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IDProjectCategoryView StatusLast Update
0013269MMW 5Generalpublic2022-09-14 14:39
Reporterrusty Assigned To 
PriorityurgentSeverityfeatureReproducibilityalways
Status feedbackResolutionopen 
Target Version5.2 
Summary0013269: Online browsing: difficult to discover _new_ tracks
DescriptionWhen the user browses tracks online there's no indication whether tracks already exist within the library. It would be much easier if users could:
a) have finer grained control over which tracks display (e.g. like the filtering functionality in youtube)
b) have an indication of whether tracks with the same title/artist already exist within the library.
TagsNo tags attached.
Attached Files
Fixed in build

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jiri

2016-05-11 09:46

administrator   ~0044583

a) Any idea of UI? I think that particularly if b) is implemented, it should be enough.

b) Could it be that those _not_ in Library would have some kind of 'buy' icon shown? I guess that we are talking e.g. about Artist view - the Albums and Tracks shown there?

rusty

2016-05-11 21:27

administrator   ~0044592

a) I guess that such a UI would make sense for 'Search' of online content. In such a cases, the UI could follow the same format as the our advanced search UI (albeit limited to fewer fields--only those that are accessible via whatever online sources we use).

b) We show a buy icon only for such tracks, but long-term it would probably make sense to have small/faint icons for:
- local/networked. Icon could be HD.
- mm-cloud (i.e. not local but owned by the user). Icon could be a cloud.
- third party. As to whether third-party tracks should all show a 'buy' icon, that depends on whether or not we have a means for users to make the purchase. I doubt that's (yet) the case, so for now maybe a cloud with a lock would do.

jiri

2016-05-12 07:26

administrator   ~0044595

a) Since there isn't many fields to search for, isn't the Search bar enough for entering text? I can't imagine use cases for a more complex queries, particularly if we add support for searching by year directly from the Search bar, it should be enough? Or, do you think that e.g. searching by track length could be ever needed? Or track #? Like 'Show me all Beatles track that start an album'?

b) I suppose that the 'Buy' button could lead to Amazon (or another store) for some affiliate sales. As for the possible other icons, I'd probably defer this until we have more of this (mainly MM cloud) implemented.

rusty

2016-05-18 06:05

administrator   ~0044640

a) searching for year would help users solve this issue, but I don't think it addresses the need well since:
i) most won't realize that the functionality exists nor how to use it (i.e. it requires documentation)
ii) it wouldn't allow for a filter to hide online content that isn't already contained within the local collection
Perhaps a 'Hide content that already exists in the library' filter would be sufficient?

b) The 'buy' functionality is useful, but does it really solve the original problem? Won't there be tracks that don't exist in the local library that are available to stream but that may not be available for purchase from third parties?

i.e. shouldn't 'buy' be separate from the ability to understand whether content exists locally?

jiri

2016-05-18 12:17

administrator   ~0044646

a)i) Well, maybe not obvious, but that alone shouldn't be a reason to implement a more complex UI? I'd say that this kind of 'multifunction' search bar is very common e.g. in modern browsers, so it isn't anything non-standard.

a)ii) Yes, it actually might be useful to implement app-wide, e.g. that the My Library/Online switch would have a drop-down next to 'Online' that would show additional choices, like that 'Hide content that already exists in My Library'. This way it could be used e.g. in Artist view in order to see albums not yet owned, etc.

b) An attempt to stream such a track (by pressing Play button) results in an attempt to find/play it from YouTube (at least currently, might use more services in the future). I'd understand 'buy' button as a way to try to locate a shop where this track can be purchased. Anyway, as I wrote, probably not really urgent now.

rusty

2016-05-27 20:52

administrator   ~0044778

a)i) Although search bars still support qualifiers in the search bar, they are considered expert features. Today common filters are implemented through explicit UI (rather than hidden) UIs.

Examples: Google search (has bar below the search bar to filter); youtube (has a filter button below the search bar to filter)

We already more or less implement this in MM5's 'advanced search'--however the way that advanced search is positioned makes it appear/function as a parallel feature when in fact it should just be a sub-element of the existing search functionality.

If you think of it this way, MM5 already implements this type of functionality for My Library searches. The only question is whether we should expand this (in much simpler form) to Online searches. I'm going to spec how the advanced search might be tweaked, and then we can revisit this.

b) I suppose if we implement a) this wouldn't be necessary.

jiri

2016-06-02 13:28

administrator   ~0044838

a) I agree, as long as we talk mainly about 'does/doesn't exists in Library' type of filter, in which case you might be right that b) isn't that much necessary. As discussed elsewhere, we don't offer much online metadata for searching yet, so leaving more complex filtering for future.

b) Still might be useful though, particularly if somehow paired with the purchase functionality as suggested above.

rusty

2016-06-03 05:03

administrator   ~0044845

Attached is an indicator of what this could look like:
a) see the filter button at the top (alternatively it could open a section of the UI similar to how filter works in My Library).

b) Content has a 'cloud' indicator if it's online (note: musicbee does something similar if you want to see this in action). Whenever we implement purchase functionality, this icon could form the basis of it, but for now it just gives an indication of the source of the content.

jiri

2016-06-03 08:18

administrator   ~0044847

Last edited: 2016-06-03 08:20

a) I just wonder whether this isn't a bit too prominent UI element, given that not everyone will need it. I'd consider including it as a menu item in View selector pop-up, i.e. something like:
View:
 Browser view
 Tracklist
 ---------
 Filter >
   Online only
   ...

Or a filter icon next to View selector with similar functionality. That said, I'm quite inclined to make this element less prominent, since its usage seems to be a bit limited to me (at least for now).

b) Ok, we can use one of 'cloud' icons from http://iconmonstr.com/?s=cloud , e.g. http://iconmonstr.com/cloud-27/ looks good.

rusty

2016-06-03 14:03

administrator   ~0044848

a) good idea
b) ok

jiri

2016-06-03 14:56

administrator   ~0044850

Assigning to Michal, note that I'd implement a) with slightly lower priority, i.e. not needed for the first public pre-release.

petr

2016-11-15 10:46

developer   ~0046164

Based on offline communication assigning to Jiri for a feedback.

jiri

2016-11-28 16:09

administrator   ~0046292

a)
Online views
 i) All tracks are supposed to be online and so there's no filtering needed for this attribute? This leaves only 'Don't show My Library duplicates' as a useful option?

My Library views
 ii) The only useful option I see is to show Offline tracks only, e.g. to not show YouTube tracks (added to library), Cloud stored tracks, etc.

b)
 i) Do we want to reserve a space for the icon? For people who use local storage only that would be quite a space waster. Maybe to show the icon as the last part of the Title column, after text?

 ii) I suppose that we don't need to show the local HD icon, but rather remote icons only in order to not show too many unnecessary icons.

 iii) Should be made optional? Probably yes. Made a checkbox directly in View Selector pop-up menu?