OK, guys, I have downloaded and installed the updated version. I have been working with the new Work selection mode. I am not exactly achieving the results hoped for - but perhaps that is because I do not fully understand how to set all of the options in the Auto DJ menu.
My first question is: How to set the "Initial List Size" and "Maintains ___ number of tracks"?
When I started this Wish List request, my desire was to have Auto DJ sort a random selection by the Work field to capture all tracks which have the exact same name in the Work field.
Here are some examples:
1. Beethoven Symphony # 5 - I have several Albums containing this symphony. Each of the Albums also contains another and different Beethoven symphony. This symphony has four movements and each movement typically occupies one track - so, four tracks have the same Work name.
Now, if I have three different recordings of this symphony and each recording has four tracks identically named "Beethoven Symphony # 5", then I assume that all 12 tracks would be included if the random Work sort finds Beethoven Symphony # 5.
But, then the question is: How would this particular example Work sort be affected by the two track settings "Initial List Size" and "Maintains ___ number of racks"?
2. Here is a completely different case: An opera such as Turandot is a single Work which spans two CDs and has many tracks (let's say 30 total tracks for example). In my library structures, all 30 of these tracks have the same Work name "Turandot" and all tracks are contained within one Album named "Turandot". So, the Work selection process must capture all 30 of these tracks to play the entire opera as a random selection.
Once again, the question becomes: How do the "Initial List Size" and "Maintains ___ number of tracks" settings affect this situation?
Steve, thanks for tackling this feature and I look forward to understanding how to use it to achieve a random Work selection.
To avoid being sidetracked as you look at this issue, I am not concerned about the Work Selector finding all tracks with the same Work name, even though, as in my first example, three different versions of the same work would be selected. I can easily fix that problem by slight alterations to the name of the Work for each recording.
The fundamental need is to capture a complete Work, regardless of the number of tracks the Work contains, so long as the Work has the same exact name for all tracks comprising the Work.
OK - here is a quick update. I set the "Initial List Size" to 100 and then set "Maintains 100 number of tracks" as a test - then did a preview sort. Several long works were in the list, but I noticed that at the bottom of the list, there was a work which contained only two tracks, even though the actual work contains more than two tracks.
So, it appears to me that the list stops at 100 tracks in this case, regardless of the fact that the last work selected has more tracks than were selected. The Maintains 100 tracks became a limiter.
Otherwise, the Work selector functioned as intended and captured all related tracks for other works in that particular preview effort.
Seems to me that the Maintains XXX number of tracks limiter must need to be disabled when we are trying to sort by Work so that the last Work in the list contains all of its associated tracks.
If this action is not possible, the Work sort still has great value because I can just eliminate the last Work from the "Playing Tracks" column.
Great work, Steve!!!
Art