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View Full Version : Making dAP a bit easier (especially the MMC)



CaveMan
07-06-2002, 03:56 PM
It's been a while since I visited the forum, but I recently downloaded the latest versions and beta and revamped my dMC/dAP apps.

Some of the new features as the Control Freak, The additional Menu Item in the MMC and the MusicMoz features are really really great. Keep up the good work. ( I still think Spoon is some kind of a software god, having handling a day-time job, a healthy marriage, a cat, and this hobby/part-time job of dAP/dMC ) :supersmil

There are some features I seem to miss ever I stated using dAP, and I'll list them here, hoping not to sound off anything that's been suggested before:

- I really wish the MMC window be resizeble. Mostly I use maximized windows, but there are times when a sizeble window has it's pluses. By resizeble I mean the the internal controls and panes will be resized too ( I know it's a whizz in Delphi - which as I remember Spoon uses )

- If not resizeble than mybe skinnable? this way the interface could be revampped.

- How about adding controls to the skin-designer that enable you to change ID info of the track you're listening, like rating, add/remove generes, volume normalization and not to mention an edit ID button?

- The columns ordering feature is great (I think I asked for it in a previous post a few month ago). but just to make it work better for the user, if the list could be sorted by the order number, it'll help alot.

- Forward: As a heavy library user ( I currently have 10014 tracks in my library - NOT including the odd audio clips for software sounds )
I use the selective play alot, it's great.
I especially use multiple generes on tracks as filtering devices, for ex. ("Music:Yes"/"Music:No"/"Language:English"/"Language:Frence") this way I can select from the library alot more easier.
This habbit requires me to change the genre fields alot on a lot of tracks for the first time I enter them into a collection.
a process like this takes a lot of time - on which it holds up the computer when the process has a "High" priority (which is what Spoon programed it to).

The request: It would be nice to have this process not take so much of the computer's attention (even if it'll take a bit more to finish) and more-over to have some sort of progress indication for long operations.

- My last request is about the album track numbering, I wish there was a way to multi-select tracks and give the sequential track numbers starting from a user input number.
This way after having the files sorted in the right way you could enter the track numbers quickly per album

Spoon
07-06-2002, 05:29 PM
Nice suggestions :)

>- If not resizeble than mybe skinnable? this way the interface could be revampped.

MMC is skinable the hardway - look in skins\default\editor

>on which it holds up the computer when the process has a "High" priority (which is what Spoon programed it to).

It shouldn't be, MMC does not mess with priorities at all - it is just default, if you have XP you can set the priority boost for the active program somewhere.

If you could elaborate a little on these:

>if the list could be sorted by the order number, it'll help alot.

Track number?


>- My last request is about the album track numbering, I wish there was a way to multi-select tracks and give the sequential track numbers starting from a user input number.
This way after having the files sorted in the right way you could enter the track numbers quickly per album

Not following on that one either, they would have track numbers to begin with? and be offset?

CaveMan
07-07-2002, 01:14 PM
About the list ordering:

One:
I was refering to the Columns Order list-box in the [Music Collection Preferences]

and I was wishing that you could sort the list by the Position value

Two:
I'll try and walk you thorugh two possible scenario I think will be useful when it comes to track numbering.

Currently the only way to edit the track number is to edit the tag info for each individual file (or maybe all the no. 1 tracks of albums, and then all the number 2 tracks, and so forth...)
This is very cumbersom.
If there where a way to edit the info on the listbox itself and by pressing [Enter] passing to the next record it would make things easier.

OR

if I could select a mode which we will call "[Set Track Numbers]" and then click on each track of an album according to the order I want it then the data will be recorded in the tag info by the order of the clicking (like tab ordering in VB and VC)

You could also add field for stating the start number if you don't want to start from 1 - but this isn't too important since you can click on the first track you want to set several time until it has the correct initial no.

Tell me if you think this is a bad idea or unfesable at the moment (or maybe it's not that important to most users), but I'll be trice as glad to hear that this is a good idea (which BTW, I've never encountered yet in any tag editor or media library organizer).

About the priority stuff:
I understand the Editor.exe process doesn't change priority and runs as Normal class, but Amp.exe starts as High, could this be set-up by a user changable setting (maybe the registry or a switch at startup).

Thanks again and I still think your software rocks (sorry about the flattery all-the-time, but I can't help loving the good quality or good products).

Truly Yours
CaveMan

Spoon
07-07-2002, 02:09 PM
Thanks for explaining. Normally the track numbers are correct from Ripping?

Amp has lots of threads (11 on mine, some are idle), but only 1 thread has high priority and that is the audio playing thread, all the others are on standard. If the audio is not on a higher priority, then each time your har disk moves lots of data - sound playback jitters like mad.

CaveMan
07-07-2002, 02:36 PM
Yes, while ripping the data in the track number is correct, but I have a lot of albums which were ripped using older version of dMC or which were converted from old mp3 ripped for software about 2 years ago.
That's why I need this feature.

Thanks for the quick response and attention.

Truly Yours
CaveMan