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Author Topic: Question about Zones  (Read 3221 times)

Testdrive

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Question about Zones
« on: August 19, 2015, 10:12:51 am »

Hello fellow JRiver users,

I've downloaded the JRiver Demo a few days ago and starteted to get into the dephts of possibilities this wonderful piece of software has to offer.
Yesterday I found out about "Zones".
I currently have setup 2 Zones with individual "On the go" playlists. What I want to do is that zone 1 stops playing, when I start a track from zone 2.
Is this even possilbe at the moment?
Thank you in advance for your help.

Regards
Testdrive

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JimH

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Re: Question about Zones
« Reply #1 on: August 19, 2015, 11:15:22 am »

Investigate ZoneSwitch.  It's on the wiki.
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Testdrive

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Re: Question about Zones
« Reply #2 on: August 19, 2015, 03:23:52 pm »

Thanks for the quick reply. I already did but couldn't find the solution.  ?
As fas as I understand the Zone switching rules only apply when I start files from the media library, but not to the files that are already in the "Playing Now" list.
I will describe it a bit further:
Let's say I have album 1 loaded in the list of Zone 1 and album 2 in the list of Zone 2.
Now when a song from Zone 1 list is playing and I double click on a song on Zone 2 list, they both play simultaneously rather than stopping the playback of Zone 1.
Am I missing something here?
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ferday

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Re: Question about Zones
« Reply #3 on: August 19, 2015, 04:00:22 pm »

put a stop playback rule for zone 2 in zone 1 rules, and vice versa for zone 2 rules
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blgentry

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Re: Question about Zones
« Reply #4 on: August 19, 2015, 06:50:47 pm »

What you're describing sounds like using zones might not be the answer.

What kind of playback scenario are you trying to create?  I'll bet there's another way with JRiver that might work better for you.

Brian.
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Testdrive

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Re: Question about Zones
« Reply #5 on: August 20, 2015, 04:18:37 am »

I want all music from my library to be played in Zone 1 (when double clicked), while I can create a "live" playlist in Zone 2 (with drag and drop of selected tracks from the library).
That way I can switch between listening to say a whole Album in Zone 1 and my "live" playlist in Zone 2. I know that I could create a normal playlist instead of using Zone 2, but a normal playlist won't play the tracks I add to it, while it's playing, that only works with the "Playing Now" playlist.
I already managed to stop Zone 2, when I double click on a track from the library, but I can't get Zone 1 to stop, when I start a track of the Zone 2 playlist...
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blgentry

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Re: Question about Zones
« Reply #6 on: August 20, 2015, 07:44:42 am »

Playing Now is a much more powerful and capable feature/tool in MC than it might appear at first glance.  I believe Playing Now can do everything you have just described and is probably the solution to your problem.

If you are playing a single album and you want a full list to play when that album is done, you can simply click "add to playing now" on that list.  It will be appended to Playing Now *after* the last track of Playing Now (which should be the last track of the album).  This allows you to build your "live" playlist anywhere you want, including right inside of Playing Now!

I routinely have around 80 to 100 tracks in Playing Now and add more to it whenever it gets close to the end.  I also routinely move tracks around inside of Playing Now to reorder them.  This is all safe to do while it's playing. I even randomize sections of Playing Now (by selecting and the choosing Edit > Shuffle Selection).  It's also easy to remove old or unwanted files from Playing Now at any time.  Just highlight them and press delete.  They will disappear from Playing Now, but stay in your main library.

If you take a little time to experiment with Playing Now, I think you'll find some features you didn't know were there.  Look at all of the choices in the Right click > More Play Options menu.  Again, *I* think Playing Now is one of MC's most powerful features.  It's awesome!  I hope you'll agree after you play with it some more.

Brian.
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Testdrive

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Re: Question about Zones
« Reply #7 on: August 20, 2015, 09:33:02 am »

Thank you all for your help. I guess what I really want to set up are two "Playing Now" lists. One on which I can drag an drop new songs, while it's playing and the other one which loads what I double click on in my library (and which stops the first one and starts playing when I do so). That way the first "Playing Now" list won't be replaced and I can still keep adding songs to it, while the album in the other one is playing. I know that the versions of the "Now PLaying" list are saved, but it would be more convinient with a second "Playing Now" list which I can switch to.
It's meant for parties where people can use my laptop and either drag an drop a song to the "Now Playing 1" list or listen to a whole album in the "Now Playing 2" list when double clicking on it in the library.


Anyway - my problem boils down to one question: assuming I have tracks in the list of Zone 1 and Zone 2, how can I, when the list of Zone 1 is playing, automatically stop the playback, when I start a song of the list of Zone2? I can't figure it out with the Zone rules... when I start a song from the other list the playback of the first doesn't stop, they rather both play at the same time.
Or in other words: to stop playback from all zones, when I start a track from the list of the currently active zone.
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ferday

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Re: Question about Zones
« Reply #8 on: August 20, 2015, 01:12:20 pm »

right click zone 1 > zoneswitch
enable zoneswitch, then click add
stop playback in zone 2

right click zone 2 > zoneswitch
enable zoneswitch, then click add
stop playback in zone 1

that should work to stop one when the other starts
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blgentry

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Re: Question about Zones
« Reply #9 on: August 20, 2015, 01:12:55 pm »

I guess I don't understand what you're trying to achieve or what types of actions you are anticipating.  You can absolutely add things to Playing Now without affecting playback.  Perhaps it's the double click action that has you hung up?  If that's the case, you can change the double click behavior in several ways.  By default, as you said, double clicking replaces Playing Now, with the album, or song you click on.  I find this behavior disruptive; luckily there are some good options.  Look in:

Tools > Options > General > Behavior > Double Click

I have mine set to "add to playing now (play now).  What happens is, when I double click a file, it starts playing, and is added to Playing Now immediately after what was just playing.  It plays immediately, but it DOES NOT replace Playing Now at all.  The entire list is still there.  So you can build your list right inside of Playing Now and double clicking still immediately plays what you clicked on.

If that doesn't work for you, you can certainly just have a scratch list that you use only for adding to Playing Now.  Keep Playing Now as is.  Build your scratch list while Playing Now plays.  Then whenever you're ready, just right click on your scratch list and choose "add to  playing now".  That will put it at the end of Playing Now, so it'll play when the other songs (that were already there) are done.

To me it seems like you're trying to work against the system.  I'm trying to point you in ways that will help you work with the system and make your life easier.  But perhaps I don't understand all of your goals for this system.

Brian.
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Testdrive

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Re: Question about Zones
« Reply #10 on: August 20, 2015, 02:28:55 pm »

right click zone 1 > zoneswitch
enable zoneswitch, then click add
stop playback in zone 2

right click zone 2 > zoneswitch
enable zoneswitch, then click add
stop playback in zone 1

that should work to stop one when the other starts

That's what I want to do, but it's not working. I think you need to set a parameter which tells the rule when to engage ("Engage when file matches this search") but there's no option for "engage when playback in Zone X is started". Or did I miss something?

@blgentry: I already found out about these options, thanks. Maybe sometimes you have to work around the system to get what you want ;D
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