Author Topic: On the fly transcoding and Various panel location ideas  (Read 13896 times)

GabesDad

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One thing that Winamp really does well, and I imagine MusicBee could do quite easily, is on the fly transcoding.  For example, each portable device could have a sort of profile or settings memory with MusicBee that remembers what type of files that device can play back and possibly what maximum bitrate of files you might want on this device.  Then when sends files to this device from the library, and if these files are in unsupported format and/or too high of a bitrate, MusicBee would automatically transcode and transfer based on evaluating each file against the preset conditions.  This would be great is someone kept files in FLAC / lossless format on their desktop and did not want to maintain a second portable library to transfer to their portable device.

In regards to the panel locations - 1) History: I would like to see the History view show up as a selection under "Library" in the left panel, and when selected, show up in the content panel in the middle. 2) Player Control Panel - also add the option to locate this at "Top Pane" (between the menu items and the rest of the main content panes).  I do prefer the control panel at the bottom but other might prefer it at the top considering they might be coming from the likes of iTunes, etc.  I guess you could ultimately make the panes drag and drop but I imagine this could reduce stability, so I think the current method works well.

Thanks, getting better all the time.

Steven

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on the fly transcoding is supported but in a more limited way. If you drag and drop say a FLAC file to an iPod, the first time you should get prompted to specify transcoding settings.
Alternatively when the device is connected, right click on the device icon and choose Synchronisation settings.
There is an option to convert unsupported files to a specific format and encoding profile on the fly. There is also an additional option to re-convert files already in a supported format (to reduce their size).
No ability at the moment to specify a bitrate criteria. Also no option to specify the supported formats - its able to query MTP devices for the supported formats but make an assumption for iPods.
edit: i recall your device uses the ActiveSync protocol which currently is supported so from MB's perspective i guess you would mount it as a USB device, in which case I think MB wouldnt offer on the-the-fly transcoding when drag/dropping to the device but i will check tonight

Fair enough request about the history - its a separate window only at the moment and no problem for 2 - just thought it didnt look that good with MB but as you say some people might prefer it.
Last Edit: March 16, 2009, 04:23:43 PM by Steven

GabesDad

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Thanks for letting me know about the current transcoding capabilities.  Like you mentioned you can make some fairly accurate assumptions, or actual queries, for ipods and MTP devices, but USB devices could theoretically accept anything.

Also concerning activesync, I'm not sure if you have looked into this yet or not, but both WMP and winamp activesync device support forces files to be placed in <Artist>\<Album>\ directories with no possibility of customization, and that is artist, not album artist.  When deleting files from a device, at least winamp does not delete empty directories - leaving quite a mess on devices especially when multi-artist sountrack albums are synced.

Other syncing ideas (which you might already have implemented) is options on artwork handling, such that when syncing files it automatically handles artwork based on the user's choice. For example your computer libarary might have artwork for each album stored as a .jpg in the album folder, but for the portable device you would like the artwork embedded in the file (if the format supports it).  Another idea is that in syncing playlists, that MusicBee also creates a playlist on the device that can used to play back the songs from the device.  I haven't found many music players that can successfully transfer a playlist and the respective files to a device and create a playlist on the device correctly referencing the files on the device for playback from a program on the device (in this case I'm speaking of the Windows Mobile platform).

Thanks again.

Steven

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Also concerning activesync, I'm not sure if you have looked into this yet or not, but both WMP and winamp activesync device support forces files to be placed in <Artist>\<Album>\ directories with no possibility of customization, and that is artist, not album artist.  When deleting files from a device, at least winamp does not delete empty directories - leaving quite a mess on devices especially when multi-artist sountrack albums are synced.
with MB, you can specify the naming convention for the directories and filename and it should delete empty folders

Other syncing ideas (which you might already have implemented) is options on artwork handling, such that when syncing files it automatically handles artwork based on the user's choice. For example your computer libarary might have artwork for each album stored as a .jpg in the album folder, but for the portable device you would like the artwork embedded in the file (if the format supports it).
MB provides the option of forced embeding in the synched file, saving to folder.jpg on the device or copying to an organised picture filename on the device in the same folder as the music file. I need to check but i think it converts to .jpg for the last 2 options. You can also specify an image size for the picture

Another idea is that in syncing playlists, that MusicBee also creates a playlist on the device that can used to play back the songs from the device.  I haven't found many music players that can successfully transfer a playlist and the respective files to a device and create a playlist on the device correctly referencing the files on the device for playback from a program on the device (in this case I'm speaking of the Windows Mobile platform).
yes MB does that - you can drag/drop a playlist or specify playlist(s) in the auto-sync list
Last Edit: March 16, 2009, 10:36:55 PM by Steven

GabesDad

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Another GUI thought - add a button to the right of the shuffle button (but with space between the two buttons) in the lower right corner to switch to mini-player mode.  You might also add the ability to set a hotkey to switch between mini and full player modes.

Leif

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Another GUI thought - add a button to the right of the shuffle button (but with space between the two buttons) in the lower right corner to switch to mini-player mode.  You might also add the ability to set a hotkey to switch between mini and full player modes.
Very good idea! Support!!