MediaMonkey for Windows 8 Metro App

[mmfan]

Hello MediaMonkey,
Are there any plans to port MediaMonkey to Windows 8 Metro App? I'm definitely going to get myself a Surface this Fall and would love to have MM on it someday. I really hope you guys are thinking about it and get on the metro app. I love absolutely everything about MM, and would love to have all those functions carried into future devices.

[jiri]

We definitely consider this.

Jiri

[camjackson]

I'd just like to second mmfan's sentiment on this. I'm using the final RTM version of Windows 8 at the moment (early access through university), and the whole Metro App system is really nice to use. The way Apps can be pinned to the side of the screen, the aesthetics, the design, it's all really good. MediaMonkey is much better, functionally, than Microsoft's stock Music app in Win8, but I almost ended up using the stock one anyway, simply because it looks better, and the Metro system just works so well. I haven't really looked much yet, but there are probably some other good Metro music apps in the store, and I'm sure there will be more on the way once the OS actually launches.

After having used MM for a good few years, I bought a MediaMonkey Gold Lifetime License pretty recently, and I'd hate to waste it, so if we could get the best of both world's: MediaMonkey's power and features built into the Metro structure, I'd be a very happy camper.

[Harlequin]

I think efficiency/stability would end up being an issue. For me, I can drag 150,000 songs from library into Now Playing and it takes a few seconds. My experience with the Zune software was that libraries over 20,000+ or so the app became an unstable mess. Now Windows 8 apps might be a bit better, but I think things like the SemanticZoom could end up choking with 200,000+ songs in it.

And you might not be able to do things like burn/rip CDs, since Windows 8 apps are sandboxed and don't really have access to the system.

[Darryl_Gittins]

Any further news on this with Surface releasing in a couple of weeks?

[jiri]

I can confirm that there will be a Win8 app. It should be available very soon (within weeks).

Jiri

[Darryl_Gittins]

I've said it before and I'll say it again - you guys are awesome!

[Long time MM fan]

I can confirm that there will be a Win8 app. It should be available very soon (within weeks).

Jiri

Keep up the fantastic work, MediaMonkey team! You guys have been rocking it despite some slow development on the iPhone support side!

[nohitter151]

despite some slow development on the iPhone support side!

What do you mean? iOS6 support was already available in a beta build before iOS 6 was even released.

[drichm]

Jiri: Could you clarify which version of Windows 8 MM will run on.

The Surface tablet can run Windows RT or Windows 8, they are not the same thing from a programming point of view.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Surface

I would guess you are talking about Windows 8 (Pro), but the original thread author might be refering to Windows RT.

Dave

[nohitter151]

Jiri: Could you clarify which version of Windows 8 MM will run on.

The Surface tablet can run Windows RT or Windows 8, they are not the same thing from a programming point of view.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Surface

I would guess you are talking about Windows 8 (Pro), but the original thread author might be refering to Windows RT.

Dave

Jiri is saying there will be a Windows Metro app in addition to the regular version of MM.

[jiri]

Yes, there will be a MM version specifically for Win8 RT.

Jiri

[Jaybot]

Yes, there will be a MM version specifically for Win8 RT.

Jiri

Just curious, will it be possible to sync music to my iPod from the WinRT version of MM?

[botijo]

Just curious, will it be possible to sync music to my iPod from the WinRT version of MM?

I suppose not, as MM requires some parts of iTunes to be present on the system for sync to recent iOS devices. WinRT devices, e.g. Microsoft Surface, are generally speaking ARM devices, not compatible with existing X86 binary code distributed with iTunes.

Yes, there will be a MM version specifically for Win8 RT.Jiri

I appreciate the efforts going into MM for Win8 RT. However I am worried about the limitations of such an "app". I have read following article from Ars Technica and I hope that you guys do not try to fall into the same traps of mixing the two environments. It is worth mentioning the problems the article's author had with the image viewer (that would be last page). It looks like security is a big concern here, so "apps" have no rights to access any file on the harddisk. It probably can only access files under the app storage folder and to the Windows Libraries (I cannot state this is 100% right so, but looks like no new ground to me - Apple non PC devices do something similar as far as I know). Mediamonkey, the desktop application, does not work with either of these - it works with its own database.
In my humble opinion, it looks like the sensible way to go forward is to have a desktop applicacion and a tablet "app". The desktop application will be our beloved MediaMonkey as we know it today. I cannot think of any way to port all of the functionality of MM into the app without making a big mess on a tablet (I will be glad to be proven wrong!). So I hope the app would be some sort of player, fairly similar to the player available with Windows 8 at the moment. Maybe the desktop version and the app can comunicate via a custom Window Library when you work on the same PC or via synchronization, probably WiFi, when you work with a tablet.
Those were my two cents.

[mimonaut]

Win8 "metro" app is great idea.. there is no advanced music player yet..