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#296148 - 31/03/2007 18:41 Make albums play in the correct order
laserfan
stranger

Registered: 08/09/2002
Posts: 32
Loc: Frozen North
Having forgotten how to use my Rio Central (!), and then coming here to nose around a bit after a long absence, I notice the FAQ says the Rio Receiver doesn't play songs in the album order. Actually it will/it does if you include the track number in the song title e.g.
01 - Sayuri's Theme.mp3
02 - The Journey To The Hanamachi.mp3
03 - Going To School.mp3
04 - Brush On Silk.mp3
05 - Chiyo's Prayer.mp3

...and so on for "Memoirs of a Geisha" CD. All my albums have been ripped in this way using Winamp (I've never used my Central's ripping feature so dunno if you can do this with it).

What is somewhat odd with both the Rio Receiver and the Rio Central is that the track numbers don't appear when playing i.e. the "04 - " for Brush On Silk doesn't appear.

But everything does play in correct order ripping/naming in this way. Maybe everyone here knows this but if not...

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#296149 - 31/03/2007 21:54 Re: Make albums play in the correct order [Re: laserfan]
tfabris
carpal tunnel

Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31563
Loc: Seattle, WA
Very interesting. I'll have to try this.

I mean, I knew that if you made the track names include a number that they would play alphabetically. But the part about the user interface hiding the number automatically... that's just brilliant, I had no idea it would do that.
_________________________
Tony Fabris

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#296150 - 01/04/2007 06:39 Re: Make albums play in the correct order [Re: tfabris]
peter
carpal tunnel

Registered: 13/07/2000
Posts: 4172
Loc: Cambridge, England
Quote:
I mean, I knew that if you made the track names include a number that they would play alphabetically. But the part about the user interface hiding the number automatically... that's just brilliant, I had no idea it would do that.

I don't think it actually does do that. Laserfan has listed filenames, whereas the track titles (i.e. in the ID3 tags) probably don't include the "04 - " or the ".mp3".

What's actually going on here is that it's the server, not the Receiver, which decides how albums will be sorted. Dell, our licensee at the time for the Receiver, required us to make the Windows receiver server do something dumb -- sort by title -- whereas there was no such requirement on the Central's built-in receiver server. Receivers attached to Centrals always play albums in the correct order.

Peter

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#296151 - 01/04/2007 08:12 Re: Make albums play in the correct order [Re: peter]
Roger
carpal tunnel

Registered: 18/01/2000
Posts: 5680
Loc: London, UK
Quote:
Receivers attached to Centrals always play albums in the correct order.


Yeah, what he said.
_________________________
-- roger

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#296152 - 04/04/2007 00:03 Re: Make albums play in the correct order [Re: peter]
laserfan
stranger

Registered: 08/09/2002
Posts: 32
Loc: Frozen North
Quote:
Laserfan has listed filenames, whereas the track titles (i.e. in the ID3 tags) probably don't include the "04 - " or the ".mp3".

That is correct of course. Just so I'm clear though--it is indeed the "04 - " in the filename that allows the Central to serve songs in the correct order? No other trick to it i.e. something in the tags (I don't see anything there)?

Central: sorts/serves by filename
Windows Audio Receiver manager software: sorts/serves by song title

Chalk one up for owning a Central. Lord knows I haven't used it to any other benefit--I can't recall even putting a disk into the tray! Hmmm, wonder if that works!? I've had it long enough now that I suppose I should move it somewhere that actually has a stereo setup, and use the thing for other than just a repository/music server. The wife never knew I bought it...hasn't noticed it among the rubble in my computer workshop! That the Receiver plays albums is magic to her...

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#296153 - 04/04/2007 04:28 Re: Make albums play in the correct order [Re: laserfan]
tfabris
carpal tunnel

Registered: 20/12/1999
Posts: 31563
Loc: Seattle, WA
Quote:
Central: sorts/serves by filename

Not exactly. More specifically: When loading songs onto the Central via Emplode, Emplode uses the file names to determine the song order in the playlists and writes that order to the Central.

(Edit: If you're playing from playlists, that is. If you're playing from the soup, then the rules listed below are what applies.)
_________________________
Tony Fabris

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#296154 - 05/04/2007 09:00 Re: Make albums play in the correct order [Re: laserfan]
peter
carpal tunnel

Registered: 13/07/2000
Posts: 4172
Loc: Cambridge, England
Quote:
Quote:
Laserfan has listed filenames, whereas the track titles (i.e. in the ID3 tags) probably don't include the "04 - " or the ".mp3".

That is correct of course. Just so I'm clear though--it is indeed the "04 - " in the filename that allows the Central to serve songs in the correct order?

No; if your files have correct track-number tags, Central will serve them in the correct order, irrespective of filename.

Quote:
No other trick to it i.e. something in the tags (I don't see anything there)?

The only "trick" is having correct track numbers listed in the ID3 tags.

Quote:
Central: sorts/serves by filename
Windows Audio Receiver manager software: sorts/serves by song title

Both Central and Audio Receiver Manager sort by doing queries against the database of track metadata (tag data). The difference comes because they use different database queries: Central's includes (effectively) "SORT BY tracknr", whereas ARMgr's includes (effectively) "SORT BY title".

ARMgr creates its database by using ID3 tag data directly; Central creates its database from the tag data given it by Emplode, but Emplode has got that data in the first place by reading the ID3 tags, using the same algorithm (indeed, the same code) as ARMgr itself.

To run this absolutely into the ground:
  • If the tracks have both title and track-number filled-in in the tags, Central will serve them in the right order and ARMgr will serve them in the wrong order, whatever their filenames are.
  • If the tracks have the title filled-in, but not the track number, Central will serve them in the order they were added (which is probably alphabetical order of filenames), and ARMgr will serve them in the wrong order.
  • If the tracks have the track-number filled in, but not the title, Central will serve them in the right order, and ARMgr will serve them in alphabetical order of filenames.
  • If the tracks don't have either title or track-number filled-in, both Central and ARMgr will serve them in alphabetical order of filenames.
  • If, according to the above criteria, your server will serve in alphabetical order of filenames, and these filenames contain the track-number ("04 - Track.mp3"), then that means that your server will serve them in the right order. But the track names will look wrong on the Receiver's display, because they'll have those extraneous digits in (and you can't use non-filename-safe characters).


Peter

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#296155 - 06/04/2007 00:34 Re: Make albums play in the correct order [Re: peter]
laserfan
stranger

Registered: 08/09/2002
Posts: 32
Loc: Frozen North
Thanks, I think I have been away from MP3 tags for too long; of course these include track numbers...

I dunno what server might "pay attention" to my filenames--none that I use. But I'm glad you're around Peter to help autopsy this dead horse we've been beating...

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