Audio File Sequencing

November 28, 2006 11:01 AM

How do players such as Winamp or Media Player choose the sequence that they use to play MP3 files? I have classical MP3 files and recorded books that must be played in order. These players look at something very different from the way that they have been arranged (and numbered) in File Manager. Can the ID3v1 ID3v2 tags be used to control the playback sequence? I play these files on three separate computers plus my car radio via a flash drive and do not want the hassle of creating separate play lists. I cannot create play lists with my car radio. I am using, and much prefer, Winamp 5.094
posted by Raybun to Computers & Internet (14 answers total)

Most MP3 players use the Disc# and Track# stored in the ID3 tags. The problem comes in when different software uses different versions of the tags. Put the info in the tags, and make sure it's the same for all versions. File names are often irrelevant, unless they're also stored in seperate folders for each album, then some players will have an option to play the files in that order.
posted by blue_beetle at 11:11 AM on November 28, 2006

Not sure about winamp, but for your car stereo it's either alphabetical order by filename, which you can control by adding numbers to the start, or unsorted order, which you can fix by control by creating a new folder and moving the songs there one at a time in the order you want them to play.

Changing the sort order in Explorer won't ever affect other programs.
posted by cillit bang at 11:13 AM on November 28, 2006

We use Winamp at home for our TV shows and music. From what I remember (my SO does more file organization than I do), you can tell Winamp to sort the tracks by their filename. As long as you name your files Book1Part1, Book1Part2, etc., it should keep them in order. If you'd like, I can follow up with better info when I get home and am in front of Winamp.
posted by youngergirl44 at 11:46 AM on November 28, 2006

I've tried and tried to get Win Amp to play tracks in the proper order. Doesn't usually work.

I figured that changing the track number in the tags would do it. Nope. Ugh.
posted by DieHipsterDie at 12:01 PM on November 28, 2006

Response by poster: Winamp will sort by name (usually) but has to be done at every playing. I have not been able to find sort by name offered as a default.
posted by Raybun at 12:08 PM on November 28, 2006

winamp plays everything in order just fine for me, always has. you select, you drag, it plays in order. perhaps your shuffle option is checked? i am baffled.
posted by sophist at 12:12 PM on November 28, 2006

Best answer: Dragging a group of files into Winamp's playlist will usually result in them being out-of-order. (usually starting somewhere in the middle, then wrapping around to the beginning.) However, dragging a folder into the playlist will load them up in their proper alphabetic order (by filename). A program like Tag&Rename can help you rename your files so that they start with the track number. That's what works best for me, anyway.
posted by GeekAnimator at 12:14 PM on November 28, 2006

Say I have a folder for the Clash's 'Sandanista'. How do I open this folder and have it play the songs not in alphabetical order but in the correct album order? Without having to rename every song with a number in front of the title.
posted by DieHipsterDie at 12:26 PM on November 28, 2006

Best answer: "Dragging a group of files into Winamp's playlist will usually result in them being out-of-order. "

In my experience, this only happens if you drag the group by something other than the first object in the list. I've subsequently developed the habit of selecting a group but performing the drag operation separately, grabbing the selection by the top item.

This behavior exists in other Windows software as well, so I assume it has something to do with either the IPC mechanics of how a DnD is handed off to the target application or how Explorer orders a list for DnD. Unfortunately I don't know enough about Win32 internals to give a better explanation.
posted by majick at 1:07 PM on November 28, 2006

Best answer: I don't that's possible at the moment in winamp. Yes, I think the lack of "automatically sort by track number" is a glaring omission.

Is there a reason that adding the track number to the filename bugs you? It's really nice to see things in order when you open a directory.

Alternately, have you looked into .m3u playlist files? It's basically just a text file listing the tracks in whatever order you saved them in. Something like this could help you. Save one in each directory, and just double-click it to load up the list.
posted by GeekAnimator at 1:09 PM on November 28, 2006

this only happens if you drag the group by something other than the first object in the list. I've subsequently developed the habit of selecting a group but performing the drag operation separately, grabbing the selection by the top item.

Well I'll be damned. *slaps forehead*
posted by GeekAnimator at 1:11 PM on November 28, 2006

You could always load your music into WinAmp's Media Library. The Library includes a search function, and presents all your music organized by artist and album. When you double-click an album title, it's loaded into the Playlist Editor and starts playing in track order, based on ID3 tags.

Or have you already tried this?
posted by punishinglemur at 7:08 PM on November 28, 2006

Use the media library, load all your files up and get them into the order you want them, which it can do automatically if they're named right. Then save the playlist as a .m3u file. Then, whenever you want to play the whole album, just click on the playlist.
posted by Mr. Gunn at 10:06 PM on November 29, 2006

Like majick said, you have to drag/select from the top item. When I do it thus, Winamp plays in top-down order as listed in Explorer - but if I highlight the same group of mp3s and select while hovering any other file in the list, they end up in mixed order.
posted by SenshiNeko at 1:01 PM on November 30, 2006