by Barry4679 » Sun May 03, 2020 10:15 am
I have made many posts here about the lack of MM5 documentation, eg.
- Quick Start for new users
- Quick Start for users upgrading from MM5 and the list of upgrades and improvements
I have made so many posts on this subject, that they now just mostly ignore things I post here.
They either don't get it, or they are happy getting things polished to their liking, in their own sweet time ... in which you have to admire their persistence, and envy them for finding a job with such little apparent pressure.
However I don't agree with your characterisation of MM5.
From what I see MM5 offers (
nearly) everything that MM4 did, but in most cases it does it significantly better. You mentioned that you have a specific interest in "organising and cataloguing". In my view MM5 is clear winner when it comes to browsing and connecting with your music collection. ... I am now quite impatient with MM4 due to the lack of browsing tools, and display options.
You will have noticed that I qualified above, by saying "
nearly" everything has transferred over to MM5. I haven't noticed that they have dropped much, nothing that was important to me anyway. ... MM5 has lost the Virtual CD facility, probably because few people used it, and it addressed an issue which now pretty much dead, due to tech developments. That's the main deficit as far as i know.
It seems that next-to-nobody is converting their add-on scripts from MM4 to MM5. ... Who would blame the previous hobby developers, given the protracted development period for MM5, and the lack of support, and the lack of any apparent plan, and the lack of much info, or any consultation .... One would hope that people do come on board, once there is any confidence that MM5 will ever actually be released. ... They will have to re-develop the scripts however, just as the MM Developers have done, due to technological advancement.
So these add-on scripts will be a temporary, or permanent, loss for a lot of people. ... My own calculation is the MM5 vanilla is gaining me much more than I than I stand to lose.
Weatherman wrote: ↑Sun May 03, 2020 5:35 am
MM5 seems to be concerned with providing an experience similar to streaming services, but ultimately it doesn't seem to be connected in any way to the funcionality of MM4.
This is just wrong.
You should think of the new streaming facilities like this:
- it is an opportunity to expand the concept of your "music collection" to now also include music that you don't own, but do stream from a music service (primarily Google Music, but now some limited connection to Spotify) .... MM5 allows you to join your home music collection, with your streamed Google Play Music collection, and catalogue and play it, as if it was a single extended collection
- it also allows you publish your own music collection into Google's music servers, so that you can play from your own tracks, when you are away from home ... nb. Google offer to store and stream from up to 50,000 of your own tracks at no charge ... MM5 joins this all together, and allows you to make playlists that work within your Google library
- MM5 allows you to store an offsite backup version of your collection on a variety of web locations, and you can manage and use this collection, using MM5
So these are
extended facilities in MM5, which are added to all of the previous MM4 functionality.
MM5 is also technological refresh, which opens them up to touch screen devices, and the possibility of a cross platform versions. ... More customers coming onto the MM app would be a good thing for all of us.
Weatherman wrote: ↑Sun May 03, 2020 5:35 am
the databases are separate and unique to each version of MM
This isn't true either.
I have my own application which uses the MM4 database. My application works unchanged using the MM5 database.
I just downloaded the current MM4 in portable mode. It opens my MM5 database OK ... I am not saying this is recommended, nor practical in a go-forward sense, but the databases are not unique.
I do agree with your general point, that Ventis Media is shooting itself in the foot by neglecting to provide something to "sell" and explain the benefits of all of the MM5 enhancements. It is good to see other people reporting the same thing.
I have made many posts here about the lack of MM5 documentation, eg.
[list]Quick Start for new users[/list]
[list]Quick Start for users upgrading from MM5 and the list of upgrades and improvements [/list]
[list]How To for key tasks[/list]
I have made so many posts on this subject, that they now just mostly ignore things I post here.
They either don't get it, or they are happy getting things polished to their liking, in their own sweet time ... in which you have to admire their persistence, and envy them for finding a job with such little apparent pressure.
However I don't agree with your characterisation of MM5.
From what I see MM5 offers ([i]nearly[/i]) everything that MM4 did, but in most cases it does it significantly better. You mentioned that you have a specific interest in "organising and cataloguing". In my view MM5 is clear winner when it comes to browsing and connecting with your music collection. ... I am now quite impatient with MM4 due to the lack of browsing tools, and display options.
You will have noticed that I qualified above, by saying "[i]nearly[/i]" everything has transferred over to MM5. I haven't noticed that they have dropped much, nothing that was important to me anyway. ... MM5 has lost the Virtual CD facility, probably because few people used it, and it addressed an issue which now pretty much dead, due to tech developments. That's the main deficit as far as i know.
It seems that next-to-nobody is converting their add-on scripts from MM4 to MM5. ... Who would blame the previous hobby developers, given the protracted development period for MM5, and the lack of support, and the lack of any apparent plan, and the lack of much info, or any consultation .... One would hope that people do come on board, once there is any confidence that MM5 will ever actually be released. ... They will have to re-develop the scripts however, just as the MM Developers have done, due to technological advancement.
So these add-on scripts will be a temporary, or permanent, loss for a lot of people. ... My own calculation is the MM5 vanilla is gaining me much more than I than I stand to lose.
[quote=Weatherman post_id=467750 time=1588502145 user_id=5813]
MM5 seems to be concerned with providing an experience similar to streaming services, but ultimately it doesn't seem to be connected in any way to the funcionality of MM4.
[/quote]
This is just wrong.
You should think of the new streaming facilities like this:
[list]it is an opportunity to expand the concept of your "music collection" to now also include music that you don't own, but do stream from a music service (primarily Google Music, but now some limited connection to Spotify) .... MM5 allows you to join your home music collection, with your streamed Google Play Music collection, and catalogue and play it, as if it was a single extended collection[/list]
[list]it also allows you publish your own music collection into Google's music servers, so that you can play from your own tracks, when you are away from home ... nb. Google offer to store and stream from up to 50,000 of your own tracks at no charge ... MM5 joins this all together, and allows you to make playlists that work within your Google library[/list]
[list]MM5 allows you to store an offsite backup version of your collection on a variety of web locations, and you can manage and use this collection, using MM5[/list]
So these are [i]extended facilities[/i] in MM5, which are added to all of the previous MM4 functionality.
MM5 is also technological refresh, which opens them up to touch screen devices, and the possibility of a cross platform versions. ... More customers coming onto the MM app would be a good thing for all of us.
[quote=Weatherman post_id=467750 time=1588502145 user_id=5813]
the databases are separate and unique to each version of MM
[/quote]
This isn't true either.
I have my own application which uses the MM4 database. My application works unchanged using the MM5 database.
I just downloaded the current MM4 in portable mode. It opens my MM5 database OK ... I am not saying this is recommended, nor practical in a go-forward sense, but the databases are not unique.
I do agree with your general point, that Ventis Media is shooting itself in the foot by neglecting to provide something to "sell" and explain the benefits of all of the MM5 enhancements. It is good to see other people reporting the same thing. :)