I know you are under the pump at the moment, this is something to consider for the near future, but if i dont write it down to you it might get forgotten.
My wife and i go for long walks and listen to music on our devices, we have been using the lame Music app but now as i have been using ST3 for ages on stage with great pleasure , i want to use it off stage as well for all my music needs as i dont like having too many half baked apps on my devices to keep life as simple as possible.
So i thought about ST3 PLAYLIST MODE and the way it operates and i have come up with a possible solution to please not only the musicians that use it but all users that also just listen to music.
Imagine this, now stop thinking as a musician and as a programmer, just think of yourself as a normal everyday user of this app.
You have created a large number of playlists for the conveniance that you can just choose one hit play and life is easy.
The way ST3 handles playlists now is very narrow minded, you hit a playlist then you have to choose a song then hit play, now you are stuck in this playlist untill you hit a button to get back to playlists then choose another playlist then make another selection to continue in this playlist, now this is fine for MUSICIANS but not great for people that just want a simple operation to listen to their playlists.
My suggestion is to create a working logic in the first page of playlists that makes life simple for all users, without interfearing with the musicians way of working.
Imagine this.
For a start, when you fire up ST3 it defaults to SONG mode, this should not be the case, it should default to the last used mode, so if i was in PLAYLISTS first page thats where the ST3 should open up the next time i open it, this is a great conveniance as i just open up the app touch the playlist i want and hit play and i am away and walking, running, bikeing or whatever.
Notice that i said touch the playlist and hit play, there is a reason i said that , i did not mention it opened the actual playlist i specifically made it an instant thing , this would happen if i was not playing a song at the time, meaning it saves one step in the process , if i have chosen a playlist it means i want to play something from it so why not the first song and if it was in autoplay all mode it would just play through this playlist, now the really nice thing would be if i do not chose a next playlist while the now playlist is playing it just loops this playlist, but if i have selected another NEXT playlist choice it would end the now playing list and jump to the NEXT chosen playlist, if i dont choose another playlist the NEXT playlist is the one below the now playing playlist, to terminate jumping to NEXT playlists you TAP on the NEXT playlist to CANCLE NEXT function and from then on you remain in the existing playlis, now this is all happening just in the first page of playlists , you did not enter any playlists you are just using your first page to simply control your music on the run/walk.
I would make a double tap on the playlist open up the actual playlist and a single tap just choose a playlist, this then makes a lot more user friendly sense.
A simple single tap chooses a playlist if you press play it plays this playlist immediately from begining or from a chosen song if it was chosen previously , this makes the first page playlist area a much more user oriented place, a lot of simple users of this app would just use this page as their operating choice, at the moment you are forcing all users to enter a playlist, this is not what every user wants.
Just think you fire up the app it immediately opens your preffered user page ,and the last used playlist, you just hit play and start your activity, as a musician you double tap on the playlist this opens up your playlist and you are away as normal, if you need a new playlist you exit to first page and single touch a next playlist this becomes you next choice so after the end of now playing song it will jump to the first song of that playlist and either autoplay or cue up the song ready to start, now if you needed a specific song in that new playlist you could have double tap that next playlist and entered it find the song you want and choose it as next.
This logic gives everyone great control, at the moment the first page of playlist is DUMB, it doasnt do much for you yes you can create,rename,delete but thats it, yet there is so much more it should be able to do.
I would treat the first page of playlists just like the second page, you should be able to rearange the order of playlists, you should be able to place numbering as an option, you should be able to just chose a playlist and hit play, you should be able to play one playlist and chose a next playlist etc.
The single tap/double tap is to have a choice of which way you want to run, if you choose a double tap it means you want to go deeper in to this playlist as you want more control, a single tap on a playlist means you just want that playlist and thats it just one touch and play and move on with life, i think this idea would be handy for us musicians as well, as you are doing your last song and going for a brake one hit to exit to first playlist window one touch on your background music playlist and enable Autoplay and you can just walk of the stage the single tap selection on the new playlist is the NEXT selection as you were playing a song at the time it regards the single tap as a NEXT command, and it just plays your background music from the next unplayed song in that list, once all the songs have turned purple and have been played it would just start from first song to end and loop again forever untill you make anoother choice , this could be a single tap on another playlist in which case you would remain in the first page of playlist, or if you double tapped a playlist it would open it up and cue up the first song where you can then choose a song you might really want.
This process of operating is faster simpler and more versatile for more users that run in different ways.
Theres more i wanted to point out but its time to take my grandkids to school.
If you like this let me know and i will try to remember the rest.
Cheers Damir.