I'm having a terrible time learning to use playlists.

I think I have understood about using the Rescan Collection command. The problem is that the result may put the piece(s) I have just ripped anywhere, not necessarily where I think they should be. Example: I ripped a piece by Stravinsky called Trois morceaux pour clarinette solo. But in the collection, they're listed under the title of the CD, which contains much more than those 3 pieces (which last 5 minutes) and is totally different.  Sometimes, they are not even together in the collection.

Apparently Amarok works only with the IDn track information, which I thought I had set as I wanted them after the ripping. My problem is that I want Amarok to give the name that I choose to a piece and not something it finds on the CD.

I think I could manage fine if there were some documentation which indicated how Amarok constructs a collection and the same thing for a playlist, but I can't find that.

I really hate being obliged to earn something by trial and error -- especially when it's mostly error!  -- without any doc to help me along. Thanks for any hints or pointers to documentation.

You could start with the amarok handbook for a general guide to different ways to group your collection, as well as how to use the different types of playlists - select the handbook from the Amarok help menu.

dangle_wtf wrote:You could start with the amarok handbook for a general guide to different ways to group your collection, as well as how to use the different types of playlists - select the handbook from the Amarok help menu.

Good thought. I'm up to the page Making a playlist.  There's a picture at the top of a list of pieces with columns Title, Artist, Album and Length. I cannot find anything like that in my Amarok (1.4.3, using KDE 3.5.5).  Now what do I do?

Later, on the same page, it says, "If you have your own playlists...". This is adding to my frustration. Where would I have playlists from, that's just what I'm trying to make! I'm afraid my confusion is so great that I cannot even ask a reasonable question.

Maybe a good starting point would be to define exactly what a playlist is. To me it's a set of pieces, "tunes", if you like, that I generally listen to together, usually -- tho not necessarily -- in a given order. But, and here's the big point, are they defined by the name of the directory and the files, or rather by the ID2/3 info attached to them? That's what is not clear. I'm used to using the file system for that sort of thing, but of course the IDn tags can contain more info.

More help, please.  Thanks in advance.

Update! Current Amarok version is 1.4.7 - however the handbook you have is relevant to the version you're using...

Playlists that you might already have would be saved files with the extension .pls or .m3u - these can be imported into amarok. Not everyone has playlists from external sources.

In amarok, the "playlist" is what appears in the panel on the right of the application - the big one. That's where the columns you mention are shown.
You're right - a playlist is a list of tunes. If you keep reading the handbook, you'll see it mentions dragging tracks from your collection to the playlist window.
You should also read about dynamic and smart playlists.
Perhaps you're getting confused between the playlist browser, and the playlist window?

Amarok builds the collection using the tags you supply when you rip and encode your CD.  I am not sure what you are using for that, but say if it is Grip, Where you select which tracks to rip, you have an opportunity to change the text that will be added to the tags.  Maybe you could tell us what program you are using to rip/encode the CDs.

I use KAudioCreator for ripping.

Can I update to Amarok 1.4.7 with Edgy? It certainly doesn't show up in Adept, only 1.4.3. The Amarok site seems to imply I need at least Feisty.

One confusing thing is how these windows work.  I can go to the collection window and double-click on a collection on the left.  Then if I double-click on another collection on the left, it's tunes are added to those already there on the right. I do not at all understand the point of this behavior.

The handbook says "Making a playlist is as simple as dragging items from the Collection Browser Tree View into the Playlist." But how can I see the playlist and the collections at once? I suspect this is related to my last question.

Enough questions for now. Do you see where my confusion is coming from?

Many thanks.

you can drag to either the playlist *window* on the right, or drag and hover over the playlist *tab* on the left, then when the view switches, drop onto an existing playlist.

Sounds like you just need to play with amarok - try different things. Use a temporary directory with copies of some of your music if you're worried about destructive behaviour. Try things like dragging and dropping in different places, right-clicking on different items, and double/single clicking different things.
Work through the handbook from the start, and try what is being explained. Even if it's not what you want to do, it will help you to become familiar with how amarok differs from other players and operating systems you might have used.

It also sounds like the behavior the OP expects (and wants) is more like the program called juK.  I'm not being a troll, it really is pretty good.  Check it out.

If you have tracks where the tagging is wrong, you can change that by right-clicking. Try using the Music Brainz button first -- that can save you a lot of typing, especially with classical tracks. If the CD is in the MB database, you can just step through the tracks using the next button. Remember to save at some point, though -- your tags will not be changed until you save.

Once you have everything tagged correctly, it's a snap to narrow your collection by, say, artist (for instance, Yo-yo Ma), by composer (Bach), by form (symphony), or even by instrument (cello) or conductor.  Just search, and then drag all the matches over into your playlist. Once you get one you really like, save it for later use.

Hope this helps,

Valorie