Simple audio DB app. to launch default player

[parpfish]

Hi all,

I've been searching for ages for the following:

Some kind of fast db application (that uses something like SQL/lite) that can read (media file) tags (particularly ID3 & Ape). When records are clicked on they open in the default player (and can be moved to player via drag & drop).

The nearest thing to this I've found is (the open source) musikCube:
http://www.musikcube.com/page/main

However, it functions as a player, and does not have the option to use external / default player.

The point of this is that in my opinion most audio players do not do the database/library function very well.
And most database / library based audio players do not do the player part very well (esp. playing internet streams and the like). In my opinion foobar is the only exception, but it's a huge pain to configure.

The reason this has come about, is that someone asked me if I knew of a) a good player that plays all major audio types (mp3, ogg, aac, mpc, flac, wavpack etc.) with b) a good library that updates on opening, and c) that was easy to use / configure?

There are plenty of player like Spider Player, Xion, VU and many others that require very little configuration, but they have zero db functionality.

---

So a db like musikCube with a skinned (out of the way) player like Xion
http://xion.r2.com.a...one/Essence_full.jpg  would work well, furthermore, if the db application could handle all media files then launch them in the associated player it would be even better. For me that would mean db app would launch .avi files in Media Player Classic and all audio in foobar.

I've recently posted a similar thread at HA:
http://www.hydrogena....php?showtopic=61021

If such an application doesn't exist - does anyone here fancy making it.

By the way to see a list of player / library players already tested go here:
http://www.giantpygm...ons/play/player.html

Thanks for your time.

P.

[Lashiec]

Since you already tried XMPlay, you know that it can't handle big assed databases, but it fits the bill for everything you're asking for.

I wonder, why do you want to duplicate functionality? Never tried musikCube, but for what I know it does exactly what you want, I'm not sure if it handles custom tags, but it has a SQL-based library, music playback and a separate view for streams. To me, it seems perfect.

My bets are on foobar2000. The newest version improved a lot of things, and it makes components like ColumnsUI useless (which couldn't evolve much further, anyway, there's only so much customization you can do with a columns-based interface). In my view, foobar is configured out of the box for anyone, I mean, you feed it music and it plays it. And it has a vast array of customization options for those wanting them coupled with advanced management tools.

If you want to achieve the complicated setups of some guys in HA it's another thing, but frankly, I never thought PanelsUI is worth the hard work that it demands for an app that I only take a look at during two or three minutes a day (and foobar is playing music all day).

The only app that comes to mind that it's not listed there is JRiver Media Center, but... hmmm, that is a complete media jukebox. Not in my tastes, but it could fit you, as it's awfully powerful. Ah, yes, and maybe MP3 Collector.

BTW, is that page yours? Looks quite interesting

[parpfish]

BTW, is that page yours? Looks quite interesting

-Lashiec (February 05, 2008, 11:14 AM)

If you mean: http://www.giantpygmy.net/
Yes.

Thanks for the reply, appreciate it.

To clarify, I'm not looking to duplicate functionality - far from it. I'm looking to seperate functionality. i.e. to have 2 applications - one that deals with the library/db the other that deals with playing.

Foobar and musikCube are fine for me (though if a pure database existed I would use it instead of musikCube - as I use mC as a db and foobar as a player for a variety of good reasons). IMO both apps require additional components to function well and my friend wanted something that "worked out of the box" and that seemed like a fair enough request. It got me thinking about why I was struggling so hard to come up with a good recommendation.

It seems to me that the real issue is about the role the application plays.

When you look at a database / library of your audio/media files - you expect the UI to take up the whole screen or pretty much. When you are playing those files you expect it to take up almost none of the screen. One process occupies your attention, the other does not (until you want to click "next" or "stop"). Thus, I don't see why these two activities shouldn't be split off into two applications, one which is a pure database and one which is a pure player.

I'm a big fan of Seedling's Random MixTape Maker (RMTM), precisely because he doesn't pretend it's an all in one solution, when it's done its job it hands over the next job (that of playing) to your default player. Why? Because RMTM's job is to pick files; an audio player's job is to play files. Likewise a database's job is to order, search, find, compile, and query files.

That's perhaps the best way I can put it.

Developers tend toward functionality creep - "oh since it's doing this we might as well make it do that too"., since it reads tags, lets also make it a tagger, etc..

It seems to me silly to have a program which does A, B, C, X, Y, and Z, when you're either doing A or B or X etc..

Example:

I use theFrontend for encoding; MP3Gain or WavGain for replay gain(ing); TagScanner/MP3 BookHelper/MP3Tag for Tagging; Easy CD Extractor for ripping etc...

These programs are on when they're doing the job and off when they're not. Using an application that combines all these things is like having Windows XP open ALL my applications in case I might want to use some of them. Seems a waste of resources. Likewise why have my database on when my player is busy playing a tonne of music from it?

The only app that comes to mind that it's not listed there is JRiver Media Center, but... hmmm, that is a complete media jukebox. Not in my tastes, but it could fit you, as it's awfully powerful. Ah, yes, and maybe MP3 Collector.

-Lashiec (February 05, 2008, 11:14 AM)

Is MP3 Collector freeware? I could only see the 15 day Trial version.

ps. Agree with you about JRiver Media Center, not to my taste either.

P.

[Lashiec]

Well, actually I prefer to have as much functionality as possible in a single app, as long as it provides one of the best implementations compared with dedicated tools AND stays out of the way until I need it, instead of fragmenting it between various pieces of software, that means less software to maintain and worry about. That's why I like foobar, it plays music in the systray, and it lets me do lots of things with it when it's on the front. Of course, some of the functions are still not good enough, that's why I assist the software with Mp3tag and Exact Audio Copy.

But, different approaches in software usage aside, I think it'd be quite difficult to come up with something, and free to boot. MP3 Collector is, unfortunately, shareware, just like other "collection" applications out there (I could suggest MediaMan which collects and integrates several media with external applications, but it's also commercial). I remember coming across this massive music cataloguer long ago, but can't remember its name right now.

Another option you could look at it's a media cataloguer. They're primarily used for maintaining lists of what's contained inside physical media (CDs, DVDs...), but they may as well be used for this task as some of them are pretty powerful, and can read quite some file types. Since they use the Windows shell, you can easily send your music to your music player of choice. Precisely, our own tomos and Crush, did some hard work listing practically every cataloguer out there in this thread. I personally recommend Disk Explorer Professional, since I used it in the past and proved to be a great app. It seems to be abandoned, though.

Also, considering all the information we have in this forum, I should have take a look before suggesting anything. There's this other thread, with more suggestions of MP3 cataloguers by other members.

[Nod5]

hi parpfish,
I would also love to find the kind of db application that you request here! 
I searched for something similar (as far as the separation of music catalog and music player goes at least) in this old thread https://www.donation...25.msg68731#msg68731 . But I did not find what I was looking for. I hope some good suggestions crops up in this new thread!

[urlwolf]

MusicIP can be set up to play with an external player.
Its db is lightning fast.

It has some issues; tagging speed is not very good, GUI usability is so-so, and doesn't support APE tags, but overall it could be a good contender.

It has some niceties derived from having fingerprinting: fix tags, fig artist are some of them. Worth a try I'd say. It does support drag and drop, but not to foobar

I think mediamonkey can use an external player as well.

[parpfish]

MusicIP can be set up to play with an external player.
Its db is lightning fast.

It has some issues; tagging speed is not very good, GUI usability is so-so, and doesn't support APE tags, but overall it could be a good contender.

It has some niceties derived from having fingerprinting: fix tags, fig artist are some of them. Worth a try I'd say. It does support drag and drop, but not to foobar

I think mediamonkey can use an external player as well.

-urlwolf (February 05, 2008, 04:47 PM)

Thanks for that. So far MusicIP is the best candidate. I read their privacy policy though and decided to block all its .exe files from accessing the internet (i.e. their servers) - I just don't like the idea of my entire music collection being scanned, validated and ID'd so that some marketing types in California can sell some data - regardless of whether it's tied to my IP address. I just don't trust them.

That aside, without its fingerprinting/analysis it still functions pretty well as a database.
Not perfect but by far the best so far.

I shall continue to search.

Tried a number of Lashiec's media/disk cataloguers. Some came close-ish and that's an area I hadn't looked at - so thanks Lashiec - I'll keep looking in that area.

Finally, yes I'd tried MediaMonkey. Would be nice if it was more flexible with its UI, if I remember it didn't let me decide what I wanted to look at, couldn't reorder cols, widen certain panes etc... MM does launch an external player but only if it's winamp. Tried fooling it into thinking foobar was winamp but with little joy. Also was a bit cluttered -- again very good app but for my purposes it's trying to do too much. I'm already happy with much of the software I use which MM duplicates.

Thanks again to all who responded -- if I find the near-perfect solution - will let you know. If I don't I might have to stick with MusicIP. Though if I'm honest I would rather someone here hacked around with musikCube's source (it is open source afterall), removed the player, allowed for a wider range of media types (including video), and let the new program launch the default player for each file type. That would be perfect --- Wavs launching in CoolEdit, Video in Media Player Classic and everything else in in Foobar.

All the best.
P.

[cmpm]

I don't know if this is in any of the links posted-

http://sourceforge.net/projects/pm3/

[cmpm]

Google -playlist manager- and there are quite a few,
though some are not free and some you may not like.