I've had my Empeg for a few days now. Since then I have had great fun creating playlists, toying with the visuals, and taunting my employees with it. I just seem to be having difficulty navigating the playlists the way I would prefer...

I have my MP3s organized by Artist-Album-Tracks like this:

James Brown
.........|_____The Payback
.........|_____Star Time!
..................|_____Mr. Dynamite (disc1)
..................|_____The Hardest Working Man in Show Business (disc2)

Etc, Etc...

Now I know that the Empeg is supposed to "liberate" us from the shackles of the single CD, but sometimes (most of the time) I like to listen to specific albums, not specific tracks. Or if I pick a specific track I'd like to continue listening to the CD it came from. I guess what I am trying to ask, is there a way to jump from playlist to playlist without returning to the "root?" Navigating the Empeg by playlists as they were directories on a harddrive? Meaning the ability to "cd .." or jump to the next playlist down (next album in an artist's collection?)

Also, I am unable to find a way to set the Empeg to "repeat." That is, if I am listening to a playlist and it finishes, to jump back to the first song in that playlist. Is this possible?

Maybe this stuff belongs in the Wish List forum, but I thought there must be a way to get it to work this way out of the box.

Thanks...
(weird... the bbs wants to strip out all my spaces in my little illustration.)

Arggg... on a similar note, is there a way to get playlists to display with the sorting shown in Emplode? I thought if Emplode was set to sort "In Playlist order" it would show up on Empeg that way.

Example. In Emplode it shows my play lists as:

Beck
Bootsy Collins
James Brown
Ray Charles

etc... But on the Empeg, they come up as:

Beck
Bootsy Collins
George Clinton
James Brown
Parliament
Primus
Ray Charles

blah, blah, blah... Obviously, the Empeg is showing playlists in alphabetical order. I tried to sort the Emplode list so they would appear in a pseudo last name alphabetical order. This appears to not carry across to the unit. Am I doing something wrong?

Okay. Sorry Tony, but I have to bring it up. It's about my enqueing thing again. You said something to the effect of "wait until you get your empeg" and since I have been using it for a while now, I feel I can bring this up again.

I still really feel the need to be able to enqueue songs and even playlists. I would love to narrow it down to an artist's specific song, and be able to press down again and it only loads the song to the end of the list, but also have the directories remain open. I still find it annoying to only select a song from a completely different category as the current song when the first song has finished playing.

And don't start with the searching thing. It's a pain in the rear. It is definitely too time consuming and doesn't always work.

Let's say, for instance, that I am listening to a song and I am reminded of an artist with similar stuff. I could go to that artist's albums or a particular song, but I have to play it right away, and it wipes away my current playlist. Let's also say that I'm driving around town and I don't have time to use the "append by artist" search function because I'm spending that time paying attention to the road. It would be alot easier to enqueue those songs at a stoplight.

Of course, I've thought of a few of the difficulties in implementing this. For one, not everyone would want it (there's a few things I don't use on the empeg myself), so I suppose you could add a setting in emplode or even in the same style as the "Shuffle" menu item. The later would take care of the problem of being able to clear the playlist. With "Enqueueing off", the player would function like it does now.

Sorry to rant like this, but it's something I would really like to see implemented if possible. I know I should have put this under wishlist, but the thread was similar to the subject.


(ps-what does the empeg use the time and date for? I know how to set it, but I cn'at find any way to view it. And what is the timer in the bottom-right for when using the AUX input?)

DiGNAN
13653

Obviously, the Empeg is showing playlists in alphabetical order. I tried to sort the Emplode list so they would appear in a pseudo last name alphabetical order. This appears to not carry across to the unit. Am I doing something wrong?

No, you're doing nothing wrong. The menu on the empeg is purely alphabetical and does not take into account the order you've set in Emplode. The order in Emplode is followed when you're playing stuff, but when you see them listed in the menu, they are alphabetical. This was obviously a design decision.

I'm not sure if it was the right design decision or not... I've certainly gotten used to pressing "P" on the remote to jump to "Paula Cole" instead of "C", and ordering the menus non-alphabetically could break this. So I think I like it the way it is. Have you tried using the letter keys on the remote to jump to the desired playlist?

___________
Tony Fabris

You said something to the effect of "wait until you get your empeg" and since I have been using it for a while now, I feel I can bring this up again.

That's cool. Now we can converse on an equal footing and we can both be clear what it is you're asking for.

I still really feel the need to be able to enqueue songs and even playlists.

But (and here's the catch) you want to do this from the main playlists menu, not from the search results screen. Is that what you're saying? Because you can enqueue songs from the search results right now. And everyone is asking for a search-by-playlist screen which would allow you to do it for playlists, too.

And don't start with the searching thing.

Oh. Oops. OK. Sorry.

I think I see the kind of thing you're asking for, and I think that it would be possible to add it to the current UI in a similar way that they've got the "append" feature working in the search screen. When traversing the playlists from the main menu, you could press the CD-MD-CH button to toggle it between "play", "append" and "insert" modes. By default, it could be in "play" mode every time you enter the playlist menu (so that Joe Consumer doesn't get confused), but a single button press toggles it over to the append/insert modes. The word "append playlist" or "insert playlist" could appear at the top of the screen. Then you could traverse the playlist structure and append to your heart's content.

I really could see this working and being useful. But the question is: How hard is it to code, and would enough people want this esoteric feature to make it worth Empeg's time to do the work? Anyone else want to chime in here?

(Note: I seem to recall this very thing being discussed on the Wish list a while ago...)

___________
Tony Fabris

When traversing the playlists from the main menu, you could press the CD-MD-CH button to toggle it between "play", "append" and "insert" modes.

Now then Tony, don't act all innocent - I know you've seen the proposed layout for the new remote :-)

Sufficed to say, this is something that's coming.

Rob

The clock is used to trigger full disk checks when synchronising, so it's fairly important that you set it (unless you don't mind long sync delays).

Rob

Now then Tony, don't act all innocent - I know you've seen the proposed layout for the new remote :-) Sufficed to say, this is something that's coming.

Despite having seen that very thing, it didn't give me a hint that this feature was on the official wish list. Cool.

___________
Tony Fabris

I've certainly gotten used to pressing "P" on the remote to jump to "Paula Cole" instead of "C", and ordering the menus non-alphabetically could break this...

Not necessarily... I would just like it to display in the order I've chosen. I am attempting to order my playlist as I've organized my CDs at home. I'm a little anal about how I order my discs (Alpha by Artist, Chrono by Album, Collections then Singles). Sometimes I break my own rules to my own liking... Such as placing Les Claypool and the Holy Mackerel immediately after Primus. This is echoed in the Empeg by sneaking LCatHM inside the main Primus playlist. Sadly it pops up in the middle of the playlist order on the Empeg now.

you could press the CD-MD-CH button to toggle it between "play", "append" and "insert" modes... ...The word "append playlist" or "insert playlist" could appear at the top of the screen. Then you could traverse the playlist structure and append to your heart's content...

That would be fantastic... I only heard about the "append" mode last night and was disappointed there seemed to be no "insert" mode. Oh I hope this is available soon.

Also, I am unable to find a way to set the Empeg to "repeat."

I'm pretty certain that this item is being added to a later software update...

Once again I really am looking forward to this functionality...

Thanks all for clearing this up for me. This is one of the great things about the Empeg... its flexibility and its creators desire to make it the best damn device in the market. Thank you... (now if I could only get the stupid thing in my car.)

Brian

Also, I am unable to find a way to set the Empeg to "repeat."
I'm pretty certain that this item is being added to a later software update...
Once again I really am looking forward to this functionality...

Right now, you can set any playlist to repeat by default in Emplode. I have all my playlists set to automatically repeat.

___________
Tony Fabris

"Right now, you can set any playlist to repeat by default in Emplode."

Ahhh... I missed that. Now if there was just a global setting to override that to skip to the next playlist I'd be very happy.

Sufficed to say, this is something that's coming

Okay, it's settled. You guys just plain rock. This is fantastic. AHHH!! To...excited...must...calm down...AHHH!! (sorry, I just got back from the Redskins game -- we won ).

Three cheers for the empeg team!!

DiGNAN
13653

So are you guys saying that the first level of the playlist orders alphabetically no matter what you do? I don't think that's very good. And isn't ~ supposed to come at the beginning of the alphabet?

If that's not what you're saying then I don't know why my playlists come out in emplode's order only sometimes. I happen to like placing my albums in chronological order. It always sounds better that way, especially if I feel like playing the whole artist list. Just a small point though.

those clock and other things are pretty interesting, though.

DiGNAN
13653

The playlists appear on the player in alphabetical order because the remote alphabetical shortcut used to be an essential feature. That was before searching was implemented - I don't know how many people use that feature now. Anyone?

Rob

I use the alphabet shortcuts. Maybe just because I have not had mine long enough to get used to the search functionality, but alphabetization (is that a word?) seems faster and easier to me.

-Mike

When I want to play a specific album or artist in album-order, I always use the alphabetical shortcuts from the main playlist menu. This is only useful to me because I have a bunch of artist/album playlists. Someone without their playlists organized in this fashion probably has no use for the alphabetic shortcuts.

When I want to find a specific song, I use the "search by title" feature. I never use the search by artist or search by album features, it's quicker to navigate my playlists with the alphabetic shortcuts.

___________
Tony Fabris

I don't understand why the playlist order and alphabetic shortcuts cannot be used in tandem. If the Empeg displays the album playlists in an arbitrary order set in Emplode, it doesn't change their names. Shouldn't alphabetic shortcuts still work?



Brian H. Johnson
MK2 36GB Blue
"Soy un perdedor..."

I use it all the time..
-mark

MK2: 36gb
Tivo: 90gb
CPU: 120gb
...I think drive manufacturers love me!

I don't understand why the playlist order and alphabetic shortcuts cannot be used in tandem. If the Empeg displays the album playlists in an arbitrary order set in Emplode, it doesn't change their names. Shouldn't alphabetic shortcuts still work?

Hmm. Perhaps you have a point. It'd be a little strange from a Joe Consumer user point-of-view, but it might still work. It would be a useful thing to make as an option in Emplode: "Alphabetical Playlist Menus" vs. "Emplode-ordered Playlist Menus".

___________
Tony Fabris

especially if I feel like playing the whole artist list.

The items in the menu always appear sorted. If you select the little triangle icon (play all), they don't play in alphabetic order. They'll play in whatever order is set in emplode (unless shuffle is on!).

So, to play the whole artist list in chronological order, just set the albums under the artist to chronological order in emplode, turn off shuffle, and select the "play all" icon under the particular artist. The music should come out in the right order.


Roger - not necessarily speaking for empeg

No, I don't see how they would work. You might have 5 "B" playlists, so you press 2 on the keypad and you get an "A" list, press it again and you get a "B", but you want the next one (which has been ordered at the other end of the menu) so you press again, but now you get a "C" playlist.

With the playlist in alphabetical order, the shortcut gets you close to your selection and you can then scroll through to it.

Rob

No, I don't see how they would work

Well there may be yet another solution. How about adhering to the strict alphabetical sequence that Rob explained, but allowing some freedom as to the specific word that is to be used for sequencing. Without explicitly telling the software that 'Hooker' is the key word in 'John Lee Hooker' and 'Pink' the key word in 'Pink Floyd there needs to be an assumption. Currently the assumption is that the key word is the first one in the tag.

How about an option to override this assumption? This could be achieved by using a special character to identify the start of the word that is to be used for alphabetising. If nothing is specified, the first word is used, as now (backward compatibility ). In this manner, one can 'move' the Hooker album to be part of the 'H' range. (Much like the Windows convention to identify the single character to trigger key board short cuts)

(my twopence worth)

Henno
mk2 6 nr 6

I use remote alpha keys to access playlists (and will use it even more when play/append/insert playlist gets implemented). If playlists were also searched, perhaps I would access them from there. However, how about having emplode/emptool option of ordering playlists alphabetically or in play order? That would satisfy everybody.

Cheers!



Dragi "Bonzi" Raos
Zagreb, Croatia
Q#5196, MkII#80000376, 18GB green