mdx1]

Most classical music albums contain complete units of work broken down to movements, such as a symphony or a concerto.

The normal shuffle play scheme selects the playing objects at the "song" level.  It would not be desirable to play random movements from a set of symphonies or concertos.  It is like randomly playing a set of movies by the chapters.

Does MC 15 support the shuffle play by albums?

Thank you!

[rick.ca]

No, but you can get the same result using a search. In the search dialog (select "Wizard..." from the menu if using the search box directly) set whatever rules you want for restricting the selection (e.g., [Genre]=[Classical]). Then select the modification Shuffle followed by Expand to full albums. In whatever view you're using, ensure Group by is set to None so the shuffled results are not re-sorted. Then play the result.

You can create a separate view to do this by using the same search settings in the view's Rules for file display. You could, for example, have a permanent "Random Movements" view.

[mark_h]

I have a "good album" smartlist that pulls up a random "good album" (a bunch of rules and then the 'expand to full album' modifier) then on my keyboard one of the media keys can trigger this smartlist, so I can just punch the key and get a new album playing.

[mdx1]

Thank you both for the tips.  The smartlist (the search rule) does work. But if one reshuffles or if the shuffle is set to automatic, the playlist is based on tracks again.

I know this question has been asked in the past but the answer is always to use the smartlist.  This is a workaround and not a very simple one.  I guess I can learn it but would still prefer a built in option.  Why can't we just have a shuffle by album setting?

Some versions of the Creative Zen and iPod have this option.  It would be nice for a feature rich program like the MC to be able to do also.  It is just programming, right?

Thanks for listening!

[rick.ca]

But if one reshuffles or if the shuffle is set to automatic, the playlist is based on tracks again.

Don't do that. If you want a new list, refresh it.

Why can't we just have a shuffle by album setting?

Why don't we just forget it's a smartlist, and call it a super-duper album shuffle feature.