I have just figured out how to use the "Ignore as Child" option. I'm going to cross-post this in the tips and tricks document in the FAQ. Now that I'm using it, I can see how terribly useful it can be.

Here is my situation:

I have a few Nine Inch Nails albums on my player. I am not a big fan of NIN other than my immense respect for Trent as a texturalist and producer. My problem isn't with Trent's skill as a musician, it's just the subject matter. I can take angst in sugar-coated doses, such as is the case with Tori Amos' songs, or in most modern Folk music. But I just can't listen to Trent's brand of angst on a regular basis. (Can you imagine if Trent and Tori did an album together? It'd be one big black hole of angst out of which nothing could escape.)

So why do I have any NIN at all on my player? Two reasons:

1) I have a couple of friends who just lurve NIN and request it on a regular basis.

2) NIN is the perfect background music for LAN parties. I even have a special "(LAN Party)" playlist, populated by NIN, Prodigy, Crystal Method, etc., which I play at such gatherings. It's always a hit. Great music to frag to, and I'm too busy aiming to pay attention to the lyrics anyway.

So, my goal is as follows: To leave NIN out of my regular "down-down-down" (play everything) shuffle, but not out of my "(LAN party)" playlist, and not out of my main menu tree.

The "Ignore as Child" option is the solution. What this means is that when you select a high-level tree branch to play (even the top "everything" level), anything below that level tagged with "Ignore as Child" won't be added to the resulting playlist.

So here's what I do: I go into Emplode and tag my "Nine Inch Nails" playlist with "Ignore as Child". But I leave the individual NIN albums, which are subtrees of the "Nine Inch Nails" playlist, "normal", with that box unchecked. Then I copy all of the individual NIN albums into the "(LAN Party)" playlist. (Note: I also have to tag the "(LAN Party)" playlist with "Ignore as Child"; I forgot to do this the first time and couldn't understand why it wasn't working.)

Now it works! When I shuffle the whole player (down down down), NIN doesn't play. But when I specifically select the "Nine Inch Nails" playlist or the "(LAN Party)" playlist, they play fine.

As was mentioned elsewhere on the BBS, this has other useful applications, such as with audiobooks or IASCA test tones. You could create a playlist of "Books" or "Test Tones", tag those as "Ignore as Child" and then they won't appear in a down-down-down shuffle.

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Tony Fabris