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Author Topic: Media Center 13 Feature Requests  (Read 102551 times)

glynor

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Re: Media Center 13 Feature Requests
« Reply #50 on: August 08, 2008, 01:19:08 pm »

Actually... In addition to the sidecar XMP files discussed in detail above and in other threads, I'd like to see substantially improved in-file tagging for those file containers that support it.  Including:

  • MP4 (including all of Apple's stupid sub-variants: M4A, M4B, M4V, M4P, AAC, etc)
  • MKV and MKA
  • OGM (and variants)
  • FLAC (that should be particularly easy since they use APE tags, don't they?)
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glynor

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Re: Media Center 13 Feature Requests
« Reply #51 on: August 08, 2008, 03:40:41 pm »

Hanheld Transfer/Sync Enhancements:

Panes:  Right now we are not able to easily modify the view of the Handheld transfer view, which makes it impossible to browse the current contents of a handheld by [Genre] or by [Media Type] (for example).  If this was changed so that the Drive and Devices view worked more like a View Scheme, where we could customize what Panes were available (and these panes showed up at the top rather than in the odd vertical position) and more easily customize the Columns and Sorting.  I rarely want to browse the contents of the handheld by [Artist] or [Album] (the only two panes currently available) but [Genre], [Media Type], and [Media Sub Type] would all be very useful, among others.

Deleting:  When you add media to a device it queues it for transfer on sync, but there isn't a way (not one I could figure out easily) to Queue deletions for the next sync.  I'd like to be able to grab a bunch of files off of the handheld view, mark them for deletion, and then grab a bunch of other files from my library and add them to the queue, and hit sync and have it do it all then.  As is, if I select 1000 files to delete manually, it takes FOREVER and blocks me from doing anything else with the application until the actual deletion from the device is done.  This is no good!  We should be able to easily change the "status field" from On Device to Delete on Next Sync or something like that.  I can't see any reason why a deletion needs to happen immediately, when adding files doesn't happen until the sync.
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skeeterfood

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Re: Media Center 13 Feature Requests
« Reply #52 on: August 08, 2008, 05:06:52 pm »

More handheld sync stuff:
I'd love to see a way to use the current contents of the handheld to tailor the sync Smartlist.  For example, I generally like to put a group of random albums (using a smartlist) on my 2GB Sansa player.  Then I listen to those for a while and when I get sick of them, I sync it again.  Unfortunately, there's no way to ensure I don't get any of the same albums I just got sick of on there again.  I want to use the current contents of the hand-held to pull those albums out of my smartlist.

-John
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jmone

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Re: Media Center 13 Feature Requests
« Reply #53 on: August 08, 2008, 09:56:01 pm »


I've not really played with MS MediaCenter but one thing I see is that Blu-ray / HD-DVD Support is being provided via a plug-in from the likes of ArcSoft's Total Media Theater.

Mmmm Vista Media Center "just runs itself" occasionally on my HTPC I without doing anything I say that TMT must integrate itself for Blu-ray / HD-DVD as you can see below!  Looks good....
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ThoBar

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Re: Media Center 13 Feature Requests
« Reply #54 on: August 11, 2008, 03:52:08 am »

The ability to customise the 'Standard' fields. Big fat warnings here are OK. Make it hard to find - OK. Turn the field red - OK. Please, just let me do it.

I AM willing to compromise - if I cant edit the field data type, then let me make it calculated... see below.

The logic: I have several custom fields - great for managing my library, so much so I rarely (if ever) use several of the standard fields, which are too restrictive, or dont take into account the amount of data required in that field to be useful. I would LOVE to be able to (for a simplistic example) do the following (in 'pseudo' code). (note- this isnt how I'd actually use it - but it gives you an idea.

Code: [Select]
if [genre] is classical then
    [album]=[myalbum] + "(" [Conductor] + "-" + [Feature Artist] + ")"
else
    [album]=[myalbum]
end if


This is most useful for iPods and the like
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park

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Re: Media Center 13 Feature Requests
« Reply #55 on: August 26, 2008, 07:23:54 am »

I've been playing with the "Simplify Media" iphone app. It lets you access and stream music from your computer to the iphone. It reads your music folder directly, or itunes libraries. The problem is of course, that it only offers the same 3 fields as itunes: Artist, Genre, and Albums.

Something like this app from JRiver, that would work as a firefox addon, and/or iphone app would be amazing.
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rogueblue

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Re: Media Center 13 Feature Requests
« Reply #56 on: August 26, 2008, 05:47:14 pm »

A few wishes ...

1 ) add Navigation ( Favourites ) to Theatre View

2 ) add "Browse with MC" to the windows context menu.

3 )Individual shortcuts that can be placed anywhere like on the windows desktop, that'll take MC to that location directly. ( have no idea if this is possible ). Possible have the shortcut with an MC icon but adding the arrow to the icon to show it is a shortcut.

4 ) A Customizable "track info tooltips" eg. able to have "notes" tag visible, or be able to disable the image when "show track info tooltips" is enabled.

5 ) to be able to attach (tag) audio notes/files to an image.

6 )to be able to add buttons (command shortcuts) to the toolbar in fullscreen view, similar to what can be done to the top & bottom toolbar presently in standard view.

7 ) option to auto-hide main toolbar and tree or other panes (similar to auto-hide function in windows toolbar and Adobe Lightroom) so as to give more viewing area. This would as well give the ability to make the view area or panes change quicker. At present I struggle a bit to get the mouse actually click on the right spot as to minimize or maximise them.

8 ) some extra image editing tools like ... batch image conversion ...etc

9 ) oh one last little thing ... to be able to change MC's text colour in the options text menu. At present only text type and size can change, but no option for text colour.

Thanks

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Mr ChriZ

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Re: Media Center 13 Feature Requests
« Reply #57 on: August 27, 2008, 02:02:10 am »

Better drag and drop ability of the tree, so that it is entirely customizable.
This would allow the moving easily of items like television to a root menu.
It would also allow non expert users to be able to create root level view's.
At the moment it's not an easy thing to do, which seems a huge shortcoming.

It amazes me no one here ever seems to comment or request it, but all my friends whom have MC love the way I have Radio Stations/TV-Series and Film views available from the root view.

MrHaugen

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Re: Media Center 13 Feature Requests
« Reply #58 on: August 27, 2008, 02:20:12 am »

1. Ability to backup EVERY settings, thumbnails etc
2. A polished Theater View is a must in my opinion.
3. PVR and EPG improvement/implementation would also be good
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ThoBar

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Re: Media Center 13 Feature Requests
« Reply #59 on: August 27, 2008, 02:32:41 am »

PiP, PoP, PaP  ;)
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newsposter

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Re: Media Center 13 Feature Requests
« Reply #60 on: August 27, 2008, 02:56:38 am »

Use a real (or fully documented) database for metadata.  Don't worry about IDxx-style tagging of files unless the user chooses to export them from the MC/MJ library.

Include all MC/MJ settings in the system database/repository.  Forget things like .ini files and registry entries.

Support belts and suspenders replication and/or simple backup/restore (import/export?) of the entire system database.

Be able to speak to more network connected audio/video components.  Onkyo NetTune protocols, Philips/Marantz, etc.  Being natively fluent in Girder, Pronto, and Harmony protocols and emulation would be tres chic too.

Keep the running log of 'now playing', allow it to be exported as text, edited with a simple text editor, and then re-imported as a custom playlist.

Reliable handheld sync (files, tags, playlists) with the most common handhelds; Apple, Windows Mobile (5 and 6), iRiver, Creative, SanDisk, Samsung, Sony, Symbian 40 & 60, don't forget the simple USB mass storage devices!!
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thenoob1

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Re: Media Center 13 Feature Requests
« Reply #61 on: August 27, 2008, 03:19:05 am »

Maybe the ability to integrate an aac encoder with tagging, like Nero aac encoder or Apple's products (Qt or itunes). The developers of MediaMonkey have build their own and sell the plugin for a few dollars. The only problem is, that the quality isn't as good as the quality of Nero's encoder. http://www.mediamonkey.com/addons/input-output/

thenoob1

PS: I'm really happy, that you decided to move on a bit. Can't wait anymore to see new MC13. You did a great job in the last years. The support is the best I've ever seen.  ;D ;D ;D
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gappie

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Re: Media Center 13 Feature Requests
« Reply #62 on: August 27, 2008, 03:42:33 am »

an option like the 'send to' in standard view, but then in theaterview. so that it is possible to for instance play a video with an other player when you want to (which is possible now by changing the media type, but that makes it again hard to play it from within mc), but also to open imd for more info, without first having to close theaterview.

 :)
gab

an other small wish would be an mcc command to play unseeded radio, so i can start the radio from my remote.  :)
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Fred1

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Re: Media Center 13 Feature Requests
« Reply #63 on: August 27, 2008, 05:16:25 am »

Remote Control  for MC by iPhone/iPod like the Apple Remote Application!!!
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pank2002

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Re: Media Center 13 Feature Requests
« Reply #64 on: August 27, 2008, 06:47:28 am »

Improved image handling. I should be easier to use nested tags. Also, a calendar view. It should be easier to edit pictures, remove read eyes etc. It should feel more like a image program rather than a audio program, which happens to do images too. Also, playing images in full screen should be different than playing video in full screen.

Improved document handling. This including auto filling of tags based on location. Also, MC should read PDF tags.

Improved Pix01. For every album there should be a playlist. If the user add a picture to the playlist it should be uploaded automatically. If a comment is added to picture (assuming this would be added) one should be able to see this comment from within MC. Also, a more fancy Pix01 webskin would be appreciated.

In general, it would be nice if MC would be smarter about guessing tags. A lot of times MC could guess tags, based on something like location or previous experience. For example, I have a certain folder; every time I import something from this folder the procedure is to rename files from tags and import into the library. MC should recognize that when I import files from this location this is what needs to be done.

Cheers,
Rasmus

Edit: Support for other platforms in one way or the other
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ADDiCT

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Re: Media Center 13 Feature Requests
« Reply #65 on: August 27, 2008, 07:27:16 am »

My requests are mostly music-related:

- Integration of meta data database(s), like Musicbrainz, Allmusic, or Discogs

- Logical continuation of the "Stacks" system: a way to handle identical tracks on different albums (keeping tags in sync, etc.)

- Optimized "Shuffle" functionality (There has been a discussion about that topic a looong time ago. What i want is an optimized "human-perceived" shuffle - MC should avoid clustering tracks with the same artist, album, title, genre, ...)

- One-click backup and restore of all MC settings and data files (database, thumbnails, etc.)

- Database backend based on a standard relational database (maybe optional, MySQL or similar)

- Built-in, lightweight scripting system (Allows creation of small, user-defined functions without having to write a complete app in an IDE. Would allow, for example, easy implementation of functions like album rating or metadata import, or integration of external apps/tools)

- Optional user-selectable mapping of MC's tag fields to arbitrary tag fields (IDV2/APE/etc.)
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ThoBar

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Re: Media Center 13 Feature Requests
« Reply #66 on: August 27, 2008, 07:29:41 am »

Screensaver mode... with funky and varying 3d effects...

When I've got MC as my media center, why not let me use it's power to display my photo, art, etc collections...
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vbrook

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Re: Media Center 13 Feature Requests
« Reply #67 on: August 27, 2008, 09:53:01 am »

I'm find configuring views in MC12 a bit cumbersome, and I had an idea for simplifying the process: "tiles". Here's how it would work:

- Enter "tile mode", presented with an empty MC window. "New tile" command adds a blank rectangular box to the screen. Size as desired, and freely choose what content will go in the tile.

- Options include: 1) Type (action items, playing now, library views---whatever you want. 2) Columns or thumbnails, etc 3) Drill down levels freely configurable (e.g. double click on an item and see columns, where the previous level was thumbnails; or click on playing now and see all tags for the item---whatever you want), 4) Specify final action (do nothing at end of hierarchy, play file, etc., reverse through hierarchy)

- Option to link (e.g. panes in MC12) or not link the tiles.

- Lock size of tiles.

- Tabs


Does that makes sense?
 
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mark_h

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Re: Media Center 13 Feature Requests
« Reply #68 on: August 27, 2008, 10:08:47 am »

My primary interest is in further fleshing out the expressions/smartlist engine:

Spreadsheet type calculated expressions, eg ability to do maths on other fields.

Album-centric data, eg calculate album averages BUT must be adjustable such that the field used in the calculation isn't necessarily RATING (for instance I use MY RATING to rate tracks 1-10 and would like that field used).  Tied in with above, should be able to reference an album worth of data when doing expression calculations even if only one track is visible.

Add a way of querying the currently playing track for use in smartlists.

Mark
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JimH

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Re: Media Center 13 Feature Requests
« Reply #69 on: August 27, 2008, 11:03:24 am »


2. A polished Theater View is a must in my opinion.
You need to be more specific than that.
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rjm

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Re: Media Center 13 Feature Requests
« Reply #70 on: August 27, 2008, 11:14:01 am »

Given that a focus for MC13 is video, I think a better way to browse info (dvd covers, plot, reviews, rip notes, etc.) associated with videos would be a major step forward. I described one idea here http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=47843.0.

There are probably other ways to achieve the same objective. I'm not married to the specifics of my proposal. Just would like a convenient way to quickly browse info associated with files (or groups of files (aka albums)).
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MusicHawk

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Re: Media Center 13 Feature Requests
« Reply #71 on: August 27, 2008, 11:17:54 am »

I"m hoping for some plumbing evolution, to provide more control over some areas that can be tough to deal with now. These aren't new ideas -- many were posted on this board by others (and/or me). Some of these suggestions are possible now, partially or via a few extra steps, but maybe can be streamlined.

(For those who know it, yes, several of my MC wishes are derived from IBM Lotus Notes, a strong model because it has been used to build a huge range of database systems, ranging from accounting systems to media library systems to several of my large web sites (such as http://databased.advisor.com). The basic design has worked well for years, and I love how its text-file configuration (notes.ini) makes it easy to move and fix stuff, and lets IBM support Windows, Mac and Linux using the same .ini file.)

Suggestions for Media Center 13:

-- Switch to a text .ini for MC config, and store nothing MC-specific in Windows Registry (only what Windows requires, such as file-type associations).
If all MC config, view design, smartlists formulas, etc is in an easily accessible/copyable/editable text .ini file (like the good-old-days of PC software) it would allow easy moving of specific items or the entire configuration to another library or another PC.

-- Ideally, put view configs in individual .ini, similar to custom fields, so they can be easily shared.

-- As someone else mentioned, I've found it desirable to use mostly custom library fields to get the level of control I need, so I avoid many "standard" fields, mainly populating those that matter to my iPod. But I'm not sure my deviations from "standard" are unusual -- all I'm doing is cataloging a very large library of audio recordings (more than 60 thousand, heading to 100 thousand), so perhaps some of my custom fields (and customizations by other MC users) that would help others too. For instance, I've added a multi-value Artists field and used it extensively in views, I've added a Rank field to overcome an editing risk with the Rating field, I've added several fields to identify the source format of recordings, original ID, recording type, and others -- all fields commonly found in professional radio station programming libraries, so likely useful to users who are doing serious "catalog" library building.

-- Allow easy sharing of field and view design among users (see text-based config request). Maybe allow easy "snap-in" of such designs, helping users who aren't comfortable digging into library and view design.

-- Include some of the better "non-standard" library fields as options, similar to the various special-purpose views that are included.

-- Include some additional built-in views (perhaps selected as "best of" from user submissions), in-addition to allowing sharing of view designs among users. Many postings are users trying to explain to each other how to build complex/useful/attractive views, when it would be easier to just say "here's the config text that defines it", or even better, "click this".

-- Allow more control over standard library fields, perhaps with a warning if a change would make jeopardize tag compatibility, and/or default behavior that kicks in when required. For instance, let a "standard" single-value field be switched to multi-value, but notify the user that only the first value, or the entire string, might be used by other software. OR, behind the curtain treat this as two fields: put the first value in the standard field, then put all the values in a "hidden" custom field, giving the MC user the desired behavior but not truly messing up the standard field. Or allow more use of expressions (below).

-- specify for each field how edits are handled -- accept, or confirm first, or read-only, etc. (I don't use the stars Rating field because a keyboard "oops" slip changes the value, permanently, without warning or confirmation, so I added a custom Rank field).

-- control the type of list that pops up for a multi-value field (so short lists of values can behave differently from long lists).

-- control ALL fields via an expression if desired (small example: I'd like to automatically update Rating when I change my custom Rank field). This could also be a way for a user to use a custom multi-value field (such as my Artists) while automatically maintaining the standard version of the field. (An expression could take whatever I put in Artists and automatically put either the first value or the entire string in the standard Artist field.)

-- Allow changing of the cover art field in the Action Tag window, via Search/Replace and direct editing, often MUCH faster than using the file dialog to change the stored file path/name.

-- Provide a way to change the music file associated with a database record, not requiring delicate editing of the Filename field, and while preserving the db tags -- typically to update the music file to improve quality or fix a problem, without messing up the database/tags.

-- Optionally allow the Action Tag window to be floated and then resized to customize the tagging experience. (And, remember the user's preference for float/position/size.)

-- In views, allow column-level display customization -- font, bold, font color, column background color. This allow info to be optimized for user awareness (key info is more prominent), screen space use (some columns could use small font, some large) and even readability (some text works better in a courier-type font, such as columns of comparable numbers, for instance).

-- In a view and in Action Tag window, allow hover-over or right-click FAST viewing of a cover art image at full size, to quickly check what it really is.

-- Allow more menu/action items to be put on the top menu bar. Some of the things I do most-frequently aren't in the available list.

I'm excited about MC 13 -- thanks for asking!

-- MusicHawk (a user since Jukebox 7)
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rjm

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Re: Media Center 13 Feature Requests
« Reply #72 on: August 27, 2008, 11:28:13 am »

-- Switch to a text .ini for MC config, and store nothing MC-specific in Windows Registry (only what Windows requires, such as file-type associations).
If all MC config, view design, smartlists formulas, etc is in an easily accessible/copyable/editable text .ini file (like the good-old-days of PC software) it would allow easy moving of specific items or the entire configuration to another library or another PC.

-- Ideally, put view configs in individual .ini, similar to custom fields, so they can be easily shared.

-- Allow easy sharing of field and view design among users (see text-based config request). Maybe allow easy "snap-in" of such designs, helping users who aren't comfortable digging into library and view design.

-- Include some additional built-in views (perhaps selected as "best of" from user submissions), in-addition to allowing sharing of view designs among users. Many postings are users trying to explain to each other how to build complex/useful/attractive views, when it would be easier to just say "here's the config text that defines it", or even better, "click this".

-- Provide a way to change the music file associated with a database record, not requiring delicate editing of the Filename field, and while preserving the db tags -- typically to update the music file to improve quality or fix a problem, without messing up the database/tags.

-- Allow more menu/action items to be put on the top menu bar. Some of the things I do most-frequently aren't in the available list.

These proposals are excellent!
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lee269

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Re: Media Center 13 Feature Requests
« Reply #73 on: August 27, 2008, 12:45:45 pm »

Simple (I hope) request. It probably comes down to having some way of having preset seed smartlists for radio mode.

Radio mode is probably the MC12 feature I use the most, because it saves me ploughing through my library to set up playing now, when I just want to get some music playing. I find that it often quickly spirals down to selecting from a small number of artists, based on me skipping through other artists I dont want to listen to according to my mood. Thats OK sometimes, but Id also like to see this feature enhanced to be able to tweak the randomness a bit. How about radio 'stations' - classics (based on popularity), new music (most recently imported/year field), genre based, mood based etc, with an added dose of randomess to throw in some unusual picks etc.

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JimH

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Re: Media Center 13 Feature Requests
« Reply #74 on: August 27, 2008, 01:21:06 pm »

I'd like to introduce a couple of factors to ask you to keep in mind when you make suggestions or requests.  It would help us a lot if you could think of these first before posting.

1.  Will the change sell more copies of MC?

I hate to be blunt (that's a lie) but our dev time is expensive, so we need to at least have a chance of selling something.

2.  Is the change of general interest?

We have some very very smart people who use our product extensively, and they tend to be outspoken on this forum.  Ask yourself if your wife or the neighbor who drinks your beer would find your request valuable.  Apologies to Shelly and the three other ladies who frequently post, and to the guy who drinks my beer.
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rjm

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Re: Media Center 13 Feature Requests
« Reply #75 on: August 27, 2008, 01:35:06 pm »

I'd like to introduce a couple of factors to ask you to keep in mind when you make suggestions or requests.  It would help us a lot if you could think of these first before posting.

1.  Will the change sell more copies of MC?

I hate to be blunt (that's a lie) but our dev time is expensive, so we need to at least have a chance of selling something.

2.  Is the change of general interest?

We have some very very smart people who use our product extensively, and they tend to be outspoken on this forum.  Ask yourself if your wife or the neighbor who drinks your beer would find your request valuable.  Apologies to Shelly and the three other ladies who frequently post, and to the guy who drinks my beer.


I've stated my opinion in the past that MC is not ideal for non-tech savy users, and that a better strategy would be to charge more and focus on the desires of your sophisticated users. I also know and respect the fact that the majority of people on this forum probably disagree with this opinion.

Perhaps there is a compromise that would satisfy everyone. How about springing one developer to work on geeky features like those proposed by MuscHawk above and bundle those features in a more expensive pro version?
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)p(

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Re: Media Center 13 Feature Requests
« Reply #76 on: August 27, 2008, 03:39:53 pm »

I'd like to introduce a couple of factors to ask you to keep in mind when you make suggestions or requests.  It would help us a lot if you could think of these first before posting.

1.  Will the change sell more copies of MC?

I hate to be blunt (that's a lie) but our dev time is expensive, so we need to at least have a chance of selling something.

2.  Is the change of general interest?

Ask yourself if your wife or the neighbor who drinks your beer would find your request valuable.  Apologies to Shelly and the three other ladies who frequently post, and to the guy who drinks my beer.


Easy one I think...mc can organize their metadata like no other...in getting and presenting that data there is a lot to enhance in the experience for the general user. But I am with rjm in its current form mc feels more like its targeted to the more "sophisticated" users.

peter

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vbrook

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Re: Media Center 13 Feature Requests
« Reply #77 on: August 27, 2008, 03:40:48 pm »

"MC is not ideal for non-tech savy users..."

I totally agree. I wouldn't recommend MC (in its current form) to anyone who's not somewhat tech-savvy. Of all the dozens of people I could recommend a player to, only to one have I recommended MC.

The biggest single barrier, in my view, is that MC does not simply "work" out of the box. There are too many visible options, many of them potentially confusing to new users. Even for someone tech-savvy like me, setting up a simple view of album covers and a column list below has taken an inordinate amount of time in experimenting and posing questions to the forum.

I believe there should be default, user-friendly library views that cannot be changed easily unless a "show advanced options" box is checked.

You've got to hide the techie features 'under the hood'.



 
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gappie

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Re: Media Center 13 Feature Requests
« Reply #78 on: August 27, 2008, 04:37:57 pm »


Add a way of querying the currently playing track for use in smartlists.


yes... now that would be something very usefull.  :)
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MusicHawk

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Re: Media Center 13 Feature Requests
« Reply #79 on: August 27, 2008, 05:23:37 pm »

>> Will it sell more copies of MC?

To whom? If we can understand who buys MC (beyond the gang who hangs out here), it would help us contemplate this question. If MC is bought by people who aren't satisfied with Windows Media Player/Center, iTunes, and the like, which they already have at zero cost, WHY did they look around enough to discover MC, then buy it?

I agree with other comments, of all my music-loving friends, I've only steered a couple to use MC, and even they struggled to get comfortable with it (relying on my ability to tweak and customize). This is one reason I suggest making it easier for power users to contribute custom fields and views that can be adopted by users who would never design them but can benefit from having them. (It seems odd that MC allows a variety of sophisticated plug-ins but not interchanging of library/view designs.)

MC is valuable to me because it allows sophisticated ways, some easy, some not-so, to manage, catalog and play a large, heterogeneous library of music. As I said, in-essence I've created in MC a near-optimum radio station music programming system, and MC deserves most of the credit ;D. If I couldn't do this degree of customization, I doubt if any of the other MC features would be enough (cool ways to see cover art don't matter if the music isn't what I want). So, I'm motivated to offer suggestions on how to add to the power of MC, and equally important, how to make the existing power more accessible and customizable and controllable.

I know there has been strong effort to make MC do good/cool/fun things "out of the box", such as the so-called Radio mode, and auto-finding cover art, but these and other features rely on MC having proper tags to work with. If all the key tags aren't there (or aren't accurate), MC just spins in circles.

As seems common among this online community, I too have incredible control over my large library because I use a bunch of custom fields, way beyond the "standard" tags, to profile all my music. Once MC can "understand" and select my music by many key parameters, I can build smartlists that generate just the music streams I want.

Assuming one notable market segment values MC as a set of power tools, JR could continue adding/improving the many hooks and tweaks and options. The more powerful MC gets, the more essential -- and unique -- it is to buy and use. But, the best marketing slogan might not be "JRiver Media Center -- difficult, but worth it".

So, I suggest putting more library design "templates" into MC by default, AND documenting why and how to use them, explained for average new users. If users can see that it's easy to categorize their music (database/tags), and the playback benefit (via smartlists) is immediate and powerful, they'll be motivated to adopt MC as the personalized media library they've always wanted.

For instance, there are a bunch of database fields that a music library would have that a video library might not (and vice versa), and almost no tags that would be in common with a photo library. MC handles some of this as-is, and can be customized to do the rest, but getting to the complete design probably is beyond the "average" user, and/or forces the user to make database structure decisions that might turn out to be quite wrong. I've designed and built a zillion database systems, and still had to go through several MC iterations trying to devise custom fields that handle all the important parameters and variations of "just" an audio/music library. I ended up reluctantly splitting it into five libraries because one structure didn't "fit" them all. (For the curious, the libraries are pop/rock/jazz/etc music, classical music, christmas music, radio, comedy and talk recordings, and other sounds/effects, each with its own library design.)

Can a media library/player be "easy to use" AND "powerfully customizable"? Judging from the evolution and fate of hundreds of database products, "one size fits all" is impossible, EXCEPT when third-parties (i.e. developers, consultants and the like) can use the database system as a platform to customize. In fact, there is a sizable industry based on this three-party combination: core database platform maker, database developer/customizer, and end-user. A thought for MC...

Maybe there's something useful in these musings...
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Managing my media with JRiver since Media Jukebox 8 (maybe earlier), currently use Media Center for Audio/Music and Photos/Videos.
My career in media spans Radio, TV, Print, Photography, Music, Film, Online, Live, Advertising, as producer, director, writer, performer, editor, engineer, executive, owner. An exhausting but amazing ride.

darichman

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Re: Media Center 13 Feature Requests
« Reply #80 on: August 27, 2008, 08:55:21 pm »

I think MusicHawk is right in that much of the power of MC is not available if the tags aren't filled out correctly. This is certainly true for organisational things (view schemes), searches and features like coverart lookup... Maybe we should try looking at something user friendly that guides a new user when they import new media.

At the moment, if anything new is imported, it goes to recently imported and apart from that... who knows? Were the artist and name and album fields filled out correctly? If you have haven't really been paying attention to what you're importing (very easy to do with auto-import) the library can get messy very quickly and it's hard to really make use of things like smart lists or view schemes.

So what about a wizard that pops up with a few simple questions, that any new user could understand, as new files are imported:
What type of media is this? (Is it music? Is it a film? Television?)
Are the basic fields correct?
Would you like to download coverart?

The hierachy of questions would depend on which answers you give, and it could naturally be skipped or turned off if you don't like it.

The first question (What type of media is this) could be linked to a field, and this field could be used to determine which links/view scheme/links options etc are available for files once they're in the library. I have found you can organise anything with two [Type] fields (and two [Genre] fields)... if MC had a built in list of media types a bit more comprehensive than what's in there now, it could simply be a matter of the user clicking "Yes, this is an audio book" or "Yes, this is a home video" and the files would automatically go into predefined view schemes built into the software....

Just a few thoughts...
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vbrook

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Re: Media Center 13 Feature Requests
« Reply #81 on: August 27, 2008, 10:44:27 pm »

With regard to tagging...I think it should be made fun, and part of the listening process.

Imagine: I play a file called "track 1" and immediately recognise it. "Ah, that's Steely Dan, Aja." I open a new tab in MC for the web browser, type in 'Aja', and there's the discography page. I read through it, as the song's playing. Then, I highlight a word on the page that says "Aja", right click Tag As-->Album; right click again, tag as "Name". Wow, that's Wayne Shorter on sax? I select "Wayne Shorter - Sax" on the page, right click as tag as "Musicians". I do the same for Steve Gadd on drums, and the tag is automatically semicolon delimited. I never need to realise that. There's the album, right click "Album Art". MC automatically sizes it.

Next track "Deacon Blues" comes on, and I realise it's the whole album I've got. I select all the tracks, and I drag the "Aja" tags one by one---automatically populated.

No need to overdo the illustration. I do think that tagging can be made easy and fun. Such a system would work well for any sort of music, as well. For example, I could select a new "Tag Group" and be presented with "Composer" as a standard tag, instead of "Artist", for classical music. Adding the individual musicians, of say, a chamber piece, would be easy, since lists are automatically delineated. I just keep happily selecting and adding names to the "Musicians" tag. The complexity (and aggrivation ) of tagging is eliminated.

Indeed, again, the whole process becomes fun, as I'm learning more about the music I'm listening to. You'd have to help point the user to good source pages, but they're easily found. Wikipedia in fact is fairly comprehensive and often includes album art.

Database querying becomes more of a secondary, 'advanced' feature. I bet most people can recognise the music they have, therefore they can tag it themselves, their way.
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benn600

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Re: Media Center 13 Feature Requests
« Reply #82 on: August 27, 2008, 11:42:08 pm »

While I'm truly not desperately asking for any major requests at the moment (due to major recent computer changes) I am very pleased to see continued intense development of MC and look forward to the next version greatly.  I'm also ready to upgrade the second I can.
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rjm

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Re: Media Center 13 Feature Requests
« Reply #83 on: August 28, 2008, 12:08:32 am »

if MC had a built in list of media types a bit more comprehensive than what's in there now, it could simply be a matter of the user clicking "Yes, this is an audio book" or "Yes, this is a home video" and the files would automatically go into predefined view schemes built into the software....

We had an unsuccessful run at trying to bring some more structure to media types a while ago...
http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=43731.0

I solved my need for a complete list of media types by creating a custom field and have designed some really nice views to leverage it. I suspect others have done the same. Unfortunatley we cannot easily share our work because of excessive use of custom fields. A little more structure would make it easier for users to share cool customizations as proposed by MusicHawk.
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ThoBar

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Re: Media Center 13 Feature Requests
« Reply #84 on: August 28, 2008, 12:38:28 am »

I solved my need for a complete list of media types by creating a custom field and have designed some really nice views to leverage it. I suspect others have done the same. Unfortunatley we cannot easily share our work because of excessive use of custom fields. A little more structure would make it easier for users to share cool customizations as proposed by MusicHawk.
Same. The problem then shifts to transferring the items onto an iPod or such, hence my request regarding the user editable fields above.
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darichman

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Re: Media Center 13 Feature Requests
« Reply #85 on: August 28, 2008, 01:10:28 am »

I must have missed that thread at the time :P
If it wasn't time back then, maybe it is now?

I think the key point is that with some very modest changes to MST we could meet the internal needs of MC and provide a standard organizational framework for users.

As it stands today, everyone has to design their own unique organizational method including associated views. This wastes time, does not encourage best practices, and makes it more difficult for users to share libraries.

I agree with what you were saying, and I think it's still the case. If we can work towards some sort of standard framework, even if it's just a default template that the user can delete or customise if they want to, it'll make organising your stuff much easier from the get-go.
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ShayB

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Re: Media Center 13 Feature Requests
« Reply #86 on: August 28, 2008, 10:30:04 am »

4 things that I would like to see in the upcoming version of MC:

1. Images support, I want a more configureable index-page printing on the currently selected images
    (I want to be better able to control how many thumbnails can be printed in an index page).
    I asked for it in the past... perhaps in MC13...

2. when either burning mp3 (data) CDs or syncing songs to mp3 devices,
    I want to be able to select automatic volume leveling based on the files being synced.
    currently, there is no support to the volume-leveling what so ever.

3. tags stored in files. I somtimes come across an mp3 file that was tagged in musicmatch,
    which means that I have fields I don't want and I can't delete.
    I read somewhere that musicmatch uses a more standart aproach to storing tags in files than MC.
    MC can't remove those tags.
    My request is basically 2 things:
     A. maybe in MC13 the tags will use a more standart aproach to storing tags.
     B. MC13 will be able to clean those (mostly) 5 extra fields.

4. Improve the function editors OR be able to use a 3rd party editor to edit them (which implies that MC will read external text files).
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Mr ChriZ

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Re: Media Center 13 Feature Requests
« Reply #87 on: August 28, 2008, 10:50:07 am »

So what about a wizard that pops up with a few simple questions, that any new user could understand, as new files are imported:
What type of media is this? (Is it music? Is it a film? Television?)
Are the basic fields correct?
Would you like to download coverart?

I like this concept.

net23

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Re: Media Center 13 Feature Requests
« Reply #88 on: August 28, 2008, 10:53:10 am »

Picassa/Google Photo upload support please
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stirfry

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Re: Media Center 13 Feature Requests
« Reply #89 on: August 28, 2008, 11:06:33 am »

My only request would be more UPnP support i.e. PS3 / XBox / Wii.
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pank2002

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Re: Media Center 13 Feature Requests
« Reply #90 on: August 28, 2008, 12:57:05 pm »

Some kind of intelligent batch tag editor. The case that I want to be able to handle is when you have taken a lot of photos, but the camera's clock was wrong. It would be nice to add some hours to each pictures.
Currently MC does not write Exif tags, as far as I remember. It would be nice if these tags were written as well as read.
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HTPC4ME

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Re: Media Center 13 Feature Requests
« Reply #91 on: August 28, 2008, 02:21:03 pm »

posts ive made in the past. that others have showed interest in...

Abiltiy to lock split views! so i can eventually enjoy 3 views instead fo the default and don't have to worry about the views moving!

integration with xbox 360

abilty to use Karokee with jriver meaning make our karaokee playlist and hit play and have the abilty to see text. ( a karokee option)

Ability to incorporate moviecollectorz database or a way for jriver to implement movie collectors database into jriver or make something similiar?!

view pdf files in jriver

Burn dvd's \ rip dvd's and incorporate with anydvd or similiar program


backing up of settings so you can import settings to other computers or on same machine after a crash or reformat

mini view incorporated into vista sidebar OR desktop sidebar (instead of using the unstable capture panel)

those have been my wishes :)



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p7389

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Re: Media Center 13 Feature Requests
« Reply #92 on: August 28, 2008, 02:53:41 pm »

Here's a few things I want out of the top of my head:

Let's call it... Steamlined Playlist Editing - but what I really want is simply a secondary function e.g. ctrl + click that can be mapped to whatever you want, in my case, add to playlist since simply clicking in my case is replace playing now.

I want the option to have a separate searchbox in different panes. I only use search in my library, and am constantly annoyed when I happen to have the playing now pane highlighted and thus search there.

"Toasters" or song notification "stickers"... Ah, you know what I mean. Possibly also a Sidebar Gadget and/or that thingy that Windows Media Player has. Preferably skinable so that you can only show a tracker and the artist/track (have media keys on the keyboard, so no need to have a cramped small UI when all I really want is the ability to glance info without doing anything, always there...

The last one is perhaps the one that might "sell more MC".. Maybe. The other ones may be of more limited appeal, but I want it at least..
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runemail

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Re: Media Center 13 Feature Requests
« Reply #93 on: August 28, 2008, 07:28:16 pm »



* Even tighter integration with last.fm. Latly I have been using the Fire.fm firefox add on heavily at work, I would like similar options within MC. So when i play a track from my library I would have the option to let Last.fm stream similar music etc, I would also like to sync my tags to last.fm, and other awesome stuff you could do with Last.fm

* Yadb with movie covers. Lyrics and tag clouds?

* Store all Mc settings in library backups, everyting! so you could restore everything from a backup, not just the library

* The ability to use one library from many computers. I don't care how this is implemented, as long as it works and is easy/fast to use.

* Improved tagging: I have never used MC for basic tagging and renaming my new music, and I would love to be able to do so. But until there is some way of grabbing basic metadata from at least amazon and preferably discogs, amg, rateyourmusic etc. It aint gonna happen. For Video and Picture I also would like to see auto tagging from filemane/path. Metadata from Imdb etc.

* BlueRay support

* Dramatically improved web-UI (all AJAXy and awesomelike) and skins for handheld toys(iPhone) and tools(winmo) ;) this new awsome Web-UI should also be able to stream music directly in the browser.

* even better support for MKV

* tag able bookmarks in all files

And of course the usual speed improvments and improved UI we always get with a new version of MC.

carbo

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Re: Media Center 13 Feature Requests
« Reply #94 on: August 29, 2008, 01:18:28 pm »

I've tried to gather all my ideas, sorted by importance

Here's my list:

  • Relational database
The most important of all. It has been discussed widely on the forum so there's no need for additionnal description :)

  • Link items
If relational database is implemented we need a way to "link" different items.
An idea would be to extend the "locate inside MC" function, that is pretty limited in MC12.
To be able to set the scheme of the results would be great.

  • easily create dummy items not related to file
I'm using MC not only for audio / video / images but as a powerful interface for a database as well.
Right now I have to create "dummy" files to create an entry in MC so I can tag it as I want.
The idea is to be able to create other types than the basic 3 (music, images and video) and to be able to have items in the db not related to files.
With this we can use MC for a lots of tasks. Personal information manager with tasks, notes... is just one example that can be easily done with the custom schemes already in MC.

  • full row scrolling
The idea is to display only full rows in thumbnail mode.
Scrolling will be a lot nicer and faster.
It was described in this topic: http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=46250.0

  • default values for panes
In pane view, I would like to have the ability to define a default value selected when you first display the scheme.
For example in an image view if my first pane is filetype, i want to have by default "jpg" to be selected. That way, my default view display standard files and only in a few cases I can easily display the raw files.
It would be also very useful for the playlist type because "all" doesn't have a real interest in this case.

  • vertical size of the panes to be saved per view scheme disposition
  • ability to tag a file from view mode (image)
It would be really great to display the tag window (or something similar) in full screen display mode. That way, I won't have to exit display to tag a file I'm watching.

  • A tool to detect missing files
Ok that one may already exist and I just don't know about it.
Right now, I found it's pretty difficult to find files that no longer exist on your hard drives. I don't want to have something to automatically remove them, just a way to search and display them.
Missing files can have a use to store information on "offline" data such as CD backup...
   
  • define the stack order for "play stack"
Very small feature request: in the last builds of MC12 you have the ability to play a single stack. But in my understanding, there is no way to easily change the display order.

  • custom jump in video
A small option to define the time the action jump is using.

  • customizable keyboard shortcuts
  • faster explore the disk
In MC 12 explorer the disk explorer is pretty slow (especially with videos). It's probably the only reason why I'm not replacing explorer with MC :)

  • customizable OSD
The big black bar can sometimes be a bother. Especially for videos with subtitles when pausing/unpausing. I'd like to be able to disable it or change its display (position / size)

  • calendar view
related to PIM idea. Files will be grouped by a custom date (modified, taken, imported...)

  • ability to disable thumbnail generation per file
I have some files in my db for which a thumbnail has no interest. A tag like "use bookmark" would be great.

Guillaume
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raldo

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Re: Media Center 13 Feature Requests
« Reply #95 on: August 29, 2008, 02:14:11 pm »

[...]
put all the viewshcemes on the front page and let us choose from there)
[...]

I agree.
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HTPC4ME

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Re: Media Center 13 Feature Requests
« Reply #96 on: August 29, 2008, 02:19:02 pm »

i agree too.

i miss the ability to have all view schemes the same throughout jriver. and dislike th ethe cistomize same for all parent views. be nice to just adjust them all at once!
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raldo

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Re: Media Center 13 Feature Requests
« Reply #97 on: August 29, 2008, 02:49:52 pm »

I'd like to see some kind of macro/script feature which can be invoked by iconic buttons, keyboard shortcuts, or customized remote commands.

This script feature should have access to the current selection (also in theater view!), much like the smartlist or file filter syntax. There should also be an "API" available, for example towards web pages internally in mc.

Here's an example of what I'd like to do:
o Add an Information button to my remote.
o When media type is video, do a search in IMDB for this video
o Open the results on the right side in Theater view, or in the right pane in std view.
o For music, do the same thing, but search in Allmusic instead.
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Tommy

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Re: Media Center 13 Feature Requests
« Reply #98 on: August 29, 2008, 04:55:33 pm »

A GUI for the "Mix" playlist command  :)

http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=47990.0
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gappie

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Re: Media Center 13 Feature Requests
« Reply #99 on: August 29, 2008, 05:32:11 pm »

yeah... i know an other one. make datatype=list in a calculated field etc behave the same as a list, with nesting.  :)
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