New MMA steps backward

[terryo]

I was initially delighted to see a new interface in MMA. After using it for many weeks, I am disappointed that usability takes some steps backward and there were few, if any user interface upgrades. (I have it on a Samsung S10, Android 12, up to date)


First, the bugs:
Add a track to a new playlist is a dead end. The screen to type in the name of a new playlist appears, but the "create" button is inaccessibly buried under the keyboard with no intuitive way to unearth it. I found it only by accident when the screen saver kicked in and I had to reopened it to see MMA. Switching MMA to the background and bringing it back forward to reveal the "Create" button is at best, cumbersome.

The new ratings panel is abysmal. The previous version wasted potential screen space by bunching all the stars in a centered cluster across the top of the album cover. It also had no provision to remove all the stars from a selection. The new interface further compounds this in two ways. First, it cuts the height of the stars area by about 1/3 making them less easy to set. Second, the ratings banner is now semi-transparent making it difficult to distinguish and locate above the noise of the background of the album cover. Cute programming for visuals but a step backward in functionality.

The rating stars would be more user friendly, even at the same size, if they should be spread more across the width of the screen and the touchable area was more than just the star itself (a technique Apple offers among their UI programming tools).


The lapses:
The true power of MMA is the ability to carry a sample of a much larger library in your pocket. As such, the main interactive activity one would reasonably expect in MMA is the ability to easily manage playlists and their content.

A crucial lapse in MMA's functionality is the bizarre multi-step process to remove a song from a playlist. As MMA always shifts a playlist into what is now called "Playing queue," you first have to tap back to the playlist you initially selected for playing and then remove it. Then return to the playing queue. This is way to cumbersome.

There is no way to move a track or tracks from one playlist to another. This could be a two tap operation.

There are many more simple one and two tap playlist editing options that would make MMA a joy to use. I'm certain I'm not the only customer using MMA as a portable music library management tool.


The recent user interface changes may have been necessitated by some important background coding changes but users were forced to learn a new interface with little or nothing to gain for the effort.

[dtsig]

are you speaking for ALL users? I have not had any great problems with the changes.

[Lowlander]

1) Added as: https://www.ventismedia.com/mantis/view.php?id=20075

2) You can delete a file from the Playing Queue and selected playlists (which will allow you to select the Playlist(s) the file is on) directly from the Playing Queue.
Note that the disconnect between the Playing Queue and Playlists has always been there and is consistent with MMW.

3) You can select files on a Playlist and via 3-dot menu add them to another Playlist.

[rusty]

First of all, thanks for the feedback. Although I would disagree with there being little benefits to the interface changes, I appreciate the time you've taken to help improve MMA moving forward.

To answer some of the issues that lowlander hasn't addressed:

1.5) Re. ratings: Tracking this at https://www.ventismedia.com/mantis/view.php?id=20076 (I've documented background for the current implementation there as well--feel free to comment here if you want to add anything else).

2) Re. Playlist vs Playing queue: As indicated by Lowlander, this is how MM has always worked and how I think it should work. i.e. from my perspective, the playing queue is a list that is usually transient--tracks get added/removed/skipped etc. depending on the user's current mood, and in most cases there's no need to persist this information.

If you want to e.g. edit the currently playing playlist, the the best way to do so from my perspective at least, would be to edit the Playlist itself.

3.5) Re. a 'Move to playlist' function: sure--it'd be easy to add a new function for that, but we're also trying to limit the functions included to those that are most used (otherwise the menus fill up and become unusable).

Thanks!

-Rusty

[terryo]

Rusty:
I'll take your word for it that the coding works best with a Playing Queue (formerly Now Playing) data structure. When I saw the new phrase "Playing Queue" I was initially excited. Then I realized it was just a renamed Now Playing, the same moving the selected playlist into playing position.

I was hoping "Playing Queue" was a new feature that would enhance the Shuffle function by showing a list of maybe 6-10 songs in the order they had been played and a few songs queued ahead for shuffle. That would be extremely useful, particularly in the car where I don't have time to futz with the phone to change ratings, rearrange playlists.

It would also be fun. Rolling the musical dice anew every time I enable shuffle and then watch what stacks up. I listen in shuffle mode a lot. Hitting "next" repeatedly and flying blind is a pain. It would be delightful to look at 2, 4, 6... songs ahead, a small queued up shuffle stack.

As for menu size, I can understand the functionality of the six standard items that pop up for users who carry their whole music library on their phone. For a user like me with 275,000 songs in MMW, there's several playlist items that would be very useful in a submenu. "Add to playlist" could be replaced with Playlist options, and "Add to playlist" inserted as the top action item on the submenu.

The ability to move a song directly from one playlist to another would be highly preferable to adding it to one playlist then deleting it from the other and having it bumped out of the Playing Queue. (more comment on this mandatory dual delete in the part to Lowlander below).

It would be great to have a "share playlist" function that can be sent to a friend and pop up in their MediaMonkey Android.

Similarly, a "Rename playlist" function would be quite useful.


Lowlander:
Thanks for the tip on "delete from the playing queue and selected playlist. That will be a somewhat useful shortcut. It would be better if I could just delete from a selected playlist and leave it in the playing queue. I have many songs on multiple playlists. There are times I want to delete a song from a mood or forthcoming radio show playlist but continue listening to it.

I also wish the countdown timer for automatic deletion was a bit longer, like 10 sec instead of 5 sec.

[terryo]

Rusty,
I tried to comment at https://www.ventismedia.com/mantis/view.php?id=20076

That logs me in as "anonymous" and gives me "Your account may be disabled or blocked..." if I try to log in as myself.
terryo

[Lowlander]

The comments are requested here on the forum instead.