Sort music by composer

[marvelloard]

For classical music to get a usable overview and to actually find the piece you're looking for it's necessary to sort the music by composer tag. Sorting should go like: composer->piece or even better composer->piece->artist (since it's common lots of artists perform the same pieces and so you will happen to have several "versions" of the same piece).

[AsavarTzeth]

I want something similar to this and would agree something like this is needed. However, I would like it to be an option under preference settings.

[marvelloard]

Actually I don't think it's a good idea to place it on the preferences since besides classical music lots of people like me also listen to other music too. Then it's necessary to quickly change the method of sorting. So I really like the solution as already seen in iTunes: on the top right there's a drop-down "text" which reads the current sorting algorithm. Clicking on it reveals the other possibilities.

This way it takes up little space on screen and is quickly accessible.

See attached screenshot.

[AsavarTzeth]

Actually ownCloud has something similar in the sidebar used by many apps. But since the Music app does not use a sidebar at this time I could not suggest that, now could I?

[marvelloard]

For this single and unique item I think a "floating" dropdown field in the top right would be sufficient. Kind of like iTunes. Implementation in a sidebar would only make sense if there really is some different, strong reason to have a sidebar at all, and then I am still not convinced that this particular item should be part of the sidebar..

[AsavarTzeth]

Well sure, but there is a strong enough reason. At least in my opinion.

If my memory serves me right, the sidebar is the recommended design by the core team. All to make sure ownCloud and its various apps have a common design language and good usability level.

Of course this does not stop you from doing something else. Just pointing that out.

[marvelloard]

Of course I'm not against a sidebar. But I think it's a bad idea to add a sidebar because it's recommended by the design team and then fill it with this little (in terms of screen size) option. We end up with lots of unused space inside this bar and therefore an ugly looking sidebar (containing only one single option).

IMHO a sidebar should be added when there's lots of stuff to be changed quickly that should not be in preferences because you need it often and regularly. Again, I wouldn't even put that sorting box into the sidebar. Look at Gallery+, they only have few options floating in the top left. This box could be very similar.

What I could imagine would be the list of composers/artists/albums or whatever your algorithm is to be inside this sidebar.

[AsavarTzeth]

Fair enough, makes sense.

Yes I completely agree that a list belongs in the sidebar. Perhaps that was my real idea. I do tend to get confused :smile:

On that topic, I do like how the Lollypop music player does this. It may not be the best of designs, but it works really great for me. Take something similar to that with a composer option in there and you probably get close to what I was thinking.

[marvelloard]

Ah thank you, now I see what you meant!

But if you look again your link to Lollipop is actually part of what I'm thinking of: On the left you see "Afrobeat, Autres, Blues", so it's all the genres. Music here gets sorted by genres. And you have a top horizontal bar for controls. If you translate this to ownCloud, the sidebar would just be the same and filled with genres. But the sorting box would be a floating element. Now if you change the method of sorting, the actual content of the sidebar would change to "Bach, Brahms, Schumann, Zemlinsky..", composers e.g.

Maybe in this scenario the sorting box could be inside the sidebar, on very top, separated by a horizontal line or something? Because it changes the content of the bar, it interacts with it..? So it should be close..?

I repeated myself, I'm sorry. But I want you to have a precise idea about how I imagine it to be, also I think my solution is very efficient and elegant. I use that kind of sorting on my iPod and iTunes, and it works very well.

[AsavarTzeth]

Wow, you almost managed to read my mind better than myself. Especially when you summarized things in the third paragraph. I have nothing at all to that.

Also, I did not notice any repeating. I think you expressed yourself perfectly and clearly.

Oh, I think the Bookmarks app might demonstrate some of your last thoughts nicely (no horizontal line, but still).

[marvelloard]

I'm happy we came to a good ending :D Now hopefully someone will actually implement this..

//offtopic Lollipop looks really nice, by the way. I didn't know this particular player. Noise (bundled with Elementary OS) works very well too, but it's less fancy. On the other hand it's interface is cleaner. //offtopic