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[Marra]

As a long time user and supporter of this great software (8 years?? version 6/7 ?) and an avid spectator on this forum (although seldom contributor) I am relectant to post a negative comment here. I have thought long and hard about the fact that new features are never fully developed to their potential.
New features are continually added before the last feature has been implemented to the satisfaction of a lot of commentators on this forum. The ones that stand out (yes the ones I am interested in too) are 3D views and more recently artist images. The forum is littered with great suggestions to take these features further.

Marra

[Matt]

You're right, the list of good ideas is long.

Users have a lot of sway in determining what ideas we focus on, but ultimately we pick our own priorities.  Sometimes you'll agree and sometimes you won't.

If there's something important to you, posting in a detailed and friendly manner about that issue would be best.

[Marra]

Are these features going to be developed further? Other users, as well as myself,  have spoken elsewhere. The list of requests only grows if new features are introduced without following up "old" features. These requests are there already in writing for all to read.  This is meant in a friendly manner and I only have praise for this software and development but ocassionally I see your hard work's potential lost.

Marra

[JimH]

I'm sorry but it isn't clear what you want.

[imugli]

Just on this, I think a lot of the time it's a case of we as customers don't always know what JR are working towards in the background.

I would prefer they spend more time improving the TV function (Matrix guide as opposed to list, remote record scheduling) and have mentioned these a couple of times, however the focus of late seems to have been on DLNA functionality.

Now at first I didn't understand why but (as I've said) after using MC now on a few PCs to control other "Zones" and using Gizmo, I'm a fan and the TV stuff can wait... With the advent of LAN connected TVs etc, this is obviously going to determine a lot more market than playing with the TV functionality...

At the end of the day, JR are better at implementing customer ideas than most, if not all, commercial software providers but they need to make a dollar too. That sometimes means focussing on the things that have the greatest potential to increase sales over customer suggestions...

[kensn]

I think that developement needs are aimed at keeping up with technology, and the requests of many users wanting a specific functionality.

I have seen great efforts to resolve problems with even single users on specific problems with even more specific hardware. (Onkyo playback being one)

I also agree with Marra that some items seem to be put in and then forgot about, but could use a bit of refinement. As the Artist Images go, I posted this after it was availible in a build:

Artist image in Theater View only works for me if there is no grouping of the artists first. It would display if just artist was selected, but if artist grouping of 1 and then artist was displayed there was no artist image. Is this by design or still a work in progress? great job by the way... I look forward to every update....

I did not recieve a response. I am a fairly new user, I read the forum daily looking for tib-bits of info to get the most out of the software and even try to help on simple things. It might be nice to maybe show a punch list of what is being worked on or developed, if it didn't cause to much work, or give away any secrets.....

ken

[MrHaugen]

I do agree with Marra. MC has a lot going, and new features are developed all the time and it's mostly based on user feedback. Which is great. I love the App, and I don't want to focus on the bad sides, as there is not many of them! But this is kind of a big underlaying and repetitive problem in my opinion. Lots of development projects is stopped half way through, leaving you with a average to good impression (of each feature), but seldom more. Half done might be an exaggeration, but things tend to be put back in the stable-and-working-well-enough-for-now pile a bit to quickly.

I can mention several things that is not complete in my opinion: Theater View, Artist image, Automatic Theater View slide show, Themes, Library Server, Library Server Sync, Library Settings backup, Relation Fields, Gizmo etc. For all of this things, there have been many suggestions on how to make each and one of them complete. And we'll see this suggestion popping up again and again in the future

I think that what me and others are humbly suggesting, is to slow down the pace you start new projects. And rather spend a bit more time on each one, to make them wow features, rather than decent/good ones.

[olinbg]

Maybe a poll tool of some kind (Votebox, internal dropbox feature voting comes to mind) could help out everyone.

Feature ideas are submitted, forum community votes them up (maybe by category), and it gives the developers an easy place to look for possible areas to focus on.  Just a thought.

[JimH]

Here's how we collect ideas at JRiver.

1.  We read most of what you have to say on the forum.  I try to read it all.

2.  We also read feedback replies from our e-mails.

3.  We watch how the "normal" people in our lives use the program.

4.  We occasionally have ideas of our own.

Then we swish it around like mouth wash and spit some of it out.  A lot of it is truly noise.

Almost every day we talk about our priorities.  

Crashes have priority over everything else.  Common, obvious bugs are next.  Poorly documented problems are last.  Many problems are related to hardware, drivers, or other software.  Here's a thread with three pages of these Weird Problems.

When we think we've got it under control, we choose between adding new features or improving old ones.  We mix this up a lot so that we're always doing some of both.

Now, if you think your request is being ignored, there are a couple of possibilities:

1.  We like it but haven't had time yet.

2.  We don't like it but don't want to tell you that.

3.  We didn't read it.

You can:
1.  Bump your post and restate it more carefully.  

2.  Live with it.

3.  Use your other favorite program until we change our minds.

Those people who are knowledgeable and helpful to others often make careful, simple requests that are often implemented.  Those who make a lot of requests but rarely help others will probably not get their wishes fulfilled.

The bottom line is this.  We listen to everyone, we discuss with many, but in the end, we work on our own list.  Maybe it will give you some satisfaction to know that even we don't always agree on what the list is.

As imugli said above, this is a business.  We try to do a good job for all our customers.  It isn't possible to serve just a few.  I don't mean to say that we don't care about your ideas.  It's just that we view our market as larger than Interact.

Let's see now... who haven't I offended.  Hmmmm....

[221bBS]

Here's how we collect ideas at JRiver.

1.  We read most of what you have to say on the forum.  I try to read it all.

2.  We also read feedback replies from our e-mails.

3.  We watch how the "normal" people in our lives use the program.

4.  We occasionally have ideas of our own.

Then we swish it around like mouth wash and spit some of it out.  A lot of it is truly noise.

Almost every day we talk about our priorities.  

Crashes have priority over everything else.  Common, obvious bugs are next.  Poorly documented problems are last.

When we think we've got it under control, we choose between adding new features or improving old ones.  We mix this up a lot so that we're always doing some of both.

Now, if you think your request is being ignored, there are a couple of possibilities:

1.  We like it but haven't had time yet.

2.  We don't like it but don't want to tell you that.

3.  We didn't read it.

You can:
1.  Bump your post and restate it more carefully.  

2.  Live with it.

3.  Use your other favorite program until we change our minds.

Those people who are knowledgeable and helpful to others often make careful, simple requests that are often implemented.  Those who make a lot of requests but rarely help others will probably not get their wishes fulfilled.

The bottom line is this.  We listen to everyone, we discuss with many, but in the end, we work on our own list.  Maybe it will give you some satisfaction to know that even we don't always agree on what the list is.

As imugli said above, this is a business.  We try to do a good job for all our customers.  It isn't possible to serve just a few.  I don't mean to say that we don't care about your ideas.  It's just that we view our market as larger than Interact.

Let's see now... who haven't I offended.  Hmmmm....

I think you should stickie this to the board.

[JimH]

Roadmap split

[benn600]

If I were to respond to this, I think that MC is a lot like a cutting edge piece of software.  It always is reaching for what could be done, and at times what can be done actually gets accomplished.  In many cases, we gets tastes of how great things could be.  It's probably as simple as the endless development release schedule.  They could switch to a new version every 3-6 months and flesh everything out more fully, or get new ideas out there right away.

Personally, I just look at how great everything is now, but still cross my fingers that the issues I personally have will get better or resolved in future versions.  Another big problem for me is even knowing what MC is capable of.  There is so much!  For me, it's about fine tuning MC to be tame and simple for the "normal" people who I have using it too.  Of course I want simplicity, too.

Combing through the power of MC and cleaning everything up to be exactly how I want everything (views, features enabled, etc.) and that is a big chore.  Also, defining the big picture media storage, server base, etc.  MC has been getting a lot better in this regard, although I still see a lot of potential for improvements that I hope to see one day.  Until then, I just see that improvements are made often enough for me to get re-excited about my media library frequently.  That's what this is all about.

[JustinChase]

Here's how we collect ideas at JRiver.

1.  We read most of what you have to say on the forum.  I try to read it all.

I've noticed this, and I'm honestly impressed that you have time to do anything else around there.  this still amazes me!

Crashes have priority over everything else.  Common, obvious bugs are next.  Poorly documented problems are last.

When we think we've got it under control, we choose between adding new features or improving old ones.  We mix this up a lot so that we're always doing some of both.

Seems perfectly reasonable to me.

Now, if you think your request is being ignored, there are a couple of possibilities:

2.  We don't like it but don't want to tell you that.

Let's see now... who haven't I offended.  Hmmmm....

haha, I knew it!!  I'm still not offended though

I'm obviously not going to change your mind, but if I could throw this out there.

Maybe you could dedicate a week (or some fixed period of time) to each new feature, before moving on to another.  tell us what you're focused on, we'll give feedback towards that, and you can try to refine/polish as much as possible in that time, then move on to something else.

I agree with the general sentiment of this thread, that there are so many not-yet-complete features that a little bit more development time could make into really outstanding features.

TV is one that comes to mind.  yeah, it "works", but it's still too cumbersome to be a daily use item.  This means that I don't use it, so I don't have any current feedback about it, which likely tells you that all is well.  if we knew you were focused on improving this, you'd likely get LOTS of useful feedback, and could make this into a GREAT feature.

Anyway, I'll never be offended if you tell me you don't like my ideas, at least I know you've considered them, and that's really all I can ask of you.

Thanks, and keep up the great work

[MrHaugen]

I'm obviously not going to change your mind, but if I could throw this out there.

Maybe you could dedicate a week (or some fixed period of time) to each new feature, before moving on to another.  tell us what you're focused on, we'll give feedback towards that, and you can try to refine/polish as much as possible in that time, then move on to something else.

I agree with the general sentiment of this thread, that there are so many not-yet-complete features that a little bit more development time could make into really outstanding features.

That's what I'm thinking of as well. It would be very good if you would tell us what you want to work on, and take the time to look at feedback, and to do as much out of your own and our ideas as possible, within a reasonable time frame. You have been good at this lately. Telling the users your focus areas of that time, and to work with the users and listening to suggestions. At least with the beta team. Only problem is that sometimes the features have so much more potential, and other projects is taking it's place before it's close to reaching its full potential.

I'm afraid I sound ungrateful or anything. That is not my intent at all. Me and others only want to help shape the program into an even more amazing app than it already is. We all know that you have lots to consider, and we know that you don't have the time or resources to make every feature and aspect of MC 100% perfect. I don't expect you to throw your self at ideas that would only suite a small number of users either.

Some of the features could do so much more, for a lot of people, if a little more time is invested though. And I really believe that much of the given suggestions is rather small enhancements to already developed software, and that it often would give a huge payoff for a relatively small amount of time spent. Sometimes... It's something that should be considered in each case of-course. But I think a two way communication between developers and users, to figure out where to say stop and where to push it a bit further, would be in all our interests. I think it would make a difference for the better.

[benn600]

TV is one that comes to mind.  yeah, it "works", but it's still too cumbersome to be a daily use item.  This means that I don't use it, so I don't have any current feedback about it, which likely tells you that all is well.  if we knew you were focused on improving this, you'd likely get LOTS of useful feedback, and could make this into a GREAT feature.

I agree with this, especially from the perspective of normal users.

[rick.ca]

2. We don't like it but don't want to tell you that.

Would it help if we bumped our post with "Does my idea suck?"

[struct]

I am sure you have gone over pricing models a thousand times before, but I would certainly prefer to pay for an enhanced Series/TV/Movie experience than wait for it to slot into your time line.  Although relatively new to MC, I have been waiting for over a year for MC to handle TV (both live and ripped) better than it does (to be clear, I am not complaining, just noting).  If I could double my subscription cost to achieve an "excellent" solution this calendar year, I would happily do so.  It may not be something you want/need to do for ever, maybe just a year or two to get a boost.

Two obvious "premium" features that need more work are...

Enhanced TheatreView/Metadata/Scripting engine to allow scraping scripts (aka Rick.Ca suggestion)

Enhanced CD Ripping/metadata lookup (e.g. get metadata from Last.fm SDK)  [e.g. you lost a customer in my family because of the limited CD lookup features in MC when ripping c.f. dbPowerAmp]

Ironically at the moment your pricing is cheapest for the most frequent and probably loyal visitors (I think it was only $15 or so to upgrade in early V16 and now near $25) who are likely happy to pay the most or certainly happy to pay more for faster progress (if this post is an accurate reflection of the average user).

Craig

[Marra]

Thanks for all the responses.  This thread was not directly about my wishes for change but more about app. development.

 I agree with MrHaugen's suggestion to slow down the introduction of new features  to concentrate on existing feature improvements.  I realise others waiting for certain new features are put on hold but I feel more more WOW could be gained in the long run.  

The thread introducing artist images  http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=61936.0 in January this year (yes still very new in development terms) has many ideas I would like to see implemented (MrHaugen's views stand out again).  

Similarly the thread introducing the 3D wall http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=48198.50 (October 2008) indicates the potential not yet achieved.

Both these features enhance the Theater View wow experience .  The question I ask are these features likely to be taken further.  By reading these forums I don't really know.

Jim thanks for your clarification and honesty in your reply.  It is this communication and your hard work to satisfy as many user requests as possible that make MC what it is today.  This approach has not waivered over time and is greatly appreciated.  

Is it time to consider "cleaning up/Wowing" what is a great program before the next new feature is introduced?  I do acknowledge that on a purely business decision, new features may drive revenue and respect your conclusion.  

Marra

[JimH]

I'm going to close this thread now.  If you have a specific request, please post it in a thread with an appropriate title.