Dear all,
I would like here to give you my thoughts about possible improvement to the navigation means inside the library (Mainly the local library).
We have the standard view where all albums are displayed in a flattened version, unless there are multiple disks behind an album and in that case, those disks are hidden and you have to open the main album to see al of them.
For me, that approach poses two problems:
1- When all disks are hidden, it’s quite difficult to browse through that list especially when you have a high number (>10) of disks.
2- When disks are clearly identified as different albums, you see in the main view all of them and again this takes time to skip them in case you want to access another album. In other words, this takes space for nothing.
I would suggest to use the following approach:
1- To display a collection of disks at first level with a single picture.
2- If you click on that picture, you access a sub-level where you could see the complete list of disks but with their own cover (If available of course for the different disks. If not, one unique cover can be used but the name of the album could be completed by the disk number)
3- To give the possibility to the user to configure the import of a collection (To use the approach proposed above with disks being treated as separated albums, Or to use the current approach where all disks are part of a unique album )
To be noted that such new approach is not IMHO covered by the “folder view”, unless I am mistaken.
It was a simple, efficient layout, that made use of every part of the app window. There was a column browser on top, playlists on the left, and optional track info on the right. It was also possible to play through an entire album without constant hanging, at the end of tracks, navigate between artists and albums quickly and easily, and even drag a selection of songs to a different position, within the play queue!
Thanks for this.
Looks interesting what you show but it’s not exactly what I had in mind.
I have nothing agains the album view with cover picture, I just say that it should be possible to group several disks inside folder whose entry point could be one album.
With that approach, you could group all albums of one composer/singer, or a collection of records of any kind. Obviously, when a cover hides several albums that should be clearly visible with a corner for example showing you can possibly browse inside it.
Ideally, you could group/degroup whenever you want.
For me, it’s different from playlists that you prepare according to your needs or interests. The proposed solution aims at reducing the number of covers you have to browse through before finding what you may like at this particular moment.
For example, suppose that you have all organ work by Bach under one cover, you can skip it easily and faster than if you have to pass through the entire list.
