Music Jukebox (Party-mode) enhancement/improvement suggestions

First off, XBMC team please don't take this as criticism. You have done a GREAT job, but I find XBMC very lacking when it comes to playing/handling music. Try throwing on music with XBMC at a party, and watch the confusion when people try to find a specific number or even change back and fourh from the "now playing" list to the file list. I myself find it confusing at times.

So I suggest a "Jukexbox" mode. To better illustrate what I mean, I have quickly put together a "screenshot" of how i imagine it.



Let me go trough it step by step.

I imagine that the jukebox mode has its own settings "page" under xbmc settings. Here you can define various settings eg. how many "Queue" slots there is available.

Let me explain "Queue" slots: A small "play list" that holds "x" UNIQUE songs queued by users. The list cannot exeed the defined number of slots. If the list is full a new number can only be added when the number currently playing has finished. If the list runs out of enqueued numbers, xbmc chooses the next number (random or whatever defined in settings). Wether it should be shown in the queue list I dont know. I have tried a similar system, and it worked perfectly (dont worry it was a simple homemade jukebox program, so there soulden't be any copyright issues)

The jukebox playlist could be defined as a set of folders or predefined playlist. Either at jukebox mode startup or in settings.

The search mode should be similar the search function in winamp when pressing "j" and typing. The more letters the narrower search. The search should clear itself after not being used for a while. To so not to confuse new users. When the search box is empty, the entire playlist should show in the result box.

Jukebox mode should have the option to password protect exit of jukebox mode, to prevent people from fucking up xbmc

Thats about it for now.. these are just ideas and I really hope you will consider using some of them. I would really like to see someting like this in xbmx. That and the "winamp" search function i regular music mode.

Im sorry if my text is confusing, and dosen't make much sense If so.. just ask and ill try to explain it better.

-TM

Btw. the idea with "queue" slots is that if a number has been added it cannot be removed any other way than being played.

Another thing, is there no way to edit ones posts? or am I just blind?

-TM

I think it's a great idea! Should you be able to skip to the next song at any time?

you do realize this is party mode except that you can navigate and see the queue at the same time, right?

** edit ** the reason I ask this is because I've been messing around with a way to provide access to the tag info of all the items in the Music Now Playing queue. I cleaned up the code and submitted it as a patch if anyone wants to have a look see (it's a work in progress. there's still some duplicate code which i need to clean up and whatnot.)

http://sourceforge.net/tracker/index.php...tid=581840

i already started working on updates to the Now Playing windows. there was another thread on it, but essentially i plan on simplifying things.

the "randomize" button will be removed and the shuffle button corrected so that newly added items are shuffled if its enabled and can still be unshuffled.

then i;ll go about removing all traces of the insidious "hidden" music playlist so that the only one that remains is in the one thats visible from the Now Playing window.

after these changes are in, these info label additions will make more sense as it'll mean an always correct "next song:" and "last song:" label. (right now, randomize screws it up because it doesnt play in consecutive order.)

** edit 2 **

fyi... the wife just informed me that i broke something i screwed something up when i was cleaning things up. if u use the patch xbmc will crash if you reference a bad index value... i'll fix this tomorrow. i'm too tired now.

lennon105: I dont think so, people tend to have different taste in music, and skip a number if they dislike it. Eventhough other people might like it. And I have no doubt that they wont die from being forced to hear one or two numbers they dont like.

kraqh3d: I realize that is is much like party mode, and party mode works well but still there are problems.

Like people want to hear a specific number and you can't really choose your own queue , you can, but its too difficult (IMHO), it takes for ever and various screens to add a specific number. Another thing: people tend to go past a number, they heard about 1 sec and then skipped on by reflex. Then they are unable to go back when they realised that they actually liked it afterall. And trust me it happens.. especially when a little alcohol is involved

I still hope you would consider coding something like this. It would be great at parties. And really usefull if you bring it somewhere use it as jukebox. And im not saying that this "mode" should replace normal music mode or party mode

-TM

You have to realize that there's only so much screen real-estate. Personally, I feel thats way too much onscreen. But, all of what you've shown can be done today with the http-api and would look pretty damn good on a computer screen. In fact, it would be a great little side project.

To give you the background, party mode is xbmc's first attempt at jukebox mode. I agree that it really should have its own "combo" window now but its work i honestly dont feel like taking on at the moment. If anyone feels inclined, my original thought was that Party Mode needed a window which is half Library and half Now Playing. I envisioned two two browser panels -- top and bottom.

On the top you'd have a browser panel for navigating the Library, and on the bottom you'd have a smaller browser panel showing you the queue. (One of the problems with this is the difficulty in switching between panels. Left-Right panels are easier but it looks like crap IMO.) The other advantage of giving party mode a dedicated window is you can "lock" xbmc so that only this window and the vis are accessible to prevent users from doing anything stupid.

A winamp-style live search thing is possible in the GUI but unlikely. The keyboard takes up way too much screen real-estate. And theres already a simple "search" button in Library which works.

The code is built around the premise that the current song is always at the top of the queue. And user picked songs get queued up under the current song or last user song, and above any randomly selected songs. I think it would be silly to maintain a "perpetually" running queue, but this could be changed so that the last five songs or something remain in the queue so its easier to go back to them.

And if anyone is interested... I fixed the problem with that patch at 4:30am (dont ask!). I also cleaned up the code more and added retrevial of the covers. (I imagine a "coming up:" list with a tiny cover image and the song title.)

I havent had time to test this yet but I added instructions to the patch record on how to fix the crash.

kraqh3d: Thanks for your reply and interest.

My "screenshot" was just a quick idea, not that it had to be that way. I agree its a little cramped. But I would still love to have a live search function in xbmc even in the current "music mode". I use the feature on my pc in winamp frequently.

I realize it would take a lot of time and coding, but i hope it can happen some day. And I myself have just begun to learn a bit about C programming otherwise i would certainly lend a hand.

I look forward to checking out your changes to the music mode

-TM

if u'r familiar with other languages (C#, whatever) you should be able to whip up a front end like this that uses the http api to control xbmc. everything you would need to do this is available through that api.

No, the only experince i have with "programming" is php , besides I would like the xbox to do it without the aid of another computer. Othervise I would just use my laptop do it all

YES YES YES....! i would realy love this feature... even did a post of something similar a year ago http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=10491