a few suggestions
Hi.
First of all I'd like to thank you for your wonderful program. After browsing through many cataloging programs on the web, I ended up happily purchasing OrangeCD. Because I use it mainly to catalog all my mp3 files, which I rip from my CDs (easier to handle them on the HD, than on hundreds of jewel cases), I have a few suggestions/requests regarding mp3 use, along with some other ones:
1. ID3 retrieval of CD number -
Currently, when adding an album which is composed of a few CDs, each one is added separately to the database. I don't know of any way to combine them to a single album, other then to do it manually. I guess using the this info from the ID3 tag (where it exists) could make this automatic.
2. Addition of files to winamp playlist -
Using either of the playlist options (pls, m3u) will replace the currently playing list. The only way I found to add to the playlist was to use the 'custom' option with the winamp command line '/ADD'. However, for some reason the files do not enter the playlist in the correct order and one needs to sort it before playing. I guess because this method makes a lot of OS execution calls, they are not handled in sync, and so the list is not populated in the correct order. Perhaps a small delay (100ms) between each file addition will solve this ? A direct winamp communication will be great, of course.
3. Background loading of album covers -
Instead of waiting for the album covers of the currently displayed albums to be loaded, can they be loaded in the background (using a different thread) ? I guess if I open OrangeCD and browse through a few albums, this somewhat idle time can be used for that task.
4. Tray bar minimization -
I keep OrangeCD running all the time. It would be helpful if it didn't take much valuable space in the task bar.
And some more complex requests:
5. Differential mp3 files import -
As each time I add a few albums to the database, I find it easier to import the entire directory which contains my whole library (instead of selecting each album's directory individually). When doing so, the albums which have been previously added to the database are - effectively - deleted and added again, causing any information which I've added manually to be deleted. Can albums which are already in the database not be updated, importing only the new (sub)directories ?
6. External metadata import -
It is somewhat inefficient to save all metadata in individual mp3 files, even those who are not relevant to a specific song (file), such as album cover, review & lineup, artist bio and so on. Therefore, importing this data from the ID3 tag is (probably) not the way to go. Could there be any way of importing this info from a specially prepared text/html/xml file ? Perhaps even support for plugins ? If so, I would gladly publish a perl script I'm working on, which retrieves a lot of information from AllMusic's new layout (Artist bio, Album review, song credits, etc.).
7. One final question -
Could you list the ID3 tags which are imported from mp3 files, and under which fields they reside in the database ? That will help to tag files more efficiently for OrangeCD import, as well as customizing a suitable theme.
I'd appreciate your reply on those suggestions.
Thanks,
Itay.
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