Playback list and add tracks to current list.

[krakken]

I would love to see a playback list button in the order of playing in the songs in the now playing screen. And I'd love to see a play next option that does not make a new queue. Just simple addition of a song between the song playing now and about to play next. Also it would be awesome if the playback list allowed to modify the order of playback in any way we want very flexibly. If you have no idea what I'm talking about, check out blackplayer. I migrated from blackplayer. It has cool features that I miss in Poweramp. But Poweramp is much better in many different areas. When it comes to aesthetics and feel I like blackplayer more.

[andrewilley]

1 hour ago, krakken said:

And I'd love to see a play next option that does not make a new queue. Just simple addition of a song between the song playing now and about to play next. 

That's exactly what the queue is already for. It's a way to temporarily interrupt your regular playback at the end of the song that is playing now, play a song (or songs) or your choice, and then return to continue with the next song in your original order. Settings > Library > Queue allows you define whether a newly enqueued song starts immediately, or after the current song (default behaviour), or after the current category (i.e. play the current album/folder/etc before playing the queued track).

Other than in Shuffle mode, Poweramp does not exactly have a visible playback "list" in the sense that you describe. The order of songs is determined by the library category that you have chosen (Folders, Albums, Genres, Years, etc) and how you have decided to sort that category and its song list (e.g. by Artist and Album name first, and then by Disc#/Track#). One possible listening category is Playlists of course, which does allow moving and mixing up any songs in any order you wish.

Andre

[krakken]

So @andrewilley  everything you said is a something I know. But a dedicated Playlist would still be awesome. As of now the play next option feels very forced. When I click play next for a song it says a new queue is created. Then after the song has ended if I want to hear it again I can't press the previous track button cause that song was removed from the Playlist. If I want to change the order of the current Playback list, I can't do it in any easy way. It's very convoluted. I'm not trying to propagate the app but just give blackplayer a look and see what I mean. I love those customisation options.

[andrewilley]

I think it's basically just a difference in styles between apps.

Poweramp has always been intrinsically based on library categories and their associated sorting orders, which rather preludes moving songs around 'on-the-fly' during playback. You can move backward and forward through the various songs and categories of course, and also tap on the album art to see what's coming next within the current category and what has just been played (and even tap on a different song to restart playback at a new position). And if you want to listen to your music in a more user-specified manner, you can easily create as many Playlists as you wish (even for complete albums or even whole artists) and manipulate them at will. And finally there's the Queue as a way to temporarily interrupt normal playback for an odd song or two.

Overall it is pretty flexible, but it is not necessarily the same as some other players - nor would just copying someone else's interface be especially productive. Poweramp is what it is... just as Blackplayer is what that is too.

Andre

[krakken]

On 9/30/2020 at 6:24 PM, andrewilley said:

 

OK @andrewilley  I'm not saying that Poweramp should copy anything. I was just giving an example out of my experience. But the process of creating these Playlist and all seem too tedious. I'm pretty sure the users of Poweramp are missing out on a lot of features, not UI tweaks, that have capped the flexibility. Also creating Playlists is an absolute basic feature that almost all music players have.

[andrewilley]

3 hours ago, krakken said:

 creating Playlists is an absolute basic feature that almost all music players have.

Absolutely, as does Poweramp.

Andre

[krakken]

@andrewilley  I know Poweramp has Playlist option but there's no other features that I mentioned above. Those are cool features that almost everyone will appreciate.

 

[andrewilley]

Could you perhaps bullet-point simple descriptions of what you feel is lacking? Ideally staying within Poweramp's overall design philosophy that music playback ordering is based on your choice of Library Category (Artists, Albums, Composers, Recently Added, Top Rated, etc) along with the various List Options that you pre-define for each of those categories, and the Repeat and Shuffle modes. What specifically do you want to do that can't be achieved with the temporary Queue, or potentially more permanent Playlist, features?

Andre

[krakken]

Okay@andrewilley  I'll try my best to list whatever comes to mind here.

- There should be a feature to go to the playback list of the trecks that are now playing.

- An option in the settings to disable categories and make shuffle at the top of the library much simpler for those who like it.

- There is an option to to disable 'click to restart track' in the settings. When it's disabled, clicking on the track that's playing does nothing, instead it should go to the now playing page.

- This feature is an extension of the playback list one, where the user can move the tracks around in any order he likes to hear his tracks. And also a 'play next' option that does not create and flash messages of a new queue and feels much easier.

- Also there's this very annoying bug where a WhatsApp message notification causes the song playing on the earphone to shudder so badly, I wanna kill myself. I had to enable the no duck option, which stops the shuddering but pauses the song longer than it needs to.

- The scrolling needs to be smoother and faster. A scroll bar would be awesome.

- Poweramp needs a bit of time to display album arts of tracks in the list as I scroll. Most music players I have used doesn't load the album arts all over again unless there is a change.

- In the now playing screen of songs with whiter album arts, the box containing the name and artist tags should be darker or contain contrasting colors.

 

Okay, so these are what came to mind now. These need not be defaults. The options to do this makes Poweramp much more customisable an I'm sure many people will love it. People are different and customisation options help address this difference and make a much better product.

 

 

[andrewilley]

Well I guess I did ask...   There are a number of more general points in at the end there, beyond the subject title of this post, which could get buried in here so it might be worth making new Feature Request post(s) for those. I'll address the others here though: 
 

- There should be a feature to go to the playback list of the trecks that are now playing.

Tap on the album art and you will be taken to a view showing the current song within your chosen playback Category (e.g. Album, Folder, or All Songs list). The currently-playing song will be highlighted within the previous and forthcoming songs in the category. I do agree this is not always a perfect solution when listening in Shuffled mode though, as the next song may not come from the same category and although there is a List Option to display a category in its shuffled sequence, it is perhaps of limited value as you may not want to have that sort of view enabled permanently.

@maxmp I've often thought that some kind of simple 'History' feature would be a great idea, which regardless of the current playback category or shuffle mode would just show you a plain scrollable list of previously played tracks from the current session. The view could show forthcoming tracks too, but it wouldn't be editable due to the nature of 'category based' playback, it would just be a list for reference.

- An option in the settings to disable categories and make shuffle at the top of the library much simpler for those who like it.

Go to the top-level Library view, tap the three-dots menu icon, and choose List Options. You can specify which categories you want to see and which you'd like to hide. You can also long-press on a category to make it the default Library starting page by the way (handy if you only ever listen using Folders mode for example). 

- There is an option to to disable 'click to restart track' in the settings. When it's disabled, clicking on the track that's playing does nothing, instead it should go to the now playing page.

It does. What option have you got selected for Settings > Library > List > List Item Click Action? Make sure it's set to 'Play and go to Main UI'.

@maxmp I personally think the same 'Play and go to Main UI' choice should also be used if you tap the Shuffle or Play icons - so you can be taken straight to the player screen regardless of whether you tap a song title to start or use the Play/Shuffle icons.

- This feature is an extension of the playback list one, where the user can move the tracks around in any order he likes to hear his tracks. And also a 'play next' option that does not create and flash messages of a new queue and feels much easier.

As stated before, that one doesn't fit in with Poweramp's overall design philosophy of category/sort based playback. Other than Playlists or the Queue of course, which are specifically designed so you can choose the songs on an individual track-by-track basis. PA doesn't have a user-editable "playback list" in the sense that you describe, its playback order is defined by the initial Category that you choose and the List Options settings selected.

-  A scroll bar would be awesome.

There is already a scroll bar, on the right-hand edge. You can switch from a slider-thumb to an alphabetical list using Settings > Library > Lists > A-Z Scroll, although obviously the alpha list would not work with something like Track# sorting.

   

- In the now playing screen of songs with whiter album arts, the box containing the name and artist tags should be darker or contain contrasting colors.

That's really down to skins, or use the default skin's Alternative Layout feature to move the text below the artwork rather than overlaying it. I mostly use the $YAPS$ skin now by they way, which lets you customise lots of interface elements, positions and colours. For example:


Andre

[krakken]

 

@andrewilley The second issue you've addressed here is not in the sense I meant it. I meant that when I click on all songs, which is the category I always listen from, there is a shuffle button on top. And when I click that shuffle button, it shuffles all tracks and categories. I just want it to be shuffling all tracks. I can make it so from the main UI. But not from my start screen.

The clicking on list item to go to main UI is pretty much solved but the point you put forward there is a solid one.

The scroll bar problem is almost solved too but now I can't go to the top in one click. I guess that's a catch.

The playback list and play next options seem to be far cry here in Poweramp. I guess I'll have to live with that. But I surely will love to see it in the future.

The notification bug was not at all addressed. Man, you gotta solve that one.

And also please advise on where to find better skins.

[andrewilley]

If you are listening in the 'All Songs' category then 'Shuffle Song/Categories' already includes every track randomly, because there is effectively only one huge 'category' in that list which includes everything in your Library.

I generally use Folders mode (or occasionally Artists/Albums) for my normal listening by the way, and to achieve an "any song" shuffle for night-time musical variety I simply tap once on the Shuffle icon in the player screen. Much easier than changing categories, and when I turn Shuffle off again I'm back in my normal Folders mode without any messing.

@maxmp When scrolling down through very long lists (such as the All Songs category) it would make sense for the top icons bar (Shuffle/Play/Search/Select/Three-dots Menu) to slide back onto the top of the screen when you scroll back up a bit (just like the miniplayer and navbar reappear now). The whole header block would only be needed if you got all the way up to the top though.

Skins and discussions about them are in... well, the Skins subforum.  https://forum.powerampapp.com/forum/23-skins-and-visualizations/ Or search on the Play Store for Poweramp v3 skins (note: v2 skins are not compatible).

 

@krakken For other issues (e.g. Notifications) that have nothing to do with this thread, please could you create a post in the Bug Reports forum. I did already address a few things that were slightly tenuous here, as they were just one-off answers rather than needing any further work.

Andre

[krakken]

Thanks @andrewilley for all the help. I will make an another thread about the notification bug.