Sunday, February 12. 2006
Fast Forward.. to amaroK 1.4
So my last blog has been a bit of a teaser. Some of you have guessed it right: 'Fast Forward' is the name of the brand new amaroK 1.4 series. Today we have released the first beta version of Fast Forward. We're excited, because 1.4 has the longest changelog of all amaroK releases to date. You're in for a treat 
Let's look at some of the new key features in 1.4:
- Support for Metadata (Tags) in WMA, MP4/AAC and RealMedia (RA,RV,RM) files
- Scriptable lyrics support, amaroK can now get lyrics from ANY lyrics site (if you, or one else, make a simple script-based plugin)
- Switchable Wikipedia locale
- The xine engine now has gapless playback (Needs xine-lib 1.1.1) and audio CD support with CDDB lookups
- Reworked media device system, the Apple® iPod® support has been improved enormously in the 1.4 series iRiver®/ifp and generic media devices
- Moodbar, a visual representation of your music's mood (requires exscalibar)
- And last but not least increased stability by improved under-the-hood code
And to integrate all these new features without making the application too complex, a lot of thought has gone into refining the user interface. I think we have succeeded in making amaroK more powerful, and yet simplified the interface at the same time. 1.4 should actually be easier to use than the 1.3 series!
The first thing that had to go was the fourth tab in the "Context" sidebar. Four is just one too many, this has been obvious to us for quite some time. So we have moved the "Home" tab into a separate Statistics tool with a pleasant interface. Also, we've cut down on useless and confusing options, like the tag recoding features, which had some weird side effects on tagging.
So, ya, it's good stuff. Have at it
Let's look at some of the new key features in 1.4:
- Support for Metadata (Tags) in WMA, MP4/AAC and RealMedia (RA,RV,RM) files
- Scriptable lyrics support, amaroK can now get lyrics from ANY lyrics site (if you, or one else, make a simple script-based plugin)
- Switchable Wikipedia locale
- The xine engine now has gapless playback (Needs xine-lib 1.1.1) and audio CD support with CDDB lookups
- Reworked media device system, the Apple® iPod® support has been improved enormously in the 1.4 series iRiver®/ifp and generic media devices
- Moodbar, a visual representation of your music's mood (requires exscalibar)
- And last but not least increased stability by improved under-the-hood code
And to integrate all these new features without making the application too complex, a lot of thought has gone into refining the user interface. I think we have succeeded in making amaroK more powerful, and yet simplified the interface at the same time. 1.4 should actually be easier to use than the 1.3 series!
The first thing that had to go was the fourth tab in the "Context" sidebar. Four is just one too many, this has been obvious to us for quite some time. So we have moved the "Home" tab into a separate Statistics tool with a pleasant interface. Also, we've cut down on useless and confusing options, like the tag recoding features, which had some weird side effects on tagging.
So, ya, it's good stuff. Have at it
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Is one of those interface improvements a non-popup way to edit track info? The inline nature of Juk's tag editing makes it far easier to use than amarok's, which is why although I'm listening to amarok as I write this, I generally use Juk for any major organizational or updating tasks. If The UI for that could be made as easy as Juk's, that would be killer.
The inline nature of Juk's tag editing makes it far easier to use than amarok's, which is why although I'm listening to amarok as I write this, I generally use Juk for any major organizational or updating tasks. If The UI for that could be made as easy as Juk's, that would be killer.
You have been able to do in-line editing of tags for a long time now. If you right-click a playlist entry, you can edit the tag you clicked on.
OK, that's not quite what I mean. I'm talking about the fact that the full edit window is a popup, and that saving information in it closes the window. If I want to go through and edit 15 entries using the MusicBrainz link (available only via that popup window), and MusicBrainz gets one very very wrong, I lose all of the changes I've made up until then if I click cancel.
Contrast that to Juk, which has non-popup panel for editing field data and a preview for MusicBrainz options (which often returns several options). That's why I do all my serious organization in Juk, but playback in amarok.
Contrast that to Juk, which has non-popup panel for editing field data and a preview for MusicBrainz options (which often returns several options). That's why I do all my serious organization in Juk, but playback in amarok.
if u open up an album in the collection u can edit details for the entire album. i agree easytag is what its name says but amaroK is still pretty good, better thanmost.
Yeah.. Easytag is the best there is..
Too bad it remains obscure and unknown.
Too bad it remains obscure and unknown.
I googled moodbar and round a neat little paper on it
http://ismir2005.ismir.net/proceedings/1023.pdf
http://ismir2005.ismir.net/proceedings/1023.pdf
Hey, guys, 10x for the great application!
Anyway, the "statistics" tool is somewhat auful...
I think it would be best to add it in a separate window like "Context", "Files", etc. on the left of the window. What do you think?
Anyway, the "statistics" tool is somewhat auful...
I think it would be best to add it in a separate window like "Context", "Files", etc. on the left of the window. What do you think?
Yes, adding the stats as an extra sidebar (or a possibility to choose which tabs to use in the contextthing, I rarely use the wiki- or lyrics-tab for instance but I used the stats) is better than the not really eyecandy popup you get now.
The lastfm player makes it possible to stream music on a port. you can use amarok to listen to that stream.
I know that, but one of the amarok's devs is also last.fm player's dev and he said that it will be implemented.
I think that you should be able to remove the tabs on the left if you wanted to, I have wented to be able to do that for ages.
I've said it before and I'll say it again..
Amarok is da bomb! I love it.
There is no competition!!
I don't see much change in 1.4 but, in my opinion, thats not a bad thing.
Don't fix what isn't broken, yeah?
Amarok is da bomb! I love it.
There is no competition!!
I don't see much change in 1.4 but, in my opinion, thats not a bad thing.
Don't fix what isn't broken, yeah?
I love 1.4 with MySQL (just discovered that, it's so fast now. wow.)
I haven't yet tried the podcasts feature, since I'm using PSP Media Manager on Windows, but when I've the time, I'll give it a go.
Supporting the PSP is pretty easy. It plays .WMA, .MP3 and .M4A files renamed to .MP4 (As it has Sony's AVC decoder, which is mostly compatible with Apple's - it's only missing support for tags and chapters.) Audio files can have pretty much any filename, as long as they are within the /PSP/Music/ folder.
Nested folders won't appear, so you can group an album in a folder or a bunch of episodes in a podcast's folder, but you can't then put a bunch of podcast folders in another folder named "Podcast". Only one folder level is read, with the current 2.6 firmware.
Um ... and that's it. The PSP Media Manager software goes one step farther - it includes Sony's AVC MP4 encoder so it can do video podcasts, and even PSP Magazines - .zip files of photos that are sized to fit your PSP and unzipped to folders in /PSP/Photos.
I've done similar stuff, like ripping a PDF of a book to images using a small Ruby script, then creating four images per page so you can "scroll" through a book by hitting the next button over and over. Works surprisingly well.
The PSP, of course, also has a web browser, and integrated MP3 podcast streaming over WiFi (by parsing RSS feeds for the enclosures).
(Get the feeling I
I haven't yet tried the podcasts feature, since I'm using PSP Media Manager on Windows, but when I've the time, I'll give it a go.
Supporting the PSP is pretty easy. It plays .WMA, .MP3 and .M4A files renamed to .MP4 (As it has Sony's AVC decoder, which is mostly compatible with Apple's - it's only missing support for tags and chapters.) Audio files can have pretty much any filename, as long as they are within the /PSP/Music/ folder.
Nested folders won't appear, so you can group an album in a folder or a bunch of episodes in a podcast's folder, but you can't then put a bunch of podcast folders in another folder named "Podcast". Only one folder level is read, with the current 2.6 firmware.
Um ... and that's it. The PSP Media Manager software goes one step farther - it includes Sony's AVC MP4 encoder so it can do video podcasts, and even PSP Magazines - .zip files of photos that are sized to fit your PSP and unzipped to folders in /PSP/Photos.
I've done similar stuff, like ripping a PDF of a book to images using a small Ruby script, then creating four images per page so you can "scroll" through a book by hitting the next button over and over. Works surprisingly well.
The PSP, of course, also has a web browser, and integrated MP3 podcast streaming over WiFi (by parsing RSS feeds for the enclosures).
(Get the feeling I
You think mysql is fast. Try postgresql!... Thanks devs for adding PostgreSQL support!!!
Damn it, my post was cut.
Well, what I said at the end was that I'd love to help test the PSP support, and also that it would pwn if you could add or extend the device support through plugins, as moving files to the right places or renaming .m4a to .mp4 is trivial with a script. (And is Ruby supported for plugins?) Anyway, my info's at http://www.CSpotkill.com/
Well, what I said at the end was that I'd love to help test the PSP support, and also that it would pwn if you could add or extend the device support through plugins, as moving files to the right places or renaming .m4a to .mp4 is trivial with a script. (And is Ruby supported for plugins?) Anyway, my info's at http://www.CSpotkill.com/
Why remove the 4th tab? Why not put Statistics in this tab, and give the user the choice of making it the tab viewable or not. I like being able to access my statistics without having to click through a menu to open a seperate window that fills up more of my shrinking desktop.
I do feel rather strongly as well that the fourth tab should be optionally available. I checked the statistics there regularly, and didn't feel that 4 was too many tabs, since I almost never use the wikipedia or lyrics tabs. Anyway, I would very much appreciate having that option back
My two bits
- Josh
My two bits
- Josh
AmaroK was, is and will be the best player. It's so wonderfull, but here is some list of me suggestions:
1. More configs. Etc removing "subtabs" what I don't need (ie. Lyrics). Ctrl+c in filelist (don't know what it is called) configuring.
2. All other popup windows shouls also be in some tab. (Scripts, Equalizer, Queue manager, ...) And also configs which do you prefer.
3. More Collection Groupings. I'd want Composer sorting, but this would need new table to database?
4. Big playlists are slow to load. Over 10k tracks are loaded in couple of minutes with 100% of CPU usage.
5. MySQL to default database. SQLite gives bad first impression with it's slowness.
6. Composite support for OSD -> Real transparency
7. Some new non-global keyboard shortcuts. Tab changing with alt+number and so on.
I quess I'm too greedy now, but whitout saying anything it won't improve the way I want ^^. Thanks for very good program. You developers are the best. Also, sorry my english.
1. More configs. Etc removing "subtabs" what I don't need (ie. Lyrics). Ctrl+c in filelist (don't know what it is called) configuring.
2. All other popup windows shouls also be in some tab. (Scripts, Equalizer, Queue manager, ...) And also configs which do you prefer.
3. More Collection Groupings. I'd want Composer sorting, but this would need new table to database?
4. Big playlists are slow to load. Over 10k tracks are loaded in couple of minutes with 100% of CPU usage.
5. MySQL to default database. SQLite gives bad first impression with it's slowness.
6. Composite support for OSD -> Real transparency
7. Some new non-global keyboard shortcuts. Tab changing with alt+number and so on.
I quess I'm too greedy now, but whitout saying anything it won't improve the way I want ^^. Thanks for very good program. You developers are the best. Also, sorry my english.
Thank you guys! is all I can say for this wonderful software. Have been using it for more than a year now (since the 1.2 series) and it's been a no turning back thing. Last night upgraded to 1.4 beta1 from texter's unstable repository. It's really stable.... Thank you once again. One last request: if u guys can put some banners, so that I can put one in my blog to flaunt this wonderful software.
your work is very impressive. I really love this application.
the new iPod support integrated simply works perfectly.
it runs so smooth... almost like a dream.
thanks a lot to share your great work!!
the new iPod support integrated simply works perfectly.
it runs so smooth... almost like a dream.
thanks a lot to share your great work!!
Thank you guys.
i really like what you've done with amarok lately.
one sugestion: adding to what Tuomas Vähänen said above:
if possible, improve the visual looks, i.e. more transparency, grafix, richer colours!!
if you dont know what i am on about, i am talking about the GUI (WMP 10, Musicmatch) both are good examples
hopefuly ill catch up with you guys,... starting a new degree in software engineering this year
i really like what you've done with amarok lately.
one sugestion: adding to what Tuomas Vähänen said above:
if possible, improve the visual looks, i.e. more transparency, grafix, richer colours!!
if you dont know what i am on about, i am talking about the GUI (WMP 10, Musicmatch) both are good examples
hopefuly ill catch up with you guys,... starting a new degree in software engineering this year
I also agree, the new "statistics" window is not that nice ... I would prefer the old sidebar, too, perhaps in an extre "top-level" tab.
Or perhaps show it at least when nothing is playing, currently the "nothing-playing" sidebar is a bit empty. Newest albums, favourite albums at least would easily fit there on my screen.
The star-rating thing is really great though, and the moodbars look real funky, even though sometimes they are only partial (ending in only a grey area) and sure take a lot of CPU
Alltogether, great work though!
Or perhaps show it at least when nothing is playing, currently the "nothing-playing" sidebar is a bit empty. Newest albums, favourite albums at least would easily fit there on my screen.
The star-rating thing is really great though, and the moodbars look real funky, even though sometimes they are only partial (ending in only a grey area) and sure take a lot of CPU
Alltogether, great work though!
Love Amarok - great app. How about a bit of extra visual eyecandy - and be able to autostart visualisations (goom, etc) when playing.
Cheers,
Ian
Cheers,
Ian
Hi. AmaroK 1.4 rocks!
I wrote a filesystem-lyrics-plugin in python.
To do that I wrote a dcop-warpper-api, a kdialog-wrapper-api and a amarok plugin-api (in python).
This helper-things might by usefull for others, which want to write a amarok-plugin.
see: http://twoday.tuwien.ac.at/pub/stories/22759/
I wrote a filesystem-lyrics-plugin in python.
To do that I wrote a dcop-warpper-api, a kdialog-wrapper-api and a amarok plugin-api (in python).
This helper-things might by usefull for others, which want to write a amarok-plugin.
see: http://twoday.tuwien.ac.at/pub/stories/22759/
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