Custom Album Order

[SteveH]

I’d like to present my albums in Kazoo in the following order:

Artist 1 > Album 1 > Album 2 > Album (....) > Artist 2 > Album 1 > Album (....) > Artist 3 > Album 1 > Album 2 > Album (....) etc.

I’d like the “Artist” to be the album group folder title, presented in alphabetical order and the “Albums” presented in chronological order, all on one continuous screen.

Is this possible with minimserver?

Also I’d like to be able to present all of my albums in a random order with a reshuffle each time the random list is requested. Is this possible too?

Thank you.

[SteveH]

Thinking more about it, albums presented in chronological order would be ok for most genres other than classical, which needs the “album” to be presented in alphabetical order.

This sounds pretty complex, but I’d be interested to know if it’s possible.

[Alandbush]

(09-11-2017 16:00)SteveH Wrote:  I’d like to present my albums in Kazoo in the following order:

Artist 1 > Album 1 > Album 2 > Album (....) > Artist 2 > Album 1 > Album (....) > Artist 3 > Album 1 > Album 2 > Album (....) etc.

I’d like the “Artist” to be the album group folder title, presented in alphabetical order and the “Albums” presented in chronological order, all on one continuous screen.

Is this possible with minimserver?

Also I’d like to be able to present all of my albums in a random order with a reshuffle each time the random list is requested. Is this possible too?

Thank you.

I’ll take the second question first as that is easy. There is no random or shuffle mode, either in minimserver or kazoo.
However, there is an iOS control point app called Glider that provides a shuffle option for Album, Artist, Composer, Songs etc. etc.

The first question is more difficult. Judging by the number of views and lack of responses, I suspect that most like me do not fully understand what your are requesting.

I’ll have a guess that you require something like a tree listing that is fully expanded, perhaps similar to this eg.
https://www.computerhope.com/jargon/t/tree.gif

Or perhaps more appropriately
http://www.foobar2000.org/images/img/main-black.png

If so, then the answer is again no for both applications.

[SteveH]

Thanks for your response alandbush. I’ll have a look at Glider.

It looks as though what I want isn’t possible. As an absolute minimum, I’d like my albums to be presented in folder order, but with each folder opened and its contents presented in any order.

For example, the albums would be presented something like this:

Arrival (ABBA)
Super Trouper (ABBA)
Waterloo (ABBA)
Barry and Glodean (Barry White)
Can’t get Enough (Barry White)
Stone Gon’ (Barry White)
Bird and Diz (Charlie Parker)
Bird is Free (Charlie Parker)
Bird Symbols (Charlie Parker)
Montreal 1950 (Charlie Parker)


So in effect, I’d like an “album” view, but with each bands albums grouped together rather than all of the albums just presented in alphabetical order.

This is how I would order CDs on a shelf, so it seems logical to present them in Kazoo in a similar order too. Is this possible?

[Alandbush]

(11-11-2017 11:31)SteveH Wrote:  Thanks for your response alandbush. I’ll have a look at Glider.

It looks as though what I want isn’t possible. As an absolute minimum, I’d like my albums to be presented in folder order, but with each folder opened and its contents presented in any order.

For example, the albums would be presented something like this:

Arrival (ABBA)
Super Trouper (ABBA)
Waterloo (ABBA)
Barry and Glodean (Barry White)
Can’t get Enough (Barry White)
Stone Gon’ (Barry White)
Bird and Diz (Charlie Parker)
Bird is Free (Charlie Parker)
Bird Symbols (Charlie Parker)
Montreal 1950 (Charlie Parker)


So in effect, I’d like an “album” view, but with each bands albums grouped together rather than all of the albums just presented in alphabetical order.

This is how I would order CDs on a shelf, so it seems logical to present them in Kazoo in a similar order too. Is this possible?

That’s a clearer description which helps enormously.

Dare I say that Glider provides an Album view sorted by Artist but only in an album cover form, I.e. not a list as you describe.

Lumin also provides a similar view, as well as another which is a list.
In this case, each album is expanded to show the tracks, although it looks a little unwieldy to me.
Lumin has more tailoring options than Glider currently.

[Peter@57m]

I do this using tagOptions Album.sortTags={artist,album}

Kazoo only displays the album covers in its Album view. In other views you have to navigate down to the album art level.

When Kazoo first came out this was the default for Album view, so it showed artist and then albums for that artist. However people complained and it changed to just album.

The downside of sorting by artist then album is that you no longer get the A to Z selection bar on the right. This bar will only appear if the items displayed are in pure alphabetical order by album which in this case they are not.

Not so much of an issue using Kazoo on windows as you get a bar which you can scroll up and down on the right. On iPads etc you do not get this. Quickest way if you are after something specific is to search, assuming you have a lot of albums to scroll through.

I also use Lumin control app as it does provide the view of albums by artist

[SteveH]

Thanks for your help guys ..... it’s really appreciated.

I didn’t realise that a control app could be so flexible in the way it presents a music collection, thinking it was the server software which determined what and how the collection is presented. It’s been a real eye opener!

I hadn’t heard of Glider, but it looks really promising. I particularly liked the original thought that’s gone into the design. It presents my collection in the way that I would like it, but I would still have to use Kazoo for radio selection and Qobuz.

I looked at Lumin when it first came out and didn’t really like it. However I downloaded it again yesterday and I can’t believe what a great app its become! With a bit of re-tagging of my classical files, it’ll be just about perfect for my needs. It integrates seamlessly with a Linn DS and there’s an option to have an a-z scroller on the right too now!

[Alandbush]

(12-11-2017 11:04)SteveH Wrote:  Thanks for your help guys ..... it’s really appreciated.

I didn’t realise that a control app could be so flexible in the way it presents a music collection, thinking it was the server software which determined what and how the collection is presented. It’s been a real eye opener!

I hadn’t heard of Glider, but it looks really promising. I particularly liked the original thought that’s gone into the design. It presents my collection in the way that I would like it, but I would still have to use Kazoo for radio selection and Qobuz.

I looked at Lumin when it first came out and didn’t really like it. However I downloaded it again yesterday and I can’t believe what a great app its become! With a bit of re-tagging of my classical files, it’ll be just about perfect for my needs. It integrates seamlessly with a Linn DS and there’s an option to have an a-z scroller on the right too now!

Whilst you are exploring Control points, you may also like the Android based BubbleDS Next.
This will provide an Album view sorted by Artist and it also enables access to Qobuz, Tidal etc. as well as Radio.

[simoncn]

I tried Glider. It seems that it creates its own fixed browse tree rather than using the browse tree provided by MinimServer. Have I missed a setting that would enable the MinimServer browse tree to be shown?

[Alandbush]

(12-11-2017 22:54)simoncn Wrote:  I tried Glider. It seems that it creates its own fixed browse tree rather than using the browse tree provided by MinimServer. Have I missed a setting that would enable the MinimServer browse tree to be shown?

Unfortunately, you have not missed a setting. Glider creates its own.
I understand this decision was made because of the design ethos.

Glider provides access to multiple music servers but presented as if they were one.
Many music servers could provide different browse trees so these are eschewed in favour of a custom tree to achieve the ‘single’ look.

This app is fairly new and has changed quickly recently after feedback from users.
I think access to cloud servers is currently being developed.

The developer, much like yourself, is very approachable so if you feel inclined to offer any advice then please do.
This is the Glider forum.