Starting coding on Touchscreen jukebox. *release date?? & Art!!*

[nipsmg]

Not sure on that one yet.  Most likely the album name will be displayed below the artist name in a font with a lower alpha value.

[eist1]

nipsmg,

Would you be able to have the album cover image, album name and song info pulled from the ID3 Tag? I have been trying to find Jukebox software that would do all of this, because I am trying to use my IPod as the storage device for my music library (all songs on IPod are in MP3 format). I have successfully used Freebox Jukebox to get the album name and song info from the Ipod, but the last thing needed is to get the embedded ID3 album art. If you could add an option to use first image file found in folder, or use ID3 embedded image file for album art, that would be awesome. I just imagine putting the IPod in the cradle, and bringing up the Jukebox software to control it. Then you would have the same music library in the car as at home, or if you get an 8" touchscreen monitor like I have, you could even use it in the car, what would be better than a fully functional touchscreen jukebox in the car. Just some more ideas, hope it's possible. Thanks

[nipsmg]

The original plan was to grab the image from the ID3 tag and save it to the directory the album was in during disk scan, then store the location of that file for later use, but that could work too.  I'll look at it.

[eist1]

Yes, on the IPod the files are in its own type of directory structure. But the ID3 tags are on each file, so the Album Info, Song Name and Album art can be extracted out of them, but there would not be a folder to load the image. Thanks for looking into it, looks like this will be very nice.

[eist1]

NipsMG,

It would also be nice to have the option to use the file that is already in the folder. Currently I have all 500x500 images in each folder on my PC jukebox that I copied myself, so when the album art is enlarged after choosing it, it still looks good (But on the IPod it needs to pull the image from the ID3 Tag). So maybe having the option to choose which way you want to find the art would be good. I hate to have my current art files overwritten with lower resolution. Thanks

[nipsmg]

Ok just so the artwork flow is understood it goes like this:

If there's an embedded image in the ID3 tag, we use that.
If there's a file with the name <albumname>.(jpg/png/gif/bmp) in the directory, we use that.
If not, we do a web services search for the image and store it in the directory using <albumname>.jpg. 

If none of these exist, the jukebox will display a file called noart.jpg.

[eist1]

nipsmg,

Do you know if the image quality is the same after adding it from a file to the ID3 Tag? I have associated all of my current images to the ID3 Tags of all of my files. The images I used were 500x500. I was wondering if when adding them to the ID3 Tag if the quality gets worse or if it will stay 500x500. If it does retain the original quality, then it wouldn't matter where it pulled the image from. Thanks

[nipsmg]

I'm 70% sure that it doesn't change the size when going into an ID3 tag.

I'll know for sure in a few days.

[eist1]

Will each album have to be in separate folders? What if there is a list of songs, will the jukebox read the ID3 Tag and group the songs per album? Windows Media Player does this now. I was wondering, because on the IPod, each song is technically separate, but Windows Media Player reads each ID3 Tag, and shows it as one album, when looking up songs by album name or artist. Just something else I was wondering about. Can't wait to see the first generation of this jukebox.

[nipsmg]

As of right now, that's undecided.  don't forget, the first release will be a scaled back "school project" version, or a version that I have coded alongside of it.  There's only so much we can implement in a limited period of time, and being that I'm working full time (50+ hrs/wk)  and taking 3 classes this semester, time is limited.

We'll see what happens with it in that time.  We have to have project plans into class for assingments, so once we have a solid requirements list, I'll post feature sets, and those WILL, WITHOUT QUESTION, be implemented.  I want an A.

--NipsMG

[squirrellydw]

any updates on this??

[nipsmg]

Yeah..


     As I said this transitioned to a (group) class project for school, so THAT is actually what's holding this back.  We had to go through the ENTIRE design phase again, document everything, and we have to turn in weekly work, so jumping ahead really isn't an option.  We just recently finished requirements gathering phase and are really now getting into the design/development page.   Project is due end of june, so something will have to be presentable.
 
     What I do know about the "school" version of the jukebox engine:

     What it has:

     MP3 Only (this is easly changed, don't fret).
     Network Support (UNC Paths)
     Skinnable (to some extent)
     Built in tag editor
     DirectX Interface
     Customizable "Attract modes" (much like commerical jukebox products)
     Filterable album list
     Searchable
     Statistics recording
     Top 10 (total, by genre)
     "new" songs feature
     

     What it doesn't have (but probably will in later non-project versions):
     Video
     wma/ogg/aac/flac
     MP3+G (karaoke)
     advanced skinning


Also, the school project version has a new name..  I'm reserving whether or not it will be released under that name.
     

[Space Fractal]

hm? Did you not to get CD-G to work, after you saw my source code?

[squirrellydw]

great, make sure you get the acc in there

[nipsmg]

Space Fractal: 

I did get CD+G to work.  However it wasn't part of the design of the "school project" version.  It was outside the scope of the project.    It's definitely going to end up in the jukebox, just not the initial version.

I have the source code for it, all I need to do is adapt it to paint to Dx instead of a normal GDI bitmap object.   Easy enough to do, don't worry.

--NipsMG

[Barry Barcrest]

Here we are a couple of days away from the end of june, when will you make a release?

[olsteve]

Project is due end of june, so something will have to be presentable.     

So.............................present

[oznetradio]

Yeah! You've been stringing a lot of us along for some time now with this project. 

[Barry Barcrest]

REMOVED

[olsteve]

  However, one way or another, we have to get at least a scaled down portion of this project presented in class by the 12 week deadline.

So .. right now, it might be a safe bet to look for a release in one form or another by:
July 3, 2006. 

,,,,,,
I'll keep everyone informed.
 

[nipsmg]

The presentation was done on July 5, 2006.

Did it work?  Yes.
Was it pretty?  No.

I had to fake the interface with windows forms.  It turned out that due to the abilities (or lack thereof) of my team I was forced to do 100% of the development. 

I do have an "image button" type of implementation but I did not have enough time to use it for the "function" buttons, so I threw windows buttons in there just for the presentation.  This was an Object Oriented Design class, so the grade was based on the design, not the implementation.

So here's a quick shot 2 screens that exist right now.  Yes they're ugly (due to the windows controls, etc).   YES that's easily fixed.

Main Screen:


Song Selection:


However, the engine is written and it works.  I am retooling it (I think with GDI+ first) into a simple form that I will distribute here.  Whether or not I will continue on it is still up in the air, but I will release something.

Here's the basic features:

• MP3, WMA, Ogg support
• Fast, multithreaded disk search/tag processing
• sql Server 2005 Express Database backend
• "AutoPlay".  When no song in queue, the computer will randomly select a song from the genre(s) you select on startup as "autoplay"enabled, weighted based on popularity/number of plays.
• Filter albums by genre
• Song Search by Genre, Year, Album, artist, Title, Etc
• Retrieve Top 10 songs
• "Recently Added/New Songs" feature

I have some schoolwork to finish up this week then I will be starting on it next week.  Keep it here for updates. 
--NipsMG

[nipsmg]

I see there were some inflammatory posts made here towards the end, including one that was removed that I missed that I can only assume was inflammatory...

Realize this.  I do not know everyone's situations here, but I work FULL TIME as an IT Manager, and am taking 3 classes a semester.  On my schedule, I leave my apartment at 7:00AM and get home no earlier than 9:00PM every weeknight due to work, and school in the evenings afterwards.  I am also in a band (www.funnelrocks.com) and have gigs almost every weekend.  The remaining time is usually spent doing homework or attempting to salvage what's left of my social life after this rediculous schedule.

I've got a small 3 week break in the summer from classes (only taking one on Monday nights) and had decided I would release what I was doing for the benefit of those this community.  However if I start getting insulted or demands start being thrown I'll take this back under private development. 

I'm doing this for the fun of it when I can, however my schedule is friggin rediculous, so my spare time is very little.  I can guarantee you that comments like that will definitely do nothign to help get this out into the public.  I will continue updating these threads with status information only if I don't start getting loads of crap for it.  If that's the case, I'll post NO status, update it on my time, and possibly (make it probably) won't release it to this community.

I also will not make the mistake of putting a date on anything again.  The next release and status update will be posted when they are ready, no sooner.

[Barry Barcrest]

Dude i removed my comment out of respect for you...

However following your last post i'll update you, The reason people are a little pissed is as follows;

1/ You came on here and slagged off all the other jukebox programs for using windows forms and controls and basically being crap. (What you have shown after a year is windows forms and controls...)

2/ You set the deadlines yourself and promissed this well over a year ago, it was going to be all signing all dancing directx and blow the other jukes away. (It's been over a year and we have nothing)

3/ You promissed so much then kept cutting back on features with each infrequent post. (Get peoples hopes up then don't deliver).

Now i am not having a go at you here just trying to explain why people might seem a little peeved. As for your busy social life, if you are that busy maybe you shouldn't have taken this on or at least not announced this all singing all dancing app back on here over a year ago with a less than friendly attitude.

F.Y.I. I work fulltime in I.T. support (I am the only guy there and manage the whole system from the 5 servers down to the 200 workstations and 50 or so laptops along with all the infrastructure). So i'm not sitting on my backside working on freebox 24/7 and to be honest it's lucky if i get an hour in a day on it.

Maybe you need to take your time and just announce something when it's ready without specifying any release dates and putting preasure on yourself.

[nipsmg]

Barcrest,

   I think yo might want to go back back and read the beginning of my thread again.   You might want to read the first post, and especially the part that says "Disclaimer:".   I was giving my opinions about what I think could be improved on some of the current projects out there.  I didn't mention anyone specific.  There are some that have some of the features I wanted, some that have others, none that have all.  Thus the reason for writing my own.  YOU are the one who decided I was "slagging off", almost everyone else understood where I was going.  Also later in the thread I agreed that there are some that use DirectX/GDI+ to draw (PCJukebox) and that YOUR jukebox specifically was pretty advanced and probably had more functionality than I was going to add.

As for your points:

1:  Read above

2:  The "deadlines" I set were explained.  When not met, they were also explained.  I haven't taken orders for this, I don't have investors, I haven't promised anything. 

People give missioncontrol a hard time in a joking manner about his cabinet because it's taken FOREVER as well but you don't see them attacking him.  He isn't being accused of "Stringing along".. He was smart and didn't set goals for himself publicly because maybe he knew that this kind of response would happen.  As I said in my post I will no longer give dates.  Things will be released when ready. 

Also, I never once promised "Dancing directx" or "blowing other jukes away" and I challenge you to find that statement.  I will actually find the threads where I state that other jukes I've seen are VERY advanced and have TONS of features that i'll probably not get around to implementing.  All I said was that I wanted to get away from windows forms.  I wanted a bitmapped, animated (if possible) gui.  I wanted subtle effects on buttons (glowing/pulsing).  I still do.  I still plan on it.

3.  I didn't intentionally cut back on features.  Since this was to be written as a school project, I had to reduce the scope for the design portion as i was responsible to my professors for use cases, interation plans, domain diagrams, UML diagrams, etc, a lot of which I would not have documented so thoroughly if I were just doing this privately.  This extra work took up a lot of the time I could have been developing, therefore this "college" release was meant to have a reduced feature set and be an initial "alpha" release.  This was clearly explained.  I did not promise "Features a, b, and c" then not tell anyone and say "I'm done look! " and only give feature A.  In fact.. I haven't relased at all.

Also, I was assigned to a team of students who were presented ot me as needing "some guidance".  They in fact ended up having almost 0 development experience, so instead of getting a 3 person development team I was cut to a 1 person team, and did 100% of the implementation work.  The original plan was to design the backend, have them code it, and I would spend the time to write the DirectX or GDI+ frontend.  I found out midway throught he project this was not going to happen and plans changed. 

I also had no "Requirement" to present anything graphically.  I instead showed screenshots to prove the engine DOES work, coding HAS begun (and is actually finished for everything but the GUI on the first iteration of the project).  And to show some progress.  Yeah, it's a forms gui.  Again, as I explained, it was a temporary fix to show something for class.  I never claimed it to be complete or to be the final GUI.

So I will reiterate as I did in my last thread, I will not put a date on anything, and will update with progress and a release when they are ready, not before. I have said from the beginning this project is for me first, others second.  And as such, when I have time to do it, I will.  And if I decide to release it I will.

[nipsmg]

REMOVED (dupe)

[kevink]

I'd just like to chime in here and say that anything these programmers write and put out there for people to use freely is very commendable.  Even if I had the ability, I doubt very much that I would consider what these folks do.  It must take an unGodly amount of time to get these programs working and bug-free on the different configurations people use.  Then come the "Requests".  Give me a break.  I know most of you appreciate the input to an extent, I just think Joe User doesn't realize what they ask sometimes.  Sorry, I don't want to run this thread off topic.  I'd just like to thank all you programmers for making this hobby one of my favorites and nipsmg, don't kill yourself with this thing, take the time you need.

[Barry Barcrest]

This is why i removed my comment because i knew you would be like this... I seem to remember Chris of Doscab/Wincab getting involved when you first came along slating other jukebox apps. Comparing your software with a cab missioncontrol is making is ridiculous, he is not making that cab for us all to go and play with. However your software was going to be made availble to all. Anyway i'm not going to bother getting involved, Good Luck and all the best with your project.

[nipsmg]

This is why i removed my comment because i knew you would be like this... I seem to remember Chris of Doscab/Wincab getting involved when you first came along slating other jukebox apps.

"be like this...".   I will always "be like this.." and defend my position, especially when my words are being twisted.

As far as Chris, he did get involved and informed me his was indeed not windows controls.  I agreed and said I stood corrected, and again said I was not targeting anyone's projects and was just making a statement of my preferences.

Thanks for the well wishes anyways.