[Sparky191]

Can someone give a config for foobar2000 that I can set up in foorbar2000 in 2 mins that allows me to see my MP3's in filetree and as tags (Genre/artist/album) , as per Media Monkey.

I messed about with Foobar and I couldn't find a way to even dock the album panel. Which BTW I want to see as Genre/artist/album. I got bored with it though. Too much like work. I reckon if you have to explain an interface it doesn't work.

 

[smeggy]

Having used Foo for a good long time I think that unless you actually need Foo's advanced features (and very few actually do) then I don't see any real advantage over a more integrated and, imho, better everyday players like Media Monkey. Evangelize all you want, most people have little use or time for more than a user-friendly player. Unlike hardware, Media players rarely sound much different from each other so ultimately it comes down to interface and useability.

 

[Oga]

Quote:

Originally Posted by naelq Foobar is "tricky" ? "hard to use" ? "complex" ? come on guys, all you have to do is to SIT-DOWN on your ARSE's & READ, READ, & READ! (~20 mins. will be enough to start your 1st Foobar operation!) no "SPECIAL COMBAT" courses are required for running this app!

Or you could just download soemthing that works and press play. I dont think the average user is interested in "studying" anything. Hell I'm not - and I actually like computers.


Quote:

Originally Posted by Cyrilix Takes me about 1 minute to reconfigure foobar2k after a reformat for ASIO, DSPs, and a few other basic things, about 30 seconds more to import the fcs file for columns UI, and tada! That's a lot of work...surely...

Exactly. The average user is already going "huh"?

 

[Soundbuff]

I chose Medica Center v11 because it is an excellent file organizer and it is easy to learn and use. I tried to use Foobar but didn't have the time or patience to configure it.

The strength of Media Center is that it allows you to easily change and reorganize your file information any way you like with very advanced editing and searching features.

It has many other features that I don't use. I use Plextools for ripping and a separate program for downloading the files to my flash player.

I highly recommend Media Center for playing and organizing music files.

 

[Tim D]

I find foobar straightforward, however that is only after the learning curve required for any highly configurable software. There is still plenty of stuff I haven't gotten into since I only select the features and functions I want to use and figure out how to do them. However I believe most foobar users either already had a disposition for using that type of software, or just had to do a lot of reading up to do.

VLC is a media player that is just as complex if not much more so...and the thing is ported to OS X. Once you have already dealt with the learning curve of one complex software, the climb isn't as hard as you come across new ones.

For windows, I find Media Center 05 pretty good if you prefer the easy to use media jukebox (although admittedly I always end up using foobar). I have no idea how it handles 100 GB's of music.

 

[smeggy]

Call me strange but I also have VLC as well as Foo and a few others.

 

[Guild]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sparky191 Thats because you guys already know how to do these things. Personally I don't have time to trawl the web for this info. When you do find it, its always incomplete. For example it took me 10 mins to find foo_ui_columns.dll, I have no idea if its the right version, and I note in a entire day no one answered that question and I asked it yesterday. I don't have my music tagged correctly as when I ripped most of it I didn't have a MP3 player and only listened to on the PC. Then theres a whole bunch of stuff I swapped or ripped in different applications, all of which tag slightly differently. Even iTunes tags things incorrectly frequently. A lot of the time I can't connect to online db's as they are firewalled out. Lots of reasons why your MP3's might not be tagged as you like. BTW It took me 2 mins to write that. Not 2 sec, not 10sec. Thats not including the time it took to read the posts aswell.

You have to crawl the web to make foobar work? WHAT? Do you have to have a recipe to make grilled cheese sandwiches, too? I also currently work in IT, and this foobar is basic.

 

[Sparky191]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Guild You have to crawl the web to make foobar work? WHAT? Do you have to have a recipe to make grilled cheese sandwiches, too? I also currently work in IT, and this foobar is basic.

So basic that none of you so called experts has answered my question in 2 days.

or indeed any of my other questions about it. I thought configuration took what was it 30sec? 1 minute?

I wonder do you actually know the app or only know tiny bits of it.

 

[guma]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sparky191 So basic that none of you so called experts has answered my question in 2 days. or indeed any of my other questions about it. I thought configuration took what was it 30sec? 1 minute? I wonder do you actually know the app or only know tiny bits of it.

If you give me your email adress I'll send you a copy of my foobar folder.

I too think foobar in its stock form is not very attractive and not very practical. And I doubt that anybody will completely reconfigure the stock configuration in short time to something really nice and usefull. As long as you're not having fun spending hours (days?) figuring out how it works the only reasonable way to go is - imho - to get a preconfigured foobar from somebody else and modify it a little bit to your taste. Configuring foobar from sratch seems to me like, for example, writing a new skin for firefox - instead of just downloading a premade skin.

 

[Sparky191]

Thanks guma PM sent.

 

[Unique]

I still prefer Media Center. It will do everything foobar could do right out of the box and more.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Asmo I agree, I use foobar, but I do not use any plugins for the UI, pure default here, its sized small, only to see which song is currently playing. I have my entire music collection sorted out already on the hard drive in folders, same as you.

MC will organize your files anyway you like for you, then remove the orphaned folders on yor computer.

Great looking intuitive interface as well.

 

[narticus]

say i have media center installed, but have a collection of mp3's from my girlfriend that i want to import into it via external HD (since we practically live together). if i just clicked and dragged her folder into media center, will it actually place those files onto my computer's HD? and any idea how it handles 100GB+ collections?

i'm really liking the look of that. very internet jukebox-esque. i think i'm almost sold.

 

[NiceCans]

narticus,
If you drag your g/f's files into Media Center it will import them but not move them. It WILL Move them if you tell it to though, but that is a seperate function/operation.

Media Center will work with libraries as large as 500 GB (over 65000 files) or larger, however after the first few-hundred GB's it does slow a bit as the library grows.
But what other programs will handle this many files (and more)? And can they do it without slowing down?

 

[narticus]

cool thanks for ths info.

MediaMonkey hasn't slowed down at all for me. It's extremely fast. I am running 2.5 GB of RAM though, so that could be why.

I'll be checking out Media Center very soon though, that program looks great. Plus, to me, spending up to $40 on a program as versatile as that is worth it compared to getting one for free and having to learn all the ins and outs before you can even use it.

 

[catachresis]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cyrilix Takes me about 1 minute to reconfigure foobar2k after a reformat for ASIO, DSPs, and a few other basic things, about 30 seconds more to import the fcs file for columns UI, and tada! That's a lot of work...surely...

You Foobar pros ought to compile a step-by-step how to in another thread that can be stickied. Talk to the Mod of 'Computers as Source' -- surely there's been enough expressed frustration for this to be addressed as an ongoing project. I would be interested.