Messages

46

Questions / Highlight Icon Color

« on: May 24, 2016, 02:19:14 PM »

Is there any way to change the color of the  icons used for tag highlights. The color only seems to work with the text highlight function and not the icon. Is there an override element available for skins (as with the command buttons)?

47

Skins / Re: Dust Storm

« on: May 23, 2016, 09:20:56 PM »

Thanks for sharing.

48

Questions / Tag for EQ Presets

« on: May 23, 2016, 09:04:09 PM »

Hi folks. I want to create a highlight/icon for tracks with an EQ Preset. Is there a way to have the tag created when the preset is selected in the track's settings? Or do I need to enter that info into a custom tag manually after any time that I change the preset?

49

MusicBee Wishlist / Re: Album Information Panel

« on: May 23, 2016, 06:05:32 PM »

Another shot at a mock-up. Again, this is only meant to be a starting point:







EDIT: I should add that I also liked ssri's Cantana pics. What would be truly amazing is if Steven was able to implement this in such a way that would allow for different TM's to be used. This way, a user could enter the tags they want to be displayed (from within some sort of layout/setup configuration), and that info would be shown in whichever TM skin was chosen.

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MusicBee Wishlist / Re: Album Information Panel

« on: May 23, 2016, 05:20:04 AM »

In regards to the discogs page, that's why I wrote "This is an extremely rough idea of what I was thinking (not meant to be a physical template at all, but just to convey the general idea)" in my original post. I had thought having some visual cue as to what I was thinking might help to clarify things, but obviously it just ended up causing a lot of confusion. Sorry about that.

At the risk of causing more confusion, this might be a simpler description. What I was envisioning was something along the lines of a fancied-up/expanded Track Information panel for albums. A page/panel where users can choose which tags are displayed and in what order. Add expanded artwork, the album's track list, and possibly a tag editing feature, and that's pretty much it. I really wish I was better at writing descriptions, but that's the best I can do at this point.

Perhaps what makes sense now is to wait for Steven's opinion on the matter. If he still thinks the TM route is the way to go, well then he'd have to decide what sorts of features he'd be willing to add and generally how much time he's willing to direct this way. Although I knew it would take considerable efforts to realize, I naively thought the concept itself was fairly simple. I also don't know the most efficient way to go about these things. Is it better to start with something more simple, while having a general consensus as to what the final goal should be? Or is it wiser to agree to all the details beforehand? I certainly am not experienced in these matters.

51

MusicBee Wishlist / Re: Album Information Panel

« on: May 22, 2016, 09:25:22 PM »

I never meant for this to be a web-sourced album info panel. If that's what you want, there are countless links you can select from within MB. I thought the custom tag labels included in the original post were clearly referring to localized metadata. I get it. People use the web to view all thier music info now. But some of us still like to keep our own files and info/artwork. The amount of detail people like to store is up to individual taste.

If you look at the original example I gave, it is labelled with custom tags.  The main intention is simply to have a place to view all your expanded album info/tags and artwork. Some tags are for tracks (for example, who wrote and played on that track), some tags are for the album (album descriptions, extra info, credits etc..).

My initial thought was to include the tracklist on the page and allow for tag editing as well - so depending on the selected track, the tags could change if they are not all the same for the entire album. I had figured that users could choose which tags to display in the panel (as with the Track Information panel), which would still leave the need for the current tag editor. But obviously all options could/should be explored.  I mean the ability to edit your tags here is not absolutely neccessary, I just thought it made sense but it certainly is not the main purpose. So if tag editing is a big obstacle I would say scrap it .

Again, if you want to just browse the web to get all your info that's fine. I guess I wrongly assumed that most MB users were using it beacause they enjoyed managing their own personal library as opposed to simply streaming everything online.

52

MusicBee Wishlist / Re: Album Information Panel

« on: May 22, 2016, 05:33:53 PM »

Yeah, I could be wrong but I tend to see the TM skins as a pretty-looking display for your playing track. I was envisioning something more functional. Also I think it'd be important for users to choose which tags to have displayed, similar to the Track Information Panel. Maybe an area at the top for all the typical/shorter tags, and all the lengthier tags below those. Plus album art really is important for a lot of us. Currently there's no place to view it in one place (outside of the tag editor), although I do GREATLY appreciate the rotational artwork element.

Also, it appears that currently the 'Lyrics' tag is the only multi-line tag available. 'Comments' does have a multi-line input box, but I don't think there's a way to organize paragraphs. Anyway, right now I haven't created any custom tags that would require this, due to the fact that there's no ideal place to view them. The Track Information panel can be useful for this in some cases, but certainly has its limitations.

EDIT: My intention here was never to push this idea. Obviously it would take a lot of work to create. It was nice to see others thought this "wish" had some merit.

53

MusicBee Wishlist / Re: Album Information Panel

« on: May 21, 2016, 08:38:44 PM »

Unless there's a quick way to open/close the Now Playing Bar, I don't see how that would work. That just takes up way too much space from the main panel.

 I'm afraid that I don't have the knowledge required to accomplish this. I made an embedded TM for the Now Playing panel and found it to be very limited for anything other than the most simple applications. But hey, maybe that's just me. I wouldn't even know how to do something as simple as displaying all the different artwork for each album. I'm pretty sure TM's couldn't even use a rotating artwork element last time I tried.

-I have no idea where/how to launch a TM for an album.
-Is it possible to edit tags and art from within a TM?
-Is it possible for different users to choose their own custom tags, or would it have to be something I created specifically for my own personal custom tags?
-Is it possible to set up scrolling panels for custom tags that could contain multiple paragraphs?
-Are skin dependant colors an option?

Nope. After remembering my previous experiments I'd have to say this is WAY over my skill level. Good luck to anyone who attempts it.

54

MusicBee Wishlist / Album Information Panel

« on: May 20, 2016, 06:23:25 PM »

I realize this would be a lot of work to accomplish, but it's something I know I'd love to see as a part of MusicBee. So I figured what the hell, I might as well just throw the idea out there. Of course it's very possible it's been mentioned before.

I'd love to have some sort of Album Information Panel. So by clicking on an album, this page would be displayed. It could have all the info you'd ever want about an album. Mainly I'd like it to display tags, custom tags and artwork, but it'd be possible to show many other elements as well, like similar artists and external/internal links etc... IMO the possiblities are endless and could result in a great looking and extremely functional display/panel.

The main idea here is that most areas in MB are meant to display a summary of info, so this would be a place for all your more detailed/expanded info. I guess it's a kind of replacement for opening up an album/cd.  It could also be a great place for editing tags in 1 comprehensive location. This is an extremely rough idea of what I was thinking (not meant to be a physical template at all, but just to convey the general idea):

55

Tips and Tricks / Re: How to sync MB library/playlists to iPod Classic WITHOUT using iTunes

« on: May 19, 2016, 09:40:52 PM »

Well, I haven't restored mine recently so I can't say for sure it'll work,  but the option is there for v11.4:


As for the auto-playlists, I can transfer them to the iPod, but they will only function as a normal playlist. If I view the iPod in itunes, the playlist doesn't display the gear icon. This really only matters for AP's based on track ratings, which can be altered in the iPod.

I'm not sure how MB generates thumbs for viewing ipod files If tracks were transferred to the ipod using itunes, MB displays the thumb as empty. Tracks transferred with MB result in thumbs from random albums from the same artist:


*off topic:
Yeah, I did the battery myself. Ordered a cheap one from ebay and works great. Just make sure to get the right one (I think there's 2 sizes for these Classics and ebay ads can be confusing). Lots of vids on youtube, but I found this to be the best one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aQn-HkvtvM

56

Tips and Tricks / Re: How to sync MB library/playlists to iPod Classic WITHOUT using iTunes

« on: May 19, 2016, 12:57:54 AM »

Nice post. I thought maybe I was the only dinosuar still using my ipod. I just replaced the battery on mine too (yes, I do hate change). I have a 160g Classic 7th Gen.  iOS 2.0.4. Works fairly well with no plugins. There are some issues (podcasts, auto-playlists, some metadata editing glitches) but mostly syncs well. I don't know why it takes so long for yours to load. It usually takes maybe 10 seconds for mine to appear on the device list. I'm curious why you recommend iTunes 9.2.1? I have 11.4 installed which also has the restore option. Also, if I check for updates, iTunes says that 2.0.4 is the current version.

57

Questions / Re: Can't get compilation picture to display in thumbnail browser

« on: May 08, 2016, 03:25:00 PM »

Nice, thanks. I could've sworn the image was there at one point (maybe v2.5?). I thought maybe I changed something to cause the issue.

58

General Discussions / Re: GUI changes for v3.0

« on: May 08, 2016, 03:21:26 PM »

For the Track Information element, if 'ticked elements are stacked and viewable by clicking a selector button' is enabled, the header button is labelled "Track Information". If the other option 'ticked elements are displayed as tabs' is enabled, the button reads "Details". This seems a bit odd/inconsistant.

Note: You can see this in the pics 8 posts above this one.

that is intentional to reduce the horizontal space required

Makes sense. Maybe consider using "Track Info" instead? Obviously not a big issue, but consistant terminolgy really makes a difference when you're learning the layout. Every little bit helps.

59

General Discussions / Re: GUI changes for v3.0

« on: May 08, 2016, 02:29:12 AM »

For the Track Information element, if 'ticked elements are stacked and viewable by clicking a selector button' is enabled, the header button is labelled "Track Information". If the other option 'ticked elements are displayed as tabs' is enabled, the button reads "Details". This seems a bit odd/inconsistant.

Note: You can see this in the pics 8 posts above this one.

60

Questions / Re: Backup Settings?

« on: May 08, 2016, 02:01:54 AM »

You could try making a request in the wishlist thread. Steven might decide to implement a change for V3.1. Maybe a warning message could be implemented if there is a concern that drive failure could result in data being lost when backing up files to the same drive.