Well, you either have Random, or you have the Repeat mode, you just can't have both, the two functions never worked together.

Could the Amarok team possibly attempt to get them to work together? Is it something they're already working on? It seems like an essential and basic feature missing from an otherwise great media player.

Well, it never did work together until now, and this is not exactly high on the priority list AFAICT.

Please have a look at the Dynamic Playlists in Amarok 2.3.0 and the Automatic Playlist Generator in the upcoming Amarok 2.3.1

I'd been wondering the same as molecule-eye, and finally came here to check if anyone else had a solution. Checking the bug tracking system, this bug report comment suggests this has been fixed (in Amarok 2.3.1).

No, since you still can't choose both at the same time. I will nag the developer who implemented it to change the selection possibilities for 2.3.1

Comment 13 on the bug report references the behavior outlined in comment 12:

How about making "Random tracks" behave like "Random tracks" + "Repeat playlist" and "Random album" behave like "Random album" + "Repeat playlist" by default?

I just now installed Amarok 2.3.0.90. I set it on "Random Tracks" and selected the last track on the playlist to play. The behavior of 2.3.0 would be to play this song, then stop playing because it was the last track on the playlist. The 2.3.0.90 behavior is that after it finished playing the last track on the playlist, it selected a random other track on the playlist, and kept going.

I don't know if this is lacking anything anyone else is looking for, but it has what I've been waiting for for some time now, so I'm happy. It's possible there's room for usability enhancements, but as of 2.3.0.90, "Random Tracks" produces the behavior I expect it to, thus closing the book on the only "major issue" I've had remaining with Amarok 2 =D

bcooksley wrote:As far as I know, if you choose a Random option, then it will automatically Repeat also.

Sadly, it seems not to do this in 2.3.0.

Mamarok wrote:Well, you either have Random, or you have the Repeat mode, you just can't have both, the two functions never worked together.

Are we really talking about amarok in this post? In the amarok verion I had in Kubuntu 9.10, before upgrading to 10.04, it was always playing random and repeat. In that time, this functionality was a set of checkboxes in the menu and both options could be checked at a time. The system now used, correct me if my terminology is wrong, is a set of radiobuttons, working exclusively so that only one setting may be chosen at a time.

Anyways, just to add my share. I did find this button relatively easy (after looking in the menu). However, I find it hard to accept it now, all of a sudden, refuses to play on both random and repeat (playlist) at a time.

Note that previously the code did only one of the selected items ( Random / Repeat ) not both as the UI indicated.

bcooksley wrote:Note that previously the code did only one of the selected items ( Random / Repeat ) not both as the UI indicated.

In that case, you might have to explain my now 2.2.0 amarok that it impossible that it is playing random tracks and never stops doing so

I think some things got misunderstood in this thread, btw. If I, and probably the OP, would talk about random and repeat, it means the following:
- Random tracks.
- Repeat playlist (thus: never stop playing).

I think you and some others are commenting it as if playing both random and *any* of the repeat options, whereas this would not make a lot of sense. (random track, repeat one? o.O, or repeat Album?).

Anyways, the option I have been trying to describe is what Im missing in 2.3 and the OP probably missed in 2.2.2 already. If I played random, that playlist would eventually stop.

"If I played random, that playlist would eventually stop."

Not true if you are using a dynamic playlist. You can set it up with no filters, completely random, and it will play until shutdown.

"Continue playing" is entirely different from *repeat*, which means "play the same tracks in the same order again."

Mamarok wrote:Well, you either have Random, or you have the Repeat mode, you just can't have both, the two functions never worked together.

I'd just like to point out that 'random' and 'repeat' have always worked very well together - in the good old days amarok vers. <=1.4.x

I've just installed ubunut 10.04 / amarok 2.3.0, and with help of the web, managed to find the 'random' button. 'Repeat'? Nowhere
Like so many other things in kde 4, these improvements of usability make me shaking my head in amazement.

I neglected to mention that one can also generate a playlist that is NOT random, randomize (shuffle) it, *then* choose the repeat option.

Usually there is more than one way to do what you want in Amarok; it's just a matter of figuring out exactly what you want, and your favorite way to do that.

This feature needs some usability work...

Should be pretty big and obvious, not tucked away under an obscure name in the bottom right corner.

As a new user I should intuitively be able to find it, not by searching Google for "Amarok Repeat".

I agree. I actually googled "amarok repeat". And no, there were no release notes, just installed a kde distro. And being a developer myself and having used tons of programs I know my way around.

Track progression to me sounds indeed like something only applicable to the current track so I didn't even try to push the button since it made no sense.

There's a reason almost every app has a repeat/shuffle button next to the play/next buttons. They are used a lot and it works. I'm always baffled by interface changes like this. People are creatures of habit. Don't change the interface unless it's a really major improvement.

"It's in the release notes" is a terrible argument. Reminds me of coworkers who installed apps on every server in different locations and different ways. Then when you go nuts trying to find something they say "it's in the documentation we made". Why would I need docs for something that should be obvious 99% of the time?

Sorry for the rant but I see so many apps lately that are changing the interface just to be different instead of concentrating on making it usable. I bet basically everyone had to search for the repeat/shuffle button.

I have to agree on this, even willing to bump a rather old topic for it.

I tried Amarok again after a long time of using other software. I'm totally baffled by the fact that one of the most used functionality of music players is hidden away in a place where it is very unlikely to be found.

I've been working with all kinds of software for many years but I couldn't find it. The button you have to click on does not suggest it has anything to do with how tracks are played. It does not suggest a menu will open when you click on it. And I shouldn't have to go through menu's to activate this functionality.

Really nice that experts looked into it, but I doubt those were usability experts, and if they were, they shouldn't be. Seriously, this should be somewhere next to the Play button. At the *VERY* least, the icon on the button should be drastically improved to reveal more about what it does.