Media Library View Set-Up

2019-11-26 23:03:18

I'm trying to set up my media library view so that I see albums only (not track lists). I'm currently only using the Album List media library viewer that comes with the FB2K install. It would be good to see tracks after I select an album, but in the initial view, albums only is the goal.

Also, if in the media library viewer, albums show as album art rather than just a list, this would help with trying to set up a tablet for remote control as text is too small to select easily on small tablet screen and only finger (no mouse) precision.

Yes, I did dig through several posts and tried different suggestions, but as yet I have not hit on my desired outcome. I have not tried loading any of the additional tools, but maybe this is the path to follow. I appreciate any direction (and clarifying questions to help me get into the correct lingo).

Re: Media Library View Set-Up

Reply #1 – 2019-11-27 00:11:16

I did find, in the Quick Appearance Setup, under Playlist Layout, the Group by Albums option which is getting me closer to what I'm looking for.

To be clear, I've been fine using FB2K with my laptop. It is trying to add in a remote control tablet for my music server that is challenging my settings understanding to get the remote desktop connection/view to be user friendly with the tablet smaller screen and touch interface (vs. mouse). Any suggestions on how to do this (larger text; larger Play, Pause, Stop buttons; etc.)? 

Re: Media Library View Set-Up

Reply #2 – 2019-11-28 01:48:13

Hi there,

Is your remote tablet running Windows, or are you talking about the Android / iOS foobar apps? (I'm not familiar with the mobile apps and not sure how much they can actually be customized)

On Windows foobar, you're going to need components to do most the things you mentioned.

Spider Monkey Panel + Library Tree (script) as a replacement for Album List. Library Tree can set padding for each line and not show tracks while still sorting correctly, among other options. You might also like to look at JS Smooth Browser (script included with Spider Monkey Panel) to show artist or album cover art.

Facets is another alternative for cover art, and displays your library in columns rather than a tree.

Coverflow is another option for just browsing album covers.

You can change the text size and font for lists / playlists in Preferences > Display > Default UI > Colors and Fonts.

Lastly in the OS display settings you can probably set scaling to make everything bigger across the entire OS.

Cheers

Re: Media Library View Set-Up

Reply #3 – 2019-12-01 23:19:06

The tablet is running an Android OS (Amazon Fire HD , but I use this to RDP into the pc that is running Foobar2000. The Foobar2k settings are all on the pc.

I thought I might need to add a component to get exactly what I hope for, but one last thought that may get me there without an extra add-on:

Is there a way in the Album List to just list album titles with no expansion "+" to show tracks/other data?


Thanks,
T1Jump

Re: Media Library View Set-Up

Reply #4 – 2019-12-02 10:31:11

Hi there,

Sure you could edit the View pattern(s) in Preferences > Media Library > Album List to remove %discnumber% / %tracknumber% / %title% fields. BUT then tracks in the playlist will likely not be sorted correctly (by track number), which is why I recommend Library Tree script instead. It has a simple right-click option to not show tracks.

Edit: Tapping album art thumbnails might be preferred though, try Facets for that. As I've recently been experimenting, it can actually show adjustable sized thumbnail images for genres as well as artists and albums. (Though curiously, genre thumbnails only match up correctly in library mode, not so much playlist mode).

Cheers

Re: Media Library View Set-Up

Reply #5 – 2019-12-04 19:21:27

Thanks for the references. I'm getting more comfortable with the Foobar2K interface, and a clearer understanding of how the different add-ons can provide extended functionality. I only get snippets of time to work on this (so  bit slow responding) but I'm making progress.

I'll report back once I've taken the next step (edits vs. adding functions).


Cheers,
T1Jump