Why should I use ML2/3?

[mvallevand]

In the next version (I want to get the ML2 users ML3 first) I am planning on totally redoing collections. I want to use a better tree control, I find it extremely it's ackward to use the way it is now.

I wouldn't change your file system at this point, especially if you have used the file system for structure the files. For now, just make sure the tagging is good, that's the best bang for the back. ID3v2 tagging for genres does provide a lot of flexibility without moving files.

Martin

[ACTCMS]

In the next version (I want to get the ML2 users ML3 first) I am planning on totally redoing collections. I want to use a better tree control, I find it extremely it's ackward to use the way it is now.

I wouldn't change your file system at this point, especially if you have used the file system for structure the files. For now, just make sure the tagging is good, that's the best bang for the back. ID3v2 tagging for genres does provide a lot of flexibility without moving files.

Martin

I guess the main problem with a tree structure based 'collection' system is how to get a specific Artist/Album/Title into more than one 'collection' although you could keep the current collections system as well. Maybe a solution would be for ML3 to support file system Shortcuts for folders and files, but I have no idea at the moment how much work would be involved in that..

Alex

[mvallevand]

Alex, collections will be maintained, I feel this is a good way to provide access to the hierarchical file system view, I just want the treeview to make it easier to manage this.

It might be better to explain what I want to achieve. I wrote earlier that I don't want to duplicate the functionality of standalone static playlist editors. I feel MediaMonkey and many others do so much more than I can even think of, plus a good tag editor is an important tool for every serious music collection anyway. I do want to implement Smart Playlists similar to the implementations in XBMC and several modern players. Something like

[Genres]
xx=Canterbury Scene
yy=British Rock
[Date Range]
StartYear=1974
EndYear=1978
; allow any date
Unknown=No
[Inclusions]
; include as many artists and albums as possible.
Artist=Bonzo Dog Band
Artist=Tangerine Dream
Rating=Undefined
Rating=3+
...
[Exclusions]
Artist=Pink Floyd
Artist=Supertramp
...
[ID3v2 Filter]
; these might be slow but can further restrict the query
Tag1=TYYY
...
[Order]
; values from new db structure
LastPlayed=Ascending
MostPlayed=Ascending
; a limit might be better at times since a complex smart playlist won't always be fast.
Limit=100

Once this is done and the quirks worked out I want to work integrating some last.fm social networking so I can do something like

[Similar Artists]
Artist=Radiohead
Artist=Kasabian
...

I also want to blacklist Albums and Artists and maybe Tracks while playing.

Hopefully I will get some more reports and I can close this version, so I can play around with these ideas to see if it is even feasible.

Martin

[ACTCMS]

Martin, I'm not familiar with XBMC at all, but I used WinAmp's playlist features all the time and I'll certainly be looking forward to any implementation you might bring out. I've always hoped that ML3 would store LastPlayed date and Play count since I used that a lot in WinAmp. If you do decide that this sort of feature is feasible, put me on your Alpha tester list...

Alex

[psycik]

Martin, I'm not familiar with XBMC at all, but I used WinAmp's playlist features all the time and I'll certainly be looking forward to any implementation you might bring out. I've always hoped that ML3 would store LastPlayed date and Play count since I used that a lot in WinAmp. If you do decide that this sort of feature is feasible, put me on your Alpha tester list...

Alex

Last Played and playcounts were one of the last features i was considering adding, mostly cos I tend to use those also in winamp for picking up new music...

[ACTCMS]

Last Played and playcounts were one of the last features i was considering adding, mostly cos I tend to use those also in winamp for picking up new music...

Yeah - that was something I regularly thought about asking you to include, but as you know, I don't like to be a pest...

[Jaggy]

Overall this sounds encouraging from my point of view