getmusicbee.com
General => MusicBee Wishlist => Topic started by: HHM on March 08, 2012, 11:51:15 AM
-
Hi,
I'm a MusicBee fan for ca 6 months. It's my very first post here. Cheers to all!
Here's my wishlist:
1. Dot fields:
My suggestion for MusicBee new feature is a "dot field" as an option in both main and playlist view.
Let me explain how it works.
The idea comes from Aimp program (which I used before MusicBee) and this is one of the features I miss. Dot is for checking/unchecking particular tracks in playlist/main window:
See how it looks like in Aimp:
http://i39.tinypic.com/124tppg.png
On deafault all tracks are "checked" (green dots in my snapshot), unchecking makes the dot grey (but even nicer option would be if the dot gets the color of the background so that it gets "invisible")
What is it for?
One function is for skipping unchecked tracks - program doesn't play unchecked positions.
BUT more important is that with this feature you can easily manage (delete/copy/send etc) multiple tracks. And the coolest thing is that you can do that both with checked or unchecked tracks (it depends on you - you can uncheck all tracks that you want to delete BUT you can aldo send unchecked tracks to fav. folder etc.)
Of course you can do that with rating (f.e. deleting all tracks marked with one star), but it is much more difficult.
You can also use CTRL-click for multiple files, you must do that anytime you want to do sth with those tracks and Dots are permanent (till you un/check them again)
The commands come from context menu of right mouse click OR - and this is the second feature I'd suggest - from those [+/-/square/misc] fields below playlist window (see the pic).
2. [+/-/square/misc] buttons:
this is used and useful in Winamp, Aimp and loads of other programs. Handy menus for [adding/deleting/sorting/other-commands] files in playlist.
3. Assigning more Hotkeys:
I'd love if there was an option for assigning Hotkeys for much more options (or - ideally- for any command you can do in MB)
F.e. one of the commands I do most often in moving files into organised folder. Unfortunatelly I must do that from the context menu (and it's hidden in 3rd or 4th window so it needs patience). It would be nice to have a personal Hotkey for that.
4. Move/Copy to an (organised) folder:
This one is very personal. As I wrote before - I use these commands very often, but they are hidden. To do that I need to:
- click right button for context menu
- choose "send to"
- choose "folder (move)" or "folder (copy)"
- choose between sending to folder and sending to organised folder.
And it takes time:)
My idea is to make context menu (re)arrangeable. In my example, as what I often do is moving files to organised folder, I'd love to have this option "move files to organised folder" in context menu just after clicking right mouse button.
With these features MB will get perfect!
Anyways, thanks for creating a fantastic and the best musicplayer!
-
My idea is to make context menu (re)arrangeable. In my example, as what I often do is moving files to organised folder, I'd love to have this option "move files to organised folder" in context menu just after clicking right mouse button.
Jriver Media Centre has similar feature where the last one or two recently used commands are at the top of the context menu, followed by a separator line before the main part of the menu.
+1 for this part as it useful, but perhaps could cause confusion with novice users as an option would be there one minute and be replaced the next
-
for skipping songs, just right click on the one(s) you want to skip in the now playing list/ Skip and a
symbol will display to indicate the song will be skipped
-
Thx. But notice that skipping is only one and less important (for me) of DOTS functions. So actually with this feature you can replace some more:)
-
Jriver Media Centre has similar feature where the last one or two recently used commands are at the top of the context menu, followed by a separator line before the main part of the menu.
+1 for this part as it useful, but perhaps could cause confusion with novice users as an option would be there one minute and be replaced the next
This sounds like a good solution - maybe could be done as an option to chose froma main preferences (not to confuse those novice users:))
And just right now another idea came to me - to have an option of more than one organised folder. Is this possible?
-
Here's my wishlist:
1. Dot fields:
What is it for?
One function is for skipping unchecked tracks - program doesn't play unchecked positions.
BUT more important is that with this feature you can easily manage (delete/copy/send etc) multiple tracks. And the coolest thing is that you can do that both with checked or unchecked tracks (it depends on you - you can uncheck all tracks that you want to delete BUT you can aldo send unchecked tracks to fav. folder etc.)
I personally find that wish 1, will be very usefull
-
it could be just an option for additional column in library/playlist view - so one could use it only if they need it
-
i had a play around with AIMP last night looking at the dot feature - seems the same as iTunes checkboxes.
Its straight forward enough how it skips songs not ticked, but using it i cant see how it excludes unticked tracks from commands
eg. if i want to remove a set of tracks from a playlist, by default all are ticked. Lets say i untick a couple of tracks. Using a right click context menu or the - button in AIMP, it still removes all selected items whether they are ticked or not. So i dont understand how ticking/ unticking makes a difference
-
More options are in the menu of under-the-playlist-window-buttons. In Aimp's default skin at the bottom you got "+"," -", "small tiles", "sth strange" & "maginfying glass" buttons. When you click, f.i., this minus button, you got "removal" option to deal with unticked tracks.
Now, as I see, I might have gone too far with saying that all operations can be done with both ticked/unticked tracks. It was only my projection:) But maybe this could be implemented in context menu?
ps. I never used iTunes and don't know how checkboxes option works there.
-
btw. dots seem to be nicer than checkboxes
-
I think the dots will be great if I was listening to an album and I only wanted to delete songs I dont like, or if I was tagging and I only wanted to tag certain songs without worrying about using the ctrl. function which is easily lost if you select outside the selection by accident.
-
you can already right click on a track in the Now Playing list/ Skip track
but having a tickbox for that function has been asked before so i will add it as an optional column at some point in the near future
however i dont feeel comfortable about how it would work from a user interface perspective when editing tags or applying any other context menu command.
How does musicbee know if your intention is to apply the command to the selected item, or the ticked items? One way i can see it working is you have additional separate commands that look at the ticked items rather than the selected items and doing that adds more clutter to the context menus which i want to avoid.
Another might be if you hold the Alt key down when clicking a context menu command it uses the ticked items but then thats not easily discoverable as functionality
-
additional separate commands seem to be better solution than messing around with the context menu but i think it's best to leave it to your intuition:)
-
One way i can see it working is you have additional separate commands that look at the ticked items rather than the selected items and doing that adds more clutter to the context menus which i want to avoid.
Another might be if you hold the Alt key down when clicking a context menu command it uses the ticked items but then thats not easily discoverable as functionality
Makes Sense. Like HHM said "i think it's the best to leave it to your intuition:)".
-
jst a litlle bump to recall my idea:)
-
Being a big fan of 'use checkboxes to select items' in Windows;
+1
-
bump
-
-1 for this, sorry.
For me it is easy enough to control click tracks or select all and control click, it seems silly to me to add something so potentially complex when you can already do the same thing more or less.
-
of course - you can always do the same more or less in winamp, itunes, windows media player... but that's the point of this forum and of good programs to make things as easy as possible.
besides - it won't be obligatory as a column to pick in main window, so I don't understand your -1:)
-
I don't really see how it makes anything much easier and it just adds complexity where it is unnecessary. I think it is quite important to keep it as intuitive as possible and after reading the comments from Steven above I don't think this feature would be intuitive or simple. It sounds like it would be messy in usage. I'm not going to support something that I don't think is a good idea and one that I think will cause problems with the interface.
-
i'm still inclined towards not doing this as i dont see what cant be achieved just by selecting the files and as i mentioned before its not clear to me what i good way is to distinguish when commands should apply to the ticked files versus applying to selected files.
I think itunes only uses the tick box for skipping files (which can already be acheived in MB using the right click/ Skip Track command) and for synching particualr files. I dont really use iTunes so i dont know if there is more. I think AIMP also has this feature and implements a couple of commands (delete files?) using a context menu path that applies only to ticked files. Neither of these implementations is particularily good for general usage in my opinion.
-
The way I see it to make it as simple as possible without creating additional buttons + to achieve it's functionality:
Let's say we're in Inbox managing our new tracks:
a. on default all the tracks dot fields/check boxes are checked in (so it would be in any playlist)
b. you uncheck tracks you don't like
c. there are only 2 commands in rightclick menu:
1. delete unchecked tracks (and you don't have to do it one by one or mark all unwanted tracks from the whole playlist using ctrl and you don;t have to remember all the tracks you want to dispose as only thing you want to do is uncheck the dot/box and then delete all with 2 clicks)
2. send checked tracks to... (playlist/folders/organised folders)
Additional funcionality could be that MB automaticly skips the unchecked tracks (also much simplier than using the right click/ Skip Track command).
Of course I see it's the completelly new thing and would acquire lots of work and I understand your objections, but I think it would make some operations more simple.
And for those who don't like the idea at all - the dot field view can be just an additional column in playlist view (like Artist, Album, Comment etc.), so if you don't need it, you don't have to switch it on. and you even won't notice it's there.
-
this is done now but not exactly in the way asked for.
You can add a tick box field in the main panel but not if the now playing list is displayed in the main panel - i might include it there as well but the reason its not is so people dont expect the same iTunes type behavior where it skips the file. There is already a command for that.
By default all files are ticked and can be manually unticked/ re-ticked. There are right click menu commands "Select ticked files" and "Untick all Files"/"Tick all Files" that are only available if the tickbox field is displayed. You can then choose any of usual commands (delete, send to etc)
Its in the next update
-
however i dont feeel comfortable about how it would work from a user interface perspective when editing tags or applying any other context menu command.
It looks like the checking box would allow to skip automatically any song you really don't like in any album. No need to 'skip' it every time you play the albums (as it happens right now). I'd propose:
- When you play any album, any 'unchecked' song appears in the 'Now playing list' as a skipped song. Of course, you can turn off the 'skip' box in the now playing list (and this way, listening the song) without affecting the check/uncheck state in the library.
- When you copy the songs to a USB stick (for example) you should be able to choose if you want every song or only the checked ones.
- When you tag, tagging should be applied to every song. If you're changing the Genre, for example, you should change it for every song, not only for the checked ones.
EDIT Shit, didn't see the last messages...
-
@greb, just in case there is any confusion:
- this functionality has no impact on the played songs as there are existing ways to manage that, it is just a way to manage and select multiple files
- you can permanently ban any track from playback using either the ban track button (no need for a last.fm account) or from the settings tab in the tag editor
- you can skip a track on a non-permanent basis from the now playing list by right clicking/ Skip Track
-
can't wait to see it, thx Steven!
-
@greb, just in case there is any confusion:
- this functionality has no impact on the played songs as there are existing ways to manage that, it is just a way to manage and select multiple files
- you can permanently ban any track from playback using either the ban track button (no need for a last.fm account) or from the settings tab in the tag editor
- you can skip a track on a non-permanent basis from the now playing list by right clicking/ Skip Track
I didn't notice the 'ban' option before. I see that it's possible to see them because they have a 'prohibited' sign in the 'Last.fm' field. It's very easy to uncheck the ban (just clicking over it). But if you click again then you 'love' that song. There's no way to ban a song in a easiest way?
-
this has the change:
http://musicbee.niblseed.com/V2/MusicBee_Exe_Patched.zip
i decided to include this field in the now playing panel as well, and if its included you can untick to skip tracks (like iTunes), but to be clear that behavior only exists for the now playing panel and is independant of ticks for files displayed in the main panel
@greb, hold the shift key down
-
@greb, hold the shift key down
Holy shit, why didn't I know that before? ;D
Seriously, Steven, in my opinion the biggest problem MB has now is... it's absolutelly big. I know quite well the program and even though I miss lots of functions... a newcomer has to be missing 90% of MB.
Why don't you prepare a 'How to...?' page the way anybody here could add new things. This way, when something like that appears in the forum, somebody could drop by and add, for example, in this case, a 'How to ban and unban songs from the library'.
-
It looks nice and works, though one command in right-click-menu is missing (think Steven wrote about this), I mean "Select Unticked files"
Right now we got:
Untick all files (changed for "Tick all files" when all files are already unticked)
+
Select Ticked Files (and after that we can do all operations needed available in MB)
"Select Unticked files" would make deleting unwanted tracks much simplier.
So imagine there are 3 files in DOWNLOADS / NEW folder/playlist, accordingly 1. WANT, 2. NOT SURE, 3. DELETE, all are ticked on default (^). What I want to do is to send Want to the library, dispose of Delete and stay with Not Sure to give it another chance.
^ WANT
^ NOT SURE
^ DELETE
First I want to do is delete unwanted stuff. So what I need to do is:
1. Untick all
2. Tick Deletes manually
3. delete them
With additional "Select Unticked files" function in RC Menu, it takes only two steps:
1. Untick Deletes manually
2. delete them
But maybe it's me just wanting too much:) The way it is now is great, so thanks a lot!!!!!
-
the reason the extra command is not included is to keep the number of items on the menu down (and its confusing seeing 2 very similar commands) - as you say its only one extra step and i dont plan to change it.
@greb, there is a wiki that has been started if you search the forum topics for the link. Its still too immature at this stage to advertise it for now.
Also anyone can already add posts to the how-to section
-
@greb, there is a wiki that has been started if you search the forum topics for the link. Its still too immature at this stage to advertise it for now.
Also anyone can already add posts to the how-to section
It looks like I'm only asking things that have been actually done!!!
-
the reason the extra command is not included is to keep the number of items on the menu down (and its confusing seeing 2 very similar commands) - as you say its only one extra step and i dont plan to change it.
I think I found out what can be done to keep current number of new RM menu commands (2) + get more functionality I was thinking about:
"Tick/Untick all files" should be replaced with "Reverse ticking" :)
-
I think I found out what can be done to keep current number of new RM menu commands (2) + get more functionality I was thinking about:
"Tick/Untick all files" should be replaced with "Reverse ticking" :)
or another way of making it more functional would be if checkboxes were UNCHECKED ON DEFAULT (especially when ticking is not combined with skipping of a unpicked track)
-
General feedback after testing:
1.
I would have assumed that ticking a track was an alternate means of selecting a track. This is the behaviour in Windows Explorer with checkbox mode enabled and other programs I have seen. Having to the pre-select the tracks that I want to then really/properly select seems very counter-intuitive/productive.
2.
Tracks should be unselected by default.
3.
I keep clicking the checkmark column header expecting it to toggle all/no selected tracks. Again, this is the usual behaviour in other programs.
4.
Failing #3, I keep right-clicking the column header looking for the Toggle/Select ticked files options, then remember that they're in the tracklist context-menu. That might be just me though.
5.
Other programs typically include an "Invert selection" option which can be useful (especially if you've just spent five minutes selecting files only to realise you've selected the ones you wanted to ignore).
6.
i decided to include this field in the now playing panel as well, and if its included you can untick to skip tracks (like iTunes), but to be clear that behavior only exists for the now playing panel and is independant of ticks for files displayed in the main panel
That's very confusing. New users will be asking why the "Select ticked tracks" menu option doesn't appear on the now playing list so they can perform operations on the tracks they just ticked.
-
i think i am in agreement with 1-2,5
for 3, it was intentional for sorting purposes but it is probably more useful as a toggle
6 - i dont know what the right answer is here. For the now playing list i think the expected behavior from itunes (and AIMP?) users would be how i have implemented it ie. to indicate a track is skipped when unticked. So by default all items a ticked and if people used it as a way of selecting files for some operation then that would interfere with playback. I was tempted to not implement it for the now playing list for the reason it could cause confusion. But also if its not implemented then i will only get people asking why its not there. I think i will leave it as-is in the now playing list unless someone has a bright suggestion.
edit:
does anyone have an opinion about:
- whether the items ticked should be remembered on restart (current behavior is yes, but now i'm inclined for it to not remember)
- remembered after an operation (I would think yes)
- remembered when navigating between panels eg. tick a couple of files in a playlist, navigate to the library and they stay ticked (I would think yes)
-
thinking about this some more i can see advantages to the way its already done eg. you have ticked a couple of files and then want to play another one using the right click/ Play Now (or edit to view the tags). You dont want that action to be applied to all the ticked tags.
So by keeping the file selection a separate action (as is the case now) then you can play the selected file, tick it if required then choose the select menu item to select all the ticked items/ apply the file operation you wanted
-
http://musicbee.niblseed.com/V2/MusicBee_Exe_Patched.zip
has the following changes:
- click the tick box column header in the main panel ticks/ unticks all
- defaults to no ticks
- ticks are not persisted on restart of MB, but are remembered while MB is open
- right click menu now has 2 commands:
- Invert Ticked Files
- Select Ticked Files
so the operation is unchanged, where you tick the files you want then select them and apply the command you want to the selected files
the now playing list remains as showing ticks for tracks that will be played/ skipped
-
I think i will leave it as-is in the now playing list unless someone has a bright suggestion.
Changing the image in the Now Playing list would help indicate it's performing a separate function than in the tracklist/playlist views.
I was going to suggest a little speaker icon instead of a checkmark but just realised the playing track already uses a speaker. Um...
-edit-
It also seems odd that there are now two opposite ways to display which tracks will be played or skipped:
* Without the checkmark column shown, tracks to be skipped will have the boxed S in the leftmost column.
* With the checkmark column shown, tracks to be played will have a checkmark.
It might be easier to forget about the checkmark for the Now Playing list and just make it so that clicking the blank space in the leftmost column toggles the S/skips the track.
Pros:
* provide the same functionality as iTunes to quickly skip unwanted tracks
* avoids the UI inconsistency described above
Cons:
* it wouldn't provide quite as strong a visual cue as unticking a song you don't want to play (a little cross next to skipped tracks might be clearer)
- click the tick box column header in the main panel ticks/ unticks all
- defaults to no ticks
Nice. That feels a lot more intuitive and consistent with other programs now. :)
- right click menu now has 2 commands:
- Invert Ticked Files
Not sure if it's intentional, but inverting checkmarks also selects the newly checked files.
-
the link has been updated with the Invert Ticked Files corrected
-
Maybe I have a good idea how to make ticks in Main Panel & Now Playing list consistent:
Ticking column, both in MP & NP, instead of 2 positions (ticked/unticked) could have 3:
1. ^ [ticked] : with behavior as it is now
2. [unticked]: for file operations (deleting etc.), NOT CONNECTED with skipping
3. S [skip]: to skip tracks from playing (the "S" icon could be in red colour for more clarity. or it could be a reddish "X")
Of course ticking in one panel would have the relevant result in the other - unticking or skipping in Main Panel would untick or skip in Now Playing and vice versa.
For being functional, this would require all tracks TICKED ON DEFAULT.
As for me I think remembering positions is a good idea. With the triple ticking functionality it could be especially useful for permanent skipping/excluding particular tracks on the album you never want to listen to (but you will always see the one that are skipped as they have S/X mark).
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I guess right now the permanent skip/"exclude from playing" function is available only by clicking "edit (shift+enter) menu + settings tab + ticking to exclude" combination. So not only it is much more complicated, but also you don't see the excluded tracks as they become invisible in the Main Player view , which in my opinion is a disadvantage.
Cons:
- I think "Invert ticking" function might get a lil' confusing. I'd suggest that with the triple ticking functionality implemented, inverting should apply only to Ticked/Unticked tracks and NOT to the skipped ones. But this is a bit inconsistent, isn't it?
Pros:
- Consistency of behavior and display in MP and NP
- Possibility to get rid of "Skip Track" position in Right Click menu in Now Playing. It would make RCM slimmer. Same with "exclude from playing" in track edit panel's settings tab.
- Easy-&-clear-to-use permanent skipping of unwanted tracks.
Let me know guys what you think about this idea.
ps. I'm satisfied with the way it works right now as well:)
-
Maybe I have a good idea how to make ticks in Main Panel & Now Playing list consistent:
I don't think the Main Panel and the Now Playing list should be consistent, hence my request to make them look different to reflect their different functions.
I feel strongly that the Main Panel should be used for managing and searching your music collection, while the Now Playing list should be used for managing, well... what is now playing. Introducing too much overlap between the two just confuses things.
-
i have changed it so the Now Playing panel has this field unticked and displays the Skip Track icon when ticked.
The Skip Track icon has been changed as well (now has a "-" sign rather than "S")
Additionally the behavior is changed now so even without displaying the tick field in the Now Playing list, you can click the left-most column to toggle the Skip Track status (it makes the tick field redundant in the Now Playing list but i will leave it there)
-
I definitely like the idea of remembering ticked tracks, regardless of which view they are in.
I guess it can get confusing when you compare SELECTING tracks with TICKING (or marking) them. Selections are always temporary (but see note below), ticks or marks are always permanent.
I generally use selections to move and edit bunches of tracks/albums, and ticks/marks to modify playback (either play only ticked, and/or normalise ticked, etc). I hope that kinda makes sense.
A note on selections : I started <A HREF=http://getmusicbee.com/forum/index.php?topic=7158.0>this wishlist thread</A> a while ago regarding the behaviour of selections. The problem for me (and this is what makes me interested in a permanent marking option) is that when a bunch of tracks is selected (multiple selections, that may be contiguous or not), when a column header is clicked to re-sort the view, all but the first selected track is immediately unselected. This can be really frustrating, but given that there haven't been many suggestions to that, I can heartily second the ticking option, as long as any/all file operations (renaming, converting, rating, copying, moving, deleting, combining into playlists, etc) are able to work with ticked tracks.
-
I've just started trying the latest changes after being away for two weeks, and so far I really like how this works in the latest version. It's much more intuitive.
-
Just read through this thread and would really like to advocate for "Tick/Untick Selected Files" as a menu option, along with Selecting Ticked.
Say I'm going though a BIG pile of duplicates, and I think that all the MP3s now exist in FLAC, but I want to be sure. This is what I would do:
- Sort by extension
- Select all MP3s
- Tick selected
- Resort by Artist/Title
- Select ticked
- Unselect any that don't appear to have FLAC duplicates
- Delete the rest
(On the other hand, steps 3 & 5 would be eliminated completely if the selected files stayed selected when they were resorted...)
-
I agree that "Tick/untick selected files" could be a useful option.
However in the case above, maybe the Highlighting feature could be of help? (Enable it by showing the column Highlight and click the header for options, read more here: http://getmusicbee.com/forum/index.php?topic=7751.45 ) Then you could display one color for mp3-files and one for flac-files and then see which albums that appear in both formats.
A related wish: If one ticks a track, then holds down Shift while ticking another track a few tracks down the list, then all tracks in between should be ticked (or unticked depending on current tick status).
-
However in the case above, maybe the Highlighting feature could be of help? (Enable it by showing the column Highlight and click the header for options, read more here: http://getmusicbee.com/forum/index.php?topic=7751.45 ) Then you could display one color for mp3-files and one for flac-files and then see which albums that appear in both formats.
Oh, that's a cool feature. I may not use it for that, but I'll definitely use it. I think somebody else mentioned it to me, too, though of course now I can't find where. Thanks to you both, if you know who you are.