[Pinna-inna]

Maybe this is the problem - currawong said "I've seen so much unbelievable stuff in, or lacking from DAP software I'm over it" You should never get over poor product design. We should not become numb and complacent to bad designed products. If this happens we will continue to get crappy products like Astell & Kern keep churning out, at ever more ridiculous prices.
 
The astell and kern line up are made to appear well made and user friendly - the reality is sadly something else..
 
I'm utterly APPALLED that i have spent £1400 on product that cannot even do the most basic thing, allow me to search through my music!
 
.....
 
Currawong.... are you suggesting that to be able to search through my music i need to have a NEW PRODUCT DESIGNED????

 

[H20Fidelity]

Unfortunately, the problem is you could have asked this question before ordering and been fully aware to avoid the player. (sorry but it's the most obvious sore thumb here). Now that is past, you must decide what to do, work around it or return it. Being extremely vocal while I understand your frustration will more than likely only cause more frustration as members / owners of the product express their own thoughts.

 

[12many]

I always make a list of the features I need before I buy something of importance and then verify that the product checks all the boxes.  Helps manage expectations.
 
That being said, I am surprised that this product at this price point does not have this feature or some work around.  It would be easy to place another search field that the user could enter data for a file or track to search.   That is pretty common in databases and to just having 3 search fields is pretty light, for this level of product.  Could be location, or date, or personal notes or codes, or composer.    
 
To the OP, have you called the company yet and asked their engineers or tech support?  You are probably not the only one that would like to enter additional searchable data for a album or track and maybe they have a solution.  If not, they may be able to update the product to make it better.   

 

[Pinna-inna]

H20Fidelity
 
It was such a BASIC thing, being able to SEARCH THROUGH my music, I didn't think it necessary to ask....I'm getting some very weird replies from some 'interesting' people here. You seem to be defending the PIECE OF RUBBISH ASTELL AND KERN product for some reason. You dont think it's unacceptable that you cant search through composers on it.
 
 
Sure - I admit I made an assumption when I bought the AK120ii
I assume I would be able to search through the music I put on it.
I was wrong.

 

[Pinna-inna]

12many - I admit I made an assumption when I bought the AK120ii - I assumed I would be able to search through the music I put on it - I was wrong.
 
If a company doesn't realize that people might want to search for music by the composer, then that company is obviously UTTERLY INEPT. I will be returning the PIECE OF JUNK ASTELL & KERN AK120ii

 

[H20Fidelity]

I'm not defending anyone, I'm just offering you the outcome before the kettle boils. You will express these feelings, opinions, disappointment become annoyed, anxious, in the end you will be left with the two choices I mentioned.

Email AK, let us know thier reply.

 

[Pinna-inna]

I'm not sure what you mean H20fidelity - you are suggesting that I should have asked if the astell and kern could do this before I bought it. Should I also have asked if it could play songs while I'm  walking, or while it's in my pocket - or other things that a SANE HUMAN BEING assumes a product can do.
 
 
I assumed I would be able to search through the music on my Astell and Kern
 
I was wrong

 

[HAWKEYE7]

Here is a thought. If you did not want to return the device you could try adding the composer to a searchable field, such as artist or one of the other categories that you do not usually reference. If you "pirate" that category and put the composer into it you might then be able to search by keyword, in this case the composer name. I have no idea if this will work, but I would try it before I returned the device.

 

[ktm]

Calling it bad names doesn't fix the issue.
A. return
B. call tech support
C. go to support forums for IRIVER.
You'll find a lack of support for searching by composer on most software out there.
Foobar can be customized to search by composer, most can't.
And you still may have issues with tagging. There are a number of ways to do it,
which is likely why playback of it is spotty.

 

[thejammonster]

If I was going to lay out ~$2,000 on anything I'd sure as hell make sure it did everything I wanted it to before I bought it. It seems that you've confirmed your RUBBISH A&K can't do what you want it to and you haven't acknowledged the suggestions to call the RUBBISH manufacturer, so what are are you still doing here? I don't think you'll find the validation you're seeking.

 

[ktm]

You may have to go another route and load software on a non-dedicated platform.
Here's one of few that supports composer.
http://www.musichi.eu/index.php/musichisuite

 

[Pinna-inna]

Thanks for your suggestions guys. Ktm, that software looks quite good, I'm going to download the trial version. It wont solve the issue though, as The AWFUL ASTELL & KERN AK120 ii still wont be able to search by composer.
 
Thejammonster - you are suggesting that I should have made sure the AWFUL ASTELL & KERN AK120 ii could SEARCH FOR MUSIC before I bought it.????? Should I also have asked if it could play songs while I'm  walking, or while it's in my pocket - or other things that a SANE HUMAN BEING assumes a product can do.
 
Thanks for your suggestion hawkeye7, but I very often want to search by artist, or performer. In classical music it is standard for the same piece to be recorded by multiply conductors, pianists, etc. Entering the Composer as the artist is no solution, though I am grateful for your kind suggestion.
 
 
I assumed I would be able to search through the music on my Astell and Kern - MY MISTAKE!!!!
 
KTM - If a company doesn't realize that people might want to search for music by the composer, then that company is obviously UTTERLY INEPT, so there's really no point in contacting their tech support
 
 
I will be returning the PIECE OF JUNK ASTELL & KERN AK120ii
 
 
CALLING a product a PIECE OF JUNK doesn't magically make it better, this is certainly true. But Maybe someone thinking of buying the AWFUL ASTELL & KERN AK120 ii will be warned away from the purchase by reading my words.

 

[Raketen]

This is audiophile DAP, you should be glad it scans tags at all...  or at least that it has a display 

(More constructively, replacement suggestions: A device with Rockbox support, in which I think you can at least browse by composer tags IIRC. An Android or iOS app that has desired features, on a device with USB OTG/line out support (or camera kit for iOS) to add amp and/or dac if the sound/power is unsatisfactory.)

 

[jnorris]

  Thanks for your suggestions guys. Ktm, that software looks quite good, I'm going to download the trial version. It wont solve the issue though, as The AWFUL ASTELL & KERN AK120 ii still wont be able to search by composer.
 
Thejammonster - you are suggesting that I should have made sure the AWFUL ASTELL & KERN AK120 ii could SEARCH FOR MUSIC before I bought it.????? Should I also have asked if it could play songs while I'm  walking, or while it's in my pocket - or other things that a SANE HUMAN BEING assumes a product can do.
 
Thanks for your suggestion hawkeye7, but I very often want to search by artist, or performer. In classical music it is standard for the same piece to be recorded by multiply conductors, pianists, etc. Entering the Composer as the artist is no solution, though I am grateful for your kind suggestion.
 
 
I assumed I would be able to search through the music on my Astell and Kern - MY MISTAKE!!!!
 
KTM - If a company doesn't realize that people might want to search for music by the composer, then that company is obviously UTTERLY INEPT, so there's really no point in contacting their tech support
 
 
I will be returning the PIECE OF JUNK ASTELL & KERN AK120ii
 
 
CALLING a product a PIECE OF JUNK doesn't magically make it better, this is certainly true. But Maybe someone thinking of buying the AWFUL ASTELL & KERN AK120 ii will be warned away from the purchase by reading my words.

 
You seem to think that your pompous, self-important rage and bombast will convince someone that you should be taken seriously.  Quite the contrary.  I suppose we should warn the people at Musichi.com that you are coming, since you will probably be calling their product inept, ridiculous junk and rubbish when you find out that the software doesn't automatically hyphenate Rimsky-Korsakov.

 

[Solrighal]

It's been said already but why don't you just make folders based on the composer then use the basic folder structure to find what you're looking for? Of course, I don't actually know if the A&K allows navigation by folder structure but if it does that's surely you're best option. I mean, you don't actually need access to 10TB of music at the same time, do you?