Any possibility for these features?

[ChiggyChiggy]

Ive been trying out other media players lately and seeing what they have over Winamp. Strangely not much really, most are lacking in comparison to it, some even outright do their best to have compatibility with Winamp's plugins to achieve some form of similarity to it. But there are some features i find really cool and interesting in them thatd be kickass if they made their way to Winamp.

-Showing what your last search queries were in the sidebar: Mediamonkey has this one, for example if i search for "80's Hits" ill have under the search history dropdown menu an item showing i searched for that. similar to the way Winamp currently lists playback history etc...

-Ability to find the file if its been moved (as assuming its still the same file): If you move a file from one folder to another (and both folders are in Winamps watch folders) Winamp wont know where that file is and itll just keep trying to play that file thinking itll magically come back or something, that often causes Winamp to be painfully slow as it does that. Why not make it look for that file within the watch folders that Winamp looks over? Itd also reduce the amount of times a file that you previously had in the media library appearing in the "Recently Added" section >.<

-Duplicate removal: Well, not exactly removing them i suppose, but a way to list all files that have similar/ the same name in some way and group them somewhere (similar to how the search query history of Mediamonkey works)

Like for example if theres "Artist - Song (Bla Bla remix)" and "artist - song [bla bla remix]" itd put them there, thus making it so much easier to remove and check your dupes.

-Playlist duplicate removal/ Avoid re-adding if its already there: If you have a folder with playlist files and added new playlist files in it, rescanning that folder makes Winamp add everything in it even though theyre already there listed in Winamp, and there is no way to remove duplicate playlists except for manually deleting them one by one D:

-More metadata tag options or if not option to add custom metadata tags to be viewed: Im referring to this to be precise http://i.gyazo.com/5fe2d44f058ca9cd834419123d337fe4.png
With Winamp soon to use MusicBrainz this will introduce new tags such as country and language and date, those three are rather useful, itd be really cool if those could be viewed in the media library too.

-Some form of way to view lyrics, just anything: I know lyrics arent all that popular here apparently, but perhaps to add an option to view them the same way comments are viewed in the Alt+3 editor? And perhaps an option to add them? To be precise, to add the UNSYNCEDLYRICS tag of the id3v2 standard, not the other kinds.

-View more than one album art: If a song has say, a front cover and back cover embedded into it, is there a way to make it view both? Like to shuffle between them during playback and such. Or an option to toggle that feature on/off.

-Import data from other players: Currently, unless im doing wrong that is, Winamp only can import from iTunes, smart choice since alot of people migrate from it to Winamp, but is there a way to make it import details from other media players like WMP and foobar2000? Just the popular ones, not like every every media player under the sun that is lol. Makes it more easier to switch to for people coming from those.


Just me hoping for stuff, is all ~

If theres no chance of any of these seeing some kind of daylight of hope in a future version, are there any plugins that do these already? Or do 3rd party plugins once again fail to deliver in adding functionality...

[Victhor]

Originally Posted by ChiggyChiggy

-Ability to find the file if its been moved (as assuming its still the same file):....

Already present without plugin, you need to: (a) Rescan Watchfolder -with the convenient option in "Library" button if you want- (b) drop in the Media library both folders -where the file was and where the file is- AND (c) enable "automatically remove missing files" in Prefs (Media Library > Local Library > Watch Folders tab).

Originally Posted by ChiggyChiggy

-Playlist duplicate removal/ Avoid re-adding if its already there: If you have a folder with playlist files and added new playlist files in it, rescanning that folder makes Winamp add everything in it even though theyre already there listed in Winamp, and there is no way to remove duplicate playlists except for manually deleting them one by one D:

ALMOST there.. you can't avoid dupes to get added to the playlist, but once there you should go to Remove button > Remove > Remove duplicate entries...


There could be another way around for the other points you name (with plugins), but is all I can give you now before I go to watch Germany - Brazil

[ChiggyChiggy]

Originally Posted by Victhor

Already present without plugin, you need to: (a) Rescan Watchfolder -with the convenient option in "Library" button if you want- (b) drop in the Media library both folders -where the file was and where the file is- AND (c) enable "automatically remove missing files" in Prefs (Media Library > Local Library > Watch Folders tab).

Wait doesnt that just re-add the file and removes the older one, which sorta kinda does make you loose your play count and ratings etc..? D:

Originally Posted by Victhor

ALMOST there.. you can't avoid dupes to get added to the playlist, but once there you should go to Remove button > Remove > Remove duplicate entries...

Not the files in the playlist itself xD I mean the playlists themselves, like say if i have workout songs.pls in a folder and i rescan that folder for playlists, itll get added again, and if i keep at rescanning that folder id end up with that playlist file being there a bazillion times lol.

Originally Posted by Victhor

[B]but is all I can give you now before I go to watch Germany - Brazil

Not sure if i should be more exited to see Germany vs Netherlands or Argentina vs Brazil in the final lol, both are too legendary to imagine even xD

[Aminifu]

Originally Posted by ChiggyChiggy

Not the files in the playlist itself xD I mean the playlists themselves, like say if i have workout songs.pls in a folder and i rescan that folder for playlists, itll get added again, and if i keep at rescanning that folder id end up with that playlist file being there a bazillion times lol.

A media library playlist could be a copy of an external playlist which is saved in a special folder and given an alphanumeric name. This name is internally associated with the name of the external playlist that you see listed in the library.

Winamp doesn't try to determine duplicate playlists when you add external playlists and turn them into media library playlist copies. It simply makes a copy (with a unique alphanumeric name) of whatever external playlist you tell it to add. So the same external playlist name can be listed multiple times, but each one is associated with a different copy of the external playlist (even if the external playlist was not changed). Winamp doesn't rescan a folder of playlists, it just imports whatever is in the folder. What I used to do was delete all the existing media library playlists and re-add them when I wanted to refresh these associated copies (for changes I had made to various external playlists).

Now, Winamp has an option that lets you use external playlists as they are and not make a copy of them. So when you make changes to an external playlist, they are 'picked up' the next time you load the playlist and there is no need for re-adding the same playlists or folder(s) containing the playlist(s). You just need to separately add new playlists to the media library list as you create them (with the option to use them as they are). If you re-add folders of playlists (with the option to use the playlists as they are), Winamp will not add those with the same names in the same locations as ones it already has listed. It will prompt for each such occurrence, but not provide the duplicated playlist name.

Removing 'true' duplicates (files and playlists) is a manual task, since Winamp has no way to tell if the duplication is intentional or not (a person may want the same thing in different locations). There are GP options that can be used that will try to indicate what appears to be duplicates in playlist editor listings (simple comparisons of playlist editor 'titles', not to be confused with song/video titles).

Files with the same names in different locations (or different names in the same location) may or may not be duplicates. There are 3rd party plug-ins and external apps that can do internal file checks and identify 'true' duplicates. Having Winamp do this as part of it's native loading and playing of files would just slow things down, imo.

[Aminifu]

Originally Posted by ChiggyChiggy

Wait doesnt that just re-add the file and removes the older one, which sorta kinda does make you loose your play count and ratings etc..? D:

A file moved to a different location is considered a new (different) file, so things like playcount are restarted. Moving a file to a different location, rescanning with the remove missing files option, then moving the file back and rescanning again is an awkward but effective way to reset the file's playcount.

If the file's format supports storing a rating internally, then doing so (a GP option) will allow the rating to 'travel' with the file.

[ChiggyChiggy]

Originally Posted by Aminifu

A media library playlist could be a copy of an external playlist which is saved in a special folder and given an alphanumeric name. This name is internally associated with the name of the external playlist that you see listed in the library.

Winamp doesn't try to determine duplicate playlists when you add external playlists and turn them into media library playlist copies. It simply makes a copy (with a unique alphanumeric name) of whatever external playlist you tell it to add. So the same external playlist name can be listed multiple times, but each one is associated with a different copy of the external playlist (even if the external playlist was not changed). Winamp doesn't rescan a folder of playlists, it just imports whatever is in the folder. What I used to do was delete all the existing media library playlists and re-add them when I wanted to refresh these associated copies (for changes I had made to various external playlists).

Personally i like to keep a reserve backup of my playlist files, so that in the event i mess up my Winamp install and have to reinstall it, i wont loose those playlists i spent forever to make :P That and Windows re-installs, i learned the hard way that if i didnt have the playlist files out of Winamp theyd be gone forever.

Originally Posted by Aminifu

Now, Winamp has an option that lets you use external playlists as they are and not make a copy of them. So when you make changes to an external playlist, they are 'picked up' the next time you load the playlist and there is no need for re-adding the same playlists or folder(s) containing the playlist(s). You just need to separately add new playlists to the media library list as you create them (with the option to use them as they are). If you re-add folders of playlists (with the option to use the playlists as they are), Winamp will not add those with the same names in the same locations as ones it already has listed. It will prompt for each such occurrence, but not provide the duplicated playlist name.

Wait, so Winamp already can Prompt the user that the playlist already is added if Winamp i set to always use the external playlist?

If not... Atleast an option to match and see if the external playlist is the same as the one Winamp lists? Or perhaps to ask the user that that playlist that Winamp already lists is the same as the one theyre trying to add and if theyre really sure they want to add that dupe?

Originally Posted by Aminifu

Removing 'true' duplicates (files and playlists) is a manual task, since Winamp has no way to tell if the duplication is intentional or not (a person may want the same thing in different locations). There are GP options that can be used that will try to indicate what appears to be duplicates in playlist editor listings (simple comparisons of playlist editor 'titles', not to be confused with song/video titles).

Files with the same names in different locations (or different names in the same location) may or may not be duplicates. There are 3rd party plug-ins and external apps that can do internal file checks and identify 'true' duplicates. Having Winamp do this as part of it's native loading and playing of files would just slow things down, imo.

But suggesting to the user that those are possibly duplicates because they have similar details is atleast something, that way the user can review if it is one or not. As in it just lists what it finds then the user can decide if they really are dupes, not a "hey i found dupes, imma delete them now without letting you know what i choose to keep, or if they were even dupes" (like how most external duplicate removing apps behave)

iTunes and several others even have an option like this, surprised that an advanced player like Winamp doesnt have it tbh, even more surprising is that no one ever wrote a plugin that gives such functionality

Originally Posted by Aminifu

A file moved to a different location is considered a new (different) file, so things like playcount are restarted. Moving a file to a different location, rescanning with the remove missing files option, then moving the file back and rescanning again is an awkward but effective way to reset the file's playcount.

Wasnt there someone who complained about something like this in the "Winamp News" thread? lol maybe that feature should be considered after all if such a workaround is needed to remove playcount, and is possibly the reason why theres never been a file finding option o.O

iirc, even iTunes has a file finding option lol, and if iTunes has a feature thats useful but Winamp doesnt, then theres something wrong there, its supposed to be the other way round D:

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There was a plugin once that did something pretty much like this (by using hashes), what was it called or if it still works even i have no idea, but it did demonstrate that it was possible, and having that feature would be kickass if it was built in

Theres even a plugin (or perhaps an external program it was?) that does this with playlist file locations (the files the playlist lists that is, not the playlist file itself), by locating where the files are if say you move the files somewhere else. Plfix was its name i believe.

[Aminifu]

Originally Posted by ChiggyChiggy

Personally i like to keep a reserve backup of my playlist files, ...

Everything (data and apps) that is not possible to replace, or is not relatively easy to replace, should be backed up, imo. Large capacity external drives are now inexpensive. Attach one periodically, backup stuff, detach and store in a safe place.

Originally Posted by ChiggyChiggy

Wasnt there someone who complained about something like this in the "Winamp News" thread?

There will always be different ways to look at things. Including a file's location with the attributes that define a unique file sounds reasonable to me. If a user's file storage scheme requires that files be moved frequently, then maybe a different scheme (requiring less movement) should be used.

In the case of intentional dupes, would you want to know how often each dupe was played or would you want all the dupes to list the same playcount?

I agree that it would be nice to be able to easily reset, or edit, a file's playcount. Maybe that will be addressed in the future.

Originally Posted by ChiggyChiggy

... and is possibly the reason why theres never been a file finding option o.O

iirc, even iTunes has a file finding option lol, and if iTunes has a feature thats useful but Winamp doesnt, then theres something wrong there, its supposed to be the other way round D:

Winamp has no need to copycat iTunes' features, imo.

There are various ways to search for things in the media library database and in the playlist editor listings. If you mean searching the computer in general, then there are other ways to do that (even included in the OS itself). Why should Winamp incorporate these common functions? Just to be able to say "Me too" and give people a legitimate reason to complain about bloat?

Originally Posted by ChiggyChiggy

Theres even a plugin (or perhaps an external program it was?) that does this with playlist file locations (the files the playlist lists that is, not the playlist file itself), by locating where the files are if say you move the files somewhere else. Plfix was its name i believe.

Maybe you mean "listFix()" (link below)?

http://listfix.sourceforge.net/