eJukebox v4.0 Alpha 6 Updates:

-Artist List now uses cached data so that eJukebox starts up and switches skins allot faster as well as opens and closes the artist list faster. Cached Data will always be used for when artistlist is loaded except after the Database is Rebuilt or new songs are added. The cache also does not get used when the Show Artist with x Songs option is changed at the top of the Artist List
-Songlist Titlebar now shows title for above positioned carousel when mouse goes over it
-made song Editor show up faster and no longer lock the main eJukebox window when loading data.
-Home View and Genre/Year/Compilation Carousel now shows Top 12 instead of Top 20 albums in order to preserve 3D appearance and increase fps. Artist Carousel listings still have a max of 20 albums
-fixed album carousel sometimes not being resized correctly when artistlist opened/closed/edv changed when viewing songlist
-fixed carousel background color specified in skin not being loaded immediately on skin change
-Can now click the progressbar on the Startup Screen to hide that window while eJukebox is starting up
-Virtual Keyboard's input now case fixed instead of all capitals
-eJukebox's Web Browser now blocks popups unless CTRL key is held down. Browser status bar now shows # of popups blocked for the page
-eJukebox default priority now High. The following option has been added to ejukebox.ini:
[Processor]
Priority=2

1 = Normal
2 = High
3 = Realtime


Alpha 5 Updates:

-carousel now has a max of 20 albums instead of 9. now shows 20 on the home view, genre, year, compilation listings
-empty space above and below albums in carousel removed
-carousel now displays albums in alphabetical order instead of popularity when artist's albums are loaded.
-low quality ej lookedup album images now cropped for carousel so that they do not have white borders
-fixed foreign characters causing carousel to stop loading more albums
-added 'Music Videos' quicklink
-fixed clicking now playing album when # in album name locking up songlist
-web browser now supports left and right page scrolling - holdmouse down over left and right margins of the webpage


Alpha 4 Updates:

-carousel now filled correctly for genre, year, search etc instead of only on artist and album listings. Shows top 9 related albums with the most song picks
-carousel now handles compilation albums correctly
-fixed restore from fullscreen and touchscreen left/right mouse buttons being hidden under alpha 3
-made carousel |> playalbum icons disable when in kiosk mode and disable play album icons option checked in kiosk mode options
-made search box animate open and closed faster
-got rid of skip effect when mouse over letter header rows in artistlist
-fixed alpha 3 songlist flicker when clicking artist in artistlist while albumlist open
-made carousel background color skinnable. you can add the following to colors.ini to change the carousel background color

:-Album Carousel Definitions-
:--------------
[Carousel]
BgColor=#000000
:--------------

Alpha 3 Updates:

-moved the Album Carosel to above the songlist with option to show it below.
-Carosel default rotation speeds slower
-Carosel no longer reloads after clicking an album on it
-Carosel now supports dragging albums to playlist and now playing panel

Alpha 2 Updates:

-updated carosel so it spins at default speed when the mouse leaves the carosel
-made |> buttons on carosel bigger and made carosel slow rotation when mouse is over them
-carosel now uses less cpu

Alpha Updates:

-New Rotating 3D Album Carousel on the Home view and optionally under the Songlist
-added 'Remove Song' to playlist right click menu
-should fix songlist sometimes getting stuck and refusing to load


The v4.0 Home button view still needs work. Let me know if you have any suggestions.

To view the album carousel in the songlist you must keep the album list closed. If it makes you dizzy, you can always disable it under eJukebox's display options...or just open the album list.

Let me know what you think and if you have any suggestions.



NOTE: Attachment Download has been removed. eJukebox v4.0 Beta 1 is now available under the Latest Updates section of the forum.

!! A Wow !!

The carrosel shows the top artist, is this correct ? or can it be changed somewhere ? (Show playlist or so)

But still... a big WOW

Audiosoft,

Your album carousel looks great! And it seems to work pretty good. It is very USEFUL as a lighten albumlist for the current artist. Excellent work!!

I just think maybe that would be better if it was not attached to the songlist end, but rather FIXED at the bottom of the right panel. So it would be "always visible". The songlist would scroll in the space remaining on top. This is my feeling..

Thanks a lot.

Willum,

When you click on the now playing album, the songlist displays the current album, and the carousel is updated with the WHOLE ARTIST albums!
That is AWESOME!!

Plus, when you let play eJukebox (don't move the mouse), it will animate automatically the current artist albums!!

That is magnificent!

Ok, got it.. the problem was.. once you have selected the Albums tab.. I couldn't find a way to get back (home did'tn work).

I think it's either the carousel, or the albumlist.. The carousel is like a mini-albumlist! A miniskirt!

Quote:

Origineel gepost door Pirk --Knip--- Plus, when you let play eJukebox (don't move the mouse), it will animate automatically the current artist albums!! --Knip--

I think you need to check the option "Show currently playing song's album in songlist when inactive".
This option is in "Options/playlist" -> "Other"..

The albums displayed on the HOME button view are the same albums that showed up in the list before....except it displays the top 9 albums instead of 5. It shows the albums that have the most picked songs while being last played within the time period set on the last drop down box option of the Home view.

The albums in the carousel under the songlist (when the album list is closed) are currently all the available albums from the artist that is in the songlist.

Glad you guys like the Album Carousel. It is a lighter alternative to the album list. Hopefully not too CPU hungry. I could add an option to lower the quality of the Album Carousel animation a little bit to make it use less cpu if it becomes a problem.

Thanks for any suggestions. I will probally be able to improve it some before v4.0 goes gold.

Great Audiosoft,

Can the carosel be on the top of the list ?

1) Slow down a bit the default rotation speed. Because currently it's a bit straining for the eyes to follow and read the album names. I think -50% would be ideal. And maybe that would save some cpu time.

2) Put the carousel fixed and "always visible" on the bottom of the right panel. The songlist would be on top in another independent window.

3) List artist albums in the same order than in the full albumlist. Currently the artist albums seems to be mixed up, or if they are sorted, they are in a strange order?!

4) I think the carousel should group the double and multiples albums (showing only one cover) like in the full albumlist.

5) That would be great if the carousel could display more than 9 albums. I think 20 albums would be sufficient! See my trick below.

A trick in order to display many more albums in the carousel:
The carousel would still display only 9 albums at the same time, but you could SWAP albums when they are behind. So the user could contemplate all the artist albums (even more than 20 if they exist!), while the carousel still only displays 9 at the same time..

Thank You.

The caraousel is very neat and performs well at my system!

It would be nice if one could drag covers from the carousel to the Now Playing and playlist, just like one can with 'normal' albums in the songlist. I think I also would remove the "ejukebox 4.0" text, because it makes the carousel a little cluttered. In addition, some kind of numbering (reflecting the popularity status of the albums) in the homeview might be appropiate.

Carousel is a great feature, runs very well, and the version if it in the songlist view makes browsing an artists albums much easier. Good job.

If it hasn't been said enough already, that little red arrow thing to play the whole album needs to be bigger. It's very hard to grab with a mouse while that sucker is spinning around.

I wonder if some variant of this technique could be used in the playlist area to allow album cover previews of more that just the one next song, but instead a larger number of upcoming songs.

Hallo Audiosoft...

here some comments from me:

Quote:

5) That would be great if the carousel could display more than 9 albums. I think 20 albums would be sufficient! See my trick below.

Alpha 2 is now available for download in the first and second posts. Both files have been updated and are required to be redownloaded and installed for Alpha 2. Let me know what you think.

I hope that all functions in ejukebox 4 will work indepdently if you have the albumlist loaded or not. That goes for both the carousel and genre buttons.

Further, I would just like to point out that there are enought suggestions/ideas around in this forum to make several different digital jukeboxes. But at the same time you probably have a life beside these forums (as we all do). So Audiosoft, I just hope you manage to get as many of those wishes/suggestions/crazy ideas as possible implemented in version 4.0 of the program. Anyways we all aknowledge ejukebox as a great program and I think you are hiding something in this beta

I think it works better with the carosel at the top or bottom instead of inside the songlist.
That way it doesn't jump around, doesn't cover the songlist background and does not scroll with the songlist. Plus it is faster since the carosel does not need to be reloaded on the songlist when one of the albums in it is clicked.

Any objections to me switching it to work like this? I can add an option to place the carosel above or below the songlist. Also, I am thinking about lower the maximum rotational speed and slow down the default carosel speed.

Keep in mind, there will always be an option to hide the carosel if you do not like it.

[Quote]Any objections to me switching it to work like this? I can add an option to place the carosel above or below the songlist.[/Quote]

If the option is there, i don't mind the default, it it's not there.. i prefere it on the top of the list.

Great. It works so much better at the top. Everything just flows better and it is faster. Plus there is no flickering. I even got drag and dropping albums out of the carosel to work. I would post alpha 3 but there are still some issues to fix up.

Wow Audiosoft, the new carosel feature is awsome! Like Pirk I have also seen the problem with it scrolling at an incredably fast speed when doing certain things (once it happened when my mouse was over the taskbar). One other thing I would suggest is to adjust the homepage as the color flow is now a little interrupted by the strip of black containing the carosel. I attached an image where I photoshoped in a blue to black gradient that I think makes things look a little better. I attached it below

rllercstr7,
Glad you like it. I wish you could experience how much better it works now...i will have alpha 3 up later this week.

Thanks for your suggestion on the color flow. The homepage look will probally get an update for 4.0. Plus I am going to make it so you can change the carousel background color from black to a different color in the skin. I am not sure yet if I am going to use black or blue for the background on the default skin.

This is just and Idea I came up with for a new layout for the home screen page. The button in the bottom right is for internet radio. My idea is to have the top songs highlight or grow a little bigger as their respective album goes around the carosel. For example the album for the top #1 song comes to front center first and the #1 song is highlighted and as the carosel rotates the albums of #2 #3 #4 etc their respective titles highlights and the process continues in numeric order.

As an added bonus the voice feature could be used to say this weeks/months #1 song is bla bla bla By ACDC. Obviously it would have to say something different before each song or it would get a little repetative (ex topping the charts at #2 this week). That may be too complex but just an idea I thought might be cool.

This picture isn't complete and there are dialogues missing because I can't think of a good way to integrate them, but heres a photoshop pic of my idea for the home page.

Check it out!
Grab the v4.0 Alpha 3 Downloads in the first and second posts and let me know what you think.

Wow rllercstr7!! Your Homepage is really magnificent! And the way you plan to highlight the Top songs is very interesting too..
I think you should post your ideas more often!

Audiosoft,

Thanks for the update of the carousel: Now it is a lot more domesticable!

Very nice

I anyone wants the photoshop file to play around and edit that image to share ideas I don't mind at all. Just let me know. The picture has also been updated.

I think that Fishy would need the image editor too..
And me I have the editor, but not your talent.. Bravo! I think you could win the $250 reward!

I like the real toolbox! What is its price?

The file Home Page 1.psd is attached. You need Photoshop to edit it. I tried to name all the layers so those who tried would understand and make it a bit easier. Unfortunately Pirk I know nothing about making eJukebox skins and I know you do that very well, so maybe you can work some magic!

I have no clue. I got the image from the internet and did a little editing. Unfortunately I just moved and most of my stuff is in boxes. Toolbox included! I'm glad you like it.

Thanks for the psd file rllercstr7 Now I can see your tricks..

Unfortunately until now the Homepage is not skinnable, only Audiosoft can change its layout..

rllercstr7,

Your home view looks great! However, if you guys really want to help: design it in HTML (Dreamweaver, FrontPage, etc) and use CSS style sheets (so that the text that changes is text and not a graphic) that way I can make it skinnable. The layering of the spotlights over the carousel looks cool but is not possible to implement. I do like your graphics allot (toolbox, shoutcast, stats) ... those could easily be incorporated into a HTML page and used on the home view. I can see using some more graphics like that for Update Database, Rip CD, etc on the home view and possibly some Flash animated buttons.

Audiosoft,
I know exactly what you are saying. The spotlights would be near impossible to implement. Unfortunately I have no coding experience to date so it is not really an option for me to work with HTML. My aim was more to get ideas flowing for some new graphics and contribute what I can. Use any of my graphics you want. I did have to get pictures off the internet for the radio etc as I wanted that look, but don't have one to photograh. I can probably ask permission from the sources if you would like to use the graphics.

Also Beta 3 looks great. I came across 1 issue which I am not sure if it was intentional or not. In the carosel if you click on an album it gets a little bigger AND STAYS THAT WAY. If you click on all 9 rotating albums they rotate at a larger size and it looks kinda odd and ruins the rotating effect. I assume maybe you meant for image size to increase when you click and go back to normal after a second or so.

Ah yeah Audiosoft, we would need to use Dreamweaver instead of Photoshop, but I would need to unearth this html editor again!

RE: In the carosel if you click on an album it gets a little bigger AND STAYS THAT WAY.

Hmm...it is supposed to go back to normal size a couple seconds after you click. Did you grab the updated ejc.flm? Anyone else experiencing this problem with Alpha 3? I could update it so it animates back to normal size right away instead of after the songlist loads...it animates smoother that way (zooms in and out in one motion) but it requires the songlist to wait until the animation back is done before it starts loading so there is a little more of a delay before the songlist shows up. Do you guys like how the carousel cover stays big until the songlist is done loading or not?

rllercstr7,

I think your photoshop image, without the interactive texts (Top songs, stat numbers), but including all the image layers merged with all their photoshop filters could be used as the Homepage html background image. The texts (font, size and color) would be defined separately in the homepage css file. So almost all your effects would be reproduced..
I will see what I can do.

Hmmm,
I downloaded elc.flm again just in case, but the same thing happens and it looks rather odd when animated in motion this way.

Thanks for putting my work in a form that can be used Pirk! In the text graphic at the top I put "eJukebox Top 20" but then only listed 9 songs in the list. I did that with the thought that if someday there can be 20 albums in the carosel that the list of songs would scroll as it ticks off the top songs and the carosel turns, but 9 fit at a good size to match the limit of 9 albums currently. If you have questions you can usually contact me at my AOL sn which is the same as my forum screen name.

I just need to get a html editor, and some free time too! But I think you have made the more difficult work for me: the creative part..

Thank you.

OK for AOL rllercstr7, in case..

rllercstr7: Your suggestion for the homeview looks perfect. Hopefully some of those ideas are possible for implementation. I agree with Pirk's statement, you should post your graphical ideas more often

As for the animations I have the same problem. I love the idea of highligting the current album of interest in the carousel. But it doesn't reset the sizes, which give odd results. I still hope that it will optionally be possible to keep the carousel while having the albumlist open

Thanks audiosoft for making dnd for the carousel. But I can't get it to work : I might have done something wrong, just started to test alpha 3.

RE: As for the animations I have the same problem.

Does it load the songlist when you click on the album in the carousel or not? Does Drag and Dropping the carosel albums work? Do the images shrink at all after you click them? Screenshot?

RE: I still hope that it will optionally be possible to keep the carousel while having the albumlist open

I could make the carosel show up when on the home view (since that minimizes the album list) but there just isn't any room for the carosel when using the songlist with the albumlist is open.

Here is a screenshot of the problem Audiosoft. I tried flash player 8, but it didn't help.

Here is a idea for a CD ripper icon on the home page. I attached the HTML file for the animation, but can also provide the flash one .swf. Tell me what you think

edit: The HTML didn't seem to work so here's the .swf
Resize the window to about 1.5 in high and 2.5 in wide or it will look horrible

Moved look below.

Wow again rllercstr7! Your swf looks great!

Audiosoft: Yes it loads albums into the songlist when I click those in the carousel. Dnd does not work, it just loads the albums directly in the songlist, when I try to drag them from the carousel (i.e. a "drag" is understood as a "click"). I use flashplayer 8.

Concerning the imagesizes, the problem is that when one enter an in a carousel that album is (correctly) mazimised in the carousel. But if I enter a new one, this one is also maximized while the previous album is also maximized (see the shot). Probably you should make it so the previous albumsize is resized to default, before maximizing the present one or simular.

Forget everything I've said about image resizing. I had not downloaded the file in the second post correctly. By the way, is that file named correctly? The filename differs from the last version.

The problems with dnd still apply for me.

Ah good eye Fishy. I deleted the old ejc.flm from the eJukebox directory and renamed elc.flm from the second post ejc.flm. Now everything works fine. I cannot get drag and drop to work either.

Concerning to me, curiously I can use the ejc.flm or the elc.flm file, or even no file at all! The carousel always works perfectly on windows vista! It is just a bit greedy for my system resources..

Now it all makes sense!

I accidentally uploaded the wrong file name that is why it was not working correctly. The file is supposed to be ejc.flm ... NOT eLc.flm.

I have updated the download in the 2nd post. Download and install the file in the 2nd post again and it should work correctly. Drag and Drop should also work from the carousel images. Sorry about the mix up. You can delete eLc.flm from Crogram FileseJukebox since it doesn't do anything. Just make sure you have the new ejc.flm in there and it should work perfect.

rllercstr7,

I do like the CD Rip animation. The only thing is when you resize it down it is only visible when the WIDTH goes all the way across the screen. This leaves a large area of black to the left and the right of the animation. It might work better as an animated gif since it could then be resized and cropped in ImageReady.

Well, I'm not quite sure what you mean. Are you referring to when it is played in the web browser? Before being exported the set size is 268 X 121, which is right at the edges of each object in the animation; as small as possible without cutting anything off. When played in flash 8 it opens at that exact size with no black horizontal stripe. Here's the animated GIF.

I think that Audiosoft would prefer a animated gif file instead of a flash swf file..

Am I just being stupid again or is there no option with Version 4 to exit full screen mode. I am stuck in it an cannot find the way out. The minimize buttons etc have disappeared from the top right of the screen.

Help Im trapped in here!!!!!!!!

RE: there no option with Version 4 to exit full screen mode.

That is a bug in alpha 3. To get out of fullscreen you could have entered and exited kiosk mode.

Alpha 4 fixes this bug and is now available for download in the first and second posts.

And France win Spain!

Thanks for this alpha 4 Audiosoft! It seems to work very good.

Quote:

Message original : Pirk 1) Slow down a bit the default rotation speed. Because currently it's a bit straining for the eyes to follow and read the album names. I think -50% would be ideal. And maybe that would save some cpu time. [Fixed] 2) Put the carousel fixed and "always visible" on the bottom of the right panel. The songlist would be on top in another independent window. [Fixed] 3) List artist albums in the same order than in the full albumlist. Currently the artist albums seems to be mixed up, or if they are sorted, they are in a strange order?! 4) I think the carousel should group the double and multiples albums (showing only one cover) like in the full albumlist. 5) That would be great if the carousel could display more than 9 albums. I think 20 albums would be sufficient! See my trick below. A trick in order to display many more albums in the carousel: The carousel would still display only 9 albums at the same time, but you could SWAP albums when they are behind. So the user could contemplate all the artist albums (even more than 20 if they exist!), while the carousel still only displays 9 at the same time.. Thank You.

Pirk,

It currently shows the albums in order of popularity (based on pick count)..then alphabetical if the pick count is the same. It will need to stay that way for genre, year, etc. I could make it go only in alphabetical order for artist and album listings but if you have over 9 albums; wouldn't you want the most popular ones instead of it always cutting off the albums that are later in the alphabet?

I will work on getting multiple CD albums to show up as one album in the carousel.

I like your idea for the 20 albums but modifying the carousel to do that would be a monumental undertaking. It would probally be easier to just modify it to allow 20 albums by making the size of each album smaller when over 9 so that they all fit.

Ah OK Audiosoft.. the albums in the carousel are sorted by popularity! But for me they seem untidy because I use to see them in "AlbumYear" order in my Albumlist! You know that I always name all my albums: "Year - Albumname", so when years are not increasing.. that jump to the eyes!
Thus, the day you will allow 20 albums in the carousel, I would really appreciate if I can see them in alphabetical order. Well, in "album years" order in my case..

If my swapping idea is too complicated to program, I would be satisfied with your idea that makes the size of each album smaller when over 9:
I'm longing you add this feature!

And thanks in advance for when you will work on getting multiple CD albums to show up as one album in the carousel. I'm longing too..

I have noticed that with the addition of resizing the album images in the now playing area the playlist area can look well pretty bare. When the now playing area reaches a certain size how about modifying it to do something similar to what is pictured below. This way the area is rid of the bare look when the album image is large while accomidating the viewing of more songs in the playlist at one time.

rllercstr7: I agree that there is room in the playlist are for intersting things. What I would like to see there are maybe small coverimages, bitrate and other information. Although, the total time of duration is not a bad idea! I hope audiosoft has an good idea. I think at least a small coverimage, when each new album starts would be a good start. The playlist needs improvement!

Pirk: Ah, attending to the world cup these days? I think football is coming home this time. I hope England will do it, even if they don't have played very well so far. Rooney will do things... also against France if they they happen to get in the way Do not feel to comfortable.. Brazil has done it too many times anyhow. Go England! (or Ukraine if the fail!). I know the french don't really like the english and vica verca BUT, Football is coming home

Good idea Fishy! Maybe the year would be a good idea too.

Fishy: Usually I'm not a football fanatic.. but normally when France plays against the greatest teams it's still a big show! Of course Brazilians are gifted, but we have already defeated them.. with the same team!
England.. What? They play football?

Otherwise, I don't like so much the "2 columns" playlist. Like Fishy I would prefer to have a image by album (each first song). But I would also appreciate to have more song informations displayed: total time and others..

Alpha 5 is now available for download in the first and second posts.

Nice work Audiosoft!
The carousel is very responsive, even with 20 albums. It's very intoxicating to have all the albums of a artist just under the mouse.. and all in the correct order!

Now it would just miss you remove the duplicate covers and the carousel will be perfect..

Thank you very much!

PS: I still prefer to have the carousel below the songlist, like a minialbumlist.
OR ELSE.. if the carousel is on Top: I think the songlist title bar sould display the ARTIST name instead of the album name. Maybe the songlist title bar could display something like: "Led Zeppelin albums" or "Led Zeppelin Showcase".
I have to admit that the carousel is more spectacular on Top: This is just the fact that the songlist is cut in two pieces which bother me a bit. So if you change the songlist title, maybe that will be sufficient.. Well I'm not sure!

OK, I've just found the right background color for the carousel to use with my skin: It looks Fan-tas-tic, on Top!


Audiosoft,

If it wasn't my own skin I would be ready to pay a lot for it.. I'm sure this showcase will boost your sales!
PS: Look into your email box..

And France win Brazil, again!!

Henry....... In offside.

Congratz! And England lost on those dang penalities again... France and Germany in the final then? At last we can state that Europe rules soccer? Although, Norway suck but we have also beaten Brazil, during the world cup in 1998. ;D

Quote:

Originally posted by Fishy I know the french don't really like the english and vica verca BUT, Football is coming home

VWBUG,
Ha ha! Andy Murray.. the guy who tread on Portuguese balls!? What ardour.. Out!

Fishy,
That's true.. but these Brazilians was sleeping or what?? They are ridiculous in defense.. and they have been incapable in attack!

Audiosoft,

I don't know if this is the right place, or the bug section.. But if you right click on the artist list, it lets you choose some options designed for IE, not eJ.

And... where is "added 'Music Videos' quicklink"
I must be blind... as you can tell, I right clicked everywhere.

Cheers!

Don

Mw neither get any ie things when right clicking the artistlist.. And I guess that is the whole point..

As for the musicvideo link. Me too hoped that it was a new button in the top view. It could simply be a button that held just videos imported into ejukebox. The user himself had to take care that it was just musicvideoes. Ejukebox already support video, it is just a question about inviting the user to use it in a adequate way.

And France win Portugal too!

We are in final !!

I tried to figure out how to post a pic, but sadly I can't

It is the same menu you get when you right click on a web page.

So it really is a right click menu for this pane. I can even export the list to Excel this way. I never remeber being able to do that...

Don

Don,

I will get rid of the right click menu on the artistlist for the next update. For some reason it doesn't show up on most systems even though it is not disabled by code yet.

No Problem, just trying to help the cause....

Some options make eJ unusable, like backward links... You want no little gotchas when you release the next major update.

I updated my eJukebox Manual today to include the carosel in the Interface overview section. I also added to the FAQ and Troubleshooting section with the latest questions brought up in in forums. As always please let me know if you find any typos, incorrect information, or additions that should be made.

How is the Home View comming Pirk?

Alpha 6 is up!

Ahh, great Audiosoft!

The cached Artistlist is a good idea! Indeed the artsistlist opens faster now, especially when the list is a bit overloaded.. Furthermore when I open it using my crimson skin, the artistlist now starts directly in red instead of in the default blue before..

And thanks for the update of the songlist titlebar showing the artist name when the mouse pass over the carousel, or showing "Top 12" when necessary: That's some very useful indications on the carousel contents!

Thanks for alpha 6, great work Audiosoft!

I have one suggestion:
There is only four options under "Only show entries when the Song or a song from the artist etc", disabled, week, month, 24 hours. They are too sort to me and I want more options like 3 months, 6 months and year.