Topic: [Ann] AlbumView 2.0.7.1 Available (Read 12660 times)

RhinoBanga · « **on:** May 12, 2003, 08:44:02 am »

It can be downloaded here:

http://www.musicex.com/cgi-bin/downloads/mcplugins.pl?type=10&start=0&end=10&page=1

Here's what's new since 2.0.7.0:

1) Added option to specify if you want single line group tabs.
2) Added multiple selection support in the "Album Details/Playing Now" right-click menu.
3) Added transposed artist & album as columns that can be shown in icon text, sorted, etc.
4) Removed grouping options "Use album/artist settings" since unnecessary as added transposed artist/album column.
5) Reset trial licensing now that MC9 has gone production.
6) Fixed issue with sorting of "all" grouping entries.
7) Fixed Issue where tab positions were not being saved

This version works for both MediaCentre and MediaJukebox.

iCamp · « **Reply #1 on:** May 12, 2003, 01:40:17 pm »

RhinoBanga,

I was just coming here to post a problem I had with the last version -only to discover a new version!

I'm downloading the new one now so hopefully my problem will be gone but I guess I'll tell you what happend with the last version.

I downloaded it yesterday, it installed fine and ran perfectly.
I went to bed (I'm sure that's key to the story).
I woke up this morning and tried to open MediaCenter. I got the following Runtime error (and MC failed to open):

Quote

Runtime Error!

Program: c:\Media Players\MediaCenter\Media Jukebox.exe

This application has requested the Runtime to terminate it in an unusual way.
Please contact the application's support team for more information.

I tried a restart but got the same error.
The only way I got rid of the error was by uninstalling AlbumView.

Anyway, I'll report back if the new version behaves badly.

Thanks!

Bartabedian · « **Reply #2 on:** May 13, 2003, 06:37:49 am »

Thanks, man...awesome interface, I use it 95% of the time I'm in MC, as "albumcentric" describes me well

.

OT - I was just reading High-Fidelity (you ever read it?) the guy just reminds me of you for some reason. I guess it's the English\Albumcentric world he lives in. He seems like the kinda guy who would absolutely love AV if he were to ever accept the digital age of music.

Anyway, thanks again..the multiple file thing in PN is great, and the other little improvements are also very useful.

WP

RhinoBanga · « **Reply #3 on:** May 13, 2003, 06:41:18 am »

Glad you like the new version.

I have never heard of High-Fidelity ... what is it?

Bartabedian · « **Reply #4 on:** May 13, 2003, 09:55:59 am »

It's a book by Nick Hornby...they made it into a movie a couple of years ago starring John Cusack and Jack Black (from Tenacious D). The movie was Americanized for the audiences here in the States cause I'm sure the English thing was considered "not marketable enough".

Very funny movie, less funny but much deeper book. He owns a record shop (nothing but vinyl) and he's obsessed with music, it's jolting memories, it's meaning, it's effect on relationships, etc. Check it out. He also wrote About A Boy, which they also made a movie as well, but I never read the book or saw the movie (Hugh Grant, not my thing).

WP

Bartabedian · « **Reply #5 on:** May 20, 2003, 06:59:04 am »

OK, now that I am spending all my time in MC in AV, I've really gotten into the nitty gritty of it's operation (plus I finally have all 4000+ albums with complete art! Very nice indeed!)

The flip side of this is I'm seeing all the little things I'd love to have added, like a "save as" function for the AV2 files. After recently trying to update some info (making a bunch of albums "new today") it caused another AVtoMediacore crash. Don't really know why, but it made the current AV database corrupt, so I had to build a new one from scratch. If I had a way of "saving as", I could "save as" the current db, then make changes. If it crashes, I have the "save as" as a backup.

Any chance this could be implemented?

Thanks Rhino,

I just enjoy AV the more and more I use it.

WP

RhinoBanga · « **Reply #6 on:** May 20, 2003, 08:18:52 am »

No need for "Save As" as AV has the option to backup the database prior to making any changes.

Go to options/general and look at the last entry.

The database will be saved with the .bak extension, so:

c:\Database.av2

Will be saved as:

c:\Database.av2.bak

Bartabedian · « **Reply #7 on:** May 20, 2003, 08:52:38 am »

Ah! Excellent, so you're ahead of me on that one!

You're a sly one, Rhino!

WP

Bartabedian · « **Reply #8 on:** May 21, 2003, 12:01:02 pm »

I cannot add a date to any entry. As soon as I do, boom, mediacore crash and subsequent corrupt av2 database file, every time. I know it used to work, but not anymore. Anybody got an idea on this one?

Thanks,

WP

RhinoBanga · « **Reply #9 on:** May 21, 2003, 01:32:58 pm »

Yes,

It's a bug and will be fixed in 2.0.7.2.

Can't see how it can corrupt your DB though as the error occurs after saving .

Bartabedian · « **Reply #10 on:** May 22, 2003, 05:02:17 am »

After the crash, reopening MC results in immediate mediacore crash, as it tries to load the AV db. I have been using backups, so I didn't lose anything, but it does somehow corrupt the current db file everytime.

Thanks for the confirmation on the bug, nbd.

WP

RhinoBanga · « **Reply #11 on:** May 22, 2003, 08:32:59 am »

I think the corruption is probably caching.

Even though the program has closed the file it's probably waiting to be flushed to disk.

Bartabedian · « **Reply #12 on:** May 23, 2003, 07:00:21 am »

So how does AV make the distinction between (Multiple Artists) and (Various)?

I can see that (Various) shows up as compilations in AV, but (Multiple Artists) does not, and after much contemplation and trials I just cannot figure out it's reasoning for certain designations.

Also, it seems that for exclusion listings (like Greatest Hits, et al) it uses one cover art for all on a new db build with "preserve settings" checked. If unchecked, the art is correct.

Thanks,

WP

RhinoBanga · « **Reply #13 on:** May 23, 2003, 10:52:38 am »

I'm sorry but I don't understand what you mean:

Quote

I can see that (Various) shows up as compilations in AV, but (Multiple Artists) does not, and after much contemplation and trials I just cannot figure out it's reasoning for certain designations

An album is classed as as a compilation if it has more than one artist.

Can you be more specific in your question.

Quote

Also, it seems that for exclusion listings (like Greatest Hits, et al) it uses one cover art for all on a new db build with "preserve settings" checked. If unchecked, the art is correct.

When preserve settings is used the current db's albums list is stored away. When the new db is created it looks it up in the existing list and copies over the settings. When looking up in the list it uses the album name and type as the unique identifier. I suppose it should use the artist too but that is a lot of work since I don't store off the artists name.

Would this explain what you are seeing?

Bartabedian · « **Reply #14 on:** May 23, 2003, 11:06:34 am »

Yes, let me be more specfic:

I have a few hundred compilation albums, soundtracks, etc. Only about 35 show up in AV as comps, and they are listed in AV as (Various). The other 4 to 500 comps I have all show up in AV as (Multiple Artists) but in the comp grouping, they show up as non-comps.

All of my comps are setup the same way. In the tags, each artist is listed in the artist field and the album in the album field, creating a compilation album. Each album is in it's own directory. But they, seemingly, randomly decide whether to be a comp or not when in AV.

nila · « **Reply #15 on:** May 24, 2003, 04:04:01 am »

Hey Rhino

Any sign of the MC9 SDK?
Just wondering if there was any chance of AV2 storing it's settings to the actual files.

This would integrate it sooo much tighter with MC it'd be awesome.

I could set an album rating in AV and have it save it to a field called : AlbumRating then do searches from within MC for albums with that rating etc.

I'd love it

That tight integration would make it soo much more powerful

RhinoBanga · « **Reply #16 on:** June 08, 2003, 07:49:11 am »

Nila,

I am looking at the MC9 SDK now.

But I am in a bit of a quandry:

1) Should I create an AV V3 that uses all of MC's album decision making/artwork generation and just concentrates purely on the display/presentation of the data with the addition of the rating/last played/new etc.

2) Create a stand alone .EXE that talks to MC that does what AV currently does (which gets round a lot of the limitations of being a plugin).

3) Convert the current AV to use MC's database.

I haven't decided but my current order of preference is 1, 2 then 3.

nila · « **Reply #17 on:** June 26, 2003, 02:16:41 am »

Hey Rhino

No news from you in a while and haven't seen any posts from you in ages.

What you up to? Whats new

Any plans on what ur doing next??

I'm not too sure what u mean by 3 but I'd quite like it if u could use MC's library/db so that all the info in MC and AV was always syncronised.

Get AV to update a field in MC called: Album Rating and it'd instantly be the same in both AV and MC. If I changed it in MC it'd instantly be available in AV as the new rating etc.

U give far more/better options for customising it than MC does. They're catching up abit with the whole album idea in MC (I'm guessing they got the idea off of u in the first place) but they'll always be behind as they just dont have enough options to customise it and to create rules etc like u let us do for finding cover art/seperating albums etc.

I'd LOVE the AV customisability combined with dynamically using the MC info so that it seemed a lot tighter integrated.

Anyway, lemme know what's up. U've gone real quiet these days

RhinoBanga · « **Reply #18 on:** June 26, 2003, 04:16:34 am »

I'm doing #2 with a twist

nila · « **Reply #19 on:** June 27, 2003, 12:17:47 am »

hmm,

Sounds intriging, dont forget, as always - I'll beta test it

RhinoBanga · « **Reply #20 on:** June 27, 2003, 05:06:31 am »

I doubt I will have anything for a while as the project involves a lot of components (which I have just finished writing the base ones) ... plus it will have limited appeal (you'll know what I mean when you see it).

But I'll use it and it's going to be a great learning experience if nothing else.

Bartabedian · « **Reply #21 on:** June 27, 2003, 06:41:21 am »

Limited appeal huh, could it be that you have chosen...

Quote

2) Create a stand alone .EXE that talks to MC that does what AV currently does (which gets round a lot of the limitations of being a plugin).

A front end that utilizes MC's DB? That would be my vote.

RhinoBanga · « **Reply #22 on:** June 27, 2003, 07:19:21 am »

Quote

A front end that utilizes MC's DB? That would be my vote.

Correct ... but it's not my front end.

Now you should be able to guess it from that.

nila · « **Reply #23 on:** June 28, 2003, 03:43:18 pm »

I'm either tired or stupid

Any clues as to who's front end it is??

If u want to build a stand alone app that reads MC's database - any web version of this would be VERY nice as the web is the perfect way to communicate with programs either locally, on the server or over the internet and a decent gui built for this would be great - even if a java app

If it's not web based then never mind

RhinoBanga · « **Reply #24 on:** June 28, 2003, 10:36:26 pm »

The front end is Windows/Internet Explorer and it's sockets based so it will communicate to any networked pc.

Bartabedian · « **Reply #25 on:** June 29, 2003, 06:13:39 am »

That sounds very intriguing.

I'm up for testing when you get there.

WP

Ilmar · « **Reply #26 on:** June 29, 2003, 03:14:17 pm »

Hi Rhino

Glad to hear you are planning new things, but please remember us poor souls who use MJ8 still.

I did try MC when it was released, (and intended to pay for a V9 license after the trial), but it was not working for me, with more minuses than pluses. ?

I am still available to test stuff when needed, but on MJ8 mate!

Ilmar

nila · « **Reply #27 on:** July 01, 2003, 01:10:07 am »

Very interesting

Sounds cool to me, cant wait to try it.

Ilmar · « **Reply #28 on:** September 14, 2003, 06:13:40 am »

Rhino

Have not heard anything of AlbumView recently.

How is the project going?

Ilmar

RhinoBanga · « **Reply #29 on:** September 15, 2003, 11:36:53 pm »

Hi Ilmar,

Not a lot is happening as I am not using MC much these days.

Ilmar · « **Reply #30 on:** September 16, 2003, 11:58:58 am »

Rhino

Just gotta ask.. Are you using something else ?

or have you foresworn music forever?

Ilmar

?

RhinoBanga · « **Reply #31 on:** September 17, 2003, 05:16:31 am »

I'm using Media Player until J River fix the slowdowns.

Matt · « **Reply #32 on:** September 17, 2003, 05:35:28 am »

The better part of last week was spent speeding things up. Now it's crazy fast for us with even over 100,000 files. So we need more help isolating what's slow for you. If you could, try:

views with / without panes
details vs thumbnails
different view schemes
different visible columns
different action window pages
a new library with import
any thing else you can think of...

Thanks for any help. (start a new thread to reply if you don't mind)

RhinoBanga · « **Reply #33 on:** September 17, 2003, 07:34:54 am »

Matt,

I told you where it was ... in between updating the album pane and the displaying of the thumbnails.

I also mentioned what you should do (add in timings that get written out to a file) to help track this down but I guess you missed that.

KingSparta · « **Reply #34 on:** September 17, 2003, 07:36:34 am »

Matt It is faster, Thanks

RhinoBanga · « **Reply #35 on:** September 17, 2003, 09:08:38 am »

Maybe for you.

I have just upgraded to 9.1.252 and there is still a noticible pause (around 1 second) between populating the album pane and the album thumbnails.

This is on a 2.73ghz P4 ... on a 1.6ghz it's even slower.

Doof · « **Reply #36 on:** September 17, 2003, 02:29:25 pm »

A whole second?

Damn... that is slow...

RhinoBanga · « **Reply #37 on:** September 17, 2003, 09:58:15 pm »

Quote

A whole second?

**... that is slow...

Isn't it nice to see mods acting in a constructive and professional manner

Anyway if you had read my message properly I said on the 1.6ghz it's slower ... and it's about 2 seconds compared to previous builds where it was instant.

And you may not think it's slow but it is when you are browsing thru your albums to find something you fancy listening too or when you are drilling down in the search box.

Doof · « **Reply #38 on:** September 18, 2003, 06:28:25 am »

Quote

Isn't it nice to see mods acting in a constructive and professional manner

When JRiver begins paying me to be professional, I'll be professional. Until, my only responsibility is to insure that people don't flame. Other than that, I'm just a regular user like you.

Sorry you don't have a sense of humor.

JimH · « **Reply #39 on:** September 18, 2003, 06:37:04 am »

Gentlemen,
Neutral corners, please. Deep breath. Count to a billion.

Rhino,
We take it seriously, but you may have a "special" case. We'll try to take a closer look.

Try disabling _all_ plugins.

But in the meantime, lighten up. Doof was kidding you.

Doof,
The check is in the mail.

Jim

Matt · « **Reply #40 on:** September 18, 2003, 06:44:02 am »

Rhino, making MC fast is a priority. We need some help to fix your problem though. Please start a thread and try to be patient with us.

I've read your posts but still don't completely understand where to look. Knowing which of those items I listed makes a difference would help.

The file list doesn't update until about 1 second after you stop making selection changes in the panes. Could that be the lag?

Adding timing outputs isn't plausible until we whittle down the bottleneck better. Too much code gets traversed.

Thanks for any help and sorry for the hassles.

INTERACT FORUM

Author Topic: [Ann] AlbumView 2.0.7.1 Available (Read 12660 times)

nila

nila

nila

nila

nila