Sometimes a I have a hard time expressing what i want to say with clarity, so, let me try for a final time to make sure we are on the same page.
If one takes the NPA name literally, it would indicate that what I am looking for is likely not consistent with its intentions, and maybe this is why I may be confusing. By the name, assistant, I suppose it is indeed just an assistant to what is already established as nowplaying and if so, then it is fine as is. If this is the case, then no need to read any further... however, if not, then consider what follows.
Point: My observation is that the NPA functions different to the main player area. All one can do in the NPA it seems, is queue a song or a group of songs to be inserted into the already nowplaying list..whether by playnow or queue next.. therefore, one cannot generate a new nowplaying list while in NPA, but rather, make adjustments to what is already established.
However, if one wants the flexibility of remaining in theatermode, mini player mode or whatever without going back to get a new assortment of what comprises nowplaying, then it seems the NPA has to be able to do more.
I have composed a set of images to demonstrate my observation of the difference the mainplayer has on nowplaying list vs the NPA. (This is without shuffle enabled)
So,I start up the player and selected a jack Johnson as the song i want to play... immediately it populates the nowplaying list on the right in the same manner, and it will continue to play his songs in the order indicated followed by any song that follows after him.
So next, I select a different artist: Lionel Richie, and you will see it does the same thing it did for jack Johnson.. Looking at the nowplaying list, you will see I will not hear any more jack Johnson.
I then sort my list by Star rating, and select one of the songs there and looking at the nowplaying list, you can see that I will be hearing just my star rated songs, and if at this point Lionel Richie or jack Johnson are not in that star rating, they won't be played. Not at this juncture anyway.
NOW....I then switch over to theatermode as MB is playing the star rated songs, and open the NPA.. and of course, it reflects the last change made and is focused on my star rated songs.
I then go to the library tab of the NPA and select an unrated artist, just like i would in eh main player, and look what happens... the list does not change, but the song i selected is inserted BETWEEN the already established list. So it will play and the list will then continue as it was
So, to sum up, after all of this.. the result of the queue or playnow that is demonstrated in the last one is fine to an extent, but if i want to change the nowplaying list, I have to back to the main player to do that and then return to theatermode.