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[newHAPPYuser2015]

I apologize if I'm being captain obvious here...

At first when I started using Media Center I liked the idea of Linked Tracks, but pretty soon I ditched this feature because I noticed that a second track (I don't link more than 2 songs) in a link chain would often duplicate in my shuffles.

Today I noticed that this doesn't happen if ''Shuffle On'' is selected as opposed to adding shuffle modifier and leaving shuffle button at ''Shuffle Off''. Bingo! Back to using this awesome feature . I wish I have learned this little detail sooner

[Matt]

Any shuffle should first remove links, then shuffle, then reestablish the links.

It shouldn't make any difference if it shuffles because you have shuffle mode on or you shuffle manually.

[newHAPPYuser2015]

I attached 2 screenshots. Currently there are 220 songs in the smartlist ''indie rock'' which include 2 linked songs.

screenshot 1 - global shuffle is off, shuffle modifier in the smartlist is used instead
screenshot 2 - global shuffle is on, songs in the smartlist are sorted by a particular sorting preset

Take a look at the number of songs. In the first screenshot it's 221 with one extra being the duplicate of second song in the chain.

[Matt]

Can you reduce it to the simplest possible example?

I tried a little bit in my library, but the shuffle is working fine.

Thanks.

[newHAPPYuser2015]

I have tried it with different smartlists and library views that contain different number of linked songs.

1) If global shuffle is off and shuffle modifiers are used, then second songs in linked chains sometimes (often) would get duplicated upon adding files to playing now and starting playback. I suppose it happens because if shuffle modifier is enabled than a second song in a chain may end up being higher in the list than the first. Then when you add files to playing now it preserves the order of songs in the list and adds second songs in linked chains - hence duplicates.

2) If global shuffle is on and songs in smartlists and/or library views are sorted, then everything is fine - linked songs play one after another, no duplicates. (It is worth noting that most of my sort orders list songs ascending by track#).

So it's not a bug, but just the way it is? But still, songs in the second scenario get shuffled and it doesn't produce dublicates - like it shuffles 'em intelligently.

[newHAPPYuser2015]

Occurrence of duplicates boils down to the relative position of linked songs to one another - shuffle or no shuffle. But if shuffle is enabled (global or modifier), then sort order is no longer important. And if some tracks are linked - then user prefers to play them that way.

It would be great if shuffles didn't result in duplicates regardless of how linked songs are positioned before adding files to playing now and starting playback. And even better if in sorted lists (global shuffle is off) linked tracks got ''deactivated'', i.e. played normally. Just my 2 cents.

Right now as I noted above it works ok without duplicates if sort order is applied and global shuffle is on. But shuffle modifiers are more convenient imo.

[blgentry]

This is hard for me to follow, but I think I get it.  Let me offer a different perspective, just because I've been thinking about it recently:

1.  "Global Shuffle" seems like a really weird feature when you think about it.  In MC, it makes MUCH more sense than in other players, but it's still weird.  A master switch that shuffles everything you add to Playing Now.... Kind of odd.  It definitely removes your options to choose exactly how and what is shuffled.
2.  Shuffling playing now, by pressing the hot key (ctrl-R) makes a whole lot more sense to me.  Add some stuff to Playing Now.  Decide you want this particular stuff shuffled:  Hit the button.  What if you were playing a shuffled list and in the middle of it, you wanted to add a whole album that you want to hear *not* shuffled?  No problem.  Add to playing now (as next to play).  Done.  Can't do that with global shuffle.

Reshuffle remaining is also an awesome feature.  If you add new stuff to a large list that's in the middle of being played, reshuffle remaining shuffles the songs that are left, including all of the new stuff you just added.

The main point here is control.  Leaving all shuffle type stuff set to off, and doing it by reshuffle or reshuffle remaining always gives you complete control, and it acts consistently.  I have a good number of linked tracks and I never see duplicates when adding songs to Playing Now and then reshuffling.  They always group together correctly and don't duplicate.

Just my thoughts and experiences.

Bria.

[newHAPPYuser2015]

2.  Shuffling playing now, by pressing the hot key (ctrl-R) makes a whole lot more sense to me.  Add some stuff to Playing Now.  Decide you want this particular stuff shuffled:  Hit the button.  What if you were playing a shuffled list and in the middle of it, you wanted to add a whole album that you want to hear *not* shuffled?  No problem.  Add to playing now (as next to play).  Done.  Can't do that with global shuffle.

Reshuffle remaining is also an awesome feature.  If you add new stuff to a large list that's in the middle of being played, reshuffle remaining shuffles the songs that are left, including all of the new stuff you just added.

The main point here is control.  Leaving all shuffle type stuff set to off, and doing it by reshuffle or reshuffle remaining always gives you complete control, and it acts consistently.  I have a good number of linked tracks and I never see duplicates when adding songs to Playing Now and then reshuffling.  They always group together correctly and don't duplicate.

They don't duplicate because linked songs are sorted ascendingly by track# before being added to playing now, CTRL-Red and shuffled. So in that respect CTRL-R is no different than global shuffle.

1.  "Global Shuffle" seems like a really weird feature when you think about it.  In MC, it makes MUCH more sense than in other players, but it's still weird.  A master switch that shuffles everything you add to Playing Now.... Kind of odd.  It definitely removes your options to choose exactly how and what is shuffled.

I agree and ctrl-r would work, but personally I was thinking of going ''automatic shuffle'' route. If only because I predominantly use shuffles and only select few smartlists and one library view are non-shuffled in my library. So pressing ctrl-r most of the time for me would be like one extra step; it's not the end of the world of course. Automatic shuffle is also not ideal because in that case I would need to remember that here I need to select a specific song first for a list not to be shuffled.

Shuffle modifiers would be the best option for me if not for duplicated linked tracks. And in previous posts I was pointing out that if lists are sorted (with track# going from lowest to highest) and global shuffle is used, then it is intelligent enough to play linked songs like they are supposed to be. Alas it's not the case with shuffle modifiers.

[blgentry]

In your first screen shot I see you're doing a "sort by", but you're doing it though the View configuration menu at the top of the list.  I've never used this for a SmartList before; it never even occurred to me.

Why don't you do your shuffle inside of the SmartList?  When you are in Edit mode, in the Modify Results section, you can add as many Modifiers as you want; Shuffle is an available Modifier.  Further, another Modifier is "remove duplicates".  If adding a Shuffle Modifier produced duplicates, you could just add "remove duplicates" and you'd be done.  If I understand your issue properly.

Brian.

[newHAPPYuser2015]

If adding a Shuffle Modifier produced duplicates, you could just add "remove duplicates" and you'd be done.  If I understand your issue properly.

It won't work because duplicates are not in a smartlist or a library view - songs get duplicated in playing now. I know I can right click a zone and ''remove duplicates from playing now''. But doing it manually every time doesn't go hand in hand with convenience.

[blgentry]

You clearly said in your post with the screen shots that you were getting duplicates in SmartLists.  You posted pictures of it I thought. 

Brian.

[newHAPPYuser2015]

You clearly said in your post with the screen shots that you were getting duplicates in SmartLists.  You posted pictures of it I thought. 

Brian.

Right. Smartlist in the screenshot doesn't have remove duplicates modifiers so there were duplicates in the smartlist itself. But what I said still stands - adding 'remove duplicates' modifier doesn't save from duplicates in playing now.

[blgentry]

I'm not sure how you're making this happen *if* you're using shuffle and not ordering them yourself.

I was able to make duplicates happen the way you said, but I had to force it by doing it manually.

1.  Get two songs that are linked and put them in a playlist.  Call them song 1 and song 2.
2.  Put song 2 above song 1 in playlist.
3.  Add all to Playing Now.

That will give you:  song 2, song 1, song 2 . Which makes sense in a weird way.

I'm unable to make this happen by using shuffle on a playlist.  I haven't tried everything you have obviously.  Maybe someone else has more insight.

Brian.