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[avid]

Hi

There are a couple of tree navigation "features" I would switch off in MC15 if the options were available. Both affect the predictability and usability when using my (in development) iPhone WebRemote interface. They probably also make sense in Theater view as well, but I don't plan to use that.

1) I have asked for this before, but I would like the option to turn off iPod-like skipping of levels in tree navigation. E.g. when there is only one album by an artist, I would still like to see that album (by name) and have the option to play the whole album. I have a "use case" for this in another posting, which I can repeat in this thread if you want.

2) I thought there already was a way to suppress the "All Albums" / "All Artists" at the top of each multi-item tree node. But I can't find it. Could this be an option?

Thanks

Brian

[avid]

Here's a little "story" to illustrate the problems I am talking about.

I want to listen to an album by Acoustic Mania. I know I have at least one but can't remember any title(s). I always listen to whole albums.

So I get out my new iPhone WebRemote interface and select Library



As I don't know the title, I select by Artist.



"Acoustic Mania" starts with "A" so I select "A".



First problem: Under what circumstances would I ever want to play all tracks by all (34) artists whose name starts with "A". Can I somehow lose the "All Artists"?

Moving on I select "Acoustic Mania".



Second problem: But I don't see the album(s) to let me select the complete album to play. I see the individual tracks instead. At that point I realize that I must only have one album by Acoustic Mania. And MC in its iPod-like wisdom has chosen to skip the tree navigation display of that single item. But I really do want to see albums - even when there is only a single album by that artist.

So I have to back up to the "A" list and play all tracks by Acoustic Mania. And I still don't know what the album is called.



Finally the album starts to play.



And (at last) I can see the album is called "Talking Hands"

Can you see the problems I am trying to solve?

Thanks

Brian

[BillT]

Yes, the unremovable "All whatever" group has annoyed me for some time.

And the issue of suddenly seeing all files in an album if there is only one album in that category is another small annoyance, made worse because I can't find a way to go back on the ipodtouch using webremote. I have to go back to Library and navigate all the way down again, remembering to stop at the right place if I want to play all the tracks.

I see that you've added a back button to your web page, I must get round to doing that, although it's probably beyond me!

(Apart from that, Webremote on the ipod works really well.)

[avid]

I see that you've added a back button to your web page, ...

This problem is exactly the reason that I had to add a "Back" button.

Brian

[MusicHawk]

Suggestion, as done in Lotus Notes (which long-ago came up with interesting methods, so to me is a fountain of ideas for MC):

Assumption: MC needs certain structural elements -- All Artists, for instance -- so these aren't going to be removed from the architecture. But, users find that some elements are useful in one MC context/platform but not others -- PC, Web, phone.

So, how about the ability to HIDE/SHOW an element per platform? Lotus Notes allows a view or view level/sub-view or view column or form or even field to be hidden from the PC client and/or the Web and/or a mobile device (via a check box or expression that can determine the client/platform or context).

Lotus Notes even allows "duplicate" UI elements (database fields and expression-based text) if each is platform-specific, which allows for applying layout, formatting and behavior appropriate to each client.

Maybe there's an idea here...

[avid]

Bumping this, to keep the topic alive.

Both options are quite important to the usablity and predictability of my iPhone WebRemote implementation.

Also, the earlier argument about "that's how iPod does it" is wrong for two reasons:
1) The latest (iOS4) iPod software displays the Artist and Album data at the head of the list of tracks. In WebRemote, this information is not shown.
2) Clicking on a track plays all listed tracks starting at the one selected - i.e. plays the whole album, which is what I am trying to achieve.

Is there a strong reason why making these two options could not be made available?

Thanks

Brian