Rename or select files randomly

Is it possible to rename files randomly with the built-in rename-function (for example random numbers)?

Sasa

Do you just need unique names, or actually random names?

If you need random names then I don't think there's a way to do it in Opus directly, at the moment, but there may be a way of using the %random% environment-variable. Doing it without preserving the file extensions is very easy but I presume you want a random name plus the old file extension, which requires a bit more thought?

Hello Nudel,

you're always the first :wink:

First, why do I need it: Sometimes I can't decide which MP3 to sync to my portable player or pocket-pc (due to mem limitations) so I thought DOpus could make a decision for me!

But I had another idea without the need of renaming files:

A random selection (best in FlatView), using a max. size or max. number of files as criterion for the selection.

You could select random pics, movies, etc. and maybe it could be useful for other users. What do you think about it?

I think it could be complex to make such a feature generic enough that it's useful in lots of situations, so we're probably talking about a feature which does something like:

Select random files/directories in the source which will fill the remaining space in the destination.

Which I guess is useful for space-challenged portable media devices which let you use a file manager to fill them without any proprietary interface/database (e.g. iTunes) getting in the way. Which isn't very many devices, unfortunately. :slight_smile:

That said, I am not a fan of random play, nor of space-challenged devices, so maybe I am underestimating the usefulness of such a command? Enough people seem to want such features that they are supported in many of the music management/transfer programs.

It could come in handy when making a DVD for a friend and you can't decide what else to put on it to fill the space.

I think that a lot of people would like to have such a feature.

I drive a lot with my car (job) and bicycle (fun) and I don't need to fill every portable medium to its max (my PDA has got 12GB, that's sure enough). But I don't like to hear the same songs everytime.

I don't think that is hard to build-in such an option in DOpus. And I believe that portable devices will become more and more popular and also the need of such a feature (maybe not for you, but for me - that's 50 percent :slight_smile: )

It was only an idea...

Take a look at Burn to the Brim or some similar tools.

I wouldn't use such feature, I always select by hand what I would like to listen to.

X.

I'm not against the idea, I just meant to say that many devices cannot be copied to using Opus (because they're made by evil companies who want to lock you in to their online music stores, DRM formats, etc. rather than give you the power to organise things using the tools of your choice) and an increasing number of devices have enough storage that the randomness can be done on the device rather than when filling the device. :slight_smile:

Phones and Pocket PCs are a big exception, though. They often play media from a normal directory and they often don't have a lot of storage, so I can see the feature being useful with those.

[quote="Xyzzy"]I wouldn't use such feature, I always select by hand what I would like to listen to.

X.[/quote]

That's ok, but all of my MP3's are "hand-selected", so DOpus' selection would always be right! :wink: