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[tommyd]

I'm trying to free myself from iTunes. MC12 looks good but it lacks some interface features I frequently use

1. Return to current playlist
2. Play/Pause by spacebar
3. show track in other playlists
4. Open playlists in separate  windows
5. recently used playlist on top of the "Send to" context menu

--t

[JimH]

Welcome to Interact.

1.  Playing now shows what is playing.  Right click options may also help.
2.  Ctrl-P pauses and resumes.
3.  Tag info has a playlist field.  You may have to change the fields displayed by clicking on the tiny tools icon in the Tag window.
4.  No can do.
5.  It appears on the list of most recently used functions.  Should be right at the top when you right click on a track.

[richard.e.morton]

and you can change the number of last used functions, so even if it is not the last thing you did it can still be near the top of the last used functions

R

[tommyd]

Welcome to Interact.

1.  Playing now shows what is playing.  Right click options may also help.

Not really useful for me. Sometimes I'm playing music on some public event, playlist is about 150 songs long and I need make some changes. When I'm using iTunes I can switch to library, find what i need, open current playlist in new window and put found song in right place on current playlist. 

2.  Ctrl-P pauses and resumes.

No match. Pressing spacebar is a lot more convenient.

3.  Tag info has a playlist field.  You may have to change the fields displayed by clicking on the tiny tools icon in the Tag window.

Again in iTunes I can right click on song and from context menu select "show in playlist", select playlist and jump to it.

4.  No can do.

I know. And "edit in action window" is a poor substitute.

Currently I use iTunes because of its interface, library and playlist management. But it sucks in compatibility (portables), sound quality, speed, etc., but its ease of use and convenient interface really helps during live event.

[richard.e.morton]

4. Open playlists in separate  windows
--t

how about in different tabs?
 I often would like to drill in to an album (in album view), and see a listing of tracks but be able to return to this view. ("view album track listing in new tab" type functionality

Rich

[Osho]

No match. Pressing spacebar is a lot more convenient.

I think this may be possible with MCC commands - any gurus with these commands feel like helping out?

Osho

[tommyd]

how about in different tabs?
 I often would like to drill in to an album (in album view), and see a listing of tracks but be able to return to this view. ("view album track listing in new tab" type functionality

Tabs are only partial solution. I like iTunes' windows because its easier to drag & drop between them.
When I compose playlist for evening dance party (I'm some kind of DJ-ing on Argentine Tango events) I can have window with playlist and other window with main library view. Then I can drag tracks and sequences of tracks to playlist window. Sometimes I do this "live", so it is very important not to break anything and interrupt played music


Other thing.
I rather don't like Playng Now/Now Playing concept.

[MrHaugen]

Tabs are only partial solution. I like iTunes' windows because its easier to drag & drop between them.
When I compose playlist for evening dance party (I'm some kind of DJ-ing on Argentine Tango events) I can have window with playlist and other window with main library view. Then I can drag tracks and sequences of tracks to playlist window. Sometimes I do this "live", so it is very important not to break anything and interrupt played music


Other thing.
I rather don't like Playng Now/Now Playing concept.

Seems like you're better of with iTunes then...

No, really. Most of the things you point out, you can do.
I belive your biggest problem is that you have used MC for such a short time that you have not discovered the possibilities yet. Offcourse there is a transition from iTunes. And that's mostly a good thing.

Here's my view:
1. Select view settings and choose 2 columns (or more). Then you can have playlist/library in one window and playing now in another. You can easily drag and drop.
2. You can also open the playlist in the Action Window and drag and drop files there as you find them i the library.
3. Playing now is sort of a playlist. You allways know where the song is playing. I think it's really good when you get used to it.

If you're a DJ, why do you need to pause/play alot anyway? Is'nt the whole point having to a smooth transition between songs and not any dead silence?

PS. Just downloaded iTunes to try it out. It's been two years since the last time, and I do understand why I switched.
I'm so glad I got to know J River Media Center. It's so many steps ahead

[tommyd]

Seems like you're better of with iTunes then...

No, really. Most of the things you point out, you can do.

  Well. I am.

I belive your biggest problem is that you have used MC for such a short time that you have not discovered the possibilities yet. Offcourse there is a transition from iTunes. And that's mostly a good thing.

Here's my view:
1. Select view settings and choose 2 columns (or more). Then you can have playlist/library in one window and playing now in another. You can easily drag and drop.

This quite is good idea. Better than:

2. You can also open the playlist in the Action Window and drag and drop files there as you find them i the library.

Action window is OK for short playlist or simple adding.

3. Playing now is sort of a playlist. You allways know where the song is playing. I think it's really good when you get used to it.

I was using MediaMonkey for some time, it uses Playing now concept too. I just don't like it.

If you're a DJ, why do you need to pause/play alot anyway? Is'nt the whole point having to a smooth transition between songs and not any dead silence?

I told I'm DJ-ing on Argentine tango events which are totally different from usual dace parties. Play/pause is useful i case of some performances or announcements.

On the other hand using spacebar or ctrl-p for play pause is only interface design decision and I don't  see any reason why this function couldn't be assigned to spacebar (which AFAIK isn't usedin MC) or whatever configurable.   

PS. Just downloaded iTunes to try it out. It's been two years since the last time, and I do understand why I switched. I'm so glad I got to know J River Media Center. It's so many steps ahead

I can understand. Every new version of iTunes is worse than previous. This is one of things that made me switch to MC. In real life I'm IT Specialist and I have to use and learn a lot of various application, so using more or less complicated interfaces isn't nothing new for me but I have well defined list of interface  design features I like and don't like.


One another thing. MediaMonkey has scripting interface, You can bind VB scripts to various events and even add some funcionality. It would be nice feature for next version of MC

[benn600]

You like iTunes because you're used to doing things the way it does.  I had some difficulty switching to MC as well but am now a long time MC user (15 months now) and I have no more issues.  I have completely forgotten about the dreaded iTunes (yuck).  It really is horrible.  Slow, ickie, ugly, unpowerful, weak, annoying, itunes music store (nuff' said)...etc.  It really is a piece of junk.  Even its users say that!!! lol.  There was a post on Digg recently saying how they need to add these basic features (like auto-import) and yet people live with it without searching around.

I also tried Media Monkey for a short while long time ago (15 months ago when I was looking for ALT to iTunes) and it was horrible as well.  I saw tons of reasons to not like it.  It's worse than iTunes in some way where as MC isn't really, as far as I care anyway.

Addition: I was also confused by Playing Now back then.  I liked how iTunes didn't have it.  Now you can disable playing now (I think).  It's in the Advanced > Features settings to just uncheck Playing Now so you don't see it.  I don't use it too often but it's good if you need to find songs you played recently, etc.  It's nice because it gives you the ability to Add as next to play.

[steveklein]

the real interface design overhaul, imo, has to do with the pvr. it's basicall just thrown in there and isn't very pretty. it'd be great if the pvr system within MC12 worked like a normal DVR (like TiVo).

...that, or be even more progressive and eliminate the PVR part and instead implement some way to get the media we desire (ie, 1 hour recording of American Idol) without actually recording it. This is probably several years, maybe a decade, away from being a reality unfortunately.

[JimH]

...that, or be even more progressive and eliminate the PVR part and instead implement some way to get the media we desire (ie, 1 hour recording of American Idol) without actually recording it. This is probably several years, maybe a decade, away from being a reality unfortunately.

It's possible now.  We've done it. 

The rights are the problem.

[benn600]

If you think about it, they could (and Jim says they did).  Basically, take all Media Center users.  If there was a MC system devoted to each channel, it could record each and every program and post it to a big server.  Then, users could download the shows they want!  You'd only need one tuner for each channel vs. one tuner per user (lots more!)

Can't there be a special underground MC that is only for authorized users (lol)....common, everyday users....with all these features.