Please consider this a refinement of a similar idea suggested earlier, namely: allow the user, choose whether compositional grouping should be honored or not. I suggest just two circumstances need consideration.
- Playlists At the creation of a playlist, give the user an option called, say, “Keep Grouping? Yes/No”. If the user selects ‘Yes’, then any and all tracks added to that playlist will be considered ungrouped for playback purposes. So, one could add the single composition, Chopin’s 24 Preludes, but it would be played as 24 individual, “shuffleable” tracks. Further, if a user only selects, say, 12 of the preludes for inclusion in the playlist, then only those 12 will play.
If it would be simpler to implement, I’d be okay with making the Grouping Option only available on playlist creation (, he said, as if he had a say).
- Radio Similar to the Playlist option above, “Keep Grouping? Yes/No” is available whenever the Radio is started. Unlike Playlists, the Grouping option could be toggled at any time. If ungrouped, the Radio would choose only the individual PART chosen and queued by the Radio.
As argued in earlier posts, some classical compositions are more accurately “collections” with a common style, writing period, or theme. Examples include: Etudes, Preludes, Album Leafs, Ballads, Dances, Songs, Nocturnes, Piano Pieces, Legendes, Waltzes, and Polonaises. The composers rarely (never?) intended these post hoc groupings to require consumption in one sitting. Adding this feature enables random selection and enjoyment.
Thanks in advance for your consideration.