Archive

**PiR-P3** · 05-12-2004, 06:08 AM

Originally Posted by HybridEngineer

I notice in some of the already in use software that there is options for creating playlist using on screen keyboards? Is this really practical for in car PC? Would it be better if the "media library" just allowed for intuitive and easy navigation instead of playlists? Is playlists something most of you really want and use a lot?

Please provide feedback...

Thanks

Personally I prefer to have the media-library listed with a search scope.
That means if the search field is empty, all files are shown, otherwise only
the files that correspond with the search-field are shown.
Ofcourse it is damn handy to have an onscreen-keyboard to type in
the search-field. Also handy are quick sort-options for artist, songtitle, albumtitle, genre, filesize.
You cannot completely disgard playlists, because many people need them
for special events like christmas, romantic, humor, dance and a dozen of
other moods. The winamp5 library is a good example of an easy accessable
media-library.

greetz

**C4M** · 05-12-2004, 06:38 AM

I run a couple of playlists - for example - I have one that cuts all the Christina Agualira (?sp) etc when the wife isn't in the car, and I want metal and loud silly dance music (please don't try to understand my taste).

But it's nice to be able to just pick an album when the shuffle is giving you the sh1ts.

For reference - my files are saved as "Artist - Album\track.mp3" further proof that we all do it different.

C!

**liquid_smoke** · 05-13-2004, 12:11 AM

personally i never use the playlist or search function with any player, in home or in car. I also havent seen any on screen keyboard thats worth using for more than 5 min. I would much rather have intuitive ways to play my music, specificly something just like a CD changer.

**spectrrr** · 05-13-2004, 12:51 AM

programing language: well, i'm not much of a programmer, so JavaScript and XML would be the best for me.... HOWEVER: I know javascript is a VERY basic language, and I certainly wouldnt want something like that crippling the functionality of the player. better that i have to learn C++ or java or some other language or use someone elses plugin than not even be able to create the plugin because the language was so basic.

I totally agree with SteveC that customization by non-programming users will be key (it doesnt have to be idiot proof, but something relatively simple like XML or INI files) to the software being king of the hill (everyone's got very different expectations, as i'm sure your seeing)

for me, I dont use playlists... (all contained in the file structure)

as for an OSK... you want an example of the perfect search feature, load a bunch of mp3's into winamp and then press the J key. PERFECT. so if that were implimented along with a BIG on screen keyboard, someone could load up their entire library of mp3's and run a search for it if they had a big collection and wernt quite sure where they stuck the file.

**C4M** · 05-13-2004, 02:08 AM

Originally Posted by liquid_smoke

personally i never use the playlist or search function with any player, in home or in car. I also havent seen any on screen keyboard thats worth using for more than 5 min.

Agreed - although the wife seems to decide that she wants to listen to an album and can navigate to it using the remote control. My playlists are set up more for filtering rather than defining actual playlists.

I don't have a TSK, so one screen keyboards are of no value for me.

C!

**LESLIEx317537** · 05-13-2004, 09:13 AM

I'm gonna check this out when I get a chance.

Originally Posted by brady

How about just plain old Java

As of now, that is the only thing I can code in.

If you got time to wait for the Virtual Machine to execute the code sure.
Java is great, multi-platformed and has great protection, (Dont have to use Malloc calloc memory allocation stuff) but alot slower.

**SteveC** · 05-13-2004, 12:30 PM

Never use playlists myself either so (for me) coding playlist support would be a waste of effort. I would suggest that you can rely upon the user making sure that their MP3s are properly formatted etc before loading into the carpc.

I'm amazed that no-one has embedded XM support yet. I use TouchXM which is just screaming out to be integrated (and skinned) into one of the media control packages. Either XM PCRs aren't vey popular or it's harder to do than I first thought.

Steve

**spectrrr** · 05-13-2004, 12:58 PM

Originally Posted by SteveC

I'm amazed that no-one has embedded XM support yet. I use TouchXM which is just screaming out to be integrated (and skinned) into one of the media control packages. Either XM PCRs aren't vey popular or it's harder to do than I first thought.

for me, XM radio is cool (and would sure beat the CRAP radio stations i have around here), but I'm too cheap to pay $10 a month for it; not when I'll already have 60gb of handpicked music to listen... works as good as XM, unless your looking for the latest top 40 song.

**xBrady** · 05-13-2004, 07:09 PM

Originally Posted by LESLIEx317537

I'm gonna check this out when I get a chance.

If you got time to wait for the Virtual Machine to execute the code sure.
Java is great, multi-platformed and has great protection, (Dont have to use Malloc calloc memory allocation stuff) but alot slower.

Ya, don't worry I completely agree with you. I was kind of joking when I said that. The only reason I know Java is, when I started learning it a long time ago I didn't know how bad it sucked (as in sucked I mean, unpractical for regular, fast windows applications.) I am dropping Java now and I am going to learn C++, so that is actually what I would prefer.

**Bitoholic** · 05-13-2004, 08:07 PM

Just to clear a few things up. The SDK with Plug-in development is all C# based. Theoretically you will be able to use any language that the .NET Framework and that is CLS compliant to write plug-ins as long as you follow the spec.

As far as the skinning and scripting goes, it is all based on XML right now. I am adding scripting support for JavaScript. Meaning you would be able to control application objects from JavaScripts.

I guess I was looking for examples and feedback from developers on which things they would like to control from scripts. I want this thing to really be flexible. So you can do anything you want with the system pretty much.

Feedback is really appreciated. Thanks everyone! Keep it up.