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Topic: This is ridiculous: but how do I get Foobar to simply display my audio tracks? (Read 7043 times) previous topic - next topic
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This is ridiculous: but how do I get Foobar to simply display my audio tracks?

This really is ridiculous...
... As of this evening, when I added a new mp3 file to the hard drive with all of my audio on it, I suddenly have no track list in Foobar. Everything will play, but I have to prompt each track to do so from the drive - ie (G:) > Music > Album > [track 1 - double click]; [then track 2 - double click], etc etc.
I no longer have any display or list in Foobar. It's as if it has suddenly turned into pre-itunes Quicktime or WMP - tracks play perfectly, but each must be launched separately & individually, there is no such thing as a playlist.
Given the trouble I've been having with Foobar since getting my new computer (Foobar is the only software which hasn't 'picked-up from where it left off' in the transfer), should I delete it & reinstall/overwrite etc...? I really would appreciate any thoughts.
God I miss Foobar as it was 2 years ago, it was simple, logical, adaptive & versatile... what happened?

Re: This is ridiculous: but how do I get Foobar to simply display my audio tracks?

Reply #1 –
Where did you download foobar2000 from and how was it installed on your new PC? foobar2000 looks similar to how it did two years ago and certainly still has a playlist. The real desktop version can be found at http://www.foobar2000.org/.
.

Re: This is ridiculous: but how do I get Foobar to simply display my audio tracks?

Reply #2 –
I'm pretty certain that's exactly where I downloaded it from (if not then it would have been a suggested mirror from that source). Should I try a re-install do you think? If so, how do I ensure that any current preferences etc (which are clearly not what I want) can be made to go away forever?
If you look at my recent history on this forum you'll see I've been struggling with Foobar for the last few months, even with 'intuitive' things like getting a band's albums to appear in date order etc. I'm sure it's not the new PC, & I'm pretty certain I haven't been recently zapped by some kind of stupidity-ray, but suddenly, for some reason, I seem to no longer be able to get along with software I used to swear by, even advocating it to friends.

... Perhaps I have been zapped by the stupidity-ray that seems to have affected much of the world just lately... but how would I know...?!

Re: This is ridiculous: but how do I get Foobar to simply display my audio tracks?

Reply #3 –
If you want to ensure a clean install, delete C:\Program Files (x86)\foobar2000 and C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\foobar2000. To see the latter, you'll need to set Windows to show hidden files and folders.

The normal caveat applies: backup before you do anything drastic.
That's so plausible, I can't believe it.

Re: This is ridiculous: but how do I get Foobar to simply display my audio tracks?

Reply #4 –
Maybe you need to enable set "Enqueue" as the default action under Shell Integration in the preferences?
Who are you and how did you get in here ?
I'm a locksmith, I'm a locksmith.

Re: This is ridiculous: but how do I get Foobar to simply display my audio tracks?

Reply #5 –
Good grief, I think I've finally found the answer to my question:
- for every new file (or folder, or batch of files) that you add, you select "add files" or "add folder", then re-add the entire library, then select "remove duplicates".
Obviously the whole process takes a while & it seems a crazily wasteful use of processor time, but it saves having to re-define your preferences for artist/album/date/track... etc, for every single new item added - I can just go & make a coffee or something instead - happy days! I wish I'd known this earlier.
So... problem solved, I think...
... but I feel sure that a lot of the real dumb-assed players (itunes, windows media whatever) can do this automatically, so why the heck is this simple function so hard to achieve in Foobar?

Re: This is ridiculous: but how do I get Foobar to simply display my audio tracks?

Reply #6 –
Maybe you are looking for the music library setting. You can also create "auto-playlists".

Re: This is ridiculous: but how do I get Foobar to simply display my audio tracks?

Reply #7 –
Quote from: DustMagnet on
If you want to ensure a clean install, delete C:\Program Files (x86)\foobar2000 and C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\foobar2000. To see the latter, you'll need to set Windows to show hidden files and folders.
Code: [Select]
%APPDATA%\foobar2000

You might get there without enabling show hidden files by pressing Windows button + R and copy/paste that appdata line there.

Re: This is ridiculous: but how do I get Foobar to simply display my audio tracks?

Reply #8 –
Quote from: Molelikecreature on
This really is ridiculous...
... As of this evening, when I added a new mp3 file to the hard drive with all of my audio on it, I suddenly have no track list in Foobar. Everything will play, but I have to prompt each track to do so from the drive - ie (G:) > Music > Album > [track 1 - double click]; [then track 2 - double click], etc etc.
I no longer have any display or list in Foobar. It's as if it has suddenly turned into pre-itunes Quicktime or WMP - tracks play perfectly, but each must be launched separately & individually, there is no such thing as a playlist.
Given the trouble I've been having with Foobar since getting my new computer (Foobar is the only software which hasn't 'picked-up from where it left off' in the transfer), should I delete it & reinstall/overwrite etc...? I really would appreciate any thoughts.
God I miss Foobar as it was 2 years ago, it was simple, logical, adaptive & versatile... what happened?
Maybe you need to install foobar2000 as default audio player that means isn't portable installation?
Then is works.

Re: This is ridiculous: but how do I get Foobar to simply display my audio tracks?

Reply #9 –
I'm not sure what OP's issue is but I'm pretty certain portable or regular install has nothing to do with this.

Re: This is ridiculous: but how do I get Foobar to simply display my audio tracks?

Reply #10 –
Quote from: Molelikecreature on
Good grief, I think I've finally found the answer to my question:
- for every new file (or folder, or batch of files) that you add, you select "add files" or "add folder", then re-add the entire library, then select "remove duplicates".

These basics haven't changed all that much in the past 2 years, so I'm thinking you may have just forgotten how you set it up then. Me, I'm a weirdo who keeps their entire collection in a single hand-sorted playlist, so yeah I always manually add single items and albums as it grows, but most people don't do this.

You may want to set up the library like Sohl said.

I don't know what your current layout looks like, it sounds like everything's reverted to the basic defaults, but it's hard to tell, so a screenshot might be in order.

If you want to get at the folder that contains all your settings, shift-click File, then Browse Cofiguration Folder. See if you can find that same folder on your previous computer. Copy that to the new machine (make a backup, darnit), and then all should be in order.

Re: This is ridiculous: but how do I get Foobar to simply display my audio tracks?

Reply #11 –
Sounds to me like OP uses an external drive and the letter of the drive changed in windows when he replugged it to add more songs. Foobar is probably pointed to the old folder on the old drive letter so now shows nothing.

Or he just accidentally closed the playlist viewer part of the UI and needs to readd it.

In any case OP should post screenshots of what he is referring to (not having tracklist etc).

Re: This is ridiculous: but how do I get Foobar to simply display my audio tracks?

Reply #12 –
I'm back!
Much to everyone's chagrin I daresay!

I'm still absolutely certain I must have missed a simple aspect which could make Foobar2000 a viable piece of software as it used to be, but I'm still hoping someone can tell me what it is.

Even though I can't get new additions into order, I never really solved that, I've been 'making do' with Foobar for the time being: stopping what else I may be doing at the end of every song to click specifically on each next song in the order they should be in etc., but this evening I needed to listen to a piece of audio from the internet - I was asked whether I wanted to save the file or open it in another piece of software and I reluctantly selected Foobar2000...

Having listenned to the recording of the Common pipistrelle bat, to my satisfaction (I'm into bats & was testing out a new detector, what of it?), I now can't get access to anything else. Everything else is there, listed down the left-hand side, but when I select 'Library' - 'Album list', the list just flashes blue a couple of times & leaves me no further forward - I can't actually select anything, or ideally select everything. At least my old copy of Foobar had a 'Library' tab amongst the playlists...

?

The frustrating thing is that searches on Google/Duck Duck Go suggest that Foobar is still the highest rated free audio player and yet my copy is, still, bizarrely unworkable. I'll try a complete remove & reinstall in a day or so, when I get the chance, but if that doesn't help what do I go with? (No prizes for saying WinAmp or iPlayer, thanks!)?

Thanks for your time again.

Re: This is ridiculous: but how do I get Foobar to simply display my audio tracks?

Reply #13 –
Quote from: Molelikecreature on
I'm back!
Much to everyone's chagrin I daresay!

I'm still absolutely certain I must have missed a simple aspect which could make Foobar2000 a viable piece of software as it used to be, but I'm still hoping someone can tell me what it is.

Even though I can't get new additions into order, I never really solved that, I've been 'making do' with Foobar for the time being: stopping what else I may be doing at the end of every song to click specifically on each next song in the order they should be in etc., but this evening I needed to listen to a piece of audio from the internet - I was asked whether I wanted to save the file or open it in another piece of software and I reluctantly selected Foobar2000...

Having listenned to the recording of the Common pipistrelle bat, to my satisfaction (I'm into bats & was testing out a new detector, what of it?), I now can't get access to anything else. Everything else is there, listed down the left-hand side, but when I select 'Library' - 'Album list', the list just flashes blue a couple of times & leaves me no further forward - I can't actually select anything, or ideally select everything. At least my old copy of Foobar had a 'Library' tab amongst the playlists...

?

The frustrating thing is that searches on Google/Duck Duck Go suggest that Foobar is still the highest rated free audio player and yet my copy is, still, bizarrely unworkable. I'll try a complete remove & reinstall in a day or so, when I get the chance, but if that doesn't help what do I go with? (No prizes for saying WinAmp or iPlayer, thanks!)?

Thanks for your time again.

I don't understand what happened.... My experience is that by default if you double-click to open any file it clears whatever your last playlist was. So I never use foobar as an "ad-hoc" player and always drag/drop the file/cuesheet to the playlist where I want it and keep it there. If you just want a simple music player maybe WMP would suffice?... Or if you really want the functionalities of Foobar2000, I would suggest you drag/drop every time you want to play a new file. Just my personal experience...

For a music player, I think Foobar2000 does its job very well. Wide range of functionalities/plugins. Clean interface so I don't get distracted by anything other than the music, and customizable if you want something more fancy. Nothing else really appealed more to me... Again, not a pro at foobar just some thoughts from yet another user. :)

Re: This is ridiculous: but how do I get Foobar to simply display my audio tracks?

Reply #14 –
Quote from: C87P66 on
I don't understand what happened.... My experience is that by default if you double-click to open any file it clears whatever your last playlist was. So I never use foobar as an "ad-hoc" player and always drag/drop the file/cuesheet to the playlist where I want it

C87P66:  You don't have to let it clear your last playlist when you open a file!  Just go to Preferences/Shell Integration and check the box  "Always send files to new playlist: ('default', or whatever you put there)."  That way your original playlists stay the same, just don't make any regular playlists with the same name you place here (which is always cleared the next time you open a file):



So you can indeed use Foobar as your "ad-hoc" player also--enjoy!

Re: This is ridiculous: but how do I get Foobar to simply display my audio tracks?

Reply #15 –
Quote from: sveakul on
Quote from: C87P66 on
I don't understand what happened.... My experience is that by default if you double-click to open any file it clears whatever your last playlist was. So I never use foobar as an "ad-hoc" player and always drag/drop the file/cuesheet to the playlist where I want it

C87P66:  You don't have to let it clear your last playlist when you open a file!  Just go to Preferences/Shell Integration and check the box  "Always send files to new playlist: ('default', or whatever you put there)."  That way your original playlists stay the same, just don't make any regular playlists with the same name you place here (which is always cleared the next time you open a file):



So you can indeed use Foobar as your "ad-hoc" player also--enjoy!

Haha nice! Thanks!!

Re: This is ridiculous: but how do I get Foobar to simply display my audio tracks?

Reply #16 –
Quote from: Molelikecreature on
Everything else is there, listed down the left-hand side, but when I select 'Library' - 'Album list', the list just flashes blue a couple of times & leaves me no further forward - I can't actually select anything, or ideally select everything. At least my old copy of Foobar had a 'Library' tab amongst the playlists...
Flashing blue means the panel is already in your layout, so you can use it there instead of selecting it from the menu to get a pop-up version.

For the Library playlist, go into Library menu > Configure > Media Library > under 'Library Viewer Selection Playlist' make sure it is 'Enabled' and 'Activate when changed'.

With that option on, when you select something from the Album List, it should show the contents in the Library playlist. There you can play it.

You can also right-click music on the Album List for options to send to a New Playlist, etc.

Aside from that, post a screenshot. Pretty difficult to help you otherwise. We need to see what you are seeing. ;)
 

Re: This is ridiculous: but how do I get Foobar to simply display my audio tracks?

Reply #17 –
Hi all,

I've concluded that with my copy of Foobar consistently misbehaving in a way my old version (on a now dead pc) never did, yet with Foobar2000 consistently topping the charts of best audio players, my best check for a solution should be a full and total removal and reinstall from scratch... something bizarre is wrong which never affected me for years in the past, so start again.

So my question is: do I simply let Windows 10 'Uninstall' facility handle this, as I would with things generally, and then make a fresh download & install, or is there anything special I need to know which could compromise the new install (any setting, preference record etc, which could, unbeknownst to me, be hidden away anywhere... etc...)??

Cheers all, just hoping a fresh start solves this daft thing & I can keep using the software I've used & enjoyed for 15-odd years.
Mole-like

Re: This is ridiculous: but how do I get Foobar to simply display my audio tracks?

Reply #18 –
Just remembered dust magnet already answered this... As you were, ladies & gentlemen - don't mind me, just passing through, nothing to see here!!!  ::)