getmusicbee.com
Support => Questions => Topic started by: A0 on April 12, 2023, 04:46:40 PM
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Hi,
I've been using Music Bee for years and I think this has only just started happening.
Please see the screen image. These are FLAC files, playing locally on a Windows 10 PC.
On the left are the tracks in an album, displayed in the correct track number order. On the right is the actual order in which they are playing. In this case they are playing backwards, but in other albums, the playing sort order (on the right) appears to be random.
In my preference settings for Sorting / Grouping, everything is blank - no user defined sort order.
Each album has its own Windows folder, with the "track titles" as ripped (apart from a few edits) and the filenames are the track titles preceded by 01, 02, 03, etc.
In this album there is only one disc, so the track tags are all: discnumber 1, disctotal 1.
The album name, album artist and track artist are all identical across all the tracks too.
What would cause Music Bee to re-sort the tracks like this?
Thanks for your help
(https://i.imgur.com/kQhgJyh.jpg)
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Welcome to the forum A0.
1. Are these files tagged properly in regard to their track numbers?
I am asking since I get the impression you may be relying more on file names and folders than on metadata (the latter being the essential one when using software such as MusicBee)
2. Perhaps you have (accidentally) activated shuffle play or Auto DJ?
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2. Perhaps you have (accidentally) activated shuffle play or Auto DJ?
My money is on this.
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Thanks for your replies.
Shuffle:
Sorry, I meant to mention this. I’m as sure as I can be that it’s switched off – the icon in the bottom right corner of the MusicBee window shows two right pointing arrows and the popup text seems to confirm that it’s off. So I assume all shuffle settings in the preferences are therefore irrelevant? Or could shuffle be enabled anywhere else?
But if shuffle was on, wouldn’t all the albums play in a shuffled order, not just some of them? As it is now, some (most, I think) definitely still play in track number sequence.
Tags & track numbers, filenames etc:
The files are definitely tagged properly in regard to their track numbers. I’ve just checked all the tracks in the example album (using Mp3 Tag) and the track numbers are 1,2,3 etc. Not 01,02,03, which is what I use for the filenames.
I’m not intending to rely on the filenames at all in MusicBee. I just want it to display the track titles and play the tracks in track number order.
The filenames only contain the track numbers so the tracks display in the right order when I’m browsing the folders on my NAS. MusicBee is playing locally on the PC, but with an identical copy of the FLAC Play data.
Thanks for your help
(https://i.imgur.com/qgSQCkH.jpg)
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Mp3tag view of this album (track 16 plays first in MusicBee)
(https://i.imgur.com/LHb3XS9.jpg)
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In mp3tag, while any of those tracks are highlighted, press Alt-T and screenshot that. It will show if you have other tag formats that are conflicting.
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Is this a more useful view? In the left panel, the tracks are correctly sorted by track No.
In the centre panel, the “Disc-Track#” column shows that MusicBee has correctly read the track numbers, but the “#” column shows that it has decided to play them backwards.
(https://i.imgur.com/drZriNr.png)
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In mp3tag, while any of those tracks are highlighted, press Alt-T and screenshot that. It will show if you have other tag formats that are conflicting.
Thanks - here are the Extended Tags:
(https://i.imgur.com/WykL3Wy.jpg)
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Extended Tags 2:
(https://i.imgur.com/FdtAoFY.jpg)
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Is this a more useful view? In the left panel, the tracks are correctly sorted by track No.
In the centre panel, the “Disc-Track#” column shows that MusicBee has correctly read the track numbers, but the “#” column shows that it has decided to play them backwards.
What happens if you click on the Disc-Track # column header. That will reverse the sort order. Does the # column reverse also, or stay the same?
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Is this a more useful view? In the left panel, the tracks are correctly sorted by track No.
In the centre panel, the “Disc-Track#” column shows that MusicBee has correctly read the track numbers, but the “#” column shows that it has decided to play them backwards.
What happens if you click on the Disc-Track # column header. That will reverse the sort order. Does the # column reverse also, or stay the same?
Thanks phred - here is a screen copy. But after I've sorted by Disc-Track# and I right click on the album & select play now, it goes back to how it was before and starts playing track 16 (the real track 16, Adagio for Strings)
(https://i.imgur.com/r4prWPR.jpg)
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Just a thought .... I've only just remembered this, although this might be a complete red herring.
This album is a recent rip from a brand new CD to FLAC (using dBpoweramp). The first time I ripped it, I was getting errors when converting from FLAC to Mp3. So I checked the FLAC files and also found errors.
But after a complete re-rip, it was perfect all the way through. From Rip files, to FLAC edit files (Mp3tag), to Mp3 conversion - and I did lots of checks al the way through the process with no errors.
If you think it's relevant I can post some of the FLAC check errors and the Mp3 conversion errors but this is not the data we are looking at now
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Extended Tags 2:
(https://i.imgur.com/FdtAoFY.jpg)
Both screen shot images look fine, I don't think this is related to the tags.
But I can't replicate this "reversing" on my side, any album I right-click and choose play from anywhere shows up in the Now Playing tab with the correct song order and starting at track 1 every time.
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Is this a more useful view? In the left panel, the tracks are correctly sorted by track No.
In the centre panel, the “Disc-Track#” column shows that MusicBee has correctly read the track numbers, but the “#” column shows that it has decided to play them backwards.
What happens if you click on the Disc-Track # column header. That will reverse the sort order. Does the # column reverse also, or stay the same?
Thanks phred - here is a screen copy. But after I've sorted by Disc-Track# and I right click on the album & select play now, it goes back to how it was before and starts playing track 16 (the real track 16, Adagio for Strings)
(https://i.imgur.com/r4prWPR.jpg)
When you sort using the Disc-Track# column and the albums is displayed as expected, right-click anywhere on the list, and in the menu that appears drill into List->Update Play Order. That should reassign the tracks in the "#" column and restore the original album order.
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Extended Tags 2:
(https://i.imgur.com/FdtAoFY.jpg)
Both screen shot images look fine, I don't think this is related to the tags.
But I can't replicate this "reversing" on my side, any album I right-click and choose play from anywhere shows up in the Now Playing tab with the correct song order and starting at track 1 every time.
ok, thanks for checking the tags and trying it on your system
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Did you try this other suggestion?
When you sort using the Disc-Track# column and the albums is displayed as expected, right-click anywhere on the list, and in the menu that appears drill into List->Update Play Order. That should reassign the tracks in the "#" column and restore the original album order.
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What "Sorting" method are you using? If you check the Sort By->Define Custom Sorting... option, maybe you have something there under the album or track fields defined to sort as "descending" by default?
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You are playing the album from the Library Explorer. It looks like that panel remembers how the songs are sorted in the main panel.
Try selecting the album using the Tracks view in the main panel, and then sort the tracks by track number.
(sorting them in the Playing Tracks panel, as I suspect you have been doing won't help)
Start playing the album only briefly. (not sure this is needed, but just to be sure)
I think the next time you play it from the Library Explorer that playing order will remembered and used.
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What "Sorting" method are you using? If you check the Sort By->Define Custom Sorting... option, maybe you have something there under the album or track fields defined to sort as "descending" by default?
I couldn't find a "Sort by", sorry. Is that the same as Menu > Edit > Edit Preferences > Sorting / Grouping? If yes, then it's all empty - no custom sorting
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If you right click in the bar above where your list is (Where it says "Mood" in your image) you will get some options including the sorting.
On my screen I can right click in the area of the red circle, where I am using Album Artist rather than Mood as the filter. The first eight sorting options are pre-defined. I have a few custom ones that are currently showing. Plus you can choose to sort in Ascending or Descending order.
(https://i.imgur.com/Nz4DlHx.jpg)
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You are playing the album from the Library Explorer. It looks like that panel remembers how the songs are sorted in the main panel.
Try selecting the album using the Tracks view in the main panel, and then sort the tracks by track number.
(sorting them in the Playing Tracks panel, as I suspect you have been doing won't help)
Start playing the album only briefly. (not sure this is needed, but just to be sure)
I think the next time you play it from the Library Explorer that playing order will remembered and used.
Thanks hiccup ... I tried to follow your instructions but I'm getting a bit lost here. Do you mean display it like this?
(https://i.imgur.com/OjNaDpm.jpg)
As you can see, it does display in the correct order like this and the real track 1 does play first if I play the album from the centre panel. So if I keep it on Library in the navigator panel, it works ok. But if I select Now Playing in the navigator panel, it reverses the tracks again.
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If you right click in the bar above where your list is (Where it says "Mood" in your image) you will get some options including the sorting.
On my screen I can right click in the area of the red circle, where I am using Album Artist rather than Mood as the filter. The first eight sorting options are pre-defined. I have a few custom ones that are currently showing. Plus you can choose to sort in Ascending or Descending order.
(https://i.imgur.com/Nz4DlHx.jpg)
Got it thanks :)
I'll read the rest of your reply now - thanks for pointing me in the right direction
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I tried to follow your instructions but I'm getting a bit lost here. Do you mean display it like this?
No, that says 'Album and Tracks'.
Select 'Tracks' view instead.
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I tried to follow your instructions but I'm getting a bit lost here. Do you mean display it like this?
No, that says 'Album and Tracks'.
Select 'Tracks' view instead.
ok sorry, thanks for your patience. I see what you mean now. It works fine like that - it's already sorted (and plays) correctly. But as soon as I go back to Now Playing in the Navigator (Playing Tracks view), it plays backwards again.
So yes, I could stick to the tracks view (thank you) but surely it should also sort properly in the Now Playing view?
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What "Sorting" method are you using? If you check the Sort By->Define Custom Sorting... option, maybe you have something there under the album or track fields defined to sort as "descending" by default?
Here are the sort settings:
(https://i.imgur.com/f1BQPhQ.jpg)
(https://i.imgur.com/axfMv6K.jpg)
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I've got to go offline for an hour or so, I'll check for any updates later.
Thanks for all your help everyone
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So yes, I could stick to the tracks view (thank you) but surely it should also sort properly in the Now Playing view?
It will play in order for both Album, Album and Tracks, and Tracks view.
I am not sure why that order is not respected when using the Library Explorer.
(for you that is, it does for me when testing this)
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I am not sure why that order is not respected when using the Library Explorer.
(for you that is, it does for me when testing this)
Same here, MB behaves as expected. I even changed my layout to match what is shown to include the library browser in the left panel, right down to using Mood as the filter and choosing to Play Now from any album using a right-click. All play from track 1 in order. Unfortunately I'm out of suggestions here, sorry.
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I am not sure why that order is not respected when using the Library Explorer.
(for you that is, it does for me when testing this)
Same here, MB behaves as expected. I even changed my layout to match what is shown to include the library browser in the left panel, right down to using Mood as the filter and choosing to Play Now from any album using a right-click. All play from track 1 in order. Unfortunately I'm out of suggestions here, sorry.
Thank you both very much for all your efforts to reproduce the problem, and to everyone for all your suggestions. I'll continue to monitor it and if I have any other feedback, I'll update this topic.
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I've been playing along at home, and have a partial explanation of what's happening.
On the left are the tracks in an album, displayed in the correct track number order. On the right is the actual order in which they are playing. In this case they are playing backwards, but in other albums, the playing sort order (on the right) appears to be random.
2. Perhaps you have (accidentally) activated shuffle play or Auto DJ?
My money is on this.
The thread title and description isn't quite accurate, and may have sent some people down the wrong path.
MusicBee isn't playing tracks out of order - it's queueing them out of order.
Even with shuffle enabled, queueing an album will usually still list the tracks in album order. It's only during playback that the order is randomised.
(That's why the Play Shuffled command exists - it will actually queue tracks in a random order)
As for why it's queuing them out of order, that's trickier and I think is being hidden by your particular Now Playing panel settings which I'm struggling to replicate.
(It's not clear if that's your entire window, or just part of it)
Consider these two views of the same album:
This an album selected in the Library Explorer on the left, with the tracks from the album shown in the middle:
(https://i.imgur.com/s8KmsUb.png)
Here the tracks are shown in album order.
Double-clicking the album title (or right-click > Play Now) will queue the tracks in the same order.
Now - with the same album selected - I have sorted the tracks in the middle tracklist by title:
(https://i.imgur.com/hmc1mX9.png)
Playing the album now will also queue the tracks alphabetically by title.
Even though the tracklist isn't shown in your view, somehow I think you have accidentally sorted the tracks by a field other than track number and MusicBee is queueing tracks in that order.
It might be a bug, or it might just be an unfortunate side effect of your particular panel configuration.
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I've been playing along at home, and have a partial explanation of what's happening.
That is exactly what I explained to A0 yesterday.
Playing an album from the Library Explorer follows the track order as sorted in the main panel's Tracks view.
MotleyG also confirmed this.
A0 said he has tried that, but it doesn't make a difference for him, which I find strange.
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I've been playing along at home, and have a partial explanation of what's happening.
.... Playing the album now will also queue the tracks alphabetically by title.
Even though the tracklist isn't shown in your view, somehow I think you have accidentally sorted the tracks by a field other than track number and MusicBee is queueing tracks in that order.
It might be a bug, or it might just be an unfortunate side effect of your particular panel configuration.
Hi Zak and thank for explaining about the queueing.
If I select “Music” in the Navigator (bottom left), then:
Following your example of sorting the tracks by title and then playing the album: Yes, that works perfectly. Any sort order that I set in the tracks panel (middle) plays in that order. No problem.
But if I select “Now Playing” in the Navigator, then sort by disc-track, (shows track 1 at the top), then Play Now (on album, left panel): MB reverses the tracks and plays track 16 first.
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As for why it's queuing them out of order, that's trickier and I think is being hidden by your particular Now Playing panel settings which I'm struggling to replicate.
(It's not clear if that's your entire window, or just part of it)
Even though the tracklist isn't shown in your view, somehow I think you have accidentally sorted the tracks by a field other than track number and MusicBee is queueing tracks in that order.
It might be a bug, or it might just be an unfortunate side effect of your particular panel configuration.
Can I provide any screen copies that would show if I've accidentally sorted the tracks by a field other than track number?
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Only this album plays completely backwards. As I said earlier, most of the other albums play in the right order - even in the Now Playing view. I think I remember a few other albums playing slightly out of order but no others play completely backwards.
If I had accidentally sorted the tracks by a field other than track number, surely everything would be playing out of order? Unless it's possible to apply (and save) specific album sort settings?
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I'll be offline soon for the rest of the day (Friday pm, UK time) so I'll check in again tomorrow morning