Author Topic: Add the "Automatically export a static copy" feature for Playlist Mixers content  (Read 1278 times)

ObO92

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First of all, many thanks for that amazing app.

One of the key features for me is the Smart Playlists - it took me ages to find better than Winamp's smart playlists...but Musicbee just nailed it!

I now use the Auto-Playlists very heavily, and I just discovered the how Playlist Mixers can help fine tuning the ratios of tracks to play even more.
The only con's about Mixers is that their contents cannot be exported automatically, unlike Fixed or Auto-Playlist.

I've tried a workaround by creating an Auto-Playlist based on a Mixer, and activating the automatic export of the Auto-Playlist, but it fails to work as I hoped.
For some reason, the Auto-Playlist rearranges the tracks order, even though I've set it not to sort anything.
I sometimes get several tracks of the same artits in a raw, although it is not possible in the Mixer on which the Plalist is based (thanks to the "gap before the same artist can repeat" settings in the Mixer).

So my request is : would it be possible to add the "Automatically export a static copy" feature on the Playlist Mixers?

Thanks!

ObO92

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Hi,

After some many more attempts, it looks like the feature is "almost" already there, but still in bits and pieces and not totally finalized yet.

The automatic export is not triggered when the mixers contents is just refreshed manually or automatically - and that is my main concern :-X
BUT it IS triggred by a very specific event: when you change settings in the Mixer (like the track count of one of the sources) and then close MusicBee!   :o

Also, there is no flag in the settings screens to activate/disable the automatic export.
BUT the SaveStaticCopy boolean flag already exists in the "SmartPlaylist" section of the Mixer's XRADIOPF description files.

So would it be possible to add the "activate/deactivate" option in the Mixers setting screen,
and to automatically trigger the export when the Mixers contents is updated?
(actually I wouldn't mind if the option wasn't visible from the Mixers settings screen, but the Mixers were always exported)

To explain my usecase :

Until i understood how Mixers work, I was using the auto-playlists in MusicBee to pick-up files depending on their Rate and Genres and other tags i've defined (upbeat, slow...).
When i'd close MusicBee, a copy would be automatically exporedt into a shared drive, so i could keep listening the same playlists from a remote basic player.

I have now switched to using Playlist Mixers instead of Auto-playlists, because they bring great fine tuning options:
With a Mixer based on the auto-playlist above, I added ratios like 80% of most recent songs, 15% of older ones, and 5% of best songs not played in the last 5 years, and then "shuffle" the results and even define the gap before a same artist is repeated.
The output is a perfect home-made radio fitting my exact tastes.

Unfortunately, unlike the auto-playlists, the mixers are not automatically exported when I close MusicBee, so i cannot keep using that perfect "home-made radio" playlist from my remote basic player.

So the missing bits of that feature would be really, REALLY appreciated for sure :)  

Thanks!
Last Edit: June 05, 2022, 08:54:15 AM by ObO92



Steven

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I have done this for the next v3.5 update but i am not sure its a good idea. Every time anything is changed in the library, the playlist will be re-exported and as there is randomness in the tracks selected the playlist will differ every time.
To get a one-off exported playlist, you can already right click on the playlist/ Export

https://getmusicbee.com/patches/MusicBee35_Patched.zip
Last Edit: September 04, 2022, 09:12:43 AM by Steven

Steven

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if anyone has been using this, i would be interested in feedback to my previous post