[kenoi]

How do I create a user-specified order smart playlist in Kodi? Not meta-data based, not by title or year or any other database sorting, just plain old "play these files, in the order I've listed them":

1. Video #2
2. Video #1
3. Video #3

[kenoi]

I ended up having to create a shell script to create symlinks to my video files, numbered in order, in a folder as a makeshift playlist for Kodi on Linux. It's a crying shame that an advanced media center software like Kodi can't handle a simple user-specified playlist without hiccup. (Had to be said.) Kodi could learn a thing or two founded in the KISS principle to make itself more useful. Advanced features are nice to have, but first get the basics right (and don't make the user's life more cumbersome/difficult).

[Karellen]

@kenoi

Try this... https://kodi.wiki/view/HOW-TO:Movie_universe

Or you could try this add-on... https://kodi.wiki/view/Add-on:SimplePlaylists

Also, it might be wise to wait for a response before making your somewhat disparaging remarks or you will find that your posts will be ignored in future.

[kenoi]

Also, it might be wise to wait for a response before making your somewhat disparaging remarks or you will find that your posts will be ignored in future.

Thanks for the kind suggestions, but I shouldn't have to rely on a hack and an addon for something so fundamental that should be part of the main software. Honestly, I've lost my patience with Kodi. As soon as I find a better solution, I will be moving away from wasting any more time with Kodi -- I've had to tinker with it long enough (years!) already to get basic features working. I'm sorry to have to say this, but it's the honest truth in my (extensive) experience with Kodi. Kodi ultimately just isn't easy-to-use, helpful, and intuitive. It's packed with features, but it's overly technical and messy (in other words not well designed, with the average user in mind), and not enough front-end control is given to the user over their media library and content.

Thanks, again, for taking the time to try and help, though.

[Klojum]

Kodi ultimately just isn't easy-to-use, helpful, and intuitive.
it's overly technical and messy (in other words not well designed, with the average user in mind)

I know we can't please everyone, but at least we pleased the other millions of Kodi users. So we must have done something right.
But ... you have to use the tools that work for *you*. And if Kodi isn't your thing, so be it.

[jjd-uk]

The big mistake is using smartplaylists, what you want is easily achieved with a simply playlist within Kodi without any hacks or additional addons.