Most annoying firmware bug, IMHO

lewis501

Recent got my first portable dap: Meizu/DaneElec M6 SP 4G model, firmware version S 2.003.2 from the factory.

No trouble loading the music from my (Ubuntu Linux) PC: FLAC files ripped from my CD collection, compressed to 256k cbr mp3 with lame.

Most annoying bug for me is that when I select an album, the tracks (songs) are played in alphabetical order by track name, not the order as on the original CD. There is a "sort order" function, but it appears to do nothing. There are four options on that menu: Title, Filename, Artist, and Album. Tracks on an album are in the same (alpha) order no matter which option is selected.

There is a workaround for this: I go to the browser option on the main menu, select open on the music folder, then I can select play on the folder I have set up for each album. The tracks will play in order, perhaps because the file names are the song name preceded by the track number, so a sort on the filelist is correct.

A search of the this forum indicates that this is an ongoing bug; apparently one so well known, consistent and documented that it is little discussed. What no one can say is whether there will ever be a fix for it.

Strangely enough, there is one album that appears sorted correctly. This album contained a song that did not get automagically tagged with the correct id3tag. (I used mp3fs to handle on-the-fly conversion from FLAC to mp3 -- a process so slick I'm giddy with Linux pride.) I used id3tag on the command line to insert the correct info for the track, and voila, that track moved from the "unknown albums" list to the correct album listing, and those tracks are now in correct order.

Alas, this is not a reliable fix: another track/file I fixed by the same method caused the fixed track to appear at the top of its album list and the rest of the tracks to remain in alpha.

It strikes me that this bug that should be trivial to resolve. I can not fathom the purpose of the "sort order" option anyway, unless for using the "all songs" listing. In any case or by any method that I have slected a song to play, when that song is complete I expect the player to do one of three things: pause and wait for me to make another selection; play a randomly chosen song from my library, if Random:On is selected; or play the next track on the album on which that song is found. In no case do I ever care to hear the tracks of a particular album, or of my library, in alphabetical order.

I am aware of other bugs; the "end of file stuttering" issue seems to be foremost in many user's minds, I will listen for it but have not heard it yet. I have had it shutdown unintentionally at the end of a track and go through the "update music library" process when restarted, but it was in my pocket at the time so I'm not sure if that was the bug others report.

So far for me, the track order bug is the only thing that gives me a bit of regret about my choice of a dap. The size, build quality, display, battery life, slider control are all at least acceptable; but that annoying track order thing needs to be fixed.

Err0r

I've yet to experience this problem on firmware versions later than 1.xxx.

mbarry

This shouldn't be a problem. I have never had it.

lewis501

Glad to hear that ErrOr and mbarry are not having this problem. Perhaps they will let me in on the secret handshake.

It seems quite a few other are, a quick search shows a number of threads on this topic:
Song Sorting
M6: Randomly displayed and played tracks
OK, Let's Fix This
Song order in album
Wrong track order when playing an album
Song Order in Library

Err0r

How many digits are your tags in? One digit (1, 2, 3, ...) or two (01, 02, 03, ...)?

It might have something to do with ID3 tag version.

BobbyQ

lewis501, I am having the same problem (thread partly in German). But I found out that if I take the same FLAC files and put them directly into the MUSIC folder without any subfolders, everything turns out to be fine. But that is not a solution, that is only another indicator of crappy programming.

__________________

madman

Not a problem I have either, all my tracks are displayed and played in album order. Not sure why but if it helps my tags are ID3v2.3UTF-16, numbering within the tags is 01,02,03,04........

Maxey

Madman, thanks for your clear explanation. The screen dumps are helpful.

What I learned is that your filenames are preceding with the track number. So it you can not conclude if your player sorts according to the tags or according to the filenames. I guess it is sorting according to the filenames.

Can you rename the files and leave out the track number? If so, I guess that you will experience the same problem as the original poster.

madman

Seems to make no difference.

aps

Nor do i have a problem. M3 or M6 SL. To put it simply people, you have problems like this because you convert it yourself and don't do a good job of it.