Foobar driving me mad!!

Gypsy,

Sorry you are having a tough go of it.

Does Foobar look and work correctly with FLAC?

The settings look daunting at first look, but there really isnt that much there if you are not modifying the UI or config.

There is a setting for album art that will show what is "selected" (highlighted), or what is playing. I think this might need to be toggled.

Regarding the order of songs in an album, are you sure the file's "track numbers" are tagged correctly? Are the files simply showing up in alphabetical order?

I think the "convert" in dbpoweramp is the source of your headaches unfortunately.

Post a screen shot and I will gladly help you get on the right track. Dont get frustrated. If Foobar sounds best to you, you should use it.

-Patrick

cheers mate,i don't think it's dbpoweramp, i used the guide at computeraudiphile to set this up..
and if i click "library view" it organises them.
It's just that albums i've converted to aiff and imported to itunes have no issues whatsoever with album art, with foobar 80% is fine and other albums.....nothing!!!, well actually different albums artwork!!
I've just been firing everything into one folder, so it's one folder full of files but the al (album list i assume) on the right hand side organises this all fine!!
I went to make a playlist up last night and it's putting it all in headers of artist blah blah!
On iphone remote the playlist is just the songs which is fine...
Here's an example... i've got an album on,(selected in album list) it's in order (library view)ok....then i switch to FIL, whatever that is, like i tunes i guess, i click on another album and the tracks are out of order!!!!! so i go back to PL and click library list..
Ah, i've just checked three downloaded albums i have in my library and they're in order!??
I don't know, but it all just seems like a total hassle getting this up and running properly!! and this is with flac!!!!! My seriously strong preference is WAV,,,,,

The easiest way to play wav in foobar is from your wav music folder. You can pick your file view and when you get to opening an album folder it will have music task options. You can select and play from there either individual tracks or the entire album with foobar as default. You never have to look at the foobar interface if you don't want to. The image file should be there also is you want to view album art. Foobar will not read WAV tags or create it's own for wav files. MM can. Make sure album/artist is an available column.

Gypsy,

"FIL" is filter view. Allows you to search by Genre, artist, album etc.. This uses the tags on the files themselves.

"AL" yes is album list. You can have it view in any way you want although i think "directory structure" is default, as it should be.

For example I have Parliament and Funkadelic in the same folder. All the albums will be in the same place in the "Album list" as dictated by the name of my folder.
But in Filter view, you will have two distinct "Artists".

Check the other views at the top of the playlist. I dont think "EL Playlist" is for you.

For someone in your situation, I would simply select everything from Folder view. Dont even use Foobar to select anything. Simply start in the folders where the music resides. Right click, "Play in Foobar".

But given how you've started, with one huge folder, I dont know how to help really. You kind of need to start over with a system that works. Organization is very important with a big archive. Jamming everything into one folder is not going to fly.

Maybe iTunes is best for you.

Regarding art. You need individual folders for every album, so you can have ONE folder.jpg for each album.

Maybe you have embedded art in some of your files which is screwing things up. Otherwise, if ALL of your files are in one folder, you should see the same artwork for every one. If there are no "Folder.jpgs" in the folder where the files are, you have embedded art. I dont recommend that.

But basically..... If you eventually want to use WAV with Foobar, your only really good choice is to play from folder/file level.

-Patrick

Gypsy I know just how you feel! I was in the same position as you only a few days ago but I have now grasped how to use Foobar with the DarkOne skin and I love it!

Patrick is right. You need to organise your files carefully on the hard drive. May I offer the following:

1. Put each album in its own directory
2. Have only the flac (Or whatever format you are using) files in that directory and number them 01 02 03 etc. I have found problems when I have used a full stop after the numbers. I also make sure that the track title is only the track number and its name:

01 IGY
02 Green Flower Street

You're right ... I'm listening to a DVD-A 24-Bit/96kHz rip of 'The Nightfly' as I type this. Where was I? Oh yes ...

3. Retain a single cover art in the directory as a jpeg file. Put all other artwork scans in their own discrete directory. The single file that you keep for display in Foobar should have the name Cover

4. Delete all other files such as cue (Image) and M3U. I don't know if this a good thing to do but it worked for me. Foobar doesn't seem to like disc image files although they work fine with J.River Media Center (Don't use J.River though as I have found it to be very problematic)

The DarkOne skin still has mysteries to reveal to me (I'm about to post when I've finished this reply).

Hang in there with the Foobar/DarkOne combination. It seems very confusing at first but you will work it out in a couple of sessions.

Good luck!

Guys, thank you very much for taking the time to reply to what was somewhat a "rant" of an opening post!
I guess after 4 years of itunes and desktop speakers, this is a certain move in a different direction.
I've checked the way dbpoweramp is placing the files in the folder and it's artist, album, track title, which compared to your suggestions and a few downloads i have which come in track no, title, i think i shall address immediately.

You see, i've a folder, with 300 odd gypsy jazz albums, a general music folder with around 800 albums and now (in comparison very small) a folder with accurate rips in..When i first got a computer 4 years ago or whatever i spent months and months organising itunes, adding artwork, tags etc etc and it was the thought of doing all this again that has been driving me mad i think.
So the Gypsy jazz folder has brought everything in fine with artwork etc, however the strange thing i find is say, Django Reinhardt....this is one folder with 26 folders in it, however in foobar it has 26 djando reinhardts and the albums, not a massive concern but it would be easier if i opened django, found the albums and opened whichever one i wanted.....

I think i need to spend some time on this.
The trouble with these forums is i need to check back as I don't get email alerts to responses
I will look at db poweramp before i go any further and sort that out, i think i will just stick with flac, archival and working and maybe create a 256 aac for itunes and ipod as i rip.
I don't want to play from folders as my music collection is large and i normally have foobar up on tv and control with iphone, the interface, album art playlist thing is quite important and worth putting the time into getting right i think.
So back to the drawing board...
Once again thanks guys, i think i have enough info here now to start experimenting
Cheers

Honestly, I'd sort out MM and go that route with wav. I suspect that a bit of setup and plugin work would get you there.

quote:

Originally posted by gypsykirk:
Django Reinhardt....this is one folder with 26 folders in it, however in foobar it has 26 djando reinhardts and the albums, not a massive concern but it would be easier if i opened django, found the albums and opened whichever one i wanted.

OK. So you have one folder "Django Reinhardt" Inside are folders "Album x", "Album y", "Album z", etc...

Inside those folders are the tracks. Am i correct so far?

But in the Album List you show an line for every Django album, instead of a single Django Reinhardt It lists 26 of them?

See bottom left of the picture below.


Are you saying that there are 26 indentical entries here under artist?

If so something must be jacked in the folder structure.

Can you post a screenshot?

-Patrick

PS - js might be right though. It is tough to tell from your post if this is happening with WAV or FLAC or both. If it is happening with WAV, and your tags are clean, and your folders structured correctly, another media player might be best for you.

I dont play WAVs so I cannot help much there.

Hey guys, thanks for all comments, much appreciated!
I organised my rips into folders, resorted to flac and discovered "view" by directory structure to resolve my problems. the fact my music folder was already organised and my gypsy jazz folder was already organised....when i added the 3 music folders they have seamlessly slotted in to one big directory which is fantastic, happy days.
The big problem now is the remote app!!!!!! sigh!
Unlike the itunes library, it seems with foobar, you must individually select each track you would like to listen to. A real pain, once again.. Unless you get off your chair (defeating the point of remote) to select the album in the AL, you are restricted to selecting each track individually whereas with itunes when you select a track, that album will then play, or rather remain, until such times as you change the album, this happens regardless of how you select your tunes. ie, from the artist list or album list on iphone/remote.
Has anyone else experienced this ?? Kinda Knackers everything up to be honest!!!

A couple of other things, when selecting a track from AL it's a bit of a pain when only that track will play and the album doesn't come up.....or are you guys working from the FIL pane??

I thought i had it there!! i selected "remote selection" and things were fine, it was playing from remote the way i would expect until i went to play a playlist, where it now jumps back to previous album after one song has played..
??????

What are...Filter results (playback), filter results, remote selection and library view functions exactly??...
Sorry about the questions guys??
Cheers.

I keep losing playlists too!!

AAAAAAAAARGH...

Streamers are a wonderful thing.

quote:

Originally posted by js:
Streamers are a wonderful thing.

This anti iTunes audiophool snobbery, always ends in tears.

quote:

Streamers are a wonderful thing. Winker

I like the look of the unitiserve, i must admit, awaiting ££££ details, without the hard drive (using a nas) one would expect a reasonable price tag. hahahahahahah....aye right!!!

I hear ya, i don't know much about streamers, quite alot about being a steamer, but not streamers!

Gyspy,

Something is not set-up correctly regarding the problems you are having with Remote app. Like Ive said, I am happy to help.

If you choose a song withing an album it will bring up the whole album. Just like iTunes.

Dont select "a single track" in "Album List", select the album. You need to look in Settings>Media Library>Album List. Also right under that "Album List Panel".

Check out the settings here. Double, single and middle clisks can all be defined here.

I am guess in the "Album List Panel" you dont have "Send to Auto Playlist" checked with "Library View" selected.

This makes any higlighted item in the "AL", whether an aritst, album or song, create a playlist called "Library View". When you click on another artist is refreshes the "Library view".

Seriously, you can make Foobar act anyway you want. You need to look around at ALL of the settings and see what is possible. If something isn't working as you want, the solutions are here.

UNder Settings>Playback, make sure you have BOTH "cursor follows playback", and "Playback follows cursor" selected. Or play with these to see what you like.

Foobar is SO powerful there is literally nothing you cannot do. You just need to understand with this power comes options and the need to educate yourself just a bit. It is all very easy if you simply look around.

-Patrick

quote:

Originally posted by gypsykirk:
I keep losing playlists too!!

AAAAAAAAARGH...

Calm down. What do you mean by "losing"? If you want it to create "new Playlists" for everything you click on, you can, see above.

Otherwise, unless you delete them, playlists will all be seen in "PL" until you remove them.

Really though. You owe it to yourself to actually read through the settings to see what is possible, i.e. everything.

quote:

Originally posted by Joe Bibb:

quote:

Originally posted by js:
Streamers are a wonderful thing.

This anti iTunes audiophool snobbery, always ends in tears.

Whatever. You can go sit down with your grandparents until the adults are finished talking.

quote:

Originally posted by pcstockton:

quote:

Originally posted by Joe Bibb:

quote:

Originally posted by js:
Streamers are a wonderful thing.

This anti iTunes audiophool snobbery, always ends in tears.

Whatever. You can go sit down with your grandparents until the adults are finished talking.

Ha Ha you kill me Patrick. Have your adult conversation to get Foobar working then. I'll be busy not losing playlists and if my grandparents were alive, at least they would get some music.

gypsykirk has chosen based on his take of sonic results and not snobbery. He is in the process of settling on his own personal set of compromises that may be different than yours.

quote:

Originally posted by js:
gypsykirk has chosen based on his take of sonic results and not snobbery. He is in the process of settling on his own personal set of compromises that may be different than yours.

Ha ha yes 'compromises'

Just burn the lot to CD and buy a CD player - you know it makes sense

Thanks pcstockton

I understand your frustration with me here I do!

However, I can't seem to find any info/help, or anything for that matter, even explaining what the functions of halve of this stuff does.
I feel like i need to study computer programming or something to make sense of halve of it.

OK, things I just don't get/see the point in?

Filter results?
Filter results (playback)?
Library viewer selection?
Library view
I'm deleting these and they keep coming back?!

Why there is

Send to playlist
Add to playlist
Send to new playlist
Send to autosend playlist etc

eg...I add say 5 tracks to a playlist using "add to playlist" Wey hey, 5 tracks in playlist then click on a different tune and my 5 tracks are gone, replaced by this one tune???

When I say I'm losing playlists, I'm experimenting, I haven't put 200 songs in a list and lost them...5-6 songs maybe, when I can get it all behaving the way I would like it to, then I'll progress with them.

AS FAR AS iTunes goes guys ...It is not without it's share of teething problems,or problems in general. I spent months and months of trial and error, mistakes and revelations with it before I was happy with it's setup. Undoubtedly it may be the way forward on mac or whatever, but it simply doesn't sound as good on my pc, right here, right now. With the help I'm receiving here, I'm not far off having a better sounding setup behaving exactly the same way, but maybe even with a nicer, more informative interface, probably more future proof with more easily adaptable files.
I am certainly not anti itunes...it would be my preferred choice if it sounded the same as foobar.(ie, those fancy drivers that make it sound so much better!!)) I'm experimenting just now, I'm at the beginning of a journey, I'm learning every day ...

Thanks again, for all your comments...

Gypsy,

No frustration on my end. I am happy to help. I don’t want you to be frustrated.

Firstly, just for clarity:
“AL” – Album List
“PL” – Play Lists
“FL” – Filter

“Filter” (FL) is just another way of browsing and selecting music to play. As with “Album List” (AL) when you single click something it will create a playlist. (You can define double-click in settings)

Single click on an artist in “FL”. Then go the “PL” and you will see a playlist called “Filter Results”
Single click on an artist/album in “AL”. Then go the “PL” and you will see a playlist called “Library View”

Those playlists will stay there until you delete them. Although their contents will always be the last thing you single clicked in each respective location.

So if you Click on “John Zorn” in “AL” it will display all the albums in the folder.
If you expand the folder and click on “The Gift”, it will only show that album…. Same goes for a single track.

Now click on “John Zorn” again and the “Library View” playlist will automatically change back to all Zorn albums in the folder. This is why your playlists are “disappearing”. They are not disappearing you are simply changing them by clicking around.

If you actually want just “The Gift” in a playlist but want to continue to browse around the “AL” then right click on the Gift and select “Send To New Playlist”. Now go to “PL”, you will see a playlist called “The Gift”.

Now you have a playlist called, “The Gift”. You can drag and drop other songs into this list, or right click in “FL” or “AL” and select “Add to Playlist”. Now if you don’t want to lose this playlist and want to be able to access this play list forever Click on Toolbar > Save Playlist.

Basically, anything you click on will show in the active playlist. So if you delete those “Filter Results” or “Library View” playlists they will come back as soon as you click on something in those respective areas. Don’t worry they aren’t cumulative. I never use Filter anyway.

You should be using “Send to NEW Playlist” it seems. They wont disappear until you manually delete them.

Now defining what Double-click does in “AL” is good to do. I think you should set double-click to “Send to new Playlist”. I don’t like this I end up with hundreds of playlists. I set my double-click to “minimize and expand the folder”, self-explanatory. But for you this will give you discreet playlists simply by double clicking. Single clicks will continue to only change the "Library View".

Lastly, play around with “Add to Playback queue” This is sweet. It simply creates an ad hoc playlist in the background that will continue to play regardless of you clicking around. You will see that it adds a number to each track. Keep in mind that this is very temporary. Once you start adding to the queue anything other than “Next Track” will delete this queue. It does not create an actual playlist anywhere.

-Patrick

One more little tip.

At the center-top next to the "View" Button there is a little Musical Note button. This will "snap to" the currently playing song.

So if you navigate inside a playlist away from the actual album playing and want to go back to select a new song, this button will automagically bring you back to the album now playing.


One more.... if you dont have album art for something simply right click in "BIO". Select "Album", it will display the album art rather than an artist picture. Now right click "Save Image", "To source tracks Folder", it will automatically open a Save Window inside the track's folder and already have the picure named "folder.jpg". (FYI, you need to restart, pause, or next track to make it show up for the first time).

You can do the same for the artist picture which is nice for the DarkOne config.

Good luck. I hope this helps.

Patrick

Absolutely spot on mate!!

Brilliant stuff, alot of info there, I'm off to digest it all.....great tip with the musical note and album art too!!!! I'd forgotten that was causing me problems too, now it will be easy..

I think after i've digested what you're saying i will be there!! i'll suss the remote app, think i'm getting there with it anyway..

Cheers Patrick.