Ok, I give up: questions about "Favorites" management

[DSperber]

Although I have more than 250 tracks I'd like to put into Favorites, I guess I can live with 250. Of course what I really want is "playlists" of my own choosing and construction (ideally constructed on my PC and copied to the J3, but I'll take whatever I can get).

Anyway, I don't see any mention anywhere of support for playlists. So I assume this does not exist... hence just one 250 Favorites list.

So, if possible, how do I do the following basic tasks:

(1) How do I DELETE an entry once I've added it? I mean deleting a specific track in the 250-max Favorites list, because say I've changed my mind, or I'm maxed out and want to put some other tracks in instead.

(2) Can I move an entry UP or DOWN in the list, since otherwise the list seems fixed at precisely the order you added the tracks at? It would be nice if the list remained alphabetical, but I really don't care. In fact, I've pushed "random" for play order, because these are all really "favorites" and having them pop up in random order is great.

(3) When looking at a "list" (e.g. the tracks for an album) the bar at the bottom of the screen has a "+", which suggests you can use it to add a track to Favorites by using this button. However I don't see that it actually does anything. Plus, there's no way to "select" a track without causing it to play, so how could this "+" at the bottom of the screen apply to a single track? And that's not what it's for, then what is this "+" for and how do you use it?

(4) Is the Favorites list stored on primary storage (in one of the directories) in a text-form so that I could actually edit it myself?

[CrowdAds]

[NeedBalanceCtrl]

Originally Posted by DSperber

So, if possible, how do I do the following basic tasks:

(1) How do I DELETE an entry once I've added it? I mean deleting a specific track in the 250-max Favorites list, because say I've changed my mind, or I'm maxed out and want to put some other tracks in instead.

Press the X button on bottom bar. It turns red. You're now in DELETE mode. All tracks you pick henceforth will be deleted after you've confirmed by pressing the O button. Do NOT press the X button each time to delete. Once you're in DELETE mode, you're in DELETE mode. To get out of DELETE mode, press the X button again. It turns from red to white. Now you're out of DELETE mode.

Originally Posted by DSperber

(2) Can I move an entry UP or DOWN in the list, since otherwise the list seems fixed at precisely the order you added the tracks at? It would be nice if the list remained alphabetical, but I really don't care. In fact, I've pushed "random" for play order, because these are all really "favorites" and having them pop up in random order is great.

You can't move up or down; you can only delete. In my opinion, the J3 really sucks when it comes to playlists.

Originally Posted by DSperber

(3) When looking at a "list" (e.g. the tracks for an album) the bar at the bottom of the screen has a "+", which suggests you can use it to add a track to Favorites by using this button. However I don't see that it actually does anything. Plus, there's no way to "select" a track without causing it to play, so how could this "+" at the bottom of the screen apply to a single track? And that's not what it's for, then what is this "+" for and how do you use it?

The UI is NOT intuitive. Thus, you need to press the + sign first. Then it turns from white to green. Once it's a green +, now you can select tracks to add to your favorite list. Again, like DELETE MODE, when you're in ADD mode, you're in ADD mode. You just select tracks to add. You do NOT press + sign each time to add. Press the + sign again to get out of ADD mode. When the + sign changes from green to white, you are out of ADD mode.

Originally Posted by DSperber

(4) Is the Favorites list stored on primary storage (in one of the directories) in a text-form so that I could actually edit it myself?

This is a very good and interesting question. I'd like to know the answer to this myself. If indeed it's just a hidden text file somewhere on the J3 and we can edit this file, then it would be so much easier to edit playlists, but I suspect it's not like that.

Lastly, a HUGE word of caution. I believe--and others please correct me if I'm wrong--whenever you update firmware, your favorite list and bookmarks are ERASED. I repeat, whenever you update firmware--e.g. going from 2.03 to 2.10--all your 250 tracks will be ERASED. I read that somewhere and I can confirm that it happened to me when I upgraded/downgraded from 2.10 to 1.20. All my music and video favorites and bookmarks are gone. So bare that in mind when manually putting together your 250 favorite list. It will be completely wiped-out if and when you upgrade your firmware.

[Artmuzz]

Originally Posted by Need Balance Control

Lastly, a HUGE word of caution. I believe--and others please correct me if I'm wrong--whenever you update firmware, your favorite list and bookmarks are ERASED. I repeat, whenever you update firmware--e.g. going from 2.03 to 2.10--all your 250 tracks will be ERASED. I read that somewhere and I can confirm that it happened to me when I upgraded/downgraded from 2.10 to 1.20. All my music and video favorites and bookmarks are gone. So bare that in mind when manually putting together your 250 favorite list. It will be completely wiped-out if and when you upgrade your firmware.

The favourites and bookmark lists are not deleted when updating firmware. I updated from 2.03 to 2.10 and my favourites and bookmark lists were still there.

Art

[DSperber]

Originally Posted by Need Balance Control

Press the X button on bottom bar. It turns red. You're now in DELETE mode. All tracks you pick henceforth will be deleted after you've confirmed by pressing the O button.

Guess "OK" or "cancel" would have been inappropriate for the confirmation popup, to avoid ambiguity!

Actually, I pushed "X" on the confirmation dialog the first time I tried this (not remembering what you'd said here)... since that's what I was doing, namely "X'ing" that track. Obviously it did NOT work.

Then I tried it again, this time pushing "O" (where the OK button would normally be on a confirmation dialog) and it worked.

Fantastic! Many thanks.

What is the "ALL" (to the left of the "X") on the bottom, which appears (instead of "+" when you push the "X" to enter delete mode)? Is that to delete ALL 250 favorites in one fell swoop? Probably.

You can't move up or down; you can only delete. In my opinion, the J3 really sucks when it comes to playlists.

Hmmm...

Without the Favorites list in alphabetical order, and without a way to rearrange things up/down, kind of challenging to find a track you're looking for if you want to delete it.

I happened to be on a plane yesterday and was passing the hours by going through my 521 "artists" and picking selected tracks to be considered "Favorites", before I finally reached T and had maxed out my 250. So for the moment, anyway, they're in "virtual" groups (not visible onscreen, since all you see is track titles) alphabetically by artist, and thus it's not yet impossible to locate the tracks of an artist by spotting one that's recognizable, remember that artist, and go up or down from there.

Nevertheless, this certainly could use some improvement. I think an "INFO" button on the bottom bar might be useful, which like the "X" button would put you into "info mode" such that each track you then select produces an INFO popup (maybe ALL ID3 data would show here, along with album cover)... but the track is NOT selected for playing. You then tap the popup and it goes away, but you're still in "info mode" and can still scroll to other tracks. Eventually you push the "INFO" button again, and now you're out of "info mode".

This would address a lot of needs where INFO functionality (but not selecting a track for playing) would fill in a big hole. Plus, it would be a likely place for showing ALL ID3 data (not just what shows when tapping the album art when playing a track).

The UI is NOT intuitive. Thus, you need to press the + sign first. Then it turns from white to green. Once it's a green +, now you can select tracks to add to your favorite list. Again, like DELETE MODE, when you're in ADD mode, you're in ADD mode. You just select tracks to add. You do NOT press + sign each time to add. Press the + sign again to get out of ADD mode. When the + sign changes from green to white, you are out of ADD mode.

I see.

Now I see the consistency of their approach. Even more reason why my proposed INFO button and feature description would be very appropriate, and let us actually see what an otherwise randomly placed FAVORITES track actually is... who sings it, etc., without having to play it to discover (thereby losing whatever you're currently playing).

This is a very good and interesting question. I'd like to know the answer to this myself. If indeed it's just a hidden text file somewhere on the J3 and we can edit this file, then it would be so much easier to edit playlists, but I suspect it's not like that.

I've explored the contents of the official J3 primary storage "drive", and there's nothing hidden and nothing of a size or file date which would be appropriate to investigate further.

So it looks like this FAVORITES stuff must be stored internally, in non-volatile RAM somewhere that is not in the area appearing as the "drive" accessible to the user but only to their software. Oh well.

[NeedBalanceCtrl]

Originally Posted by DSperber

Fantastic! Many thanks.

What is the "ALL" (to the left of the "X") on the bottom, which appears (instead of "+" when you push the "X" to enter delete mode)? Is that to delete ALL 250 favorites in one fell swoop? Probably.

Yes, it's to delete all the tracks, as opposed to, one single track.