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Topic: Visual Music Loader (concept) (Read 5585 times) previous topic - next topic
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Visual Music Loader (concept)

Hello,

I've got this idea how to handle ones music collection the "old" way and don't really know how to achieve my plans.

Background:

I like music albums and I have quite a view on my hard drive. I haven't used my cd player for at least over 4 years because I'm only listening to my music with the PC but kept all my CD's in my bookshelf.
What's bothering me all the time is, that I don't get used to deciding what to listen to just by scrolling through my 1000+ titles.
I'd really like to look through my cover art (like a vinyl collection) and get inspired by that. I apprehend the concept of an album includes not only all the tracks but the cover art as well. Therefore I save the cover art, too, and display them in my media player.
How could one combine playing digital music with manually browsing through your database?

Idea:

Use a device recognizing which album one wants to listen to.

Requirements:

- All or most of your albums exist even as the original CD or vinyl or just as a printed front and back cover.
- A sign/barcode that unequivocally identifies each album.
- A scanner that is able to detect the barcode.
- An interface between scanner and software player (preferably FB2K).

Possible Implementation:

- Create a QR code as a barcode (could be automated), either with a dos command for adding/enqueuing an album to FB2K or just with the artist and album title.
- Use a webcam as a QR code reader with a software like Quickmark for deciphering the code.
- Process the information read by the webcam.



Unfortunately I'm not an IT guru but a designer. Therefore I have no clue about programming.

Questions:
- Quickmark for Webcam detects either URL's │Starts SkypeOut with Phone Numbers │Adds Bookmarks to IE │Send SMS via SkypeOut │Start Email Client with specific address │Adds contacts to Address Book│Displays Text │Redirects to Google Maps with coordinates. Is it possible to use one of these outputs for further processing, and how?
- How could you automate the process of creating the QR code
- Does this idea make sense at all?

What do you think?


JD


Links:
Wiki/QR Code: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/QR_code
Quickmark/Software for reading QR Code with webcam: http://diy.quickmark.com.tw/sa_eng
QR Code Creator: http://www.nttdocomo.co.jp/english/service...rcode/download/
Competitor to QR Code: http://semacode.org/ > limited to URL addresses

Visual Music Loader (concept)

Reply #1 –
My first impression is that would be a lot of work just to select an album title based on the cover art. That is if all you want to do is scan through your library based on cover art.

If browsing through your media library based on cover art is important to you I would suggest trying WMP 11. I was impressed with how they implemented their album view feature.

For foobar2000, it is my guess that it would be a lot easier to make an "album list mod" component the way Terrestial did with the trackinfo_mod, so one could configure their album list to display album titles any way they choose, including graphically by cover art as Windows Media Player 11 does. I've been craving such a component for a while, including the ability to dynamically rate albums based on each albums track %rating%.

Visual Music Loader (concept)

Reply #2 –
Thanks for your opinion.
Of course that is a suggestion I expected most.
And I would most probably use it if Foobar would've implemented it, but is it really an alternative to look at mh how big are the images 100x100px instead of a CD sized cover? Maybe I'm just too visually addicted.
Wouldn't it have it's own charm to grab your CD's with your partner or friends, choose the next tune and all that without staring at the screen?

JD

Visual Music Loader (concept)

Reply #3 –
Here at work we are using simple barcodes for document recognition. I guess it's a simple 3of9-code, but it has the advantage that every character corresponds to one specific piece of barcode. Generation is simple, because you take your favourite word-processor, type in the text you like to transform, mark the text and change the font from arial (or whatever) to the barcode-font and print it. Reading devices act like a keyboard, when a barcode is read, they send the characters like you were actually typing them. So they work with any kind of application which expects input via keyboard.

Disadvantage: I don't know whether there is any software which can read barcodes via a webcam, and real reading devices (that I know of) cost at least 100Euro

For a quick-and-dirty solution for foobar2000 you would need:
a reader, barcodes on your CDs and a corresponding tag in your files. Configure your database search that it uses your barcode-tags als well and off you go... If you put the db-search on a hotkey, you could even make it part of the barcode, so that you don't have to open the search window manually.

Visual Music Loader (concept)

Reply #4 –
Don't most cds already have barcodes on them as part of the rear cover?

Visual Music Loader (concept)

Reply #5 –
Don't think that is "clear type". You would need another database to link to...
PLUS: What about albums bought online?


JD

Visual Music Loader (concept)

Reply #6 –
Quote from: yerma on
Here at work we are using simple barcodes for document recognition. I guess it's a simple 3of9-code, but it has the advantage that every character corresponds to one specific piece of barcode. Generation is simple, because you take your favourite word-processor, type in the text you like to transform, mark the text and change the font from arial (or whatever) to the barcode-font and print it. Reading devices act like a keyboard, when a barcode is read, they send the characters like you were actually typing them. So they work with any kind of application which expects input via keyboard.

Disadvantage: I don't know whether there is any software which can read barcodes via a webcam, and real reading devices (that I know of) cost at least 100Euro


"Generation is simple": That is quite an advantage and the input method would really ease the programming.
But the costs are to high for users (incluing me) I'm afraid.
I don't think that webcams are able read barcodes...I can't even get the QR codes to work (I've got a real crappy Eye Toy webcam).
QR code is "clear txt" as well. Every dot or whatever stands for a character.
Advantage of QR code: One could even imagine, using the mobile phone for starting music (ie: with a java plug-in).


JD

Uhm maybe I'm wrong:

Barcode Reader Software for webcam:
http://www.metois.com/Eymbarcode/eymbcdemo.htm
http://tech.yostengineering.com/barcoding


JD

Visual Music Loader (concept)

Reply #7 –
Quote from: John Doe on
QR code is "clear txt" as well. Every dot or whatever stands for a character.
Advantage of QR code: One could even imagine, using the mobile phone for starting music (ie: with a java plug-in).

Those barcodes I mentioned are even more easier. It's just a different font which happens to be machine-readable, not human-readable. Like this:


The cheapest scanner I found was this: http://www.reichelt.de/?ARTICLE=30398
(62Euro)

Visual Music Loader (concept)

Reply #8 –
If you have the album art available on your computer then you can design a album art "quilt" similar to last.fm's in flash. Clicking on a particular album art will load that albums folder to Foobar2000. Works great on touch screen.

I guess it reminds me of those CD players you see at pubs.

Or even having a database of albums with a unique number. Enter the unique number and the music plays. Not exactly a complex program, one that can work with out a monitor.

Just a suggestion. But the current method seems OTT.

Visual Music Loader (concept)

Reply #9 –
Quote from: TREX6662k6 on
I guess it reminds me of those CD players you see at pubs.


If anyone is interested in a program that lets your browse albums like a CD jukebox, you should check out SK Jukebox. 

It will display 4 albums at a time, with a track listing for each album and you can enqueue tracks just like you would a jukebox.  I had installed on my MAME cabinet, and is a really nice program.
There used to be a link to my website here.

Visual Music Loader (concept)

Reply #10 –
Quote from: John Doe on
Use a device recognizing which album one wants to listen to.

The device is called CD player; recognition happens when you push the "Play" button.

Quote from: david_dl on
Don't most cds already have barcodes on them as part of the rear cover?

Yes, that is a UPC or EAN/JAN code.

Quote from: TREX6662k6 on
Just a suggestion. But the current method seems OTT.

I agree. As much as I fancy the idea of using an alternate browsing method (CD shelf, etc.) and non-textual input, the organizational and financial effort just seems too high.

Visual Music Loader (concept)

Reply #11 –
Quote from: foosion on
Quote from: TREX6662k6 on
Just a suggestion. But the current method seems OTT.

I agree. As much as I fancy the idea of using an alternate browsing method (CD shelf, etc.) and non-textual input, the organizational and financial effort just seems too high.


Yea I guess it might be to over the top for the masses. But on the other hand: Foobar isn't? ;-)

As much as Foobar is made for enthusiasts, I might push my idea a little further - if I just could code...damn.

About the CD-Player (I heard my grandparents call it that way): It is even more expensive to burn all my albums PLUS printing covers and buy jewel cases. And all that without the advantages of digital music.


JD

Visual Music Loader (concept)

Reply #12 –
Do you always listen to your music in albums?
What if you scan an album and want to listen or start from a certain track.

I don't see a problem with a last.fm quilt.
 

Visual Music Loader (concept)

Reply #13 –
I couldn't really find out how this quilt looks like - is it the last.fm profile?
Do you have the back-side of your covers?
Of course, there is no problem with a "flash-based" or similar visually organizable music collection.
But you can't really compare it to this idea: This is more like an attempt to merge the old way of listening to music with the new possiblities.
As I said before: I just need to take a break from staring at screens. My vision's all blury already. ;-)


JD