musiX

[+Raphaël G. MVC]

Hi everyone,

 

Here is my newest creation. Started during the Christmas holidays and is 54 days old. It's a music player written in vb.net 4.0. I went full metro on it (I think I am a fan), so it looks like a lot of the metro designs out there. The user interface is "alive", and has sliding animations. It plays mp3, wma, ogg and flac at the moment. I hope to be able to improve file format support in the future. Well here's a screenshot:

 

 

Build 104 has been released. You can get it at the usual location

 

This is the changelog since build 73:

 

Bug fixes

- Fixed the gap of 2 pixels when the main window is maximized
- Fixed flickering of windows when opening dialogs
- Fixed the wrong application name when pinning musiX to the taskbar
- Fixed rating and tagging of the currently playing song (was broken in the previous build)
- Fixed a playlist bug where switching playlist forgot which song is playing
- The installer now doesn't allow installing an older build over a newer one anymore

New features

- Improved the tray icon and added a tray menu
- Improved searching in the playlist
- Improved the spectrum analyzer and added an option to show spectrum peaks
- Improved ogg vorbis playback
- Added a splash screen (in case loading big collections would slow down starting up)
- Misc. UI tweaks and improvements

Check my blog for the latest version and change information

Edited May 12, 2014 by Skiver
Added Update

[Mystic Mungis]

I actually like the look of this a lot! Is there any chance you could post a link to it? I'd love to try it out :)

 

[Draconian Guppy]

Not bad, what's the memory consumption on it?

[f0rk_b0mb]

This looks stunning. Link please!!! :)

[Phouchg]

Good, good!  (Y)

Everything but the title, that is.

 

Why they haven't "modernized" WMP is beyond me at this point.

[+Raphaël G. MVC]

Wow i didn't expect that much interest! Thanks a lot!

 

Here's is the link to dev build 54 (from today): https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=366A692EAA292A28%2120373

It's still pretty new, could use a lot of improvements. Any suggestions are welcome.

 

Memory consumption: approx. 80 MB (I haven't been worrying about memory improvements yet though).

[Mystic Mungis]

Here's is the link to dev build 54 (from today): http://https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=366a692eaa292a28&id=366A692EAA292A28!20373

 

The link doesn't work for me in Chrome or IE :(

 

Edit: I see the problem :p

[+Raphaël G. MVC]

The link doesn't work for me in Chrome or IE :(

 

Edit: I see the problem :p

I think I fixed it :)

[Mystic Mungis]

I think I fixed it :)

Yupp, it's working now :) So far I really like it! A music player doesn't need to do much for me, I don't need a billion options so even at this early stage it's pretty much fully functional for me. The only 2 features that I'd say would be really nice would be an artist view and a now playing list. I do like the "jump to the playing song" feature though, it makes it easier to navigate for the moment. 

 

Also I noticed in your screenshot that you have the album art displayed above the album and it doesn't show extra info about the song below it, are you using a different version or am I just being blind and missing an option :P?

 

Good work though! Really nice player, if you keep developing it I'll definitely be trying out each release! 

[+Raphaël G. MVC]

Yupp, it's working now :) So far I really like it! A music player doesn't need to do much for me, I don't need a billion options so even at this early stage it's pretty much fully functional for me. The only 2 features that I'd say would be really nice would be an artist view and a now playing list. I do like the "jump to the playing song" feature though, it makes it easier to navigate for the moment. 

 

Also I noticed in your screenshot that you have the album art displayed above the album and it doesn't show extra info about the song below it, are you using a different version or am I just being blind and missing an option :p?

 

Good work though! Really nice player, if you keep developing it I'll definitely be trying out each release! 

 

Thank you! Your idea is exactly what I'm going for (simple but useful). I've tried a lot of the existing players and was never satisfied because of too many options.

Could you elaborate on the artist view and now playing list? I'd be glad to implement anything that improves usability.

For the album art in the playlist: yes you are missing an option :) Look at "Show album art in the playlist".

 

Enjoy!

[Draconian Guppy]

 

 

Memory consumption: approx. 80 MB (I haven't been worrying about memory improvements yet though).

I like, perhaps considering lyric tagging for the future?  

 

 

[chrisj1968]

Hi everyone,

 

Here is my newest creation. Started during the Christmas holidays and is 54 days old. It's a music player written in vb.net 4.0. I went full metro on it (I think I am a fan), so it looks like a lot of the metro designs out there. The user interface is "alive", and has sliding animations. It plays mp3, wma, ogg and flac at the moment. I hope to be able to improve file format support in the future. Well here's a screenshot:

 

 

 

 

If Spotify would create some sort of SDK, I could include my playlists to this and really use this. I can us it "as is" now but, I see a lot of genius in this. 

[+Raphaël G. MVC]

Good, good!  (Y)

Everything but the title, that is.

 

Why they haven't "modernized" WMP is beyond me at this point.

 

Thanks!

 

Valid point. What disturbs me the most about WMP is its complexity. I could never get decent overview of my music collection in WMP. And that's what I'm trying to achieve this with this player.

[Mystic Mungis]

Thank you! Your idea is exactly what I'm going for (simple but useful). I've tried a lot of the existing players and was never satisfied because of too many options.

Could you elaborate on the artist view and now playing list? I'd be glad to implement anything that improves usability.

For the album art in the playlist: yes you are missing an option :) Look at "Show album art in the playlist".

 

Enjoy!

Yeah no problem :)

 

For the artist view, for example, there could be a "by artist" option next to "by album" which brings up a list of all of the artists in your collection and then if you click on one it just displays all of their albums/songs so that you can listen to the one artist on shuffle without having to create a playlist.

 

For the "now playing" it would be cool if there was a section under the album art on the right hand side or maybe even have a separate tab above it that, when clicked, changes it from the album art to a list of all of the songs that are currently selected to play, that way people can easily control their current music selection while still browsing through their collection.

 

Just some ideas :)

 

Ohh, also, I found the playlist options, I don't know how I managed to miss them!

[Dick Montage]

I'm not going to download at this stage - no offense, I just don't do that sorta thing.  BUT

 

Damn, that looks REALLY nice - I think you have understood the Modern UI principles well.  Kudos buddy :)

[Skiver Veteran]

I like it, nice and simple!

I have one, very small, issue that I see with the volume control. If I click the slider and pull it all the way to 100% it more often than not gets stuck somewhere in the 9x's, sometimes I can be 92 and others 99. Like I say, very minor but its something to maybe look at.

One other issue I have, and this exists with most music players I have tried other than the standard Windows. My media Keys don't seem to function with the application. I have no idea about programming but I suspect this isnt a small element and is more down to my own personal preferences. I tend to just have my entire playlist, which right now is quite small on shuffle so sometimes I am just not in the mood to listen to a song and want to be able to skip quickly.

On the memory note, I fired up Winamp quickly before hand and actually this is using less than Winamp. and is sat around 53MB so way short of the 80 you mention above :)

[+Raphaël G. MVC]

I like, perhaps considering lyric tagging for the future?  

 

 

 

Doesn't have the highest priority, but I added to the task list.

 

Yeah no problem :)

 

For the artist view, for example, there could be a "by artist" option next to "by album" which brings up a list of all of the artists in your collection and then if you click on one it just displays all of their albums/songs so that you can listen to the one artist on shuffle without having to create a playlist.

 

For the "now playing" it would be cool if there was a section under the album art on the right hand side or maybe even have a separate tab above it that, when clicked, changes it from the album art to a list of all of the songs that are currently selected to play, that way people can easily control their current music selection while still browsing through their collection.

 

Just some ideas :)

 

Ohh, also, I found the playlist options, I don't know how I managed to miss them!

 

Also added to the task list. I had something similar in mind when starting this program.

 

I'm not going to download at this stage - no offense, I just don't do that sorta thing.  BUT

 

Damn, that looks REALLY nice - I think you have understood the Modern UI principles well.  Kudos buddy :)

 

No problem. And thanks!

 

I like it, nice and simple!

I have one, very small, issue that I see with the volume control. If I click the slider and pull it all the way to 100% it more often than not gets stuck somewhere in the 9x's, sometimes I can be 92 and others 99. Like I say, very minor but its something to maybe look at.

One other issue I have, and this exists with most music players I have tried other than the standard Windows. My media Keys don't seem to function with the application. I have no idea about programming but I suspect this isnt a small element and is more down to my own personal preferences. I tend to just have my entire playlist, which right now is quite small on shuffle so sometimes I am just not in the mood to listen to a song and want to be able to skip quickly.

On the memory note, I fired up Winamp quickly before hand and actually this is using less than Winamp. and is sat around 53MB so way short of the 80 you mention above :)

 

Oh indeed (volume slider), I didn't even notice it. I've logged a bug and will look at it. By the way, you can also decrease and increase volume by pressing - and + on the keyboard.

Media keys support was added. I'll be available in the next build.

[Skiver Veteran]

<snip>

 

 

Oh indeed (volume slider), I didn't even notice it. I've logged a bug and will look at it. By the way, you can also decrease and increase volume by pressing - and + on the keyboard.

Media keys support was added. I'll be available in the next build.

 

Ah great thanks, I was pretty busy with work yesterday so music was just left to its own devices. Are you ok with this thread being a form of logging issues or making recommendations?

Looking forward to the next build, overall pretty happy with this and given the responses to our posts so far is great service for a free product!

[+Raphaël G. MVC]

Ah great thanks, I was pretty busy with work yesterday so music was just left to its own devices. Are you ok with this thread being a form of logging issues or making recommendations?

Looking forward to the next build, overall pretty happy with this and given the responses to our posts so far is great service for a free product!

 

Good idea to group suggestions/bugs in this thread. Meanwhile, build 56 is up. You can get it here: https://skydrive.live.com/redir?resid=366A692EAA292A28!20385&authkey=!AL4Wq-0bbZututc&ithint=file%2c.msi

 

Changes since the previous build:

 

- Media keys support (Please let me know if this works with your keyboard. It works on mine, but I'm not sure all keyboards use the same standards)

- Small improvement to wma playback

- Volume slider fix (it can now reach 0 and 100)

- Changes to the about screen (credits)

- Added licenses for all used components in the installation directory

[Mystic Mungis]

Media keys are working fine for me with a Microsoft Wireless 800 keyboard! Also I noticed in the previous build that, when fullscreen, there was a gap maybe 2 pixels or so high between the task bar and the player but that's gone in this build :)

[Skiver Veteran]

Volume control now slides straight to 100 perfectly

Media Keys for skip back or forward, and play/pause works fine. My volume control still controls system volume rather than the app, I personally prefer that but just mentioning it as more of an FYI. Stop button doesn't work but since you're app doesn't have a stop button (on purpose or not?) I wouldn't expect it too.

Tell me to shut up if I am asking for too much but it would be nice to be able to install over the top/upgrade rather than have to remove. I would very close to a software development team so I can't help but look for improvements so feel free (as most the developers I work with do) to do one if I am asking too much!

[+Raphaël G. MVC]

Media keys are working fine for me with a Microsoft Wireless 800 keyboard! Also I noticed in the previous build that, when fullscreen, there was a gap maybe 2 pixels or so high between the task bar and the player but that's gone in this build :)

 

Thank you for the info about the media keys  :) As for the gap, I had no idea it was there and why it is now gone. I'll keep an eye on it so it doens't come back :) Edit: the gap is still there it seems... :) I'm logging a bug.

 

Volume control now slides straight to 100 perfectly

Media Keys for skip back or forward, and play/pause works fine. My volume control still controls system volume rather than the app, I personally prefer that but just mentioning it as more of an FYI. Stop button doesn't work but since you're app doesn't have a stop button (on purpose or not?) I wouldn't expect it too.

Tell me to shut up if I am asking for too much but it would be nice to be able to install over the top/upgrade rather than have to remove. I would very close to a software development team so I can't help but look for improvements so feel free (as most the developers I work with do) to do one if I am asking too much!

 

Great, how the media keys work for you is by design. I didn't map the volume keys to musiX on purpose: I also prefer them to control the Windows volume. Should I maybe add an option to give the user the choice? There is no stop button in my app on purpose. I wan't to keep the UI as simple as possible, and pause/prev/next should give the user enough possibilities. But I'm open to any suggestion, so if you have another view on this, feel free to tell me.

 

Don't worry about asking too much. I'm taking every bug/suggestion into account (they're all being tracked in on my TFS). I can't promise every suggestion will make it into musiX. My main goal is to create an application with a balance between usefulness and simplicity (I don't like cluttered UI's), and the suggestions which respect that balance will have the biggest chance in getting implemented.

 

For the over the top installation: indeed very annoying how we now have to uninstall each time. I, however, never took the time to look into that. But as I'm not the only user anymore, I'll bump the priority on this.

[Skiver Veteran]

Thank you for the info about the media keys  :) As for the gap, I had no idea it was there and why it is now gone. I'll keep an eye on it so it doens't come back :) Edit: the gap is still there it seems... :) I'm logging a bug.

 

 

Great, how the media keys work for you is by design. I didn't map the volume keys to musiX on purpose: I also prefer them to control the Windows volume. Should I maybe add an option to give the user the choice? There is no stop button in my app on purpose. I wan't to keep the UI as simple as possible, and pause/prev/next should give the user enough possibilities. But I'm open to any suggestion, so if you have another view on this, feel free to tell me.

 

Don't worry about asking too much. I'm taking every bug/suggestion into account (they're all being tracked in on my TFS). I can't promose every suggestion will make it into musiX. My main goal is to create an application with a balance between usefulness and simplicity (I don't like cluttered UI's), and those suggestions which respect that balance will have the biggest chance in getting integrated.

 

For the over the top installation: indeed very annoying how we now have to uninstall each time. I, however never took the time to look into that. But as I'm not the only user anymore, I'll bump the priority on this.

Also as above an FYI - my keyboard is a Logitech G15

I always say giving the user more confiurability (eg volume control) is better than restricting but I also think adding too many options will distract from the simplicity that you want so for now, I would leave it out. I am perfectly Happy to not have a stop button, Pause is good enough, again I just wanted to mention it.

I'm more than happy to start using this over winamp for the moment thanks to the media keys actually working. I'll maybe come back to this thread after a week or so of using it and let you know if there are any things I have found after general use.

[Mystic Mungis]

Thank you for the info about the media keys  :) As for the gap, I had no idea it was there and why it is now gone. I'll keep an eye on it so it doens't come back :) Edit: the gap is still there it seems... :) I'm logging a bug.

 

No problem :) Also I noticed that if you make it fullscreen the gap appears, however if you leave it fullscreen, close musiX and then reopen it the gap isn't there, hope that helps a bit :)

[Symal Taneous]

Very nice indeed! Looking forward to seeing the progress in this, good job! Any chance you could put a link in the first post to the most recent version along with the changelog?