Mopidy 3 File track sorting

General
1

I’m beginning to think I’m missing something obvious, that this isn’t a bug or a feature request.

This is in Mopidy File although Mopidy Local behaves the same way.

I listen to albums from my library a lot. It’s my primary use of Mopidy. In the previous version, Mopidy SQLite was optional and I didn’t use it. That is no longer an option, which shouldn’t be the end of the world.

Mopidy File is displaying/playing tracks alphabetized by song title in Iris. The file names in the library have the track number prepended. localscan is pulling the title from somewhere else, ID3 tags perhaps. The files have track listed correctly in the tags.

I am not finding a way to display/play songs in track order, only alphabetical.

Any thoughts? Is this just my system or is it what everyone sees by default? More importantly, how can I change it?

KO

[core]
cache_dir = /var/cache/mopidy
config_dir = /etc/mopidy
data_dir = /var/lib/mopidy
max_tracklist_length = 10000
restore_state = false

[logging]
verbosity = 0
format = %(levelname)-8s [%(threadName)s] %(name)s %(message)s
color = false
config_file =

[audio]
mixer = software
mixer_volume =
output = audioresample ! audioconvert ! audio/x-raw,rate=48000,channels=2,format=S16LE ! wavenc ! filesink location=/tmp/snapfifo
buffer_time =

[proxy]
scheme =
hostname =
port =
username =
password =

[tunein]
enabled = true
timeout = 5000
filter =

[local]
enabled = true
media_dir = /mnt/media
scan_timeout = 1000
scan_flush_threshold = 100
scan_follow_symlinks = false
included_file_extensions =
excluded_file_extensions =
.cue
.directory
.html
.jpeg
.jpg
.log
.nfo
.pdf
.png
.txt
.zip
directories =
Albums local:directory?type=album
Artists local:directory?type=artist
Composers local:directory?type=artist&role=composer
Genres local:directory?type=genre
Performers local:directory?type=artist&role=performer
Release Years local:directory?type=date&format=%25Y
Tracks local:directory?type=track
Last Week’s Updates local:directory?max-age=604800
Last Month’s Updates local:directory?max-age=2592000
timeout = 10
use_artist_sortname = false
album_art_files =
*.jpg
*.jpeg
*.png

[iris]
enabled = true
country = NZ
locale = en_NZ
spotify_authorization_url = https://jamesbarnsley.co.nz/iris/auth_spotify.php
lastfm_authorization_url = https://jamesbarnsley.co.nz/iris/auth_lastfm.php
genius_authorization_url = https://jamesbarnsley.co.nz/iris/auth_genius.php
data_dir = $XDG_DATA_DIR/iris

[file]
enabled = true
media_dirs =
$XDG_MUSIC_DIR|Music
/mnt/media
excluded_file_extensions =
.directory
.html
.jpeg
.jpg
.log
.nfo
.pdf
.png
.txt
.zip
show_dotfiles = true
follow_symlinks = false
metadata_timeout = 1000

[http]
enabled = true
hostname = ::
port = 6680
zeroconf = Mopidy HTTP server on $hostname
allowed_origins =
csrf_protection = true
default_app = iris

[m3u]
enabled = true
base_dir =
default_encoding = latin-1
default_extension = .m3u8
playlists_dir =

[softwaremixer]
enabled = true

[stream]
enabled = true
protocols =
http
https
mms
rtmp
rtmps
rtsp
metadata_blacklist =
timeout = 5000

2

Hmmm…

I just installed MusicBox_Webclient on the machine. MusicBox uses the file name in Mopidy-File where it looks like Iris looks to SQLite. Further, MusicBox with Mopidy-Local sorts by track number. It looks like this is an Iris bug. I can’t say I’m thrilled with the workaround, but I’ll take it for now.

3

Are you saying you don’t want to use Mopidy-SQLite and you preferred the old version of Mopidy Local that we shipped in Mopidy v2.x? To be clear, Mopidy-SQLite is now merged into Mopidy-Local and it’s superior to the File backend for most use-cases. Do you have a use-case where it is not?

Mopidy-File provides browse track results ordered by filename. That means for tracks prepended with a track number, thee results will be in track number order. Mopidy-File has no part in playing tracks, the order of playback depends entirely on the order your client decided to insert the tracks into Mopidy’s tracklist. Your client is free to do whatever ordering it wants with the results Mopidy provides. Have you tried a different web client to see if this is a feature of the one you are using?

4

Oh you’ve just done what I suggested at the end, above! Excellent.

Musicbox-Webclient uses whatever backend you ask it to use. Like most clients, it exposes all backends in the browse interface and it doesn’t mess with the ordering of anything.

I guess the important question is, what is wrong with Mopidy-Local? You should find it orders album tracks by their track number ID3 tag.

EDIT: Furthermore, if there is no track number ID3 tag present I believe it falls back to case-insensitive name order.

5

Mopidy-Local: I am not opining on it per se. With my library and the way I like to browse it, Mopidy-File is more effective for me. I have a fair amount of world music compilations. Mopidy-Local is very good about sorting out artists and albums, but in my case, I just want to go to the folder of a CD and listen through the compilation. I’m sure that different work styles and different collections will invite different solutions.

I am at peace now with Mopidy-SQLite. It does really good things for a typical person’s library. It does not keep me from enjoying my library. Had I been asked during development of Mopidy 3 I would not have been a hard sell anyway. I’m not prepared to inhibit progress for the sake of my ego or own personal preferences. As it is, I currently can’t think of a single downside to Mopidy-SQLite.

In earlier versions of Mopidy I had issues when I went full heartedly into Iris/SQLite, but I’m not sure I stuck around long enough to really get analytical about what I didn’t like. With Mopidy 3 I decided to try again. Mostly I’m happily moving to the new stuff, although I had to make a serious effort to commit and work through issues rather than just rolling back.

Both Mopidy-File and Mopidy-Local work as I want them to in MusicBox-Webclient. I truly like Mopidy-Iris as a front end. I need to contact James and see if he can fix what I perceive as a bug in Iris and perhaps put a silver lining on this by putting in an option for sorting order in it.

I appreciate all that the community here has done for me. Thank you all very much.

KO

6

I’m amazed how much having the system the way I want has just brightened my day. I hadn’t listened to albums in a few weeks because of the track order issue. I knew it was a big deal to me, I just didn’t realize how big an issue. With stay-at-home and working-at-home, this is an incredible emotional pick-me-up.

XTC’s Black Sea, BTW. :slight_smile:

1 Like