How to skip song (almost) every time ?

[Skiff640]

Hello MM experts,

I could really use some advice ...

On many of the CDs which I've put into the MM library, there are some songs that I'd rather not listen to when I play the CD. Just songs that I don't care for. At the same time, I don't want to delete the songs ... I like to keep the full CD with all its songs in the MM library for historical accuracy.

Is there some way to permanently mark the songs I don't like, and when I select "Play All" MM will skip those songs as it plays the CD? (Please note, I'm using the term "CD" inaccurately ... I'm actually playing the songs from the MM library on the hard disk, not from the physical CD.) Also, I'd rather not divide the CD into 2 fMM olders ... good songs and bad songs. Ideally, if I mark the "bad" songs with a 1 star rating than MM would skip them, or something like that.

I've read about playlists, but don't really understand them and I'm not sure if they can help with this issue.

I'd appreciate your help if you have any ideas ...
Skiff640

[Lowlander]

Is there some way to permanently mark the songs I don't like, and when I select "Play All" MM will skip those songs as it plays the CD?

No

You could give them a low Rating and then with Collections hide the low Rating. The files will still be on the PC, still be accessible through Entire Library, but when using the Collection that hides them Play All wouldn't include them.

[rovingcowboy]

Yes
If you are not playing virtual cds
if you ripped the cd in to the computer and keep it listed as an album the songs are then just individual files with the same album tag in MediaMonkey. That's how it keeps the songs in the same album. So if on the the puter you can use the advantages of the advanced playlist. And find the songs you don't want played in each of their properties find a custom field tag. Place a unique code /combination of typed characters in the field use the same field and code for all unwanted songs. In the advanced playlist set up the rule for the list to play all songs you want and add a rule to look in the custom field for that code then not play the song with that code. Then just play the Playlist all the time.

[Skiff640]

I went with the Collections idea (see above) ... extremely helpful suggestion ... works great. Thanks !!!
Skiff640

[Seastones]

This thread suggests that there is no way to indicate which songs to permanently (or temporarily) skip when playing them back from certain lists.

Is this still true?

iTunes has a column of checkboxes so you can select/de-select what songs to play. I have some de-selected songs for just about all of about 8,000 artists and albums. From among 84,000 songs. Carefully identified and managed over a span of two decades.

I do not see such a checkbox in MediaMonkey, and my selections and de-selectiongs did not port when I imported my iTunes library. So that information is lost (to the MM library; I still of the iTunes library while I evaluate MM).

The workarounds described here are to 1) make separate collections excluding unwanted songs or 2) create a custom field to flag unwanted songs, then exclude these songs with a search criteria each time I want to listen to music.

I would have to make and manage thousands of collections, or identify and flag unwanted songs from a library of 84,000.

Inconceivable.

Not having a way to de-select songs in a list so you can play that list and skip those songs is a MAJOR shortcoming.

I love many, many of MM's features and the way they can enhance my music collecting, curating, and listening activities, but this is a major functionality obstacle for me. Making and managing so many additional collections just to do this very basic thing is an extremely heavy lift for something I do all week long, every week.

This barrier could be insurmountable. So terribly unfortunate.

Has MediaMonkey not addressed this issue yet?

[Peke]

This thread suggests that there is no way to indicate which songs to permanently (or temporarily) skip when playing them back from certain lists.

Is this still true?

iTunes has a column of checkboxes so you can select/de-select what songs to play. I have some de-selected songs for just about all of about 8,000 artists and albums. From among 84,000 songs. Carefully identified and managed over a span of two decades.

I do not see such a checkbox in MediaMonkey, and my selections and de-selectiongs did not port when I imported my iTunes library. So that information is lost (to the MM library; I still of the iTunes library while I evaluate MM).

The workarounds described here are to 1) make separate collections excluding unwanted songs or 2) create a custom field to flag unwanted songs, then exclude these songs with a search criteria each time I want to listen to music.

I would have to make and manage thousands of collections, or identify and flag unwanted songs from a library of 84,000.

Inconceivable.

Not having a way to de-select songs in a list so you can play that list and skip those songs is a MAJOR shortcoming.

I love many, many of MM's features and the way they can enhance my music collecting, curating, and listening activities, but this is a major functionality obstacle for me. Making and managing so many additional collections just to do this very basic thing is an extremely heavy lift for something I do all week long, every week.

This barrier could be insurmountable. So terribly unfortunate.

Has MediaMonkey not addressed this issue yet?

I am not sure I fully understand what you are Talking about. Where iTunes have Checkboxes and where MM can't use multi selections.

I guess you are referring on The tree on the left ? If yes then you do not have selection Checkboxes there, but you can have your main Track browser View where you can select or deselect multiple Artists.

If I got things wrong can you please attach few screenshots (See my signature how to do it) and we should try to explain.

[Seastones]

Thanks for getting back to me!!!

I think I threw you off by saying "select" when I should have said "check".

You can "select" a song by clicking on the song row. It gets highlighted for some action that is usually identified in a right-click pull-down menu.

In iTunes, the first column on a song row is a checkbox.

When you load songs to the library, every song is checked off by default. That means that they are available for playback. If you are playing any list and that song comes up, it will play. Any list retrieved or otherwise generated via some kind of "search". List of songs on an album. List of songs by an Artist. List of songs on a playlist. Etc. If a checked song comes up, it will be played.

Alternatively, if a song is un-checked, it is unavailable for playback. If you are playing a list and that song comes up, it will be skipped. It can only be played if you double-click that specific song row or click that row and then click the play arrow. In those cases, you are over-riding the un-checked status of the song by specifically telling the program to play it.

As a collector, I want to keep the integrity of songs on every album intact. As a listener, I want to skip certain songs, indefinitely, with the option to make them available in the future. For example, I may get tired of a song and un-check it so it will be skipped; then I may re-check it when I'm ready to start hearing it again. Another use of this function is when I pull up a list of songs and I notice a few songs I don't want to hear right now. I un-check them. Then, when I'm done listening, I re-check them for the future.

So, is there a way to perform this function of identifying what songs in the library are/aren't available for playback?

[Peke]

Hi,

You can "select" a song by clicking on the song row. It gets highlighted for some action that is usually identified in a right-click pull-down menu.

You can right click on any test in MM rows (Especially in List views) and get context menu

In iTunes, the first column on a song row is a checkbox.

MM do not have that and it follows Explorer behavior using CTRL+Click, SHIFT+Click, CTRL+SHIFT+Click and then you can right click on any of selected Rows to execute multi selection actions.

When you load songs to the library, every song is checked off by default. That means that they are available for playback. If you are playing any list and that song comes up, it will play. Any list retrieved or otherwise generated via some kind of "search". List of songs on an album. List of songs by an Artist. List of songs on a playlist. Etc. If a checked song comes up, it will be played.

Alternatively, if a song is un-checked, it is unavailable for playback. If you are playing a list and that song comes up, it will be skipped. It can only be played if you double-click that specific song row or click that row and then click the play arrow. In those cases, you are over-riding the un-checked status of the song by specifically telling the program to play it.

As a collector, I want to keep the integrity of songs on every album intact. As a listener, I want to skip certain songs, indefinitely, with the option to make them available in the future. For example, I may get tired of a song and un-check it so it will be skipped; then I may re-check it when I'm ready to start hearing it again. Another use of this function is when I pull up a list of songs and I notice a few songs I don't want to hear right now. I un-check them. Then, when I'm done listening, I re-check them for the future.

I do not understand that, can you add few screenshots? All this sounds like you can make possible thru MM Auto-Playlists or advanced search and possibly even more.

So, is there a way to perform this function of identifying what songs in the library are/aren't available for playback?

Yes using Accessible Playlist or Using Files to Edit -> Dead Links to list Accessible(playable) and Non Accessible (Non Playable tracks).