Improvements tips for 5.9+

[MrSinatra]

Glad to hear it's only a visual issue. However, 127 mathematically speaking isn't the center of a total range of -127 to +255 nor is it even exactly half of 255, so I don't dispute the behavior u are observing, but rather I don't understand the behavior, bc it doesn't make sense on any level.

[PeterK.]

When I assign the same y coordinate to both Songticker and Infoticker the latter one is some pixels deeper on the display.

[MrSinatra]

http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?t=398822

[PeterK.]

It would be nice if we could see Album Cover while listening to a stream. There are Online Radios, which provide such service and there are players which are capable of showing those covers. Many fans "abandoned" Winamp and switched to another player just because of this feature.

[MrSinatra]

If it's a shoutcast stream, and the broadcaster provides it, u can see artwork.

If it isn't coming from a shoutcast source tho, hard to see how winamp could do this.

[PeterK.]

Originally Posted by MrSinatra

If it's a shoutcast stream, and the broadcaster provides it, u can see artwork.

Please provide some stream links so I can see the Album Cover. Because according to this post it is not possible.

Originally Posted by MrSinatra

If it isn't coming from a shoutcast source tho, hard to see how winamp could do this.

On the other side if Winamp is going to be the ultimate media playing machine and state-of-the-art app the ability of showing ALL album covers from Online Radios is paramount, do you not think? It cannot be that AIMP can show them and Winamp cannot.

[MrSinatra]

Originally Posted by PeterK.

Please provide some stream links so I can see the Album Cover. Because according to this post it is not possible.

that post is from 2010.

i don't listen to many streams, but i did run one, and i worked with DrO on this feature, (i did testing and feedback).

http://wiki.winamp.com/wiki/SHOUTcas...-_Picture_Data

that ^ ...is bc the DSP itself, will grab the local artwork if the broadcaster has artwork to go with whatever files they are streaming out/broadcasting. thats what is meant by "in stream packet."

http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?t=372044

3) This version includes artwork support but requires a v2.2.x or newer version of the v2.x SHOUTcast DNAS in order to be able to use it.

& note this in the winamp 5.64 release notes:

* Improved: [in_mp3] Shoutcast v2 in-stream artwork support (and other misc fixes)

Originally Posted by PeterK.

On the other side if Winamp is going to be the ultimate media playing machine and state-of-the-art app the ability of showing ALL album covers from Online Radios is paramount, do you not think? It cannot be that AIMP can show them and Winamp cannot.

i don't use AIMP, what is the source of the streams?

i'm just saying that depending on who is using what to broadcast, (protocol, metadata provided, etc) winamp will have a hard time figuring out what is being played and getting the right art for it. as of right now, winamp has no metadata lookups AT ALL, so i would think that has a priority. if they figure out audio-fingerprinting, maybe they could apply that to any stream as well.

[PeterK.]

Please remember running a decent update on those internal icons. 70% of them are not bigger than 32x32 at 256 colors. It is 2019 in two months, Winamp desperately needs a nice series of modern icons in the range of 16x16 up to 512x512 pixel.

Originally Posted by MrSinatra

... i don't use AIMP, what is the source of the streams

This one for example: Radio Paradise. And a screenshot showing Album Cover while streaming. I got the picture from an ex-Winamp fan.

[MrSinatra]

Just linking:

http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?t=453790

[bgd]

My list is short:

Do not change/remove the Winamp Classic skin
Do not change the Winamp layout in any way
Refresh the icons and GUI only minimally so that they don't look blocky on 4K screens but don't change their look
Add the ability to change playback speed (e.g. something similar to the PaceMaker plugin)
Vastly improve the buit-in Winamp equalizer in terms of features and performance (iZotope Ozone for Winamp, released in 2001, is still the gold standard for me)

[Thermaltake]

It would be great to see again that autotag for unknown songs if that could be possible.

[thevan]

5.8 seems good to me. I'm just hoping Radionomy doesn't fuck it up.

Open-sourcing the thing would be ideal though.

[sage2020]

Since winamp will use windows media foundation now, it should take full advantage of all the encoders and decoders WMF has to offer. For example, we can still encode AAC.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_..._media_formats

If encoding/decoding support varies by windows release (I don't know if vista has AAC encoding, and I don't think windows XP and below has much of anything at all) then I suppose winamp would have to detect the system and remove encoder/decoder support accordingly...

[MrSinatra]

My understanding is it does. Why do u think it can't?

[sage2020]

I'm on 5.8 right now and my encoding options are FLAC through libflac, MP3 (not sure what encoder is being used but I highly recommend LAME if winamp is using something else), vorbis using aoTuV (aoTuV or libvorbis is fine), and then WAV and WMA (which might be using windows media foundation encoders). However these are the only formats I see.

AAC m4a files play just fine, and winamp is apparently using the media foundation for decoding, but there's no way to encode files into AAC-LC even though it's supported by the media foundation.

[MrSinatra]

Originally Posted by sage2020

I'm on 5.8 right now and my encoding options are FLAC through libflac, MP3 (not sure what encoder is being used but I highly recommend LAME if winamp is using something else), vorbis using aoTuV (aoTuV or libvorbis is fine), and then WAV and WMA (which might be using windows media foundation encoders). However these are the only formats I see.

AAC m4a files play just fine, and winamp is apparently using the media foundation for decoding, but there's no way to encode files into AAC-LC even though it's supported by the media foundation.

http://forums.winamp.com/showpost.ph...&postcount=105

[sage2020]

Originally Posted by MrSinatra

http://forums.winamp.com/showpost.ph...&postcount=105

I understand that you can do this. I'm not talking about the fhg encoder here. In future versions of winamp, nobody is going to want to find an old version of winamp (5.666) and install that, then install a new version of winamp on top of the old version just to bring back features due to radionomy not having rights to portions of the software that AOL used (such as fhg aac).

Windows can encode AAC-LC by default using the media foundation. I understand it can't do HE-AAC, but this is mostly not an issue. HE-AAC has much more limited use cases, and if you're encoding music (such as ripping a CD to your music library in AAC format) you probably want AAC-LC 128 bitrate or higher.

It's better to have an AAC-LC only encoder included in winamp than no AAC encoder included at all, with the only way to get an AAC encoder by downloading an old version of the software. Most users would be totally fine with just a AAC-LC encoder, and to reiterate, it's better than nothing at all.

[Obi-Wan]

The developers forgot to mention in changelog, that they have switched mp3 decoding engine [in_mp3] from FhG IIS to libmpg123. It was a good decoder (mpg123), but probably not as good as THE decoder from Fraunhofer IIS. So:
1) It is worth mention to add this change in changelog
2) Maybe it could be switched back to FhG IIS decoder

[DJ Egg]

Hi Obi-Wan

5.8 changelog does have this line

* Replaced: MP3 Decoder now mpg123 based (instead of Fraunhofer)

iirc, AOL had a special deal with Thomson/FhG for the mp3 decoder and aac encoder.
Audiovalley/Radionomy doesn't have any such deal.

[TimbreWolf]

I still use v5.666 since it works perfectly for me, and considering how much I rely on it I need some good motivation to risk an update. Apart from Linux compatibility (which is I know is difficult), the biggest improvement for me would be better management of playlists so that they can be better organised than just having a big long list of them as at present. E.g. adding:

• Ability to organise playlists into sections/groups/folders.
• Ability to view playlists as tabs and simultaneously side by side.

EDIT: Another feature that comes to mind is the ability to search the preferences menu... I always have difficulty remembering where certain options are to be found there.

[NJK]

Originally Posted by TimbreWolf

I still use v5.666 since it works perfectly for me, and considering how much I rely on it I need some good motivation to risk an update. Apart from Linux compatibility (which is I know is difficult), the biggest improvement for me would be better management of playlists so that they can be better organised than just having a big long list of them as at present. E.g. adding:

• Ability to organise playlists into sections/groups/folders.
• Ability to view playlists as tabs and simultaneously side by side.

EDIT: Another feature that comes to mind is the ability to search the preferences menu... I always have difficulty remembering where certain options are to be found there.

5.8 is and always will be a leaked beta version
have a read here --> http://forums.winamp.com/showpost.ph...postcount=2354

5.8 will not continue nor will there be further bug fixes etc

[DJ Egg]

Originally Posted by NJK

5.8 will not continue nor will there be further bug fixes etc

5.8 will continue... as 5.9 :-)

[NJK]

Originally Posted by DJ Egg

5.8 will continue... as 5.9 :-)

Makes no sense to me to continue on a very unstable version, instead i would have started out with 5.66 to be developed into 5.9

or has this to do with licenses?

[DJ Egg]

Originally Posted by NJK

Makes no sense to me to continue on a very unstable version, instead i would have started out with 5.66 to be developed into 5.9

or has this to do with licenses?

Yes, we can't use 5.666
5.666 includes software/libraries/codecs from Gracenote, Sonic, Fraunhofer & more which were exclusively licensed to AOL.

So 5.666 is basically illegal (for us to use).

For 5.8, we removed all those elements (Gracenote CDDB & Acoustic Fingerprinting etc., Sonic Burning Engine, Fraunhofer MP3 & AAC decoder & AAC Encoder) - and we still haven't managed to replace the former two yet (we will hopefully eventually replace Gracenote with MusicBrainz or similar service - and probably the burning engine with the native Windows engine).

5.8 was leaked before we had the chance to finish it, and then covid & other tragedies happened - the new dev team at the time (2019-20) were effectively laid off - and we've only just got a new dev team very recently...

We just want to get a more stable and modernized codebase version out, and then hopefully we can continue and complete all the required work - and more.

[DJ-Garybaldy]

So if they can't use the code from 5.666 it makes 5.9 a bit like Triggers Broom on Only fools and horses.... The Same broom but with 20 new heads....

[DJ Egg]

Originally Posted by DJ-Garybaldy

So if they can't use the code from 5.666 it makes 5.9 a bit like Triggers Broom on Only fools and horses.... The Same broom but with 20 new heads....

We can use all the code from 5.666 except for Gracenote, Sonic Burning Engine & Fraunhofer codecs... as we did for 5.8.

We also can't include JTFE :-(

We already replaced the Fraunhofer MP3 & AAC decoders in 5.8, but not the AAC Encoder yet.

Gracenote to MusicBrainz/MusicStory will be a pretty large job.


It was never going to be easy.

[thinktink]

Originally Posted by DJ Egg

...

We already replaced the Fraunhofer MP3 & AAC decoders in 5.8, but not the AAC Encoder yet.

...

Were those replaced with Win 7/10 Windows Media Foundation Transforms (MFTs) APIs? ( https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/win...ion-transforms )

[ChocolateAdventurouz]

Originally Posted by thinktink

Were those replaced with Win 7/10 Windows Media Foundation Transforms (MFTs) APIs? ( https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/win...ion-transforms )

[5.8's changelog]
* Replaced: MP3 Decoder now mpg123 based (instead of Fraunhofer)
* Replaced: AAC Decoder now using Media Foundation (Vista and higher)

[kzuse]

Replacing the encoders/decoders with free stuff like ffmpeg or the native Windows codecs is manageable I think and will not really be noticed by most folks, as functionality should keep the same. Take your time to complete it.

The real tragedy I think is that JTFE cannot be included any more, because of personal differences (as far as I remember). Is there really no way to "settle" with its original creator, and maybe licence the code, or re-write it in own code which at least "mimics" the most important functionality? (Like the queue, etc.)...

I think besides this being VERY much of an effort, there shouldn't be any legal issues with re-creating the behavior with own code, because I doubt that anyone has a "patent" or something like that on these features, right?

Personally, the missing of JTFE will, for me, be the reason to stay on 5.666 forever, as long as a new version doesn't implement these features or at least allows to load the old dll, maintaining compatibility with it (while not officially shipping it with the installer). That would be ok as well....

Anyway, I am very glad to hear about the 5.9 plans at all, and that there's some movement again!

All the best to the new dev team and best regards,
kzuse

[Fernando Villarroel]

Originally Posted by NJK

As the title already says...

As an improvement, I would love to suggest the possibility of adding Rich Presence to Winamp in order for it to natively show the player information within Discord, without needing any type of third party plugins.

[owem]

I want the Queue Manager back again.

[MrSinatra]

i've never understood all this hand wringing over jtfe? i know some people love it, but why act like its impossible to replace?

take a winamp dev, reverse engineer 2 or 3 features, put it out as an open source plugin, and let the community help build it and or let you know what features are actually wanted from it.

[Mikey7]

Originally Posted by MrSinatra

i've never understood all this hand wringing over jtfe? i know some people love it, but why act like its impossible to replace?

take a winamp dev, reverse engineer 2 or 3 features, put it out as an open source plugin, and let the community help build it and or let you know what features are actually wanted from it.

Agreed but I'd rather throw those users a bone with your suggestion and let them move on with 5.9.x rather than stay on an old version or worse, leave Winamp for a well-known clone.

[Fernando Villarroel]

Originally Posted by owem

I want the Queue Manager back again.

It's been sooo long since the last time I used it, I didn't even notice it has gone now.

[mattdm11]

https://ibb.co/cwtnsMh

I don't know why the image is not showing up.

I don't have many suggestions for improvements, and who knows, maybe some of my suggestions already exist and I don't know it:

1. I believe the album art plugin should be a feature added (I love the large art that is in a separate window), and I remember reading that there's a bug that makes the artwork a little blurred/pixelated, that I can definitely see with some artwork.

2. It would be nice to be able to sort in the main window with the artwork by album artist, then by year. Currently I have it by album artist and then it defaults to alphabetical order.

3. Coverflow would be a cool feature (I've seen it on foobar but you need a doctorate to get the program the way you want it)

4. Any thoughts for an app? For example, I still use aWARemote, which is a great program, but I think it hasn't been updated in years. It's clean, beautiful, and really doesn't need much work to it.

5. The browser tab seems pointless.

6. I would love for the program to scan my directories where my music is and add new files. I believe this is a feature, but I wish it could be limited to file types - for example, I don't want videos in here, I wish I could tell Winamp to scan for any new .FLAC or .MP3, and nothing else.

7. I wish we could have multiple libraries. For example, I like having my "officially released" music in one library and don't want to clutter it with bootlegs I get from archive.org or leaked demos from band studio sessions. But since they are not in my library, the only way I can play them is going into my folders in Windows Explorer and navigating that way.

That's all that's coming to mind.

[NJK]

Originally Posted by mattdm11

https://ibb.co/cwtnsMh

I don't know why the image is not showing up.

I'm glad it isn't showing up , it would break the forum, much too big.
If you click the link it's shows .

[Fernando Villarroel]

Originally Posted by mattdm11

1. I believe the album art plugin should be a feature added (I love the large art that is in a separate window), and I remember reading that there's a bug that makes the artwork a little blurred/pixelated, that I can definitely see with some artwork.

2. It would be nice to be able to sort in the main window with the artwork by album artist, then by year. Currently I have it by album artist and then it defaults to alphabetical order.

I never had those problems since, what I do, is:

1. Before playing my FLAC files with Winamp, I add the ID Tags to them using AIMP Advanced Tag Editor, that way I can add the album art manually, cherry picking the clearest image possible at around 3000 x 3000 pixels. So, besides being useful with Winamp, I can also play them in my phone using PowerAmp.

2. After adding the ID tags to the files, I rename them to be "BAND NAME - 01", "BAND NAME - 02" and so on, and I rename their folder to "YEAR (ALBUM NAME)", that way all of my audio files remain chronologically organized in Winamp by selecting the "Sort list by path and file name" option. And as the previous option, this also works for keeping them organized in PowerAmp as well.

Hope it helps in something.

[MrSinatra]

Originally Posted by Fernando Villarroel

I never had those problems since, what I do, is:

1. Before playing my FLAC files with Winamp, I add the ID Tags to them using AIMP Advanced Tag Editor, that way I can add the album art manually, cherry picking the clearest image possible at around 3000 x 3000 pixels. So, besides being useful with Winamp, I can also play them in my phone using PowerAmp.

2. After adding the ID tags to the files, I rename them to be "BAND NAME - 01", "BAND NAME - 02" and so on, and I rename their folder to "YEAR (ALBUM NAME)", that way all of my audio files remain chronologically organized in Winamp by selecting the "Sort list by path and file name" option. And as the previous option, this also works for keeping them organized in PowerAmp as well.

Hope it helps in something.

i stopped using FLAC, but i never needed ID3 tags in FLACs. did u mean ID3 tags or just metadata in general?

[Aminifu]

Originally Posted by kzuse

...

Personally, the missing of JTFE will, for me, be the reason to stay on 5.666 forever, as long as a new version doesn't implement these features or at least allows to load the old dll, maintaining compatibility with it (while not officially shipping it with the installer). That would be ok as well....

Anyway, I am very glad to hear about the 5.9 plans at all, and that there's some movement again!

All the best to the new dev team and best regards,
kzuse

My sentiments exactly.

[Fernando Villarroel]

Originally Posted by MrSinatra

i stopped using FLAC, but i never needed ID3 tags in FLACs. did u mean ID3 tags or just metadata in general?

ID3 Tags, in order for all of the info to properly appear in media players, from songs titles and bands names, up to album covers.