AutoPlay List Sort Order and Syncing.

[jv59]

I originally thought that my playlist were re-syncing all the time over WiFi, but then I discovered that syncing actually resets the playlist if you have sorting set to random within auto-playlists. So the fact that this is called sorting is misleading. it's really a random selection of tracks. Playlists with no sorting don't resync as expected. I never really noticed this with USB syncing. If in fact MM is suppose to work this way then the title "Sort Order" should be changed to "Selection Criteria". I added this note to the Android beta, because this is where I noticed this behavior. In any case it's not clear that auto playlist and syncing work this way.

[Lowlander]

I don't follow, it all seems as expected. A random sorted AutoPlaylist will be different each time it is called (like each sync). If you also limit its size it will be a different random set of files each time it is called.

[jv59]

Here is how I'm looking at it ...

If you have nothing in the sort order list and say you have a maximum of 10 tracks you always get the same tracks, so even though you refresh the list you get the same track each time. Therefore, it's not sorting them it's selecting them from your autoplaylist filtering results. If I add random to the sort list, each time I refresh I get a random set of tracks, once again it's not sorting them it's randomly selecting them and then sorting them A-Z or Z-A. It makes sense once you figure it out, but the terminology needs to be clarified. Although I'm not sure why anyone would want to have the same 10 tracks over and over again. You'll always get the first 10 or more filtered by the auto-list alphabetically.

So let me summarize,,, As you stated it is working as expected ... It's basically a filter (performed by the autoplaylist), select and then sort operation (done by the "sorting" functionality). The only thing I was trying to clarify was the terminology of just sorting.

[Lowlander]

each time I refresh I get a random set of tracks, once again it's not sorting them it's randomly selecting them and then sorting them A-Z or Z-A.

It should be a random set of files sorted random. That's what you've told MediaMonkey to get. Any amount limiting will take from the beginning of the list and will be applied after criteria and sort.

[rusty]

I see what you mean, but I think that the other perspective can be understood as well.

When choosing 'random' the sort order of the list with Criteria=X is completely random. Then if the length of the list is constrained, it results in only the first x tracks of the now randomly sorted list to be synced (which effectively results in a randomized selection).

-Rusty