Quodlibet: Stop playback from following my file browsing

[jeronimojoe]

The proposed change

Right now if I am playing an album (I always play albums!) and I browse my album list looking at other music, QL will at the end of the track stop playing the album I was listening to and start playing the album or track I am looking at, without me hitting play or anything. This is incredibly annoying. If there is a way of changing this eg in preferences, I can't find it. I am using version 4.2.1 on mac os 10.13, but it has always been thus!

Benefits of this change

Predictable and consistent playback

Any issues this might cause

no.

[urielz]

There are two ways to avoid this:
1- Use the queue to play the album
2- Open another browser to browse while the album is playing (Go to 'Browse' then 'Open Browser')

[declension]

@jeronimojoe are you happy with the methods above or do want to propose a new preference or playback style (in which case please add more details)

[declension]

Also - worth checking out the queue only plugin (a play order plugin, so needs enabling in bottom left too), which restricts all playing to the queue, and defaults double-clicking to add things to the queue (CC @lixoo81)

[lixoo81]

This is something that I'm also struggling with as I rediscover Quod Libet after a few years of being seduced by Spotify.

I think what @jeronimojoe is trying to describe is Spotify's auto-play behaviour, which can be crudely summarised as "when the current song finishes and the queue is empty, rather than stop (or jump to whatever I'm browsing), play the next song in the current album". This is subtly different from adding the album to the queue. In practical terms it means I can start playing a whole album by clicking a single song, and still be free to browse my library without interrupting that album.

The problem with the queue solution is I have to conciously add the whole album to the queue, then actively manage the queue (i.e. clear it out) when I want to listen to a few tracks on another album, which can be almost as frustrating as the behaviour described in this issue.

To me, this feels like a new "auto-play" feature request (or maybe a plugin)?

I've tried to express above in BDD style:

Current behaviour:

GIVEN I'm in the cover grid view
AND I select album "A"
AND I double-click track 1, which starts playing
AND I then select album "B" in the cover grid view to browse to the track listings
WHEN track 1 from album A finishes
THEN track 1 from album B starts

Proposed behaviour:

GIVEN I'm in the cover grid view
AND I select album "A"
AND I double-click track 1, which starts playing
AND I then select album "B" in the cover grid view to browse to the track listings
WHEN track 1 from album A finishes
THEN track 2 from album A starts

[jacobwhall]

I think what @jeronimojoe is trying to describe is Spotify's auto-play behaviour, which can be crudely summarised as "when the current song finishes and the queue is empty, rather than stop (or jump to whatever I'm browsing), play the next song in the current album". This is subtly different from adding the album to the queue. In practical terms it means I can start playing a whole album by clicking a single song, and still be free to browse my library without interrupting that album.

The problem with the queue solution is I have to conciously add the whole album to the queue, then actively manage the queue (i.e. clear it out) when I want to listen to a few tracks on another album, which can be almost as frustrating as the behaviour described in this issue.

This is the behavior I prefer having used iTunes and Spotify before switching to Quod Libet. Would it be feasible to add an option to the Playback menu of preferences that lets you choose between the two behaviors @lixoo81 describes? This is a feature I'd really like to see added, and I'd be willing to help make it happen.