"Continue playback when switching to a different track" doesn't work with external audio player

[MatoLabu]

When using OneTagger’s built-in audio player, enabling "Continue playback when switching to a different track" allows seamless track playback when navigating through the list (e.g., pressing the down arrow key moves to the next track and starts playback automatically).

However, when "Use external audio player" is enabled, this functionality doesn’t seem to work. I tested this with Winamp as my external player, but switching to the next track does not trigger automatic playback.

Expected Behavior:

Even when using an external player, switching to a different track should send the corresponding command to the external player to start playback automatically.

Steps to Reproduce:

• Enable "Use external audio player" in OneTagger settings.
• Enable "Continue playback when switching to a different track".
• Use the down arrow key (or any other method) to switch to the next track.
• Notice that playback does not start automatically in the external player.

System Info:

• OneTagger version: 1.7.0 build 649 (last)
• OS: Windows 10
• External Player: Winamp v5.66 (x86)

[Marekkon5]

Sadly this functionality is not really possible to implement universally. When the "use external audio player" is enabled, 1T tells OS to open the audio file in the default music player. It does not actually communicate with it. Afaik there is no standard protocol for this, every player reacts to this information however it wants. So 1T cannot really "trigger" the track change in external programs. I hope this makes sense. Thanks

[MatoLabu]

I understand your explanation, but I’m not sure what makes this impossible in the case I described.
When I select a track and press space, One Tagger correctly opens the external player to play the file. So logically, when I press the down arrow to move to the next track, the instruction could be the same as pressing down and then space—essentially telling the external player to play the newly selected track. I don’t see any difference in the type of command being issued.

Right now, I have to press down and then space, whereas with the internal player, simply pressing down plays the next track instantly. That said, this isn’t a critical feature since the difference is minimal, but it seems cleaner if the behavior remains consistent between internal and external playback.

Also, by using VLC as external player and setting VLC's hotkeys in "global", I can control playback without focusing on the VLC window, making the experience almost as seamless as using the internal player. So in the end, everything works so well! This would just be a small polish improvement rather than a necessity.

Thanks!