Well I truely believe the current design is perfect. Its simple, clean, and each area has the room I need.
The collection and context browser really only need a small amount of room for artist and album names since 99% are not more then a few words. The playlist is perfect especially since I like the track, artist, album, and length to be displayed enough to be readable.
Cramming things together does not add any functionality since the context browser nicely word-wraps long album names and wikipedia pages. The last.fm reccomendations are also very well placed.
It will take away funtionality if I can't see the information I would like to and if I have smaller space to edit tags on the fly in the playlist browser. I'm sure when everything is said and done I might get used to a new layout, but I would at least like the option of switching back to the old view if I want.
More windows != better design
the UI design is the best feature of Amarok to me. I have tried everything else and nothing else has such a clean and well thought-out design. iTunes, Juk, Windows Media Player, etc don't come close.
This playlist redesign is making me a little nervous.
The design fits in great with the overall KDE design: sidebar on the left, information on the right.
And has anyone even bothered asking Uncle Rodney what he thinks??!!
Amarok is more then just a media player, it's the worlds first IME (Integrated Music Environment).