[mythtv-users] Using MythMusic

[Paul]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Timothy McFadden" <mcfadden.timothy at gmail.com>
To: "Discussion about mythtv" <mythtv-users at mythtv.org>
Sent: Monday, August 29, 2005 12:11 AM
Subject: Re: [mythtv-users] Using MythMusic


On 8/21/05, Phill Edwards <philledwards at gmail.com> wrote:
>> 3) Is there an easy way to set up playlists by genres? I'd like it to
>> just play all the music it can find in a certain genre that I would
>> pick to match my mood.
>> 
>> Regards,
>> Phill

>I had the same problem recently.  I moved all of my music around into
>genre's that I created ( e.g. /music/Hard Rock/Rammstein/ ).  I then
>set Myth to sort by directory, which expects
>/Genre/Artist/Album/Track.mp3.

>The problem I found it how to categorize the music.  I certainly can't
>use the standard MP3 tags because there's just too many.  And
>really... what's the difference between alt-folk, folk, and folk-rock?

>You *can* create playlists, but they're a bit of a pain to get into
>the database and use.  I'm thinking of using symbolic links in a fake
>genre directory.  I don't see why this wouldn't work, but I haven't
>tried it.

>That would make it easy to change playlists without dealing with the
>DB.  Then again, I'm not sure how the DB handles updates to the same
>directory.

>-Tim

If you have correct information is in the database there is
a couple of ways to select all the tracks from one genre.

1. Start playing a track that has the genre you want to play.
Press the Menu key to display the popup menu then select
"Tracks from current Genre". That will update the current play list
by selecting all the track with the current genre.

2. You could create a 'Smart Playlist' that will dynamically create playlists 
for you based on the criteria you select. You would have to create one
for each genre you wanted to select.

a) From the playback screen press Menu. Select "Smart Playlists"
b) Click on "New"
c) select one of the existing categories or add a new one by clicking
 the small button next to the Category combo, enter a new category name 
e.g. "By Genre" then click "New Category"
d) In the "Title" edit box enter a title e.g. "Hard Rock"
e) Move to the first criteria row and select "Genre" in the first combo
f) leave the operator set to "is equal to"
g) in the edit box on the same row enter a genre. Easiest way is to 
click on the little button next to the edit box and select one from the list.
h) if you want you can change the order of the result in the "order by" combo.
i) click "Save".
j) click "Select"

Once created it is just a matter of selecting a category from the top combo and
selecting a "Smart playlist" from the list. Smart playlists are updated when you
select them so even if you add new tracks or change the genres of existing
tracks the playlist will reflect those changes.  

Paul