again: show currently playing song

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Level 1

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again: show currently playing song

show currently playing song

How do you show currently playing song without switching to Album View?

Originally from https://discussions.apple.com/thread/251966507 because some forums have no concept of how answer threads work.

I'd like to know how to show the currently playing song in the Music app without isolating the album. In iTunes I used Command L but now that command shows the song in a new screen with the whole album, I don't need to see that. I use the app to organize large amounts of music and i often need to see the date I downloaded a track and the other tracks i downloaded during that same time. Is this still possible? Thanks

What is even worse: when the player is in Album View the basic UI controls no longer work! User cannot pause the track or skip to the next one using the keyboard in Album View. Extremely frustrating!

So if the user who answered in the previous thread could explain or show how to "set your library and all playlists for View > As Songs." It sounds like exactly what is needed, but there is no way that I can find to change it globally for the full library.

Posted on Aug 31, 2021 7:49 AM

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Answer 1

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ed2345

Level 9

62,858 points

Aug 31, 2021 7:35 PM in response to rebusb

So if the user who answered in the previous thread could explain or show how to "set your library and all playlists for View > As Songs." It sounds like exactly what is needed, but there is no way that I can find to change it globally for the full library.

Hello Rebusb,

The user who answered in the previous thread was yours truly. CMD-L works properly if everything is set for View > As Songs.

There is no way to set it globally. In recent versions of iTunes and Music, each new playlist starts off in "Playlist view." You can change it manually right after you create the playlist.

In old versions of iTunes, each new playlist inherited the view options of the main library. Thew newer behavior is clearly inferior, but the manual step only needs to be done once for each playlist..

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Answer 2

rebusb Author

Level 1

9 points

Aug 31, 2021 7:56 AM in response to rebusb

Again for the designers, the workflow I am attempting to use (and worked consistently with previous incarnations of iTunes) is Cmd-L to get to current track, then space bar to pause or to skip to the next track or whatever. All with just the keyboard, no mouse, no track-pad, so you can operate the app while display is asleep.

Or say you are on shuffle, have moved off current track and want to see it or rate it before skipping on to other things. Very handy if it is a track you want to rate low.

This incarnation of music player breaks that behavior.

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Answer 3

rebusb Author

Level 1

9 points

Sep 1, 2021 2:11 PM in response to ed2345

Thanks for the details!

That is a shame since my favorite way of using the player is to shuffle the whole library and not just play by playlist.

Guess I could may a playlist of everything and then set the mode on that...

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Answer 4

ed2345

Level 9

62,858 points

Sep 3, 2021 5:06 AM in response to rebusb

Hi Rebusb,

Your question got me looking. There now seems to be no view option that will set or unset the main Songs list for View > As Songs. (Music 1.1.6.37 on Big Sur.) Perhaps my view got there from some legacy setting.

Your suggestion to make "a playlist of everything and then set the mode on that..." may be a good approach.

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