[mythtv-users] 0.25 Music

[Neil Cooper]

--- On Wed, 2/29/12, Steven Adeff <adeffs.mythtv at gmail.com> wrote:

> From: Steven Adeff <adeffs.mythtv at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [mythtv-users] 0.25 Music
> To: "Discussion about MythTV" <mythtv-users at mythtv.org>
> Date: Wednesday, February 29, 2012, 1:10 PM
> On Wed, Feb 29, 2012 at 1:01 PM, Ryan
> Patterson <ryan.goat at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > On Wed, Feb 29, 2012 at 7:05 AM, Christopher Kerr
> <mythtv at theseekerr.com>
> wrote:
> >> Consider a common scenario.
> >>
> >> You select a single track from a list you've
> browsed to, likely an Album. Then:
> >> a) Only that single track plays.
> >> b) The list (album) continues to play from that
> track.
> >>
> >> I, for one, would expect b), which implies a
> playlist.
> >
> > And I for one would expect a).  Why should mythtv play
> anything but
> > the one tract that was selected?  I hate programs that
> assume they
> > know better than me with regards to how to interpret my
> commands.
> >
> > I have never use playlists with any media player.   I
> don't understand
> > their purpose.  All I want is a queue that I can add
> tracks to and
> > have them play in order.
> 
> one man's playlist is another man's queue. and vice-versa.
> 
> 
> -- 
> Steve


I think the issue here isn't whether something is called a queue or a playlist, but rather: It seems mostly everyone here wants to be able to select a track and have it play, rather than have to go through the hassle of having to build a playlist then as a separate action, go play the playlist, even just for a single track. Thay also want to arrange and browse their music as files/folders already on the drive, not an artificial list order made by the player.

Any frustration in this thread is apparently caused by a sense that you the developer are adamant to force your own preferece onto us without also providing ours, even though most people have already made it clear they don't like your approach, at least as the only option.

As to the a) or b) scenario: Personally I'd feel that if you select an album (i.e. folder containing mp3s) you should get to hear all the tracks in it. If you select a single mp3 file then it should only play that one. 

If you select an existing playlist file then you get to hear the playlist. Obviously this implies building a playlist should therefore save a file (ideally in a portable format like .m3u), so you can do it once and re-use the same playlist later, even if you make/use another playlist meantime.

Playing an album, track or playlist should always be as easy as a single action.

The player should support a loop on/off toggle button. In loop mode, you would hear whatever you have selected re-played ad infinitum. Although I personally never use shuffle mode, I guess that would also be a nice option for others that do.

Its not rocket science, but for some reason big companies like Microsoft and Apple have totally lost the plot. They have made their players so "user-friendly" it takes hours to learn and setup, the music library never ends up right, and it takes a million operations to find/play anything when it should be one click.

No-one wants a music player in mythtv like that, but from earlier posts it sounds like you're close to copying a lot of their ideas.

Not that I think mythmusic will ever get this bad, but I especially detest media players that scan the drive for file types it recognises to build/store a "My Media" list. I also detest media players that have store frontends.

Just my 5c, for what its worth.

Neil.