Downgrade from v. 5?

[Barry4679]

The new one looks like Walt Disney threw up on it. Giant flashy blocks of colors everywhere.

Try another skin. I like the one from TIV74 called Code Monkey. Is available via Tools>Addons, then press Get More Addons button.

I wish I had tried it in a VM before uninstalling the old one. It used to work fine.

Downgrading is easy. They haven't upgraded your MM4 database.

But you should stay a while. MM5 has a lot of improvements. A few of the "features" do have a whiff of "experimental" about them, but on the whole I think that it is indispensable upgrade. The gains do come with some pain though, because Quick Start documentation is AWOL.

[Barry4679]

Hi Barry.

Have you ever considered creating a tutorial on these new ways of doing things?

thanks for your presumed support for my efforts here.

Don't get me started on this. I am unpopular enough there already.

Firstly, I did offer to help the person who was writing the help info, but my offer was rejected politely but firmly. They were aware of my opinion re documentation and user needs, but did not agree etc etc

Also I did consider writing a tutorial and posting it up, at Ludek’s invitation, but have you read the "welcome" for community created content? It is "Please note that all contributions to MediaMonkey Wiki may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here."

It takes a large amount of effort and time to create useful documentation. Those rules don’t work for me.

In the current climate I think that my most useful contribution is in the area of Beta Testing, which is already an exhausting and frustrating enough collaboration TBH ... Actually I think that I dodged a bullet.

I probably will write a Quick Start and opinion piece for MM5 eventually, but would host it myself.

Two further comments:

• if I was a Developer there, who had built a new innovative (aka quirky) UI over a long five year haul, I would be pissed off to the max about the current state of the "documentation" from a QuickStart perspective.

• Also I do believe that documentation is best developed in-house, and as close to the Developers as possible ... the Developers need to experience some of the pain involved trying to "make simple" a complex or obscure User Interface ... the current documentation overcomes this problem by not even trying ... as I said, the new UI is innovative and I admire it, but with the benefit of 20-20 hindsight, not every one of the innovations have been improvements, nor have worked out well (IMO).

[Lankylad]

[/quote]

I tried this but have not been able to replicate your issue.

• moved an externally ripped album into a folder that MM5 is monitoring "Continuously"

• the Main Panel was setup with the Column Filter on top, which included a column for the "Added" column

• and the main panel was in List By Album view, and was sorted so that recently ripped album were at the top

• MM5 auto-refreshed both of these panels

btw: the F5 kay causes a View refresh, so if things get stuck try pressing F5.

btw2. I had never used MM5 auto-monitoring facility. It is quite good using it to monitor a drop zone for new albums, so I will change my work flow. Thanks.
[/quote]

Thanks Barry, I had the column Filter setup in the main panel. I had the first column as Genre, the second as Artist and the third as album. Under that in the listed songs I had "date added" set as a column and was sorting using that. This is how I have always setup and the bottom list refreshes as it adds songs when you drag them into your music folder. A little icon appears in the top right telling me its added the music but they were not immediately updated in the lower list of the column filter.
That said, in reading all the other threads on MM5 I found a link to a more up to date version than was on the main site which I downloaded over the weekend. It may be that this will find the problem solved. A couple more cds arrived so I will test is shortly. Thank you for your help, it's appreciated.
The newer version has solved a couple more of the issues I was having so clearly they are working on it as problems arise. Talking of the column filter, I am finding that my mouse is having issues with the wheel when using it in one of the top columns as mentioned above. As I move the wheel instead of just going down a row at a time its moving so fast I can't read them and a simple twitch on the mouse moves you down about 10 rows. I tried playing with my mouse settings within its own program but even if I turn off the accelerate function at all, it still moves too fast and it affects the speed of the mouse in everything else.
Which programs are people using to get screengrabs and make videos of their screen to show problems nowadays? Not needed to do this for several years now... thanks

[Lowlander]

I can't reproduce the fast scrolling, it moves a little under 4 items. You can use Type to jump to jump to the item you're looking for which might be easier to use if you know already what you're looking for.

Are you on build 2420 and what mouse are you using? Is Smooth scrolling enabled under Tools > Options > Performance in MediaMonkey?

[Lankylad]

Thanks, yes I am using 2420 and the over sensitive mouse wheel problem still exists.
My mouse is a lefthanded mouse by a company called JellyComb although its always worked perfectly with the Microsoft Mouse and Keyboard Center program software as its controller up till now.
Yes I have smooth scrolling enabled within MM5.

After the semi final of the football I will try and import another CD and see if that problem exists still. I think I need to get my hands on some screen recording software to display things its so much easier than typing etc (I'm disabled and it doesn't come easy)

[Lowlander]

Number 2 has a recommendation for that: viewtopic.php?f=30&t=86643

[dypsis]

Hi Barry.

Have you ever considered creating a tutorial on these new ways of doing things?

thanks for your presumed support for my efforts here.

Don't get me started on this. I am unpopular enough there already.

Firstly, I did offer to help the person who was writing the help info, but my offer was rejected politely but firmly. They were aware of my opinion re documentation and user needs, but did not agree etc etc

Also I did consider writing a tutorial and posting it up, at Ludek’s invitation, but have you read the "welcome" for community created content? It is "Please note that all contributions to MediaMonkey Wiki may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here."

It takes a large amount of effort and time to create useful documentation. Those rules don’t work for me.

In the current climate I think that my most useful contribution is in the area of Beta Testing, which is already an exhausting and frustrating enough collaboration TBH ... Actually I think that I dodged a bullet.

I probably will write a Quick Start and opinion piece for MM5 eventually, but would host it myself.

Two further comments:

• if I was a Developer there, who had built a new innovative (aka quirky) UI over a long five year haul, I would be pissed off to the max about the current state of the "documentation" from a QuickStart perspective.

• Also I do believe that documentation is best developed in-house, and as close to the Developers as possible ... the Developers need to experience some of the pain involved trying to "make simple" a complex or obscure User Interface ... the current documentation overcomes this problem by not even trying ... as I said, the new UI is innovative and I admire it, but with the benefit of 20-20 hindsight, not every one of the innovations have been improvements, nor have worked out well (IMO).

Thanks for your response, Barry.
Your contribution doesn't go unnoticed in my eyes.

That was a genuine request about creating a tutorial on "New Ways Of Doing Things". If your way of navigating is less cumbersome, then I am keen to see a more efficient way of doing things.

I know it can be time consuming creating tutorials, but even a few screenshots and a quick explanation to go with them may suffice.
I don't think the MM5 interface is as intuitive as it could be, especially for newbies, but that's history now.

[Lankylad]

OK I have created a short video to show the issues I was referring to, re New Imports being added but not updating in column browser until you move off for a moment. Also the problem with the mouse wheel becoming over active.

I hope this works, not made one of these in years.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/dam9wxsiduz8l ... e.mp4?dl=0

[Lowlander]

I can't reproduce the mouse scroll. However check your Mouse Settings in the Windows Settings and make sure scrolling is set to Multiple lines at a time instead of One screen at the time. With the latter scrolling jumps much more in MediaMonkey 5 (as expected). When set to multiple lines you also have a slider that controls how many (1 to 100).

Secondly for adding the files, you show the Auto-Organize settings. However automatically adding is controlled by Folder Monitoring in Add/Rescan Files: https://www.mediamonkey.com/wiki/WebHel ... he_Library
However you show over 20000 files in the Filelisting above which auto-updating is disabled: viewtopic.php?f=33&t=99348&p=483906#p483906

[Lankylad]

OK, thanks re the 20000. That explains why it wasn't updating so that's solved.
Re the mouse, yes I had checked that it was set to Multiple lines not screen. I had also found that if I set it to 1 line per time it did indeed make it easy to control MM5. However, that also made it slow as death for all other programs. I tried to see if I could find a compromise but as soon as I take the number to 2 or more then it starts moving too quickly in MM5. I will just have to learn to use the keyboard until it get solved in an update I guess.

Thanks for your patience and assistance.

[Barry4679]

OK I have created a short video to show the issues I was referring to, re New Imports being added but not updating in column browser until you move off for a moment. Also the problem with the mouse wheel becoming over active.

I hope this works, not made one of these in years.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/dam9wxsiduz8l ... e.mp4?dl=0

Hi Lankylad

I think that you said in an earlier post that you had reviewed your mouse settings.
I originally had the same mouse wheel problem, and i resolved it via mouse settings.
Press the Windows key and type mouse

• you see this? ... nb. Windows 10

• you can see, via the mouse hover tooltip, that I have set this to three

• once I made that change MM5 scrolls past three rows for each notch in the mouse wheel ratchet

• that's a global setting, so it impacts all apps on your PC

Adding to LowLander's comments re the "not being added" issue.

• based upon your video MM5 is not doing a screen refresh when you add tracks to the MM database via the AutoTag route ... I think that it should, regardless of whether you have exceeded the autotag batch size limit, because the tracks have been imported. But that's a matter of opinion I suppose

• the mainstream route to add tracks to MM is via File>AddScan

• if you enroll your music drive like this, it will auto-add and also refresh as you want

• and if for some reason it doesn't, the F5 key will

[Barry4679]

Re the mouse, yes I had checked that it was set to Multiple lines not screen. I had also found that if I set it to 1 line per time it did indeed make it easy to control MM5. However, that also made it slow as death for all other programs. I tried to see if I could find a compromise but as soon as I take the number to 2 or more then it starts moving too quickly in MM5. I will just have to learn to use the keyboard until it get solved in an update I guess.

We had a posting clash last time

I doubt that any future MM5 change is going affect what you see.
I noticed a change between MM4 & MM5. MM5 was skipping a line when mouse was set to One Screen At A Time mode.
I got it going OK with Multiple Lines At A Time, but you say you already have that setting.

I have mouse set to 3, and this is what I get.
I could set the mouse to a larger number if I wanted to increase the height of the Column Filter widget.

A better mouse will auto-shift between a a fixed and a free spin if you do the thumb wheel action with a bit of urgency, and|or have a button to toggle between spin modes. This could help overcome the "slow as death" issue with other applications?

[Peke]

Hi,
THX Barry for pointing to mouse driver:
Here is what my tests found:
1. Every Mouse Hardware have scroll speed and Report Rate, some defaults My defaults are 500hz and Scroll Speed 1 and exactly like on your Video single scroll point tells MM to scroll 3 lines of height 24px (my font is 100% and line is 18px) which result in scrolling 4 lines visually. Keyboard navigation tells MM to scroll line height eg. 18px so there is no effect.
2. Changing Scroll Speed to three then one scroll point scrolls exactly 12 lines because repeat rate on Scroll point is multiplied by 3
3. Increasing Report Rate lowers LAG in Scroll event so it is harder to scroll only 1 point, usually I get 2 every few points and I suspect on lower quality scroll sensor
4. All test are done in RAW/Direct Input Mouse reading and when I tell Windows to send/handle mouse scroll events (eg. default value) things are becoming mess where I can't easily find which is head and which is tail. To be honest I have not planned to write a study about mouse scroll speeds, behavior, settings, sensors, hardware, build quality, software, driver, Windows.

The solution for MM would be to handle RAW Mouse Data, but I personally think that it would 1000% create more issues than it would fix.

My Mouse Initial Test settings and how I changed them:


EDIT: Forgot to mention the mouse used in testing is RedDragon M908 Impact

[Barry4679]

The solution for MM would be to handle RAW Mouse Data, but I personally think that it would 1000% create more issues than it would fix.

Such little faith

I think that MM needs to find some solution, even if it only in the (missing?) easily found Problems section in the Online Help or FAQ.

I experienced this issue in the alpha, when they first introduced the Column Filter widget into MM5.
A mouse setup incomparability with MM5 makes MM5 look very bad. I was touching the Column Filter, and it jerked away wildly. ... ie. wrecked the usefulness of it. ... Exactly what you don't want happening when someone is evaluating a shift to MM5.

And I am not so sure that it isn't feasible to fix this in MM5. The OP's point about the missing Up}Down arrows from top|bottom of the scroll bar is a good point. They are the mouse equivalent of the Page Up|Down keys. They were present to MM4, and are missing from MM5. ... MM5 literature says that it is tablet ready. How do tablet people use the Column filter without these?

BTW: The Page Up|Down keys work well. Ie. the bottom row becomes the top row. The user is not disorientated by a scroll off into the middle of nowhere. ... But they only work if the relevant Column filter row has focus, which is why the mouse is preferred for this type of action.

[Lankylad]

OK I have created a short video to show the issues I was referring to, re New Imports being added but not updating in column browser until you move off for a moment. Also the problem with the mouse wheel becoming over active.

I hope this works, not made one of these in years.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/dam9wxsiduz8l ... e.mp4?dl=0

Hi Lankylad

I think that you said in an earlier post that you had reviewed your mouse settings.
I originally had the same mouse wheel problem, and i resolved it via mouse settings.
Press the Windows key and type mouse

• you see this? ... nb. Windows 10

• you can see, via the mouse hover tooltip, that I have set this to three

• once I made that change MM5 scrolls past three rows for each notch in the mouse wheel ratchet

• that's a global setting, so it impacts all apps on your PC

Hi Barry
quick video re the mouse
https://www.dropbox.com/s/4arcblwfim3c3 ... 5.mp4?dl=0
Cheers