Thank you all very much!
Phred,
I like the way your screenshot of MusicBee looks way better than my MusicBee layout. Could you please tell me how to make it look more like yours or direct me to a thread on this forum or another link that clearly explains (even better if it shows) what to do to change the way my layout is? Thank you!
The screenshot was a portion of the full layout in v2.5. Here's a shot of the full window:
First off, it is much easier to set up layouts in v3, which is in the late alpha stage of development. It's pretty darn stable at this point, and the greatest improvement is that you can drag and drop the various elements around and position them as you like. You can get v3 here
http://musicbee.niblseed.com/V3_0/MusicBee3_Patched.zip All you have to do is unzip it into your current MB folder and run MusicBee3.exe. Changes that you make to the layout in v3 will not change anything in v2.5, so you can play with it as much as you want. And then go back to 2.5 if you want. To give you an idea of how stable v3 is, today was the first time I've opened 2.5 in more than a week and the only reason I opened it was to get that screenshot for you.
As for the layout in 2.5, Edit > Preferences > Layout (1)
- my left sidebar contains Library, Playlists, Services, Computer, Podcasts, Audio Books, Radio Stations, Inbox, and Play History. Chose what you want.
- at the bottom of the left sidebar I have the Album Artwork of the Playing Track selected.
- in the main panel I do not display the tabs bar, I do show the A-Z jump bar horizontally and the column browser side by side vertically. Also in the Main Panel Layout click on Configure Views and in the Artwork Layout section under Fields displayed, I have Album Artist, Album, and Year / # Tracks (which has to be set up separately. I'm trying to find where I set that up and can't find it right now. I look for it and get back to you if it's important. Just let me know if you want it.)
- below the main panel config in Layout (1) is the Now Playing Panel. I have show panel in right sidebar. Click on Configure Panel and check Show Now Playing List - Show in Main Panel (bottom.) Check Show Track Information and select 'show all panels vertically.' Select the tabs Track Details, Lyrics, and Artwork. Finally, at the bottom I have enabled "show file url" and "show track properties.'
- Now for Edit > Preferences > Layout (2)
- Select 'Use modern layout' and 'wave bar' along with 'enlarge progress bar height, and show panel in top pane.
That's pretty much it. It's quite possible I missed something and if so, just ask.
EDIT: If you're interested in the Year / # Tracks line in the Artwork View, you need to create a virtual tag (Edit > Preferences > Tags (1) > Custom Tags > Define New Tags and in the bottom section enter Year / # Tracks as the label. The formula is
$IsNull(<Year>,,<Year>" /") $If(<Album Track Count>=1,<Album Track Count>" Track",<Album Track Count>" Tracks")
And simply use that new 'tag' as the info to display in the third line.
For the Column Browser, right-click in its header and Select Displayed Columns. I use Year (yyyy) and A-Z, which is another virtual tag created by using the label A-Z and the formula [$Group($Sort(<Artist>),1)]
Good luck
Topic: Arist Order Alphabetically, then by Year of Album Release (Read 3503 times)