[mythtv-users] 0.25 Music & Videos Questions

[Paul Harrison]

On 13/04/12 15:29, Matt S. wrote:
> On Thu, Apr 12, 2012 at 8:32 PM, Scott & Nicole Harris
> <snharris99 at live.com> wrote:
>
>> Has MythMusic actually been reduced to such a level that it is actually this
>> clumsy and unusable?
> Yes.
>
>
> Hate to say it, but mythmusic is next to useless for me now.  The last
> thing I want to do is complain about such a core part of MythTV, as
> I'm a huge evangelist for MythTV, but I feel as though I'm obligated
> to give my opinion in the hopes that the developers will see that
> there are basically no users out there who like and/or understand how
> to use it - and that UX is pretty much in the tubes at this point.
>
> - No way to just easily play the music you want
> - Everything is playlist based (really????)
> - Menus and options are extremely confusing and convoluted
> - Counter-(and non)-intuitive interface
>
> I was looking forward to Paul's work for so long, but it's obvious to
> me that in this case the fact that it sat in his private branch for so
> long, without input and feedback from users and developers, led to a
> product built without a feedback loop and on one person's vision on
> what people might want versus what they actual want.  Now, it sounds
> as though he's backed away based on the negative feedback instead of
> listening to what users are saying - that we love MythMusic but it's
> just too hard to use - and trying to do something about it.  While I'm
> definitely appreciative that Paul took on the challenge, I'd rather
> have the old, basic mythmusic back at this point.  Although it was
> simple, it worked - it was easy to navigate, it was a good "10 ft
> from-the-couch" interface, etc.  My wife basically said that she'll
> just revert to using itunes and our airport express hooked to our
> receiver since she has no clue how to use the new mythmusic.  I don't
> blame her - if someone who's career is in tech and has been using
> MythTV for 8 years can't figure it out after 30 minutes, how would I
> expect the average TV viewer/music listener figure it out?
>
> I think the key goal should be:  Allow a user to play the music they
> want to play in less than 10 seconds.
>
> Anyway - Perhaps the foundation that Paul's built is strong enough
> that it'll take little effort to make this one of the best
> "from-the-couch" music players available.  But right now, I just can't
> convince people to overlook the faults, since they seem to be pretty
> core to the experience - which from all reports, is extremely
> frustrating.  I'm really hoping that a developer will step up and take
> on the challenge of interacting with our music libraries as great of
> an experience as it is interacting with our recording and video
> libraries.
>
> Thanks!
> Matt


Well you will be glad to know that I'm no longer working on MythMusic at
least not for the MythTV project since I left the project 3 or more
weeks ago. I'm not the only one to leave two others have also gone
recently with a fourth on the brink of leaving. My leaving is a result
of the internal politics going on behind the scenes and has nothing to
do with the comments being made about MythMusic all though they do make
me feel better about leaving with MythMusic in a part finished state if
that is what people feel about it :(

Paul H.