Switching between albums in a multi-album playlist

[beesee]

Hi,

I have playlists containing  multiple audiobooks by specific authors and I'd like to be able to switch between the audiobooks within the playlist without losing the position in the previously played one. When I click the artwork (in the Album or Album and Tracks views) the playback defaults to the first track in the list, regardless of the track where I last left off. So in this playlist in this screenshot, I'd like to be able to switch to listening Short Stories and later get back to listening Great Expectations at the position where I left off, at track 2.

[frankz]

This will be automatic if your audiobook files are added to your Audiobooks library (select files, right-click, send to->audiobooks).  It sounds like they are not there now.

Alternately, you can select the files, bring up the tag editor and select "remember playback position" on the settings tab.

But your audiobooks should optimally be in the Audiobooks library.

[beesee]

Thank you frankz!  As a new arrival to Musicbee I might not be making sense, but I have created a library from a folder on my computer containing my audiobooks and named it Audiobook library, and then I created playlists using this library.
Of course, I set all the audiobooks in all the playlists to "remember playback position" but I still get this behaviour. The positions within the tracks are remembered (when the track is clicked directly it is going to resume at the point where I'd stopped, not from the beginning), but the problem is that upon clicking the artwork to start playing the audiobook, the playback always starts from the first track and I don't get any indication which track had been played last.

EDIT: This happens only when selecting albums within a single playlist by clicking on the artwork. When switching between separate playlists by clicking on the playlist in the Playlist explorer,  positions are preserved and I can continue listening where I left off.

[frankz]

I don't seem to be communicating effectively.

It doesn't matter what your library is named.  It doesn't matter what the folders you add to your library are named.  You let MB know that your audiobooks are audiobooks by adding them to the Audiobooks section of your library as I have indicated above.  You have not said whether or not you have done this.

If the files are not in your Audiobooks library and MB does not know they are audiobooks in this sense, it will not play them as audiobooks should be played.

[beesee]

Sorry frankzz, I did as you suggested and added all items from my library to the Audiobooks library using the context menu command "Send to .. Audiobooks". It didn't change anything, I still have the same behaviour - when I click the artwork within the playlist the playback starts from the first track.

[frankz]

If you look at the files in tracks view in the Audiobooks node, what does "% Played" field show for the files that are being automatically played?

Maybe a screenshot of that, properly posted so we can actually see it, can help here.

[beesee]

I tried inserting an  imgur before but as an image so it didn't show in the post, now I read the instructions it worked. Here's a screenshot of my Tracks view with the %played field shown. It updates the tracks progress correctly.

https://imgur.com/GHXXgJe

And here's the Album cover view with the same audiobooks, which I prefer to use and where I would like to be able to click on the cover and get back to the position where I left off. (in this case after switching to another audiobook and getting back to As a Man Thinketh, I'd like the audiobook to highlight and resume track 2)

https://imgur.com/GHhf0t2

[frankz]

None of those files are completely (100%) played.  Therefore, when you click on "As a Man Thinketh," for example, it should start at 23% of the way into track one and then move to 20% into track two when that is completed.

If you want to start on a different track, you will need to manually double click that track.  Otherwise, if none of these tracks are 100% played, how would suggest MB devine where you intend to start when you click the cover?  Double clicking the cover is basically telling MB to start playing the book from the unheard point closest to the beginning of the book.

[beesee]

It makes complete sense, but after the first two tracks of As a Man Thinketh were completed (the %played field for these tracks were emptied, is that an expected behaviour?), I was expecting that next time I click on the artwork for the book the playback would start on the third track (or rather 43% into the third track) of the audiobook. It didn't happen unfortunately, it started over from the beginning of the first track. Here's a screenshot:

https://imgur.com/R4wGtn5

[frankz]

I've never used Audiobooks in a playlist.  What happens if you set the Audiobooks node to the view you like (album or album and tracks) and click on the cover there?

[beesee]

I was doing it from the Audiobooks node rather than from the Playlists, but the behaviour is the same. One click on the artwork selects all tracks and a double-click starts a playback from the first track. I guess that it can't be expected that the previously played track of a book will be played if all tracks have been selected before that. Is a single click on the artwork supposed to select all tracks, and is that how it works for you?

https://imgur.com/KHh0GY5

[frankz]

I use the Audiobook functionality radio shows, one show per file, so I'm afraid I can't do a comparison as to how it works for a book.  Maybe someone who uses audiobooks for its intended purpose might have some ideas.

[beesee]

Thank you for the help frankz, I hope someone will jump in with their thoughts on this. In the meantime I'll keep enjoying the application, this is not a major feature of Musicbee for me, but it would be nice to make it work anyway.