Playlist Specific Sorting

[inQBtr]

I would just like to request a feature which would allow playlists to have their own sort type. I have some playlists which I'd like to sort by Artist, and others that I like to sort by Album. However, currently, if you select a sort type, it just applies to your view for all playlists in general, which actually affects my playlist syncing to my Android phone.

In the meantime, I've been sorting by a category, then updating the play order, and restoring the natural play order. However, this has to be done every time I add a new song, which is a bit annoying when each playlist could just have their own sorting order.

In addition to this, if individually sorted playlists are implemented, an additional option to auto-organize newly added songs could be included. That is, whenever new songs are added to a sorted playlist, the songs could be automatically placed in the proper position.

I'd greatly appreciate any feature that could add this playlist-specific sorting along with auto-organization of new songs in these sorted playlists.
Thanks!

[alec.tron]

+1
But please as an override option i.e. default stays as is - being "Natural Sorting" for static playlists and "global" sorting for auto-playlists, but one should also have the option to set a preferred sorting type on a per playlist basis for static as well as auto-playlists!
(Also, would be great if these settings then would make it into static copies/exported playlists (of the same in MB), but I guess that should be a given)
Churs.
c.

[vzell]

+1

[Steven]

right click on the playlist node/ Playlist Settings...
and set "custom fields for this playlist only"
that setting also enables custom sorting

[alec.tron]

Thanks for the info.

Upon trying the following based on the above info, I get the following though (in 3.1.6337):
- right click playlist,
- select "Playlist Settings..."
- set "Displayed Fields" to "custom fields for this playlist only"
(- for good measure I tried a view different 'display using view' options as well... same outcome)
- hit save
(- I then assumed you can set a sorting locally, so I clicked on any field to attempt to force a different sorting method for the playlist in question)
(- this then had no effect whatsoever and always switched with/back to "global" sorting [after looking at another playlist & change sorting to test the setting])
- to double check (as the abvove steps revealed something is off)- right click playlist again
- select "Playlist Settings..."
- despite being set to "Displayed Fields" to "custom fields for this playlist only" previously, it now is set still/again back to 'use default'

Looks like that setting is not saving anymore.
I do have configured my playlists to be .m3u & to be written out, in case that matters.
Cheers.
c.

[alec.tron]

Hm. IF I set it to  'display using view' = 'Track Details' - it does seem to remember the localized sorting preference...?!
But the select "Playlist Settings..." GUI, after saving  "custom fields for this playlist only" & Re-opening the gui is reset to 'use default' still, but for the above sertting/case it keeps the local/playlist relative sorting.
That's a tad confusing as there's a lot of mixes messages & very different behaviour...
Any ideas what might be amiss here ?
c.

[Steven]

you probably dont remember, but when you select M3u for the library playlist format MB warns that playlist features are not supported.
There should have been a message that shows when you click Playlist Settings to the same effect and i have corrected that bug

[alec.tron]

Is there an overview of the playlist feature disparity when using MB binary playlists VS m3u (ideally + VS MB iTunes xml playlist export features) ?
(
ps. idealy also + VS all export formats for Playlists MB offers in the preferences [also out of curiousity, how come these are not exposed for single playlist export -> right click - export - there's only .m3u [of one of the 3 kinds...?]], whereas the preferences offer all of these:
M3U (ascii),
M3U (#EXT)
M3U8
ASX
PLS
WPL
XSPF
) ?

If there's no comparison/overview, so users know what they can rely on and what not, I could volunteer to compile one for the wiki, but then I would need to have a clear picture of what the differences in features are, which I do not have as is.
Cheers.
c.

[rygle]

I don't know if this would fix this situation, but here's what I did to make the playlist export to a USB stick in the order I wanted.

I first brought up the playlist, then made it sort on screen the way I wanted (I clicked the Track heading to sort by track name for my Roland electronic drum kit which has limited screen space - see another post of mine about track naming), then right clicked on the playlist name and selected "List" -> "Update Play Order". The numbering for the list changed so the first track alphabetically was 1, and the next time I synced the USB it sorted by track. This should make any sort order become the new order for that list.

[Varick]

Yes, this is an issue (setting) that would be EXTREMELY useful and has been in much of my daily music organizing in iTunes.  I would like the sorting to be remembered for EACH playlist independent of each other.

Ex.  I constantly use Play Count as a sorting mechanism because I have many playlists that have over a thousand songs and would last days if played non stop 24 hours.  So I make a secondary playlist that i listen off of.  So when I listen to that playlist for a few hours one day, I like to delete those songs off, so on the next day I play that same playlist, I don't get any repeats from the previous day's play. 

So it would be very helpful when I switch to another playist that I would like to be sorted by Artist or title or album, it's not still on Play Count from the last playlist I was on.  I have tried over and over, by following the above instructions, and every time I try to save the settings, the moment change the sorting of another playlist and return to the playlist I tried to save the settings on, it isn't saved.  Please advise.

In other words, saving the sorting setting to be different from one playlist to the next DOES NOT WORK.

V

[frankz]

+1.  I thought it was doing this already.

[Varick]

Let me be clear here.  Maybe this does work.  I am VERY new to MusicBee.  I think this program is fantastic.  I have ONLY used iTunes before and am ready to wipe my hands clean of everything Apple (I'm sick of them and their tactics).  In February of 2018, My service contract for my cell phone is up and I can't wait to go Android (or any non-Apple phone).  However, given the fact that I have a 500 Gig library (all on iTunes, and now Music Bee for the past few days), I needed to find a music data base that can do everything that iTunes can mainly because I'm half a computer moron (OK 3/4) and don't have the time or energy to recreate over 80 playlists that took me YEARS to create that I tweak almost daily.  I think I've found that in Music Bee, but I need to master this program before I try to download it on my iPhone and then transfer onto an Android in a few months.

So, I just ask that you please be patient with my (probably often) questions that may seem (and probably will be) dumb.  Thank you.

V

[Varick]

@ FrankZ.  New to this forum.  I thought "+1" meant that you also have this same issue, but then you state, "I thought it was doing this already."  Which indicates that the program already does what I wish it to do.  Please clarify for me.  Thank you.

V

[frankz]

+1 means I would like it to do this. 

I assumed this was the way it works (i.e. "I thought it was doing this"), but now I see it's not doing this as I originally thought..

[Varick]

Got it.  Thank you frankz.  Glad I'm not the only one with this issue. 

V