Show Art with Details

[Plotino]

I like "Show Art with Details" view, however it should better if MediaMonkey doesn't show Art if the album contains few tracks

[Peke]

Hi,
I'm not sure that I understand what you are saying? I have number of EP albums that have only 2-6 tracks and I want to see album art.

[MMFrLife]

The art does take up a lot of real estate in that view. Though the tracks shown by default are collapsed, the degree of collapse seems to
be limited to a fixed art size. It would be nice to have the tracks collapsed down to around 3 and the art resized accordingly.

Although, this seems to have been somewhat solved in MM5 with the view (I forget) that has icon sized art alongside the details.

[Peke]

Hi,
Now I see, but as said MM5 address that. Unfortunately MM4 was limited there and I rarely use Art With details view.

@MMFrLife
You have more suggestions to improve that?

[Plotino]

Hi,
I'm not sure that I understand what you are saying? I have number of EP albums that have only 2-6 tracks and I want to see album art.

Hi,
I don't want to view album art when the album has only 1-4 tracks, you instead prefer to view it, so an option would be the solution.

I didn't understand how MM5 fixes the problem

[MMFrLife]

Peke,

...in MM5 with the view (I forget) that has icon sized art alongside the details.

Cany you remind me of where this view is? I discovered it around the first or second release and haven't messed with it since.
I'm on the current rlease now and can't remember how to get it back.

[Peke]

@MMFrLife,
Enable album art column in List view.

[MMFrLife]

Thanks Peke!

I don't want to view album art when the album has only 1-4 tracks

MM5 doesn't do exactly what you are asking, but there is a view as I mentioned and Peke pointed to,
that can show the art regardless of how many tracks, without it taking up space.

It is in-line art about the size of an icon. It's so small that it's difficult to make out the
art as is, but you can hover over it for a larger preview.
This is an ideal situation for power users, like myself, who care about seeing the art but give
much greater weight to the details. The Art & Details pane combined with this new view is an excellent
solution in my opinion because you can easily see currently selected/playing art as well as directly
reference all other art without having to select, play or sacrifice valuable GUI real estate.

There is also the broader Albums view which shows reasonable sized, more obvious art associated to Artist
and album name but not track list. However, when you click on the art it reveals the track list. It's most
similar to MM4's art with details where it also shows obvious art (albeit too large) and collapsed tracks
that can be revealed by expanding.

So, both behave as solutions, but the latter example is the closest to an equivalent of what you are talking about.
You should download MM5 preview and try it out.

@Peke
The problem with improving MM4's version lies in the differences in the API, right?
How difficult is it to change?

The biggest problem is how do you shrink the art without losing "aspect ratio/scale" and still have it present nice enough
to still matter? Would it be possible to shrink the art down to the size of around the "hover preview" that's part
of the List View + album art column in MM5 and collapse the relevant tracks further down to fit at the side of and within the height of
the art. Or, create a middle size that averages between the current MM4 size and the icon size in MM5. The goal could be something like, show
at least 2 tracks but no more than 3 while collapsed.

Just a thought.