getmusicbee.com
General => MusicBee Wishlist => Topic started by: Kolya on January 14, 2017, 10:30:31 AM
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Love Musicbee, have been using it for years. I don't know how you manage to spend this much time on it, without making money. Either way, thank you. Now for the nitpicking.
(http://i.imgur.com/WsNuei3.png)
The repeat button looks like Windows minify and is almost in the same position. It should probably be an arrow if you want to suggest linear playback. Similarly when repeat is ON it should be a circling arrow (http://www.clipartbest.com/cliparts/RiA/64A/RiA64A9dT.png) to suggest a repeating movement.
The shuffle button cannot be understood until you turn on shuffle. It's just two lines. Even knowing the function it's hard to understand what is being suggested here. No one wants to learn what buttons mean by having to use them. Those icons should be self-explanatory or not icons at all. Use text instead, it's a much undervalued option.
The shuffle options have Autoplay thrown in. I understand that it's technically weighted shuffling. But to a new user it's not clear what Autoplay is at all. Much less what that icon means. Is it a pair of headphones? Autoplay requires further explanation and then a settings screen which has to be digged up elsewhere. I wonder if it should be up there at all (I never use it, my experiences with it were underwhelming) but it should have its own explanatory button at least.
What's missing is a Shuffle All option, that shuffles through the complete library regardless of my current queue.
Source: Am web frontend dev.
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All new software/applications have a learning curve. Take your time and explore and learn. I've been using MB since 2009 and don't recall anyone else bringing up these points. In case you're not aware of it, you can hover the mouse over the icon and get a tool tip. Often when Steven issues a major update, or introduces a new feature, we have to learn how to use it. It's part of using the software.
I'm pretty sure the elements you mention are skin-dependent, so if you want, you could create a bit-mapped (*.xmlc) skin to change the icons as you wish. You can't do it with an *.xml skin.
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What's missing is a Shuffle All option, that shuffles through the complete library regardless of my current queue.
Source: Am web frontend dev.
Check out the Auto-DJ (http://musicbee.wikia.com/wiki/Playback).
Or, you can make sure shuffle is on (it looks like the shuffle symbol used for Android apps), click on a blank area of your main panel (so none of your music is selected), and press Ctrl+a to select everything. Then, press Alt+Enter and everything will play in shuffle mode.
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There is actually a Shuffle All option when you right click on your music library node in the left navigator.
There's certainly some room for improvement in various modes of shuffle: some shuffle the playing tracks list, and some select random items from an ordered list. Perhaps we could come up with better language for differentiating?
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All new software/applications has a learning curve.
Right. And it's a GUI designer's job to make this learning curve as low and smooth as possible.
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Right. And it's a GUI designer's job to make this learning curve as low and smooth as possible.
I don't disagree. But Steven (and many forum members) spent about a year and a half going over suggested GUI changes for the jump from 2.5 to 3.0. You can read all 245 pages here: http://getmusicbee.com/forum/index.php?topic=15050.0
Perhaps you should post your requests in the Changes for 3.1 thread: http://getmusicbee.com/forum/index.php?topic=19833.0
And as psychoadept pointed out, the option to 'shuffle all' already exists by right-clicking the Music node and selecting 'play library shuffled.'
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I tend to agree that the circles and lines are a little cryptic. I've always used the sidebar player, though, so I rarely see them. Can you make an alternative that blends with the MusicBee UI?