MP3 players: navigation concepts

[traut]

Hi all,

I don't know that much of the current navigation concepts within mp3 players yet. I guess, the typical concepts are:

1. flat: all files are within the same level, differed by file name only
2. random access: shuffle mode, either as real random, or weighted not to play the same song again within a certain period of time
3. folders: mp3 files may be moved to different folders
4. different views: navigating by album, composer, artist, title or genre is supported
5. playlists: one or more preselected sets (CD: 'program' mode) from the records
6. search: you may enter search terms and select from the found records. This may be improved by additional sort mechanisms on the found records
7. multi level hierarchies: you may add extra grouping info.

Which of these is actually supported within mp3 players? Which one would you want?

I guess a flat order is hardly used by now - maybe sufficient for the iPod shuffle.

Sorting by folders seems to be available in most USB-stick like MP3 players.

Are different views unique to the iPod models (apart from the Shuffle)? I guess that many of the > 5 GB models support similiar behavior - but this would require an iTunes like surface on the source computer?

Do some players support search mechanisms? How is this done, since you hardly have a keyboard for typing names?

I guess that there is no database approach anywhere? I'd welcome such an approach e.g. while using classical music, sorted as

> composer: Mozart
>> opus: (sorted from the Koechelverzeichnis) KV466

... this will list all records of this concert such as

>>> title: Konzert für Klavier und Orchester Nr. 20 d-moll
>>> artist: Friedrich Gulda (piano)
>>> artist: Claudio Abbado (cond.)
>>> artist: Wiener Philharmoniker (orchestra)
>>>> movement 1: Allegro -> track 4 of cd "Mozart: Klavierkonzerte 20, 21, 25, 27"
>>>> movement 2: Romance -> track 5 of cd "Mozart: Klavierkonzerte 20, 21, 25, 27"
>>>> movement 3: Rondo. (Allegro assai) -> track 6 of cd "Mozart: Klavierkonzerte 20, 21, 25, 27"

There may be many other recordings of this concert, some with all movements, some with only one of them.

Apart from sorting by opus, I may prefer to find all piano concertos, musique around 1800 etc. I can do this easily on a pc from a database, but I don't know any player for this purpose yet. Maybe this can be implemented via linux implementations (such as ipodlinux). But maybe this is already around somewhere?

Apart from classical music there may be many other reasons why to want certain records within a certain play order or hierarchy (e.g. audio books, some live music etc.).


Do you know any comparison or overview which models do support which kind of navigation - and which one is more or less usable?

 

[mnhnhyouh]

I use a file tree....

A/Artist/(Year) Album/Song.mp3

I have used this on an iRiver H320 and now on my 5G 60Gb iPod with Rockbox. I have tried other ways, but for me, this is the best.

h

 

[traut]

Inclucing the year is a nice option. Sorting by Artist is probably the most frequent approach.

But what do you do when you have two or more major artists? Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald - that's Armstrong+Fitzgerald?

But classical musik is different. The most obvious approach would be to sort by composer instead of artist. However, those collections may become huge.

Apart from a single, frozen folder hierarchy (e.g. by artist or composer), there are many occasions where I'd prefer to sort by genre (yes, there are more than both kinds of music

) - and there are many occasions where you/I want to have musique within more than one genre. That's where selecting by genre would jump in (or any other tag you'd ask for).