Re: [Rhythmbox-devel] Jukebox playlist

[Dan8827 <dan8827 snet net>]

On Wed, 2004-05-19 at 16:54, Thomas Lunde wrote:

> As someone who is used to iTunes, I wondered why you didn't just create
> an automatic playlist that excluded the Books (and probably) Christmas
> genres.  So, I tried it -- I don't want to listen to HHGTTG any more
> than you want to listen to Harry Potter.  Oops.

I went through exactly the same thing - I'll turn off all the filters,
hit shuffle play, then after I've been listening to a song for a while
I'll realize "It's May...why am I listening to a Christmas carol?".  I
thought a playlist of "genre does not contain Christmas" would do the
trick, until I learned what you describe above.  

> I didn't realize that, in RB, I'd lose the Browser and the ability to
> sort by clicking on the column heads while looking at a playlist instead
> of my Library.  Ugh.  In iTunes, the rest of the app's functionality is
> the same whether you have selected the Library or a particular playlist
> as the Source.

I second the idea to add the library's filter features to playlists -
Automatic Playlists make it easy to have playlists with thousands of
songs in them.  Having the functionality of the filters would be
welcome.

> As for a Jukebox (aka Party Shuffle) feature, I was all set to cheer on
> Gisli's prototype -- until I read Dan8827's proposal.  A four vertical
> pane approach:
> a.  Controls and status
> b.  Jukebox
> c.  Browser
> d.  Library
> 
> is, again IMHO, ideal.  (b), (c), and even (d) can be optionally turned
> off to save screen real estate.  I have an old laptop with an 800x600
> display.  I'd be perfect for parties showing (a) and (b) most of the
> time and, when I want to add more music, either (c) or (d) to add songs
> to (b).

I messed around a bit in GIMP and mocked something up.  Thomas is seeing
if he can help get it posted someplace accessible to the list.  Having
seen it, I'm not sure I like it as much as I imagined.  

I do like the image Gisli posted - imagining it, I thought a sidebar
would be too narrow, but since you only need to display the titles, I
think it works.  Displaying all the columns of the library as I suggest
above is probably unnecessary - if you've already picked the song, you
probably don't need anything beyond the title displayed.  (Might be
handy to see all that info if the playlist is generated randomly, tho'.)

-- 
Dan8827
Increasing The Entropy Of The Universe Since 1972