How to return to currently playing media?

[zzz2496]

Server Version#: 1.16.2.1321
Player Version#: 3.104.1
I’ve been searching around for a hotkey, or a button somewhere in any of the players that PLEX supports to return to currently playing media. Currently I’m testing PLEX to replace iTunes on my Mac. In iTunes, there is a hotkey combination: CMD+L “Go to Current Song” item under “Control” menu. This menu item will return me, as the user, to the currently playing Playlist/Media which is currently active playing in the background. Let’s say I’m currently playing music in Playlist1/Song834, then I browse out of the Playlist View to go wherever, all I need to do is press that CMD+L, then the view will go back to the Playlist1/Song834 so I can do whatever I want/need to do in that view.

I’m currently evaluating Lifetime PLEX Pass Premium subscription. The media server it self IS AMAZING. There are small nibbles here and there that made it somewhat harder to use compared to my current Media Management System (iTunes). There are more pressing options that are absent should I want to make sure that the audio data that PLEX Media Player get sent to my DAC uninterrupted (like exclusive mode that won’t bork my audio system in the PMP?), or buffer setting, or crossfade, or gapless playback (this is currently supported on a separate player, the PLEXamp). Maybe a DSP plugin architecture for a specific Music client? The rest are things that I can live with, such as a slow-ish system response when streaming off to another device at times, or when suddenly PLEX will max out my processor to do whatever it needs to do and I can’t delay it - I can still live with those.

But, back to the original question, this is what can kill the already EXCELLENT model/architecture that PLEX has in my usage model. It is REALLY hard for me to re-adjust to “go back to Playlist browsing screen that contains 300 plus playlist then select the 158th playlist, then scroll to the 834th song”. This requires patience, especially with slightly slowish response time of the PLEX Media Player/PLEX Web Player. Architecturally I understand the dilemma of loading so much data at once, but ONE SMALL FEATURE can save my sanity. Hopefully this is already implemented.

Thank you.

Damir.

[beckfield]

Hotkeys would be nice, but I’m not aware of any in Plex.

In Plex Web:

Plex Media Player:
This page shows the hotkeys available in PMP. There doesn’t appear to be one for ‘now playing,’ but when something is playing, there’s a thumbnail of the album/track at the top of the screen (sorry, no screenshot handy at the moment). Navigate to that and click OK.

[zzz2496]

Hi @beckfield,
Thanks for the reply. I know about the “Now Playing” screen. It’s not what I’m looking for. It does shows what is currently playing. and on the other side (the right side of the screen) is the “Queue” screen. That is also not what was looking for…

Maybe there is none…?

[beckfield]

I guess I don’t understand what you’re after, then. As I read your OP, either what I posted or the “Play Queue” button does what you describe. Can you clarify?

Oh, wait, I see it. You want to go back to the Playlist. Somehow that didn’t click for me. I don’t know of a way to do that in Plex. Might be a good entry for the Feature Request forum.

[zzz2496]

Hi @beckfield,

Here’s what I see in my “Playlist” view.

These days, I usually scroll down to “2019 - 07” playlist

I select the playlist

Then I play a song in there, let’s say I play “Dinka - Tales of the Sun”

Once I’m done there, I went to my merry way to browse other music in my library

Let’s say I scroll down, and am interested in “Ori and the Blind Forrest OST”

I open the album

Now, here’s where and when I wanted to go back to my “2019 - 17” playlist quickly to change the song. Here’s the “Now playing” screen

Nope, this is not what I wanted, I minimised the screen, goes the other way to the “Queue” screen

And this is also not what I wanted. The one I want is this one

A button or a hotkey to return me to this point in time. The only way I can “trace back” is through the “Back” button. but that isn’t the most reliable nor convenient way to browse the library. If I browse too far, or I used the “Back” button several times in my browsing session, I cannot go back to my current playing playlist.