11

I have my music sorted using directories so I don't want a library, tags and what not.

What I want:

  1. easily (recursively) add directories to playlist from my music root, not from library
  2. songs in playlist grouped by directories they reside in
  3. directories in playlist must be collapsible and rearrangable, option to collapse all but currently played folder being a nice bonus
  4. buttons/shortcuts for next/prev directory are a must
  5. shuffle songs within their directories, shuffle directories within playlist

Promsing but not it:

  • MortePlayer on Android matches most but... it's for Android :)
  • Pogo has the playlist I want, but is missing essential features. Not to mention gaps between songs.
  • Amarok 2 is grouping by folders, but can't do anything else mentioned. Also, start without Qt/KDE libs in memory takes bloody ages.
  • I've been told to try xfmedia, but it's not in repos anymore and seems quite dead. Even more dead than LISP.

Nice but not what I want (to save your time, continually edited):

  • mocp
  • quodlibet
  • decibel
  • audacious
  • xmms
  • rhythmbox
  • vlc

Are you aware of such a music player? I'm afraid I'll have to write my own MPD client, which would cost enormous amounts of time.

2
  • Have you seen this question?
    – soandos
    Aug 22, 2011 at 16:13
  • 1
    @soandos I'm looking for folder based player. He's looking for Banshee alternative and explicitly mentions library which is exact opposite of that. Therefore it's no wonder the mentioned players doesn't meet any of my requirements.
    – yac
    Aug 22, 2011 at 16:46

4 Answers 4

5

I am a fan of xmms2 mainly because it has a console based interface. It has a few graphical ones as well but I prefer the console one so that I can use keyboard short cuts and a simple mouse menu in fvwm. It does all that you want. Some commands that do things similar to what the question wants:

nyxmms2 playlist create ook
nyxmms2 playlist switch ook
nyxmms2 add `find /path/to/dir/* -type file *.mp3`
nyxmms2 playlist shuffle 
nyxmms2 next
nyxmms2 prev
nyxmms2 jump 13
nyxmms2 help

Note that the find command may need to be modified to get the "right" result.

9
  • Nothing against console, but this is pure CLI. Graphical frontends are library based and doesn't do what I want, so how do you: 1) go to next folder 2) display the folder oriented playlist as I described 3) shuffle within directories ?
    – yac
    Aug 22, 2011 at 17:04
  • xmms allows you (at least on my linux system) to drop a folder in the play list and it will pick up all tracks in that folder recursively.
    – Soren
    Aug 22, 2011 at 17:09
  • There are example on the home page of usage. nyxmms2 is the command line interface, the man page has everything you need. You can use "next", "prev", "jump", and "list". The nyxmms2 help subcommand will give you a quick help. To add something just do nyxmms2 add /path/to/dir/*/*.mp3. Aug 22, 2011 at 17:13
  • @soren xmms and xmms2 are totally different and not to be confused. Aug 22, 2011 at 17:13
  • @Soren Yeah, every sane music player can do that. It's the one basic thing of five on the list in question. What about the remaining four? Last time I checked, xmms coundn't do the rest, that's why I'm asking here.
    – yac
    Aug 22, 2011 at 17:14
1

Have you tried Exaile or Clementine? They do allow you to play folders. I don't know, however, if you can add a contextual menu to your folders. I hope this helps.

2
  • I like Exaile a lot and use it, but I don't think it meets the OP's specs.
    – Kazark
    Nov 9, 2012 at 2:37
  • Exaile seems nice and simple and does both file browsing and collections.
    – Draemon
    Jan 6, 2014 at 19:47
0

I would recommend you try Rhythmbox… I think it has everything on your list.

2
  • 3
    It does nothing I want as it's library/tag based. Seriously, it doesn't do any single one of the things I listed, did you even read my post? Or did I miss some powerfull plugin that changes every aspect of it?
    – yac
    Aug 22, 2011 at 16:39
  • I did read your post. You're absolutely right. I made the mistake because I don't listen to much music on my computer and I haven't used rhtyhmbox in ages, sorry. (The music I do have is sorted in directories by album already so that would explain how I was seeing it as directory based.)
    – Yitzchak
    Aug 22, 2011 at 16:43
0

VLC can be setup like this.

You can add it to the context menu and then select the "play with VLC" option. I have seen it in Ubuntu before, but I am unsure if VLC is doing it by default or if the owner of the box customized the function.

1
  • Playlist can be set to show full tree which is useless without efficient collapse/unroll controls and with folders that are shown as files until opened. Essential next/prev directory buttons/shortcuts are missing. Directory-wise shuffle is nonexistent. 2.5 out of 5 requirements. VLC is a great player with a terrible UI, I use it when all else fails ;)
    – yac
    Aug 22, 2011 at 18:30

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