Yet Another Jukebox Program

[SalmonKing]

However, the bad news is (which I'm sure you don't want to hear) is that the EAX problem hasn't gone away with the release of the new MP3 playing controls.  EAX still gets disabled and no sound output from SJ Jukebox after first song till it's restarted . I wonder if perhaps I'm the only one with this problem? Haven't seen any mention of it from the other users out there.

hmmm....they suggested you upgrade your soundcard drivers.  I have an Audigy here and do not have the problems you are having (and I did try turning on EAX, worked fine in the program, and when I shut it down....I was able to go into the EAX settings with the program running as well).   

[clavman8]

In SKJukebox, it would be great to have this option too...as it is now, SKJ will only allow me to turn off the computer.  I don't know if it would be too difficult to implement a simple commanc line option on exit like mamewah?

Sure, I think someone else wanted this as well.  What I'll do is replace the existing 'Shutdown on close' option with a multiple selection :

1) Shutdown
2) Reboot (don't think this would be required, but just in case!)
3) Logoff
4) Run program (which would let you select the application to run, and give you the option of passing any command line parameters)

Hi and Thanks SalmonKing!!!  That was Quick....I am loving your program and your support is incredible.  Thats so much.

[SalmonKing]

Hi and Thanks SalmonKing!!!  That was Quick....I am loving your program and your support is incredible.  Thats so much.

No probs, will try & get it into the program this weekend.   

[Qaz]

However, the bad news is (which I'm sure you don't want to hear) is that the EAX problem hasn't gone away with the release of the new MP3 playing controls.  EAX still gets disabled and no sound output from SJ Jukebox after first song till it's restarted . I wonder if perhaps I'm the only one with this problem? Haven't seen any mention of it from the other users out there.

hmmm....they suggested you upgrade your soundcard drivers.  I have an Audigy here and do not have the problems you are having (and I did try turning on EAX, worked fine in the program, and when I shut it down....I was able to go into the EAX settings with the program running as well).   

Double Hmmmm..!!  Now, I'm really confused. That was one of the first things I did, was to try it with updated drivers. That was about 2 weeks back. I doubt your drivers would be newer than mine at this point. And what's even more odd is that it's not just my machine, I've duplicated this problem across a number of different machines with various hardware configurations, but with enough juice under the hood to run any modern day app.  The only absolute commonality between all the tested machines is that I used the SB Audigy card in each (running included drivers initially and latest drivers eventually to test).

Did you try more than one track, cuz it always works on first track played? Basically, here's the order of testing...

1) Make sure EAX is enabled via Creative's EAX Console.
2) Startup SKJB
3) Queue first song.. can wait for it to finish or just use Next Track if multiple songs are queued. If single song added, add another after first one is done or while playing.
4) It's the first song that plays fine, next and subsequent songs that are added will appear to be playing, but no sound output.
5) While SKJB still running, go check EAX console.. try change something, nothings's really there all settings will be blank.
6) Shutdown SKJB. EAX back to normal.
7)Startup SKJB. Anything will play again, but only for the first song.

Well, anyhow.. thanks for your efforts..


Qaz

[ChalkyWhite]

I'm pretty certain that the entire MP3 is loaded into memory when it starts playing...I haven't noticed any HDD activity while a song is playing.  That's why on some older systems, there is a small delay between songs, as it's doing all the work at that point.  I could be wrong on this, however!  If I wanted, I can FORCE this, by loading the song into the MP3 control from memory already, but I don't think I need to.  I would just be replicating what is already happening (i.e. loading the entire file from the HDD into memory, then playing that).

That fits with my new juke machine experiences SK, there is a 4 second pause between tracks when running the program on a very fast laptop, but over a standard USB cable to an external hard disk. If I run the harddisk on a USB2 machine, the pause is almost not noticed.  Better to load the complete track before playing than risk the track breaking up whilst trying to retrieve the track over a slow link IMO.

USB2 rocks! The external harddisk by the way is the Smartdisk Crossfire 160Gb USB2.  It's totally simply to hook up and very fast over USB2.  My complete music collection only totals about 40Gb recorded at 192Kbps, so I've plenty of space for the future! (380 albums which SKJ handles with ease)

Cheers, Chalky

[ChalkyWhite]

After an evening using SKJ, my wife and I had an idea for stats whilst the songs are playing.

Traditional jukes sometimes have a top5 or 10 played tracks flashing past, which is normally only represented by the album and track numbers. Perhaps SKJ can scroll through the most popular tracks played ever, that week, or that day, and include the album cover? I would suggest this takes the form of an SKJ screensaver.

Last night "Something to Talk About" by Badly Drawn Boy must have been the most popular, but if the stat was to change to most played ever, then perhaps "Danger High Voltage" by Electric 6 would be up there, as my mates stick that on over and over again. 

[SalmonKing]

Double Hmmmm..!!  Now, I'm really confused. That was one of the first things I did, was to try it with updated drivers. That was about 2 weeks back. I doubt your drivers would be newer than mine at this point. And what's even more odd is that it's not just my machine, I've duplicated this problem across a number of different machines with various hardware configurations, but with enough juice under the hood to run any modern day app.  The only absolute commonality between all the tested machines is that I used the SB Audigy card in each (running included drivers initially and latest drivers eventually to test).

Did you try more than one track, cuz it always works on first track played? Basically, here's the order of testing...

1) Make sure EAX is enabled via Creative's EAX Console.
2) Startup SKJB
3) Queue first song.. can wait for it to finish or just use Next Track if multiple songs are queued. If single song added, add another after first one is done or while playing.
4) It's the first song that plays fine, next and subsequent songs that are added will appear to be playing, but no sound output.
5) While SKJB still running, go check EAX console.. try change something, nothings's really there all settings will be blank.
6) Shutdown SKJB. EAX back to normal.
7)Startup SKJB. Anything will play again, but only for the first song.

Well, anyhow.. thanks for your efforts..


Qaz

Sorry, that's exactly how I tested and it's still not doing it here.  A while back, with an older version of their control, it WOULD 'lock' the soundcard.  I'm wondering if you're not using an older version of the control still perhaps...... maybe look for any copy of amp3dj.ocx on your hard drive(s).  Make sure you have just the one, dated the 8th of December.

Hope that helps!

[SalmonKing]

After an evening using SKJ, my wife and I had an idea for stats whilst the songs are playing.

Traditional jukes sometimes have a top5 or 10 played tracks flashing past, which is normally only represented by the album and track numbers. Perhaps SKJ can scroll through the most popular tracks played ever, that week, or that day, and include the album cover? I would suggest this takes the form of an SKJ screensaver.

Last night "Something to Talk About" by Badly Drawn Boy must have been the most popular, but if the stat was to change to most played ever, then perhaps "Danger High Voltage" by Electric 6 would be up there, as my mates stick that on over and over again. 

Logging what songs are played has been on the to-do list for a while now.  With the songs played logged to a file, stats like that will be very easy.

I'll see if I can elevate this feature up the list a little.   

[Beowolf]

It took me 3 days of searching for a good jukebox program before I found yours - congratulations on the best out there!

There are a few small features that I'm either not seeing, or that don't exist.

1) If you enter full view when typing a song number, can it close that view once/if all the tracks of that album are queued, or if the display is left idle for a set time period?

2) For those of us with dual monitors, can it remember which screen it was on when it last closed?

3) I swear there was a #3...

4) I can't get it to run under wine in linux. Has anyone tried this before and got it working? 

SK Jukebox is by far and away the best album-based jukebox I've come across.  VMJ is almost there, but as slow as a tortoise being led by a lethargic snail.

[billf]

VMJ is almost there, but as slow as a tortoise being led by a lethargic snail.

 

[SalmonKing]

It took me 3 days of searching for a good jukebox program before I found yours - congratulations on the best out there!

There are a few small features that I'm either not seeing, or that don't exist.

1) If you enter full view when typing a song number, can it close that view once/if all the tracks of that album are queued, or if the display is left idle for a set time period?

2) For those of us with dual monitors, can it remember which screen it was on when it last closed?

3) I swear there was a #3...

4) I can't get it to run under wine in linux. Has anyone tried this before and got it working? 

SK Jukebox is by far and away the best album-based jukebox I've come across.  VMJ is almost there, but as slow as a tortoise being led by a lethargic snail.

Thanks for the positive feedback!   

Anyway, on to the questions.... :

1)  So, you want the full view to remain open if you only pick one song, but close if you pick '00 All Tracks'?  Not totally sure how best to handle the 'close after x seconds' issue....it's been on my to-do list longer than any of the other features!

2)  I've not used dual monitors ever, so doing that would be a real challenge!  Can you set it up in your video card drivers?  Do most other apps remember?  If it's just remembering the x & y (and height & width) of the unmaximized window, that's not hard at all, but if it's something else (i.e. you've maximized the app on the 2nd screen), then I'm not sure if I could do it or not.  Would certainly check it out, if you can clarify these points.

3)  There is no #3......move along   

4)  I haven't tried it, so hopefully someone else out there has had some experience with it.   

SK.

[Space Fractal]

About dualscreen:

This option is only workable when the desktop is expanded (not cloned). On that mode, it very easy. I saw a thread in the Purebasic, how the desktop was setup on the second screen (say: coods). I was going to make a dll to wipe that one.....

But when working directly with graphicscard and fullscreen (wich send directly to the another graphicscard), this option is allmost impossible without a lots of trouble because there are limits on Windows and Drivers. I expermented with that, but and gave up....

[tunasashimi]

First of all, let me just say how wonderful SK Jukebox is. Thanks, SalmonKing!

This is my first post, so here's a bit of history:

I went to a local diner the other day and fiddled around with the jukebox and thought, "Wouldn't it be a great idea to have a jukebox that plays MP3 songs!" When I got home, I searched the Net and lo and behold! There is a community of MP3 jukebox afficionados out there (or should I say, in here )! I was
reading the BYOAC forums and tried to download some of the software mentioned. I went to the Virtual Music Jukebox website, loved the screenshot, and tried to download the installer, but at 18+ megs, I had to beg off. I settled (duh!) for SK Jukebox, installed it in seconds and got it up and running. When I loaded my songs, I encountered an error. It turns out the MP3 files in my Pussycat Dolls album folder were corrupted (either that, or the cheesy music filter in SK Jukebox is on by default, hehehe). Quickly took the folder out of my collection, and loved SK Jukebox. That was 3 nights ago. The next night, I downloaded VMJ, Uncle T's, and Jukeboxer and installed them, for comparison. Although, they were also good pieces of software, I promptly went back to SK Jukebox.

Been steadily playing around with the options.

Once again, great program, SK. Kudos!

Comments to come...

[ChalkyWhite]

1)  So, you want the full view to remain open if you only pick one song, but close if you pick '00 All Tracks'?  Not totally sure how best to handle the 'close after x seconds' issue....it's been on my to-do list longer than any of the other features!

Hi SK, how about using the same routine you utilise for the screensaver, whereby if nothing is chosen in full view for 300 secs (default), SKJ jumps into screensaver mode, then reverts back to the normal view when the mouse is moved.

Chalky

[Barry Barcrest]

2)  I've not used dual monitors ever, so doing that would be a real challenge!  Can you set it up in your video card drivers?  Do most other apps remember?  If it's just remembering the x & y (and height & width) of the unmaximized window, that's not hard at all, but if it's something else (i.e. you've maximized the app on the 2nd screen), then I'm not sure if I could do it or not.  Would certainly check it out, if you can clarify these points.

It is just co-ordinates so you should be able to save to position without and problem, drop me a pm if you are stuck.

[Beowolf]

1)  So, you want the full view to remain open if you only pick one song, but close if you pick '00 All Tracks'?  Not totally sure how best to handle the 'close after x seconds' issue....it's been on my to-do list longer than any of the other features!

Yes, that's it.  Regarding the close after x seconds: How about starting a timer when the program goes into full view,  and each time the user selects a song the timer gets reset?  If it reaches it's max it goes back to normal view.  I think this would work even when it wasn't the focused app, when the screensaver option wouldn't.

2)  I've not used dual monitors ever, so doing that would be a real challenge!  Can you set it up in your video card drivers?  Do most other apps remember?  If it's just remembering the x & y (and height & width) of the unmaximized window, that's not hard at all, but if it's something else (i.e. you've maximized the app on the 2nd screen), then I'm not sure if I could do it or not.  Would certainly check it out, if you can clarify these points.

I'm pretty sure it's just a case of remembering the coords.  I do have it maximised though. (not full screen, still windowed) .  If this is trickier, would remembering the last unmaximised coords and then maximising the window work?

Most other apps do remember, and can maximise themselves on the right window.

I'm not sure that the driver settings come into it as my second monitor is actually run off a seperate graphics card.

(You really should get a second monitor.  It makes programming of any sort so much easier.)

[SalmonKing]

Yes, that's it.  Regarding the close after x seconds: How about starting a timer when the program goes into full view,  and each time the user selects a song the timer gets reset?  If it reaches it's max it goes back to normal view.  I think this would work even when it wasn't the focused app, when the screensaver option wouldn't.

Yeah, I had a good think about it yesterday and think I have come up with a couple of ideas.  The issue is, what about other keys like volume up/down, etc....should they have an effect on when the album closes?  With a screensaver, I am looking for ANY keypress, but I'm thinking there may be exceptions to this new function.  Obviously, it'll be ALOT easier to just register any keypress and just reset the timer.

I'm pretty sure it's just a case of remembering the coords.  I do have it maximised though. (not full screen, still windowed) .  If this is trickier, would remembering the last unmaximised coords and then maximising the window work?

I KNOW I can restore an unmaximized window to a position, as I do it in alot of apps (surprised it hasn't come up with SKJB before now!).  With maximized windows, I would just return to that state.  Now we throw in the dual monitors and I enter an unknown realm.  I'm sure the unmaximized window will still work as normal, it's just the maximizing that I'm not sure about.  All I can do is try & let someone with a dual screen setup (like you) try it & let me know if it works.

(You really should get a second monitor.  It makes programming of any sort so much easier.)

You'll have to convince my boss at work........and my wife here   

[SalmonKing]

OK, I've done some changes and they've gone pretty well.

As I've said, I have no idea if this will work on dual monitor setups, but I guess time will tell.

The 'close full view after x seconds' is around 65% of the way there.  I have hard coded it to 10 seconds for the time being, and ANY keypress will reset the timer.  Now I have to cover the mouse/touchscreen events which should reset the timer as well, and of course put in an option to change the time to wait.

[tunasashimi]

OK, I've read this thread from start to finish, so I'm sure this wasn't mentioned before.

I have about 1500+ albums on my hard drive and have them set up this way:

C:\Single artists\Artist - Album\Artist - Track Number - Title.mp3
e.g., Pink Floyd - Wish You Were Here\Pink Floyd - 03 - Have A Cigar.mp3

C:\Compilation\Various Artists - Album\Track Number - Artist - Title.mp3
e.g.,  Various Artists - Pulp Fiction OST\04 - Al Green - Let's Stay Together.mp3

I've checked "Utilize ID3 Tags for Naming Information". I noticed that SK Jukebox just gets the artist name from the first track in the album and applies that as the artist name for the whole album. This is not a problem for single artists, but for compilation albums like soundtracks, it comes out like this:

In the Pulp Fiction example above, "Dick Dale" sings the first track. In the 4-album or full album view, SK Jukebox lists "Dick Dale" as the artist and "Pulp Fiction OST" as the album. For all tracks in the album, it would list "Dick Dale" as the artist in the Now Playing screen, such that track 4 would read:

Dick Dale
Pulp Fiction OST
Let's Stay Together

Is there a way to let SK Jukebox read the ID3 artist tag from each MP3 and show this in the Now Playing screen? How do I make "Various Artists" come out as the artist in the 4-album or full album view (SK could easily get it from my directory structure)? If I uncheck "Utilize ID3 Tags...", I get the full filename as the track title.

Thanks once again, SK, for a wonderful program and for great support!

[SalmonKing]

Is there a way to let SK Jukebox read the ID3 artist tag from each MP3 and show this in the Now Playing screen? How do I make "Various Artists" come out as the artist in the 4-album or full album view (SK could easily get it from my directory structure)? If I uncheck "Utilize ID3 Tags...", I get the full filename as the track title.

I guess if I find a song with a different artist with the same album name, in the same directory, I could change the artist to 'Various'.  I would also then incorporate the artist name into the track name in these instances.  Let me have a tinker!

[SalmonKing]

Tinkering has been done, and here's the list of things so far in the next release :

Code: [Select]

22/01/2006 : The program will now return to the 4 album view after the full view has been brought up, and no key
             has been pressed or mouse clicks have occured in 10 seconds (hard coded for now, will put in an option
             for the number of seconds shortly)
             Full view is closed if you select '00 All Tracks'
             Now remembers the window position, which I HOPE will work with dual screen setups
             If using ID3 to get the track info, it will now change the album's artist to 'Various' if it finds a
             track that belongs to the same album but with a different artist.  It will also append the artist
             names to the track names listed.
I won't be able to upload until tomorrow at the earliest, however.

SK.

[tunasashimi]

Wow! My first request and you incorporated it in the next release. What can I say? You're one of a kind. Thanks again.

[Beowolf]

Development rate is indeed impressive.

Just a question, I have plenty of .oggs, and while they play fine, SKJ doesn't pick up their tags.  Directory/file naming works though, so I'm using that instead.

Is this the case, or have I missed something?

You can get a second-hand monitor and graphics card for almost peanuts.  It doesn't need to do any fancy graphics, after all.

You could almost do with your own forum somewhere, a 16 page thread is a bit unwieldy...

EDIT: Any chance of allowing only one instance of the program at a time?

[SalmonKing]

Just a question, I have plenty of .oggs, and while they play fine, SKJ doesn't pick up their tags.  Directory/file naming works though, so I'm using that instead.

Is this the case, or have I missed something?

The only tagging available at the moment is MP3 tags (ID3v1 & v2).  I'll have a look at OGG tagging at some stage.

You could almost do with your own forum somewhere, a 16 page thread is a bit unwieldy...

Yeah, it's something I've thought about.  There's no real need to keep adding to this thread, though, as I check the 'Audio/Jukebox/MP3 Forum' almost every day.  If it's obvious the new thread is about SKJB, that's even better.

EDIT: Any chance of allowing only one instance of the program at a time?

Sure, I'll add that to the to-do list.   

[Brad]

Yeah, it's something I've thought about.  There's no real need to keep adding to this thread, though, as I check the 'Audio/Jukebox/MP3 Forum' almost every day.  If it's obvious the new thread is about SKJB, that's even better.

SK, I can set you up with your own at EC if you like. Just give me a yell.

Cheers,

Brad

[bauhaus]

Hello

Thanks for update

Just a little thing, is it possible to add a function to display in full view the Album cover of the current song ?



bauhaus

Just a question, I have plenty of .oggs, and while they play fine, SKJ doesn't pick up their tags.  Directory/file naming works though, so I'm using that instead.

Is this the case, or have I missed something?

The only tagging available at the moment is MP3 tags (ID3v1 & v2).  I'll have a look at OGG tagging at some stage.

You could almost do with your own forum somewhere, a 16 page thread is a bit unwieldy...

Yeah, it's something I've thought about.  There's no real need to keep adding to this thread, though, as I check the 'Audio/Jukebox/MP3 Forum' almost every day.  If it's obvious the new thread is about SKJB, that's even better.

EDIT: Any chance of allowing only one instance of the program at a time?

Sure, I'll add that to the to-do list.   

[CartmanDP1]

I know video support has been suggested and I think that would be awesome, but have you ever thought of adding a startup video option like in MAMEWah?

[SalmonKing]

I know video support has been suggested and I think that would be awesome, but have you ever thought of adding a startup video option like in MAMEWah?

I'll probably look at doing this when video support is added.  Still no idea when I'll look at it, however!   

SK.

[Beowolf]

Love the updates.

It now remembers the monitor it was on when it was closed, and remaximises itself.  The splash screen is still on the primary monitor though, but that isn't a problem.  I've had that with other programs.

Going back to full screen after selecting 'all tracks' also works brilliantly.

Many thanks.

[SalmonKing]

Love the updates.

It now remembers the monitor it was on when it was closed, and remaximises itself.  The splash screen is still on the primary monitor though, but that isn't a problem.  I've had that with other programs.

Going back to full screen after selecting 'all tracks' also works brilliantly.

Many thanks.

Great, glad to hear that it works!   

Yeah, I had my doubts about the splash screen, and meant to mention it.  Not sure if there's a hell of alot I can do about it, but I'll check it out at some stage.

SK.

[messiah]

Yeah, I had my doubts about the splash screen, and meant to mention it.  Not sure if there's a hell of alot I can do about it, but I'll check it out at some stage.

SK.

I managed to get the splash screen opening on the 2nd monitor by setting the options for skjukebox.exe in the "desktop management" settings within the Nvidia Drivers. The only problem is now the "Genre" box opens on the primary monitor when the program loads, but all other windows work fin forced to the second monitor . Hope that makes sense

[SalmonKing]

I managed to get the splash screen opening on the 2nd monitor by setting the options for skjukebox.exe in the "desktop management" settings within the Nvidia Drivers. The only problem is now the "Genre" box opens on the primary monitor when the program loads, but all other windows work fin forced to the second monitor . Hope that makes sense

Now that's one I should be able to control.  The problem with the splash screen & genre boxes is that they are loaded before the main screen has been loaded/sized.

Thinking as I'm typing this.........I think I've thought of a way to fix up both boxes!   

Let me have a tinker.

[dbaleckaitis]

Is there anyway to make the fullscreen album (during selection) stay on longer than 10 seconds before losing your selection?  Sometimes its hard to pick the exact song you want before it resets to the multiple album selection. 

I hope I described that well enough.

Dan

[billf]

Wow, SK has been upgraded to a 'Moderator'.  Congrats!  Does that include a pay raise?!? 

Resume normal programming.

[SalmonKing]

Is there anyway to make the fullscreen album (during selection) stay on longer than 10 seconds before losing your selection?  Sometimes its hard to pick the exact song you want before it resets to the multiple album selection. 

I hope I described that well enough.

Dan

Not currently, as it was something I added more for a test rather than anything else.  I will include this as an option in the next release, so you can turn it off, or change the number of seconds before it goes back.