Shuffle/Kinsey Desktop 4.1.7

[genzgd]

I'm sure this is a dumb question, but I can't figure out how to shuffle a playlist. I drag and drop either a m3u or a local playlist over to the room and everything stays in the original order. Does the shuffle button just not do anything or am I missing something obvious?

Thanks

[Visoflex]

(2011-07-11 00:27)genzgd Wrote:  I'm sure this is a dumb question, but I can't figure out how to shuffle a playlist. I drag and drop either a m3u or a local playlist over to the room and everything stays in the original order. Does the shuffle button just not do anything or am I missing something obvious?

Thanks

You're not missing anything obvious - just the way this feature has been implemented. You're expecting the playlist to re-arrange itself into a random order and then play sequentially. What actually happens is effectively the reverse. The playlist stays sequential and gets played in a random order.

[genzgd]

(2011-07-11 19:43)Visoflex Wrote:  

(2011-07-11 00:27)genzgd Wrote:  I'm sure this is a dumb question, but I can't figure out how to shuffle a playlist. I drag and drop either a m3u or a local playlist over to the room and everything stays in the original order. Does the shuffle button just not do anything or am I missing something obvious?

Thanks

You're not missing anything obvious - just the way this feature has been implemented. You're expecting the playlist to re-arrange itself into a random order and then play sequentially. What actually happens is effectively the reverse. The playlist stays sequential and gets played in a random order.

Unfortunately it doesn't seem to work that way on my system either. The playlist definitely appears in the original order, but the music plays in that same fixed order regardless of the how the shuffle button is set. The forward and back buttons also ignore any concept of shuffle.

Again I'm assuming there's something odd with my system, since the pause button doesn't work either. Windows 7 64 bit with a J River ID renderer . . . .

thanks

[genzgd]

Bump.

I'm the only one not able to shuffle my playlists? Is it the J River ID that's the problem?

[SaltyDog]

The J River ID gets its data from the PC. The Linn DSs pull their data from the HDD. The shuffle will likely only work on Linn DSs.

By the way, what do you think of the J River ID? Usability? Sound Quality?

[grahamd Linn Staff]

genzgd,

Does the J River ID implement the Linn Playlist extensions? If so, this is probably just a bug in the J River ID - maybe they just forgot to implement the shuffle feature. If they don't implement the Linn Playlist extensions, then the JR River ID is just a plain UPnP Media Renderer. Now, although a plain UPnP AV Media Renderer has shuffle (and repeat), it actually has no sensible meaning because a UPnP AV Media Renderer has no on-device playlist to apply the shuffle or repeat to. So, what you are probably exposing here is just another deficiency in the basic UPnP AV spec that is remedied by the Linn Playlist extensions. If this is the case, then I would try to petition J River to include the Linn Playlist extensions in their J River ID device. In the mean time it might be better if we removed the Shuffle and Repeat buttons from KinskyDesktop when it is talking to a plain UPnP AV Media Renderer in order to avoid this kind of confusion

Graham

[genzgd]

(2011-07-14 11:51)grahamd Wrote:  genzgd,

Does the J River ID implement the Linn Playlist extensions? If so, this is probably just a bug in the J River ID - maybe they just forgot to implement the shuffle feature. If they don't implement the Linn Playlist extensions, then the JR River ID is just a plain UPnP Media Renderer. Now, although a plain UPnP AV Media Renderer has shuffle (and repeat), it actually has no sensible meaning because a UPnP AV Media Renderer has no on-device playlist to apply the shuffle or repeat to. So, what you are probably exposing here is just another deficiency in the basic UPnP AV spec that is remedied by the Linn Playlist extensions. If this is the case, then I would try to petition J River to include the Linn Playlist extensions in their J River ID device. In the mean time it might be better if we removed the Shuffle and Repeat buttons from KinskyDesktop when it is talking to a plain UPnP AV Media Renderer in order to avoid this kind of confusion

Graham

That's more of the answer I expected. I would be very surprised if the J River ID implemented anything Linn specific. Since J River has their own media player/DLNA renderer which does have working shuffle (and pause) I'm guessing they have their own "extensions" or shuffle the playlist on the PC/controller.

I would definitely encourage removing the buttons if it can't be determined that the renderer supports the Linn extensions.

In any case, many thanks for clearing that up. I'll slink off to the J River forums with my $89 device (which sounds fine to me but the main goal was to get the teenagers a very loud jukebox) and see if I can find a solution to my shuffle problem. It's a shame because the Kinsky Desktop has a very clean interface.

Geoff

[SaltyDog]

I would think that j river has a shuffle feature, or at least a random.

[grahamd Linn Staff]

(2011-07-14 12:58)SaltyDog Wrote:  I would think that j river has a shuffle feature, or at least a random.

... but not one that could work sensibly in a network with multiple control points.