Hi, sorting by Cat#, I believe would be great, to sort watched folder Label, by either starting from the earliest release available in my personal collection for this Label, or by the latest release of this Label.
So, something like this:
Sort by Cat# / oldest first
Sort by Cat# / latest first
And, of course, that it only includes the releases, on which I’m Focused on, in this case, a specific watched folder.
Also, one more thing, and it’s not a huge deal, but if the above can be done, maybe also, have the Cat# visible (next to, or in front of) the artist name / album name, without having to select each release to be able to see any details of the Cat#.
The problem with this and other previously suggested “new and exciting” ways of sorting content in Roon is that there is no guarantee that the sort column contains consistent or any data at all. While some users might tag their files thoroughly – I’m sure you do that and that all your audio files contain a catalog number – many user’s files just contain the basic set of tags at best. That is why Roon relies on external metadata sources instead. But there is still no guarantee for completeness. So what to do with albums without Cat#? Omit them or list them first/last? What to do if different metadata sources provide a different writing for the same album or a metadata source may even provide more than one Cat# for a given album? While as long as the data isn’t used as sort criteria it doesn’t matter if the Cat# is from a CD, SACD, DVD, LP, CC or another release or is missing at all, it has just informational character, things change if it gets used as sort criteria.
Should Roon Labs ever go and implement such new sorting possibilities they might have/want to make sure that users get meaningful results in the fast majority (? > 95%, higher ?) of cases or otherwise it might be not worth the effort (too much unpleasing results; too much complaints/support requests).
Disclaimer: Just my two cents and not an official statement of the Team from Roon Labs.
That’s a good question. Omitting them would be the wrong choice. First, or last? Yeah, one of those. Probably first, is best. that way one can add a Cat# tag as soon as it’s shown in the front of the collection, or fix it from the actual file in the drive. However the user chooses.
Well, it’d be nice to have it, for those that care about this sorting option. For me, it would be awesome.
No idea why you’d need to defend a perfectly reasonable and easily implemented sort feature. The reply you received is just needless noise from lazy thinking. I’m sure the devs are smart enough to know what to do with blank records, just wish they’d be interested enough to realise that many of the browses and lists they present NEED sort options… ergo developer preferences don’t necessarily translate to user preferences. This is where Roon falls down…the devs believing their personal choices and preferences are always the right ones and good enough for their users. They’re not, in fact in some cases they’re downright myopic!
Hi, @Emile_Lemmer - if you’re talking to me, well, he did take the time to think about my request, and replied bringing up some questions/options of how would/might this be implemented, which are the points I replied to.
I appreciate he took the time to brainstorm about it, and reply with some extended discussion. So, that’s why I decided to give him a like.
Thank you for commenting on your interest, @Emile_Lemmer.