Complaints on MM functionality, design and user friendliness
Moderator: Gurus
Complaints on MM functionality, design and user friendliness
I use MM each day and it's a hassle. NOW before you people FLAME me, hear me out will you?
As I can figure out, MM has functionality that blows the competition out of the water. The only problem is, that is a pain in the @ss to get it to DO WHAT YOU want!
There are scripts all mass, but for a normal user, this is TOO COMPLICATED do use. Even I had some trouble in the beginning to figure out how all this worked. I think there is even a script for making MM do backflips...
If those behind MM want this to become more then something we "nerds" use, they HAVE to make it more user friendly. RIGHT now, it NOT. It's probbly UNFAIR to compare it to iTunes, they have a BIG budget.....but none the less, iTunes IS THE COMPETITION.
iTunes is "prettier", more user friendly and it "just works". MM layout looks "old" (school) and it takes a long time to figure out everythin. YES iTunes is more LIMITED, but 90% of users (thats where the money is people) just want something that WORKS.
Now if you are still reading this long post, I found out all this after a party I had. Peole just did't intuetively understand HOW TO USE MM....... this means IT LACKS SOMETHING.......
So if the MM team want to please us neeerds by programming code for silly ad-ons or tweak an excisting function, fine. But if they want to make money, they WILL HAVE TO MAKE IT:
1. More intuetive (aka. "prettier)
2. 2 Modes/views: 1. Normal 2. Expert (Mode 2 being the excisting MM setup)
I'm starting to hate a lot of MM's functionality more then I love it....
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As I can figure out, MM has functionality that blows the competition out of the water. The only problem is, that is a pain in the @ss to get it to DO WHAT YOU want!
There are scripts all mass, but for a normal user, this is TOO COMPLICATED do use. Even I had some trouble in the beginning to figure out how all this worked. I think there is even a script for making MM do backflips...
If those behind MM want this to become more then something we "nerds" use, they HAVE to make it more user friendly. RIGHT now, it NOT. It's probbly UNFAIR to compare it to iTunes, they have a BIG budget.....but none the less, iTunes IS THE COMPETITION.
iTunes is "prettier", more user friendly and it "just works". MM layout looks "old" (school) and it takes a long time to figure out everythin. YES iTunes is more LIMITED, but 90% of users (thats where the money is people) just want something that WORKS.
Now if you are still reading this long post, I found out all this after a party I had. Peole just did't intuetively understand HOW TO USE MM....... this means IT LACKS SOMETHING.......
So if the MM team want to please us neeerds by programming code for silly ad-ons or tweak an excisting function, fine. But if they want to make money, they WILL HAVE TO MAKE IT:
1. More intuetive (aka. "prettier)
2. 2 Modes/views: 1. Normal 2. Expert (Mode 2 being the excisting MM setup)
I'm starting to hate a lot of MM's functionality more then I love it....
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it's a tough task to present all the functionality that exists in mediamonkey in a user friendly way. although i believe that as long as you understand the tree-navigation principle simple palyback wouldn't be that hard to perform. i don't think one expert version and one beginner version is the solution but maybe divide the functions within mediamonkey so that the basic and most used commands are separated from the more advanced functions.
There has to be a trade-off between advanced funcationality and user friendliness. As I find often when trying to create scripts, to make something powerful you have to have lots of options and this makes it harder for the user to use because they have to set them all.
If I wanted something that just played music, I'd use Winamp, but I don't, I want a powerful management tool - hence I use MediaMonkey and I love it! (I'd never use iTunes!!!)
If I wanted something that just played music, I'd use Winamp, but I don't, I want a powerful management tool - hence I use MediaMonkey and I love it! (I'd never use iTunes!!!)
Download my scripts at my own MediaMonkey fansite.
All the code for my website and scripts is safely backed up immediately and for free using Dropbox.
All the code for my website and scripts is safely backed up immediately and for free using Dropbox.
Trade off?
Well, MM now is too "nerdy", in my nerd opinion...
BTW : Two modes, would only be a button. Press "Normal" and you get a basic view, press "Expert" you get the messy version.
Hmm, come to think of it. Ff you can make all the changes in expert mode and this would "stay put" in normal mode, then you could design a nicer layout.
I dont think this user board is the best place for the developers to figure out how "normal" users would like their player to look like. Why is iTunes so popular? Because my father who is 50 and my sister who's 16 can use it...
Just wondering if MM team wants to make money, or develop a media player for people who play WoW all night long
BTW : Two modes, would only be a button. Press "Normal" and you get a basic view, press "Expert" you get the messy version.
Hmm, come to think of it. Ff you can make all the changes in expert mode and this would "stay put" in normal mode, then you could design a nicer layout.
I dont think this user board is the best place for the developers to figure out how "normal" users would like their player to look like. Why is iTunes so popular? Because my father who is 50 and my sister who's 16 can use it...
Just wondering if MM team wants to make money, or develop a media player for people who play WoW all night long
Re: Trade off?
and the fact that they do their best to force people who has an ipod to use itGuest wrote:Why is iTunes so popular? Because my father who is 50 and my sister who's 16 can use it...
In this business the pretty applications aren't user friendly and the user friendly applications aren't considered pretty.
Anyway pretty is personal, I never liked the iTunes interface and can't figure out why they included an iTunes ripped off skin with MediaMonkey.
As for user friendly it is, but because it has many functions that others don't it has a learning curve that is higher. The only way to solve that is to take those functions out, but than you end up with an iTunes or WMP. Another problem with new functions is that people haven't seen them before so they don't understand them at first sight (the learning curve).
MediaMonkey is more for the serious music lover (doesn't need to be a nerd) while other applications are more for people who want to just play some songs. This what sets MediaMonkey apart and changing this would make it one of a bunch and probably alienate it's current user base.
The good news is that the next version (3.0) will see many improvements including interface improvements. Let's just hope they keep MediaMonkey as simple and fast as right now.
Anyway pretty is personal, I never liked the iTunes interface and can't figure out why they included an iTunes ripped off skin with MediaMonkey.
As for user friendly it is, but because it has many functions that others don't it has a learning curve that is higher. The only way to solve that is to take those functions out, but than you end up with an iTunes or WMP. Another problem with new functions is that people haven't seen them before so they don't understand them at first sight (the learning curve).
MediaMonkey is more for the serious music lover (doesn't need to be a nerd) while other applications are more for people who want to just play some songs. This what sets MediaMonkey apart and changing this would make it one of a bunch and probably alienate it's current user base.
The good news is that the next version (3.0) will see many improvements including interface improvements. Let's just hope they keep MediaMonkey as simple and fast as right now.
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Lowlander (MediaMonkey user since 2003)
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Lowlander (MediaMonkey user since 2003)
I have been involved in the computer industry for over twenty years and from this wealth of experience I have realised one major thing, no one application or programme can do everything for everyone.
This is where Microsoft go wrong by bloating their OS with a lot of stuff most people never use or they try to use “features” without the required experience and screw everything up.
With MediaMonkey the analogy for me is, I can drive a family sedan and get there ok or I can drive a sports car and have some fun on the way.
I do like “guests” idea of a button that provides a click between a basic, player with an industry recognised interface and the more technically advanced MM functionality that we have now. If making money is the object of the developers of MM then this may bridge that gap.
For me, I like the fact that MM challenges the mind, as well, it does the job asked of it, i.e. a brilliant music database manager. With scripts and plug-ins I can make it whatever I want.
This is where Microsoft go wrong by bloating their OS with a lot of stuff most people never use or they try to use “features” without the required experience and screw everything up.
With MediaMonkey the analogy for me is, I can drive a family sedan and get there ok or I can drive a sports car and have some fun on the way.
I do like “guests” idea of a button that provides a click between a basic, player with an industry recognised interface and the more technically advanced MM functionality that we have now. If making money is the object of the developers of MM then this may bridge that gap.
For me, I like the fact that MM challenges the mind, as well, it does the job asked of it, i.e. a brilliant music database manager. With scripts and plug-ins I can make it whatever I want.
Re: Trade off?
Apple tried that on me too but MM is a far better iPod companion than iTunes (for the way I use my iPod that is).hars wrote:and the fact that they do their best to force people who has an ipod to use itGuest wrote:Why is iTunes so popular? Because my father who is 50 and my sister who's 16 can use it...
I do not really have a problem with using MM. Maybe mr "Guest" could give some examples of what it is that people don't understand and how these could be improved..... Because my experience is that my friends liked and used it immediately (but then again most of my friends are software engineers....) So I am not saying I disagree I would just like to understand were you are coming from..
i agree with lowlander, it's important to remember that pretty doesn't equal user friendly. but still, nomatter how high the learning curve, there are ways to make the newbie happy and still satisfy the expert. take a common app as word, everybody knows how to write a document, but only experts use macros.
and i'm really excited about the chnge announced for 3.0! any roadmap for this?
and i'm really excited about the chnge announced for 3.0! any roadmap for this?
Pablo Picasso never got called an asshole. And my record collection can beat up your record collection.
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So you think I would be better off signing in when posting here? Hehe, don't know why I didn't, just lazy I guess. Anyways I'm "Guest" and I'm back to elaborate on my first post.
I'll try a stupid analogy here, so "follow with" as we say in Norwegian:
MM is like the girlfriend you can't see yourself marrying, there's just something "missing". She's to complicated and needs to work out more. Humor aside, here's what I mean.
I can agree that MM is for more "serious" music listeners, but my guess is that the MM team has a broader user base in mind. IF this is true, the layout lacks something and is currently too complicated. MOST people (I'm not in that bag) like to play cd's, to watch television, surf the net, use iTunes and zu weiter on a dayly basis. Thats because cd's are easy, just pop them in and press play. They watch television because at the press of ONE button (usually) they can waste a couple of minutes. They use Explorer because it's easy to read the newspaper or surf for porn. They use Google for the same reason. Yahoo got too complicated and along came "simple" Google. They use iTunes because it's not much harder to use then a cd, it's friggin brilliant.
THE KEY WORD IN EVERYTHING POPULAR IS USER FRIENDLINESS!!!!!!
Today, MM has all the functions in the world crammed into one page layot. Each function has it's reason to excist, but even for me it's sometimes too much if I just want to play a record. I feel like a nerd each time I "fumble" thru the "tree" looking for something to play. It's easier to find a cd of use iTunes when I'm in that kind of mood. If I need the advanced functions, MM's great. But usually, thats 70-80% of the time, I want to play music. (To me Winamp is no longer on the playing field, because it not good at large libraries. When I had 2 GB of music, it was ok. Not when I have 120. Worse still, it looks even more "messier" then MM)
They way I use MM, I somethimes have to use Explorer to find music I want to listen to.
My suggestions for MM:
1.
The "Two Button" feature : Chose between "Advanced User" view and "Normal User" view.
- This way, if I want to use the advanced features I can press the "AU" button and everything is revealed. BUT if I just want to listen to Deep Purple and have a nice view of the album art, I press "NU". MM would then remember which mode it was in when I last closed it.
PS: iTunes is the "defacto" standard in players and borrowing/lending design elements from it for the "NU" mode is not stealing. KISS: Keep It Simple Stupid
2.
Integrate some kind of tabbed browsing of the library. The tree is sometimes just confusing if you have a large collection. If you want to browse your albums, click on the Album Tab and everyhing else (Location, Title, Artist, Genre...) is hidden. Today, if you go deep enough, the hirarchy tree takes up too muh space on the left making it difficult to find what you are looking for. Did you understand that one? If I open up Library - Location - HD:C - Artist, 80% of the window is "tree lines"
- Tabbed browsing would make it easier and faster to switch between the above AND KEEP the staring points/tabs on top of the window at all time. This way you wont need to scroll up and down to change "starting point"
3.
Oh the pain, the agony. NO REAL (working) "Browse By Album Art" function. When I don't know what to listed to, the best thing is to flip thru my cd collection.
- Here you could in fact have a third useer button. "Album Art". Just the art, noting else. Easy, nothing to mess up the layout. It would be perfect for living room pc's....
- This function need to be implemented in both "AU" and "NU" interface.
4.
SEARCH FUNCTION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In iTunes, if you search for something, then erase the search. iTunes goes back to the starting point, listing up all songs. In MM the song window goes blank and you have to find the right tree again... HASSLE HASSLE....
5.
The player need to be resizable. In certain locations, it's not possible to resize other windows like Now Playing because the player "locks" everything...
6.
OH, sometimes when browsing for a song, I inadvertently change the artist of a song becaus I click in the wrong place. I fint this annoying....what if I dont spot it in time?
7.
Steal/borrow/lend from Mozilla/Firefox/Thunderbird.
- The way you can add extra features into these is amazing. It allows you to install functions in a much easier way then "Scripts"
iTunes is by no means perfect,not by a long shot. So I'm not pulling MM down in the mud and putting iTunes on a throne. It's not perfect mostly because of the limitations it has built in as a feature, but also becaus it somtimes just is to simple. THATS WHY I WANT TO BE ABLE TO CHANGE BETWEEN TWO MODES.
Phu, long post...I need something to drink. BTW, I'm using MM now to play "The Beatles - Revolver - Eleanor Rigby"
I'll try a stupid analogy here, so "follow with" as we say in Norwegian:
MM is like the girlfriend you can't see yourself marrying, there's just something "missing". She's to complicated and needs to work out more. Humor aside, here's what I mean.
I can agree that MM is for more "serious" music listeners, but my guess is that the MM team has a broader user base in mind. IF this is true, the layout lacks something and is currently too complicated. MOST people (I'm not in that bag) like to play cd's, to watch television, surf the net, use iTunes and zu weiter on a dayly basis. Thats because cd's are easy, just pop them in and press play. They watch television because at the press of ONE button (usually) they can waste a couple of minutes. They use Explorer because it's easy to read the newspaper or surf for porn. They use Google for the same reason. Yahoo got too complicated and along came "simple" Google. They use iTunes because it's not much harder to use then a cd, it's friggin brilliant.
THE KEY WORD IN EVERYTHING POPULAR IS USER FRIENDLINESS!!!!!!
Today, MM has all the functions in the world crammed into one page layot. Each function has it's reason to excist, but even for me it's sometimes too much if I just want to play a record. I feel like a nerd each time I "fumble" thru the "tree" looking for something to play. It's easier to find a cd of use iTunes when I'm in that kind of mood. If I need the advanced functions, MM's great. But usually, thats 70-80% of the time, I want to play music. (To me Winamp is no longer on the playing field, because it not good at large libraries. When I had 2 GB of music, it was ok. Not when I have 120. Worse still, it looks even more "messier" then MM)
They way I use MM, I somethimes have to use Explorer to find music I want to listen to.
My suggestions for MM:
1.
The "Two Button" feature : Chose between "Advanced User" view and "Normal User" view.
- This way, if I want to use the advanced features I can press the "AU" button and everything is revealed. BUT if I just want to listen to Deep Purple and have a nice view of the album art, I press "NU". MM would then remember which mode it was in when I last closed it.
PS: iTunes is the "defacto" standard in players and borrowing/lending design elements from it for the "NU" mode is not stealing. KISS: Keep It Simple Stupid
2.
Integrate some kind of tabbed browsing of the library. The tree is sometimes just confusing if you have a large collection. If you want to browse your albums, click on the Album Tab and everyhing else (Location, Title, Artist, Genre...) is hidden. Today, if you go deep enough, the hirarchy tree takes up too muh space on the left making it difficult to find what you are looking for. Did you understand that one? If I open up Library - Location - HD:C - Artist, 80% of the window is "tree lines"
- Tabbed browsing would make it easier and faster to switch between the above AND KEEP the staring points/tabs on top of the window at all time. This way you wont need to scroll up and down to change "starting point"
3.
Oh the pain, the agony. NO REAL (working) "Browse By Album Art" function. When I don't know what to listed to, the best thing is to flip thru my cd collection.
- Here you could in fact have a third useer button. "Album Art". Just the art, noting else. Easy, nothing to mess up the layout. It would be perfect for living room pc's....
- This function need to be implemented in both "AU" and "NU" interface.
4.
SEARCH FUNCTION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
In iTunes, if you search for something, then erase the search. iTunes goes back to the starting point, listing up all songs. In MM the song window goes blank and you have to find the right tree again... HASSLE HASSLE....
5.
The player need to be resizable. In certain locations, it's not possible to resize other windows like Now Playing because the player "locks" everything...
6.
OH, sometimes when browsing for a song, I inadvertently change the artist of a song becaus I click in the wrong place. I fint this annoying....what if I dont spot it in time?
7.
Steal/borrow/lend from Mozilla/Firefox/Thunderbird.
- The way you can add extra features into these is amazing. It allows you to install functions in a much easier way then "Scripts"
iTunes is by no means perfect,not by a long shot. So I'm not pulling MM down in the mud and putting iTunes on a throne. It's not perfect mostly because of the limitations it has built in as a feature, but also becaus it somtimes just is to simple. THATS WHY I WANT TO BE ABLE TO CHANGE BETWEEN TWO MODES.
Phu, long post...I need something to drink. BTW, I'm using MM now to play "The Beatles - Revolver - Eleanor Rigby"
I love MediaMonkey and it's advanced functionality, but I'm the type of person that tries every menu option and every config option when I install a new program so that I know what's possible. I don't disagree with your post.
Probably the best analogy I have is Nero. You can either use Nero Burning ROM for hardcore users, or they have Nero Express that allows just the basic Copy CD, Make Audio CD, Make Data CD options... but they all use the same burning engine. I think a simple UI that can be layered on the same Database... something like Steegy's Library Panes would be a good mix.
Oh, and I do agree with the need for a script manager akin to Firefox's way of managing extensions. Supposedly that's on the way, so I'll wait with baited breath.
Probably the best analogy I have is Nero. You can either use Nero Burning ROM for hardcore users, or they have Nero Express that allows just the basic Copy CD, Make Audio CD, Make Data CD options... but they all use the same burning engine. I think a simple UI that can be layered on the same Database... something like Steegy's Library Panes would be a good mix.
Oh, and I do agree with the need for a script manager akin to Firefox's way of managing extensions. Supposedly that's on the way, so I'll wait with baited breath.
sebastian, those are all pretty good suggestions, maybe you should post them "on their own" in the wishlist forum making sure the devs read them?
and your #2: how about a "favourites" tab, kind of bookmarks reffering to starting points?
and your #2: how about a "favourites" tab, kind of bookmarks reffering to starting points?
Pablo Picasso never got called an asshole. And my record collection can beat up your record collection.
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- Posts: 335
- Joined: Wed Mar 29, 2006 4:17 am
Tabs
Tabs are inherantly customizable, are't they?
So a "Favourites" tab would be a good one.....
So a "Favourites" tab would be a good one.....
First of all no need to repost them individually, actually several are already on the wishlist.
1. Been request, party mode is a limited mode that you can customize.
2. Been requested. Don't forget the find more functionality which is faster browsing than iTunes as less information needs to be displayed. I use that in combo with search to find anything. You can also type the node in the explorer tree to quickly navigate to it.
3. Missed by many.
4. That's the horror scenario. In any application it takes a long time to display the whole library. So this request would make MediaMonkey slow.
5. Been requested, but is limited due to WinAmp compatibility. 3.0 probably will improve on this.
6. Party mode can help you protect against accidental editing.
7. Scripts work well, just different and for nerds. 3.0 should see this redesigned to be more user friendly.
1. Been request, party mode is a limited mode that you can customize.
2. Been requested. Don't forget the find more functionality which is faster browsing than iTunes as less information needs to be displayed. I use that in combo with search to find anything. You can also type the node in the explorer tree to quickly navigate to it.
3. Missed by many.
4. That's the horror scenario. In any application it takes a long time to display the whole library. So this request would make MediaMonkey slow.
5. Been requested, but is limited due to WinAmp compatibility. 3.0 probably will improve on this.
6. Party mode can help you protect against accidental editing.
7. Scripts work well, just different and for nerds. 3.0 should see this redesigned to be more user friendly.
Download MediaMonkey | License
Help: Knowledge Base | MediaMonkey for Windows 5 | MediaMonkey for Android
Lowlander (MediaMonkey user since 2003)
Help: Knowledge Base | MediaMonkey for Windows 5 | MediaMonkey for Android
Lowlander (MediaMonkey user since 2003)