Simplify the app

[natecar]

I used to use MusicBee extensively, but stopped a couple of years ago. I just came back to it and it was not helpful in setting playlists and using my music.
It just got FAR too complicated.
I would like to be able to make a playlist from my songs without having to read a manual, watch videos, and read a user help forum. It is not a tough task.
However, with several thousand songs in my library, I can't easily find any of them through the interface. It is far easier to browse through Microsoft's file system to find them. Yeah, it's that bad. With MusicBee, I get ~8 different categories that have Weird Al songs. All show up as Weird Al, but they are not combined. Nor are they sequential. Again, just going into the file system is easier to browse to a particular song.
The software is acting like it is designed for the hyper-invovled, not the casual user. If that is your target market, then great. But, I'm not that user and will never be.
Writing this is about the limit of what I want to contribute to use a simple app like a playlist manager. Before completely trashing my (limited) contribution, ask yourself why a well designed app for managing music needs to be complicated for everyone (it's OK if there is complexity, but it should start with simplicity).

[frankz]

I don't know.  I was able to start using MusicBee as a basic manager / player about 5 minutes after I installed it, and most of that was scanning my folders.  It took some time (still taking some time) to be able to use it to its full potential, but as an "Open up, find music to play and play it" program, it's pretty self-explanatory.

If you have a specific question on usage you should ask it. You say there are multiple "categories" with Weird Al songs, but I don't know what that means as far as terms that this or any music program actually uses ("categories" isn't such a term).  It's quite easy to view a list of files by Artist or Album Artist.  It sounds like maybe your files are poorly tagged.

In any event, this kind of unfocused, non-specific rant against a program that everyone you're ranting at clearly enjoys is unlikely to get you much assistance or a positive response to your wishlist item.  You may want to rethink your approach.

[boroda]

i agree that *some* aspects of program can (and must) be simplified, but if the program at whole is too complicated for you then maybe you need some other program (eg. AIMP)?

[Corax]

 

I've only just started using it, haven't watched any of the videos or read the how-to pieces, and I can't really fathom the OP.

I scan my folders.
I sort by artists, and find a song by Thingammy. I hit play.

I select all the adjacent tracks by Thingammy, thingammy, and Thingamy and right click, edit fields.
I type "Thing-ammy" in Artist, "Afro-classical EDM Folk" in genre and hit return twice.
I right click the list again and select Add to playlist, and create a new one.

Lo and behold I'm on my way to cataloguing my library.

It can appear overwhelming though. Perhaps there's call for a kind of simplified interface?


I'd also agree that I've still found some elements confusing at times - specifically the tabs, the behaviour of the Now Playing window, and search fields.

[wealstarr]

I can't believe anyone finding Musicbee difficult/complicated to operate. In an array of programs of all kinds, MusicBee is among those few applications which can be as simple as user wants it to be yet as configurable as one would like.

Obviously, one can always leave the features they can't configure/operate yet Musicbee should still serve as the most powerful thing of it's kind. The way all the options/preferences are presented, I can't think of anything more simpler yet organized. Probably because it's just one developer then a team instead.

Go try Foobar or Aimp and reconsider your opinion about this.

[boroda]

Go try Foobar or Aimp and reconsider your opinion about this.