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[john greenwood]

That's really useful for me.  I like to treat multi-movement classical pieces as a single "song."  When I ripped CDs into iTunes (before I got JRiver) I would join the tracks, but I couldn't do that with downloaded music or music ripped from SACDs.  Now I can accomplish the same thing.

By the way, that feature is still in iTunes 11 (I'm on 11.2.2.3).  Highlight the tracks you want to join while ripping, and select  "Join" from the Options menu in the upper right.

[Alobar]

That's really useful for me.  I like to treat multi-movement classical pieces as a single "song."  When I ripped CDs into iTunes (before I got JRiver) I would join the tracks, but I couldn't do that with downloaded music or music ripped from SACDs.  Now I can accomplish the same thing.

By the way, that feature is still in iTunes 11 (I'm on 11.2.2.3).  Highlight the tracks you want to join while ripping, and select  "Join" from the Options menu in the upper right.

Thanks for the info on iTunes John. I couldn't imagine that they would have dropped that feature but the last time I tried to do it I for the life of me couldn't figure it out. Recently I have been upgrading my sound system and am finding I don't care for lossy that much so am replacing all my downloaded mp3's with cd's and ripping those to disc . Now the question is whether I can use iTunes to rip a bunch of songs from a cd to create a lossless file as one long song and be able to play that on JRiver. I have come close to uninstalling iTunes since I found out about JRiver but if there is a way to use iTunes in this way maybe I'll keep it around for a while.

[drmimosa]

That's really useful for me.  I like to treat multi-movement classical pieces as a single "song."  

I'm playing around with this new feature for exactly this purpose. In order for this to really work for Classical genres, the first track of the link should always play first, movement one of a multi-movement work.

Shuffle accomplishes this really well now:

Links will be preserved through a shuffle in the next build.

Car Radio and Smartlists don't start at the beginning of links, but rather somewhere in the middle. Then, the tracks expands to include full links later in the shuffle.

Matt, would you consider expanding the above quoted behavior to include Smartlists and Car Radio, so that the first song played when you hit a car radio button or smart list is always the first song of linked tracks?

[Edit] My results are inconsistent, I would say 9/10 times the smartlist starts on the first track of linked tracks. So, I'm not sure if this is something I am setting up incorrectly in my linked songs or smartlist? [Edit]

Thanks for developing this feature.

[ypslon]

Are you saying the "Link Tracks" is greyed out  (Dimmed)?

Should be under  Right click on track > Library Tools> 

Then pretty much in the middle of the resulting menu.

Carl.

Right, as you can see.

It works only if I select a whole album. All tracks get linked, I don't get to choose!

Anyway, if I want to hear an whole album I just select it. In shuffle this should happen too (by default) but it's a contradition! If it's shuffle no whole album should be selected.

What am I doing wrong?

[Eccles]

What are some of the first tracks you'll link together?

Santana - Singing Winds, Crying Beasts / Black Magic Woman/Gypsy Queen

[bobrap]

Don't know if I should have started a new thread or post here.  I'm still not getting this to work consistently.  I"m trying to link tracks 1 and 6.  Highlight track 6 then 1.  Set link tracks.  Do I have to change track order to play 6 then 1?  And this cannot be used in a shuffled smartplaylist, right.  So really, what's the point?  ? Thanks.

[Alobar]

Don't know if I should have started a new thread or post here.  I'm still not getting this to work consistently.  I"m trying to link tracks 1 and 6.  Highlight track 6 then 1.  Set link tracks.  Do I have to change track order to play 6 then 1?  And this cannot be used in a shuffled smartplaylist, right.  So really, what's the point?  ? Thanks.

As I am ripping all my music from cd, I am using iTunes to make linked songs that are permanently joined into one track. These long multiple song tracks play perfectly on MC and because they are one track, smartlists that are played with shuffle on play them the way I want them to play. Right now this feature is the only thing that keeps me from uninstalling iTunes! I have faith that JRiver will adapt this feature in the future as it is the best way to link songs. Another thing about this feature I really like is how it preserves the gaps (or no gap as the case may be) just like how the original cd or album was made.

[JustinChase]

I'm still hopeful that JRiver will revisit this, and add a link to and link from tag to all linked songs, so that picking any song that is linked, either linked to or from, will result in any selection of any track that is linked, either in a smartlist, or a shuffle, or whatever, will playback all tracks from the first track in the linked set.  This would feel/act just like the rip as one track solution in iTunes, but gives us the freedom to play a track buy itself, should we want to.

Fingers crossed.

[Alobar]

I'm still hopeful that JRiver will revisit this, and add a link to and link from tag to all linked songs, so that picking any song that is linked, either linked to or from, will result in any selection of any track that is linked, either in a smartlist, or a shuffle, or whatever, will playback all tracks from the first track in the linked set.  This would feel/act just like the rip as one track solution in iTunes, but gives us the freedom to play a track buy itself, should we want to.

Fingers crossed.

Yes I can see the advantages in both ways. Perhaps that is how it will be, both the option to tag and or join..

[gappie]

Don't know if I should have started a new thread or post here.  I'm still not getting this to work consistently.  I"m trying to link tracks 1 and 6.  Highlight track 6 then 1.  Set link tracks.  Do I have to change track order to play 6 then 1?  And this cannot be used in a shuffled smartplaylist, right.  So really, what's the point?  ? Thanks.

you can get it to work in shuffled smartlists and radio, with a workaround, and a bit more work.. i tried to explain that here http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=91792.0

 
gab

[bobrap]

Seems like a bunch of hoops to jump through to get a new feature to work well.  What about how to select the files?  Maybe just that one album has a problem?  Thanks again.

[jctcom]

Yes I can see the advantages in both ways. Perhaps that is how it will be, both the option to tag and or join..

You do realize that this option already exists in MC right?

When  you are setting up your tracks for ripping in the "Rip Disc" menu in the lower left click on "Options", Then go to the "File Management" header and select "Rip to a single file with cue rather than separate files".  Then click "Rip"

The result will be a single file including the tracks that were checked.  The Cue file can be deleted I guess. But I think there is a way you can use it to still be able to play the individual tracks within the single file if you want to.

Carl.

[MapleTenor]

The linked tracks feature is a great development, with finetuning to do:

Bugs:
1) when adding the second movement of a 3-piece sonata with 'Add to playing now', Media Center selects movements 2 and 3 and starts playing the third movement.


In future development, I'd like:
1) in smartlists, a criterion which says whether to take into account track links or not.
2) When adding tracks to the 'playing now' list, have the option whether to add the single track or the linked tracks

Many thanks in advance

[jctcom]

As I am ripping all my music from cd, I am using iTunes to make linked songs that are permanently joined into one track. These long multiple song tracks play perfectly on MC and because they are one track, smartlists that are played with shuffle on play them the way I want them to play. Right now this feature is the only thing that keeps me from uninstalling iTunes! I have faith that JRiver will adapt this feature in the future as it is the best way to link songs. Another thing about this feature I really like is how it preserves the gaps (or no gap as the case may be) just like how the original cd or album was made.

This already exists in MC.  See my post #61 above.

Carl.

[Alobar]

This already exists in MC.  See my post #61 above.

Carl.

Thank you Carl, I am new to MC and hadn't found this yet. Tested it out and works great! It wont rip songs out of order, or at least I couldn't make it but I have no need for this as I want it only for certain songs that were blended together on the original albums. Pink Floyd, Mountain, and of course the b side of Abby Road all come to mind as well as many others. I couldn't find the music files I tested as the Artist and Album fields were left blank but they were found at the very bottom of the list of files and can be renamed to fit where they belong.

Guess now I can get rid of Itunes for good, along with those nagging weekly notices asking me to upgrade to the latest Itunes, Icloud, I-etc etc etc!

[vulture_g7]

Linked tracks is a great new feature. Maybe "Play unlinked now" and "Add to Playing Now Unlinked" (or similar) would be added to right-click options now for the rare case a track is needed as unlinked? I mean, right now, you'd have to unlik and then relink tracks to achieve that, no?

[jctcom]

Linked tracks is a great new feature. Maybe "Play unlinked now" and "Add to Playing Now Unlinked" (or similar) would be added to right-click options now for the rare case a track is needed as unlinked? I mean, right now, you'd have to unlik and then relink tracks to achieve that, no?

Or you could keep a separate copy of that track and leave it "unlinked" for those rare occasions as a workaround?

Carl

[drmimosa]

I'm still hopeful that JRiver will revisit this, and add a link to and link from tag to all linked songs, so that picking any song that is linked, either linked to or from, will result in any selection of any track that is linked, either in a smartlist, or a shuffle, or whatever, will playback all tracks from the first track in the linked set.  This would feel/act just like the rip as one track solution in iTunes, but gives us the freedom to play a track buy itself, should we want to.

Fingers crossed.

+1!!!

I would love to see this as an option or as the default behavior for this feature.

[jctcom]

I'm still hopeful that JRiver will revisit this, and add a link to and link from tag to all linked songs, so that picking any song that is linked, either linked to or from, will result in any selection of any track that is linked, either in a smartlist, or a shuffle, or whatever, will playback all tracks from the first track in the linked set.  This would feel/act just like the rip as one track solution in iTunes, but gives us the freedom to play a track buy itself, should we want to.

Fingers crossed.

+1!!!

I would love to see this as an option or as the default behavior for this feature.

I think I might have said this somewhere.  But just in case.

+1 for me as well!