Hi,
  This is my first post and I have been an Amarok user for over 2 years now. So, firstly, hats off to all the guys working on the project - great work, and of course, I love Amarok! However, as with the many "complaints" you have received so far over the features missing from Amarok 1.4 (which is what I am using BTW), I was wondering if the following would make their way in (not sure if they already have):
1. Smart playlists for podcasts - This was not available in Amarok 1. Play all podcasts that are 1 day old, 2 days old, .....,not listened,... etc without having to download and add the podcast to the existing collection.
2. Sort by genre/album, genre/album/artist etc - It would be really nice if the levels could be decided by the user, instead of the currently available "hard coded" options avaible in Amarok 2.
3. IPod view - This is especially useful for large collections. In my case, I sort by genre/album. The "+" expansion technique is really not very helpful in Amarok 2, as one has to scroll to much to view all the albums.
4. Backup and restore option - This is a feature request. It would be really nice to be able to backup all the data and settings of Amarok from the home directory and restore everything on a fresh install. Perhaps this could be available as a menu option instead of a script? Would certainly make things easier for a novice user.
5. Bookmarking - Again a feature request. This is highly essential for podcast, audiobooks and multiple playlists. If I am listening to an audiobook and want to switch over to current podcasts, I would like to resume from where I left off..Don't know if this is already there in Amarok2.

I apologize if I came through as someone who "rants but doesn't contribute". These are only requests . Thanks!
-P

5. has been added earlier this week. It already works for Podcasts, audiobooks coming up.
In the future we might load chapter information from formats that support it and create bookmarks automatically.

1. I'm working on that but I'm not sure it will be done by 2.1. Some more framework refactoring will be needed.

4. Seems like an easy script you could write. It only involves copying the $HOME/.kde/share/apps/amarok folder to a tar.bz2. If you want to integrate that in Amarok use the QtScript-API.

@ Stecchino

I am quite aware that the Backup thing is easy to do - but I was thinking of novice users; it would make things a hell of a lot easier (not to mention quite attractive) to newcomers.

So will 2 and 3 ever be implemented in Amarok 2? Just curious.

2 is already implemented...

Great to see that 4/5 have already been implemented.
@stoked : I was curious as to exactly what options were now available - same as 1.4 or different? And is this implemented in a different way compared to 1.4?
Also, regarding the Backup option: I was thinking more along the lines of having something like:
[ ] Backup amarok settings only (manual)
[ ] Backup amarok settings only - weekly (cron)
[ ] Backup database only (manual)
[ ] Backup everything - podcasts etc.
....
I am not very experienced, but this was just a thought.

Thanks for all the replies guys. Can't wait for amarok 2.1!!!!

So, something like the ipod view navigation feature is never making its way back I suppose?

I was also wondering, if there is a way to DISABLE display of the album icon next to each album in the left hand side bar while navigating. For people with many albums, this wastes a lot of space as they have to keep scrolling up and down to find the album they want. IMHO, the album icon should be an option.

Also, to emulate the spreadsheet feature in a amarok 2.0, wouldn't it be better if the applet at the center displayed ALL user defined info - genre, year, path etc? Just a thought.

Hmmm, seems to be a little stagnant here, anyone....?

I love the suggestion to build in auto-backup into Amarok -- IF the user wishes to use it.

"Easy to script" -- well, not for me. I can use some scripts, but don't have the knowledge to create my own. And really, I don't want to learn that either. Possibly you don't want to learn genealogy research techniques, while that is one of my passions.

There is only so much time in everyone's day.

Valorie <------- Linux inexpert user

@Valorie
Yes, I think backup would be a good idea too, since most often users want to backup their Amarok settings WITHOUT having to backup the .kde folder in their home directory. The problem with backing up the .kde folder is that it may contain files/folders/uninstalled programs that are not necessary. IMHO, a more focused backup solution would be welcomed by many, especially novices.