Hey Bar.. Good job with the program. I've been looking for something to use with my CarPC and this looks like it will be it. I don't use a typical front end software for CarPC's; I'm using Virtuawin Desktop Switcher to switch between applications (GPS, Music, etc), so I can be more independent about which software I choose for each task.
Anyway, just a few opinions on your software that might help make your software valuable to more people. These are just my personal recommendations but I am sure there would be more people like me out there who would like to see these features.
For one, it would be nice to have an option for an external player, winamp specifically. I am playing with some DSP plugins and it really helps the sound quality. You could have winamp in the background, use the SendMessage command and have your software read from the winamp window whats going on and update the visual's (seconds remaining, play/pause status, etc) in case someone makes any interaction directly with Winamp or you could hide the window entirely. This would also be useful as people could use Winamp's global hotkeys to control the player. I haven't played with your hotkeys yet but I'm not sure if they are global to the system. In the CarPC they will need to be, as sometimes I will be in the GPS window but want to change to the next song. Also on older machines, winamp V2.95 could be used. Winamp has gotten bigger over the years but I believe 2.95 is smaller than the current version and still holds a lot of functionality.
Also, even with setting the dead air time to 0, there seems to be a considerable pause in-between songs. I like to set it on random and I keep pressing the [NEXT] button until I hear a song I am in the mood for. This gets annoying very fast when there is a delay in-between songs. I think sending the MP3 requests from your software over to winamp to play may solve this problem also, as I have had playlists of over 3000 and winamp plays the next one immediately whenever I ask it for the next song.
Also, I've noticed in your software that the [NEXT]button works but if I press the [PREVIOUS] button, then it just starts the current song over again. Winamp could solve this problem also by having song plays dumped to the playlist rather than just to the winamp module itself. This way it would fill up the playlist window in winamp. Of course to save from problems where jukeboxes are left on for weeks at a time it would be good to have a limit, possibly 1000 songs or so, whereas at 1001 the oldest song is removed. Or if that was difficult, you could have it clear the entire queue every 1000 plays, or even have it configurable to the user.
I also notice the slider for seeking HAS to be dragged to the point you want it at. I'm assuming this has to do with WMP's behavior. Perhaps Winamp would solve this issue as well? Also I am not sure if your shortcut keys will allow incremental seeking; I have physical buttons that represent keypresses and like to seek 5 seconds at a time either forward or reverse. I have a project car and sometimes end up with pretty grimey hands and don't want to touch the touchscreen. Plus while driving, its easier to find a physical button rather than find a small spot on the touchscreen.
I know I sound like the PR department for Winamp haha, but I've just gotten very used to using winamp as a backend for music and it makes my life so much easier... And I'm thinking since it's so popular that your software would attract more people if they knew they didn't have to change what they're used to in the way of actually dealing with the playing of the MP3s. Your frontend is spectacular, very simple, effective and neat. Combine that with something that someone has been using for a long time, its a great combination.
Also, in the User Interface; When you bring up an album, click on a song, and then click ADD TO QUEUE, it brings you back to the album list screen. I myself find many times I'd like to add a few songs from an album. As it's set now, to do that I have to find the album every time. I'd recommend that on selecting a song to queue, it zaps you back to the album screen. Or what might be nice is a Push-On Push-Off button [lights up when it's selected] called "Multi-Select" where you can highlight more than one song, and then you click the ADD TO QUEUE and these songs will all be shown in the add to queue screen. I think that would be best. I think it would also be useful to be able to re-order the songs in the queue ("Move Up" and "Move Down" buttons).
Also: On the NOW PLAYING screen, if there is no queue left and RANDOM PLAY is enabled, it would be nice to have it randomly select the next song and post it as "Coming Up Next." Additionally, a button would be nice to re-select the proposed next random song. I would find it useful if during a song's playing, that I could just keep clicking a button to cycle randomly through songs to show what song will be played next at the end of the current song. Also what would be nice is to have the Pause/Next/Previous buttons available on the NOW PLAYING screen. If someone wants to just zap to the next song then they wouldn't have to leave that screen just to click next and then come back to the now playing screen.
Another thought; I love the PLAYLIST option, this is perfect because I find myself playing certain songs repeatedly of course, and it changes with time. I've had where I'm playing a song and a minute or so into it, I decide I want to add it to the playlist option. But now I have to go and find the album and the track to do that. I think it would be helpful to have a button "ADD TO PLAYLIST" from the NOW PLAYING screen. Or if it was easier, you could have an "ADD CURRENTLY PLAYING SONG" on the Playlist screen.
With these changes I think I would definately make this my new player. And as tough as the IT field is (I'm currently unemployed), I would still donate. I know what it's like to work hard on something, and I would love to see this project keep going and become something really useful for an even larger crowd. The bigger the crowd gets the easier it is for it to evolve into something even better. V5, V6, V7, who knows how much better it could get 8)
So a recap:
1. Ability to use Winamp to play the music. Either an accessible window or hidden. Possibly give the choice to the user in the configuration.
2. Less or no delay in between songs.
3. Global hotkeys if not already available
4. PREVIOUS song actually goes back to the previous song that was played
5. Seeking functional on-click, not only on-drag
6. On album list; a MULTI-SELECT button to select more than one track to bring over to the ADD TO QUEUE or ADD TO PLAYLIST screen
7. MOVE UP and MOVE DOWN buttons on the Queue screen
8. ADD CURRENTLY PLAYING SONG on the Playlist screen
9. If RANDOM PLAY is enabled and there is no queue left, have a random selection displayed as COMING UP NEXT on the NOW PLAYING screen. Additionally, have a button to randomly re-select the next song that will be played after the current song finishes. Also, have Play/Pause/Previous/Next buttons available on the NOW PLAYING screen.
#2 - #5 could possibly be solved by implimenting #1 :)
I don't really know too much about programming, at least not in common languages. Only language I ever really learned was Qbasic, but I can make Qbasic do ANYTHING that Qbasic can do... Outside of Qbasic, I know the concepts of programming more than the actual ability... But I'd be willing to learn to help out. I sure have the time now that I'm laid off lol. Let me know if I can help in any way. You The Man!
Randy
randy22nj@aol.com (Wow thats e-mail has been around forever, I'm 29 now!)
Move up/down buttons are on the queue screen you need to select a track for them to appear.
You can stop it going to the album view after selecting a track, it's an option in the options screen.
Ah thanks, I will take a look at tjat. It was getting late and I didn't notice all the options.
Also for a good DSP program try DFX Audio Enhancement for Windows Media Player, it works very well and enhances teh MP3's.
hmm, I'll take a look at that... Actually DFX is what I was using, but for Winamp. I'm reluctant to use WMP though, when I start up WMP it just looks like such a giant application, it tries to do so much. It's the same reason I don't like Norton Antivirus. I worked for Grisoft for a couple of years (They make AVG Antivirus) and so many people called with problems of NAV bogging their system.
I'm not sure if the API or whichever approach is taken at using WMP functions from a third party software prevents all of that loading into memory but it just bugs me. Also the delay song to song is annoying. It reminds me of when my friend had a Pioneer mp3 player in his car and the track to track was like a 4 second delay... The Kenwood I had was instant. I'm assuming Kenwood had it use a smaller buffer for the first few seconds of the song playback and then switches to a larger buffer once the song starts playing. That way you don't have to wait for the large buffer to completely fill before you get to hear the song starting. Winamp has always been instant for track to track playing...
I hate when a good software gets bloated and turns into a negative factor... Nero is an over 200MB download now. Another one lost to the black hole of bloat!!
This is why i am reluctant to add every option that every person who comes here asks for. This software is designed to be a jukebox like what you would find in a bar. It's not a media player or a touchscreen front end for winamp. I am pretty sure those apps are covered. Personally i do not see the 4 second delay? Are you using WMP11? Also what spec is your car PC because i don't even get the delay on my P700mhz juke.
Hm, well I had WMP 9 and upgraded it to 11, i saw a slight change. The 4 second pause was just an example on the car radios. WMP 11 had about a 2-3 second delay inbetween song changes and when I upgraded to WMP 11 it is now 1-2 seconds. the PC I have here is a 1.5 Ghz intel pentium and 768MB Ram... The CarPC is a 1GHZ Eipa M10000 but I haven't installed it on there yet, I'm trying it out in the house first. Perhaps it will run better on that machine I can give it a go and let you know the result.
I know what you mean about bloating... Though to use Winamp rather than WMP would just be choice, not necessarily a "change" or addition to resources being used because only one could be used at a time. As long as you make additions an option it should be safe so that anyone with older equipment could disable the features.
As a test I'll load up some MP3s in WMP11 and see what the track to track does as far as timing. I have a nice SoundBlaster Audigy card so that shouldn't be the issue. Possibly does WMP have a buffer setting? I'll look for that, could be it's somehow set high and not playing until the buffer initially fills.
I went through WMP11's options and turned off all internet-related options and changed the buffer reading to a low number. It shows me about a 1 second pause every time I go to the next track. I tested Freebox to to see if the pause could be that it's elects what the next random song to play but when I have a queue set and it still acts the same way so thats not the cause of the delay.
The 1 second delay isn't a huge deal under normal use, but when it's on random play and you're looking for a song you're in the mood to hear it gets to be an annoyance... I don't attribute it to a problem with Freebox, I blame WMP... Even if it's not global to everybody's configuration, it appears it's responsible for what I'm experiencing on mine.
For GUI. It can be support PNG file format for make transparent images?
Thanks
Quote from: ottosuke on May 19, 2009, 08:14:04 AM
For GUI. It can be support PNG file format for make transparent images?
Thanks
Unfortunatly not, however you can make transparent images from BMP or JPG Files. BMP are the best as you do not suffer from any artifacting. Basically it will take the colour from the top left pixel and make all pixels of that colour transparent.