Discover the Power of Sound Stream’s Search Functionality

6 min readJun 21, 2024

Let's delve into one of Sound Stream’s most powerful features: its search functionality. Designed to provide a seamless and intuitive experience, this feature ensures you can easily find and play your favorite playlists and tracks using simple voice commands with Alexa. Let’s explore how it works and some tips to make the most out of it.

How Sound Stream Search Works

When you link your Dropbox account with Sound Stream, you create a structured library where each folder represents a playlist. Here’s a breakdown of how the search functionality operates:

Playlist Search:

Sound Stream first searches for a playlist (folder) name within the Dropbox — Apps — SoundStream directory.
If a playlist with the specified name is found, it starts playing that playlist.
If no matching playlist is found, Sound Stream proceeds to search for tracks.

2. Track Search:

Sound Stream scans all audio files within your Dropbox — Apps — SoundStream folders.
It searches for tracks by name. If a matching track is found, it starts playing that track.
If no matching track is found, Sound Stream will prompt you to adjust your search criteria.

Tips for Effective Search

To enhance your experience with Sound Stream’s search functionality, here are some practical tips:

Unique Naming:

Avoid using the same name for both a playlist and an audio file. Sound Stream prioritizes playlists in searches, so distinct names help ensure accurate results.
Refrain from starting track names with numbers. Instead of “01 Track_name,” use “Track_name 01” to improve Alexa’s recognition.

Smart Sorting:

Sound Stream is smart enough to preserve the sorting of files with names ending in a number. It uses an alphanumeric sorting algorithm, which can also successfully sort tracks by numbers at the end.
To get consistent sorting results, make sure the numbers start from 01, 02, 03,… rather than 1, 2, 3.

Sorting Using Timestamps in Sound Stream:

One of the features that make Sound Stream unique is its ability to sort files efficiently, even when they include timestamps in their names. This is particularly useful for organizing playlists where tracks need to be played in chronological order.

For instance, if you have a series of audio files named with timestamps, such as:

smith-05–10_12–00.mp3
smith-05–10_13–00.mp3
smith-05–21_09–00.mp3
jones-05–23_14–00.mp3
jones-05–23_15–00.mp3
baker-04–24_12–00.mp3

When you add a new file, like jones-05–25_10–00.mp3, you might find it doesn’t sort correctly due to the trailing “00” at the end of each file name. Sound Stream can handle this if you adjust your naming convention slightly.

To ensure proper sorting, you can remove the trailing “00” from your file names, like this:

smith-05–10_12-.mp3
smith-05–10_13-.mp3
smith-05–21_09-.mp3
jones-05–23_14-.mp3
jones-05–23_15-.mp3
baker-04–24_12-.mp3

By doing this, Sound Stream will sort your files using an alphanumeric algorithm, maintaining the chronological order based on the timestamps. Additionally, ensure that the numbers in your filenames start with leading zeros (e.g., 01, 02, 03) for consistent sorting.

This method leverages Sound Stream’s intelligent sorting capabilities, allowing it to handle both alphanumeric and numeric sorting effectively, ensuring your playlists play in the correct sequence.

So, the correct sorted order would be:

baker-04–24_12-.mp3
jones-05–23_14-.mp3
jones-05–23_15-.mp3
smith-05–10_12-.mp3
smith-05–10_13-.mp3
smith-05–21_09-.mp3

2. Short and Simple Names:

Using concise and distinct names for playlists and tracks can significantly improve search accuracy. For instance, “Alexa, play small voice from Sound Stream” is clearer and more effective rather than “Alexa, play one small voice from Sound Stream”.

3. Fuzzy Search:

Sound Stream employs a fuzzy search algorithm to handle Alexa’s common misspellings and variations in speech. This means it can find relevant results even when the search terms are not exact matches.
Example: A search for “small voice” might also return results like “small voices” or “small choice” due to the fuzzy search capabilities.

Handling Multiple Results

If Sound Stream finds multiple playlists or tracks with similar names:

Multiple Playlists:

It sorts them alphabetically and plays the first one found. To avoid confusion, unique playlist names are beneficial.

2. Multiple Tracks:

It sorts all matching tracks alphabetically and presents them as a “default” playlist. You can then use Alexa commands to navigate through these tracks.

Advanced Features: Resume for Track Mode

Inspired by feedback from our users, including a visually impaired user named Roland from Germany, we’ve introduced the “Resume for Track Mode” feature. This allows you to start playback from a specific track within a playlist and continue uninterrupted.

Enable Track Mode:
Say, “Alexa, ask Sound Stream to enable track mode.”
To play from a specific track, say, “Alexa, ask Sound Stream to play [track name].”
Disable Track Mode:
Say, “Alexa, ask Sound Stream to disable track mode” to revert to playing individual tracks.

How to Play Playlists Located in “Multilayered” Folders with Sound Stream’s Virtual Links

To play playlists stored in multilayered folders using Sound Stream, you can leverage the Virtual Links feature. This allows you to create mixed playlists without duplicating Dropbox files. Here’s how to do it:

Create an Empty Folder: Name this folder after your new playlist. This will be your Virtual Link.
Add Nested Empty Subfolders: Name these subfolders after existing playlists you want to include in your Virtual Link.

You can then play your virtual playlist using familiar Alexa voice commands.

For example, one of my real Virtual Links looks like this:

Virtual Links Explained

A Virtual Link is essentially a folder (playlist), for example, “Mike Oldfield.” The main differences between a Virtual Link and a regular playlist are:

A playlist contains audio tracks.
A Virtual Link contains empty folders.

Conventions for Virtual Links

Top-Level Folder: A Virtual Link should be a top-level folder (playlist), e.g., Dropbox - Apps - SoundStream - Mike Oldfield.
Nested Empty Folders: A Virtual Link must contain one or more nested empty folders.
No Multilevel Nested Folders: Virtual Links don’t support multilevel nested folders, e.g., Dropbox - Apps - SoundStream - Mike Oldfield - folder_A - folder_a is not supported.
Folder Naming: Names of the nested empty folders must be the same as names of your real playlists (case insensitive), e.g., Dropbox - Apps - SoundStream - Mike Oldfield - Mike Oldfield Mix should point to your real playlist Mike Oldfield Mix with audio tracks.
Support for Deeply Nested Playlists: Virtual Link’s nested folders can point to playlists, even those that have multiple nested levels. For example, in the image above, you can see that my real playlists used in the “Mike Oldfield” Virtual Link are top-level playlists. But they could be located 2x, 3x, or even deeper nested playlists.

Usage Example

If you want to play a deeply nested playlist, create a Virtual Link folder with a distinct name, create subfolder(s) with exact name(s) as your real playlist(s), and ask Sound Stream to play it. For example:

Command: “Alexa, play Mike Oldfield from Sound Stream.”

This setup allows you to enjoy complex, multilayered playlists without having to manually navigate through folder structures, making your listening experience seamless and organized.

Sound Stream’s search functionality is designed to make accessing your favorite music, podcasts, and audiobooks as easy as possible. By following these tips and understanding how the search works, you can enjoy a smoother, more efficient listening experience.

If you have any questions or need further assistance, feel free to leave a comment or reach out to our support team. Happy listening!