Showing large number of tracks in sub directory listing of artists/albums...

[boardtc]

I have a very large big bunch of tracks (60GB) that I don't want to clutter up my listing when browsing. I would love all this stuff to appear under a sub directory, rather under the main artists/albums list. Or as a different menu option at the same level as albums/artists...

Finding the 4 year old post: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showth...rtists+clutter which suggests the Custom Browse plugin might be of use in this case. I have not checked it out yet.

Any advice appreciated.

[banned for life]

I have a very large big bunch of tracks (60GB) that I don't want to clutter up my listing when browsing. I would love all this stuff to appear under a sub directory, rather under the main artists/albums list. Or as a different menu option at the same level as albums/artists...

Finding the 4 year old post: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showth...rtists+clutter which suggests the Custom Browse plugin might be of use in this case. I have not checked it out yet.

Any advice appreciated.

Well, the best solution would be to put it somewhere besides your music folder (or anyplace in there that has a shortcut pointing to the mess.)

So far as a "Junk" folder, I'm not sure there is a solution. All music is the philosophy after all.

bfl.

[erland]

Finding the 4 year old post: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showth...rtists+clutter which suggests the Custom Browse plugin might be of use in this case. I have not checked it out yet.

I suspect you want both Multi Library and Custom Browse plugins.

With Multi Library plugin you can create two "virtual" libraries:
- One that contains the 60GB which you want in a separate menu, you can for example specify that all music files in a certain directory tree should be part of this virtual library.
- One that contains all other music

Multi Library plugin will not provide any browse menus so you also need Custom Browse plugin. The Custom Browse plugin will make it possible to create new browse menus which only shows contents from a specific virtual library defined in Multi Library plugin, so this will make it possible to create separate browse menus for the above two libraries.

Unfortunately there is no easy way to modify the standard browse menus provided by Logitech, they will always contain the whole library, but you can use the free "Hide Menus" plugin and hide the standard browse menus and only use the ones provided by Custom Browse plugin. I think the most common solution people user for needs like the one you describes are:
- Ignore the problem and live with it
- Only browse their library using My Music/Music Folder
- Use third party plugins such as Custom Browse and Multi Library.


Another alternative, if you don't want to use third party plugins, would be to tag this music in a specific way, for example set an ALBUMARTIST="MyStrangeTracks" tag on all of them. This will make them show up under "My Music/Artists/MyStrangeTracks". However, depending on what kind of music this is, it might not be suitable to re-tag them this way and then I can't see any good solution except for using third party plugins.

If you want to try the Custom Browse/Multi Library plugin you also need to install License Manager plugin, you can apply for a free 30 day evaluation license through the License Manager plugin to try them out before you purchase them.

[boardtc]

Thanks for the advice. I have been showing the contents of this external drive via a shortcut alright. All the clutter eventually led to my question. Thanks for the detailed post Erland, it was only recently I discovered the music folder option allright. Your plugins look very comprehensive and the virtual folders (assuming there can be an artist & albums view for each virtual folder) and hiding the album/artist menu would make it quiet neat for me. I also noticed your suggestion about setting up a kids box, which would be quiet nice to do in the future.

Looking at the plugins:

• http://wiki.erland.isaksson.info/ind...Manager_plugin
• http://wiki.slimdevices.com/index.ph...Library_plugin
• http://wiki.slimdevices.com/index.php/Custom_Browse

I can't find any information about the price after the 30 day trial, where can I see that? It would be good to know considering the setup time it will take, thanks a lot.