give up on foobar2000

[Zenja]

I just put on Columns UI, changed colors, and added a bitrate column. I really like it this way much more than winamp/wmp (no need to even mention iTunes

).

 

[Cid]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jmmtn4aj /img/forum/go_quote.gif Considered using iTunes with Foobar passthrough?

iTunes can't play FLAC though, right? All my music is in flac.

 

[m_memmory]

Personally I like the colours as they are. The only thing I change is adding in a few components to allow browsing as I like.

I added in a browser that works like the browser on iTunes so it lists all the artists and then all the albums and tracks. However since that's been put in I hardly ever use it as my preference is for folder browsing and so I have the Explorer Tree in there as well. And that does update as you add new folders in

 

[cooperpwc]

Quote:

Originally Posted by terrymx /img/forum/go_quote.gif my biggest problem is winamp playlist and foobar playist both has something good and something bad about it. neither is perfect.

Playlists are indeed a bit strange in Foobar. They are fairly convenient if you program the middle button (scroll wheel) to add to playlist. But if that playlist isn't on top, it switches over to whatever is which is a bit wierd.

I'm really liking the Queue Manager panel now with the queue manager dll. That plays in order no matter what you do. I also like that you can send songs to it easily from the Library view playlist. Of course, it's not perfect. If you close Foobar, the queue is erased.

 

[Alleyman]

I dont understand the trend of people customizing their music player to no end. I dont use Columns UI even. Simple default display with a good sorting algorithm does it for me (along with global hotkeys). My foobar likes it tray spot

 

[tuhnu]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alleyman /img/forum/go_quote.gif I dont understand the trend of people customizing their music player to no end.

For some people, it's fun and addictive. When I played World of Warcraft, I spent at least 1/10 of my playing time customizing the user interface. Customizing foobar2000 though isn't that fun because I don't like the coding part at all. I'm not interested in learning to code either, so I just settled with a simple and functional fb2k UI (quicksearch, playlist viewer, album list, playback queue, columns playlist).

 

[illy2k]

took me 30 min's to config everything in foobar no problem, including columns ui, asio, and all that goodness. I guess it helps I have a degree in comp sci.

 

[Alleyman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tuhnu /img/forum/go_quote.gif For some people, it's fun and addictive. When I played World of Warcraft, I spent at least 1/10 of my playing time customizing the user interface. Customizing foobar2000 though isn't that fun because I don't like the coding part at all. I'm not interested in learning to code either, so I just settled with a simple and functional fb2k UI (quicksearch, playlist viewer, album list, playback queue, columns playlist).

Wont say I didnt give it a shot myself...even got to some config that I personally liked...but then scrapped everything and went default. The coding is a bit too much to digest for a new user. When I used winamp I would search for new skins hours on end (well I was much younger then too)...now I know better

 

[fran]

Well there are a couple of replies in there that echo my sentiments. When I sit down at my PC really I just want to listen to music and surf for a while. I do this seriously enough to warrant me having a NOS DAC, LD2 and K501s for the PC rig. Now I don't mind a bit of set up time on any piece of software, but I am not a coder and don't really want to be either. I just want to play some music at a good sound quality....

I don't mind spending time learning to use SW, but to learn code....... just too much hassle, rather be listening!

It seems that those who don't mind too much about how their foobar looks are the ones who are happiest with it. I usually listen to a complete album at a time, so for me it makes life easy to be able to view by album art - its much easier (IMHO) to recognise an album by the cover than by reading a line of text. WMP11 makes this very easy - its simple to add album art if it doens't find it itself.

Anyway to each his own, my stress levels have gone down already!

Fran

 

[cooperpwc]

Quote:

Originally Posted by fran /img/forum/go_quote.gif Well there are a couple of replies in there that echo my sentiments. When I sit down at my PC really I just want to listen to music and surf for a while. I do this seriously enough to warrant me having a NOS DAC, LD2 and K501s for the PC rig. Now I don't mind a bit of set up time on any piece of software, but I am not a coder and don't really want to be either. I just want to play some music at a good sound quality.... I don't mind spending time learning to use SW, but to learn code....... just too much hassle, rather be listening! It seems that those who don't mind too much about how their foobar looks are the ones who are happiest with it. I usually listen to a complete album at a time, so for me it makes life easy to be able to view by album art - its much easier (IMHO) to recognise an album by the cover than by reading a line of text. WMP11 makes this very easy - its simple to add album art if it doens't find it itself. Anyway to each his own, my stress levels have gone down already! Fran

I'm comfortable with evreything you said - to each his own - except for the part "It seems that those who don't mind too much about how their foobar looks are the ones who are happiest with it." Believe you me, I love Foobar for listening to music. I also happen to love tinkering with it while I do...

 

[smeggy]

I don't find foobar to be perticularly great, it's picky, not very intuitive if you don't care for fiddling and doesn't sound any better than any other good player. I much prefer the simplicity and programming smarts of Mediamonkey. Even with crappy tags it can still figure out what it is.

 

[ZenFountain]

I think foobar with columns ui is perfectly fine. it takes maybe a few hours to get the coding for building your own column setup and picking the colors & font. those single column setups on hydrogen audio with album art, libraries, fancy fonts, ect. are nice but you don't need a PhD in foobar pluggins & coding to get something decent. foobar will always be nice for replay gain, kernel streaming, and easy tag editing...really is too bad that the owners won't allow some kind of easy skinning and pluggin interface though. I get the feeling from their forums and a lot of users that they are kinda elitist and like it that way though.

also keep in mind that with things like this, some users have a kind of OCD that makes them lose sight and care far more about form than actual functionality. foobar can work fine without extensive modifications...

 

[cooperpwc]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ZenFountain /img/forum/go_quote.gif also keep in mind that with things like this, some users have a kind of OCD that makes them lose sight and care far more about form than actual functionality. foobar can work fine without extensive modifications...

That's the kind of statement that usually comes from people with crapty configs. Much like it's always ugly people that say appearance is so superficial.

 

[jjhatfield]

I've been pretty happy with foobar just using columns ui and album art. I have four columns on top, GENRE -> ARTIST-> ALBUM -> ART, and the bottom half of the screen is the playlist. I use the columns ui playlist with the Navigator Suite *.fcs (I think its fcs?) file.

I say "pretty" happy because sometimes foobar still drives me insane, what with album art sometimes disappearing and the fact that columns ui always defaults to organizing songs by filename instead of track number. True I can always just click on the box above the track numbers, but having to do this everytime I pick a new album just is annoying.

But hey, you gets whats you pays for!

BTW, if anyone knows how to default foobar to organizing by track #, please please let me know.

 

[cooperpwc]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jjhatfield /img/forum/go_quote.gif I've been pretty happy with foobar just using columns ui and album art. I have four columns on top, GENRE -> ARTIST-> ALBUM -> ART, and the bottom half of the screen is the playlist. I use the columns ui playlist with the Navigator Suite *.fcs (I think its fcs?) file. I say "pretty" happy because sometimes foobar still drives me insane, what with album art sometimes disappearing and the fact that columns ui always defaults to organizing songs by filename instead of track number. True I can always just click on the box above the track numbers, but having to do this everytime I pick a new album just is annoying. But hey, you gets whats you pays for! BTW, if anyone knows how to default foobar to organizing by track #, please please let me know.

Aren't your songs named: "01 Taxman", "02 Eleanor Rigby" etc.? If you don't have the number in front of the title, you will have a problem. (You then tell Foobar to ignore the number when displaying the title in the playlist column.)