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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Topic: Media Center 13 Feature Requests (Read 102873 times)