Hi Folks ...

Just a quick complaint ..... I've using Amarok for a long time .... and when Amarok 2 came out I was pretty upset ... it became unusable for me ... Sure it LOOKS nice ... but that's it .... I keep trying it out every time there is an update and it doesn't work well at all .... not to mention loads of features missing... specifically good device support... again it looks cool ..but thats it I've tried a dozen other players but always end up re installing amarok 1.4 from some repository of someone who is maintaining it.

PLEASE --- CAN you all OFFICIALLY support an up to speed version of 1.4 I'm sick of playing games with 2.

coacharnold wrote:PLEASE --- CAN you all OFFICIALLY support an up to speed version of 1.4 I'm sick of playing games with 2.

No, sorry. But it's Free Software, try finding someone to maintain it. Good luck with that, though, there is more than a reason why the developers decided to rewrite it...

You could also start with upgrading to Amarok 2.2.1, I suppose you use an outdated version, but you fail to be precise enough to tell what exactly does not work and which exact version, distribution and KDE version you use. So even if we would love to help you, you might start with giving enough details so we actually can.

Ok .... here we go

1 I had installed every version up to 2.2.1 at some point ....
Problems - ok

2 - Lack of a usable device interface

3 - Crashes

4 - Slow

5 needs a decent working working mysql interface



really the device issue is my main problem ... it will mount but transferring data crashes one out of every two times and doesn't sctually transfer data .....

in general the whole thing is pretty unstable but not being able to use my mas storage device drives is big ...

I've had 2 installed on Several different sytems and os builds and still can't get it to work safely ...

If we expect people to switch to linux we need be able to have software thats reliable for someone who doesn't know the command line .... AMAROK 1.4 is still the best thing out there .... it blows away songbird, atunes, Jajuk, and every other attempt at a large collection player ....

the issue is that 2.2 isn't usable at this point .. so why are we still arguing about keeping 1.4 alive.

coacharnold wrote:so why are we still arguing about keeping 1.4 alive

As you've previously been told, Amarok is free software, you are free to find someone willing to maintain v1.4, but the official developers will rather improve v2.

If you have issues with the latest releases you should report them and, hopefully, all the features you miss from the older version will be implemented.

coacharnold wrote:Ok .... here we go

1 I had installed every version up to 2.2.1 at some point ....
Problems - ok

2 - Lack of a usable device interface

3 - Crashes

4 - Slow

5 needs a decent working working mysql interface



really the device issue is my main problem ... it will mount but transferring data crashes one out of every two times and doesn't sctually transfer data .....

in general the whole thing is pretty unstable but not being able to use my mas storage device drives is big ...

I've had 2 installed on Several different sytems and os builds and still can't get it to work safely ...

If we expect people to switch to linux we need be able to have software thats reliable for someone who doesn't know the command line .... AMAROK 1.4 is still the best thing out there .... it blows away songbird, atunes, Jajuk, and every other attempt at a large collection player ....

the issue is that 2.2 isn't usable at this point .. so why are we still arguing about keeping 1.4 alive.

2.2 is very usuable to ME. There are a few tiny features I miss from the 1.4 days, but nothing major. Many of the problems I had intermittently in 2.2.0 were fixed by updating to 2.2.1.

I use KDE 4.3.3 in Ubuntu with KDE on top. What are you using, and what specific problems are you having?

Valorie

I'm also for a prolongued life to Amarok 1.4.

To those who ask what is wrong with Amarok two-point-something, please believe us: there is something INFERIOR, when compared with the Amarok 1.4.

The Amarok team makes deaf ears of so many complaints posted in different forums. We are not alone...

Now, you guys may be sensitive for criticisms against your new version. But there are people, and a lot have complained indeed (not necesarily here). Yet, their criticisms have been either ignored or dismissed as "trols", ignorant users, and the like.

What I hate, but is NOT only that, is the incredible shameless iTunes - look alike of the new Amarok. Dont you realize that if we like iTunes, why in the hell we bother with amarok 2?

But I also hate, hate, hate, to realize that amarok 2 something plays the same songs more quite frequently than not while many songs are NEVER played.
Because Amarok 1.4 has this FANTASTIC function called SHUFFLE, which amarok 2 something does NOT have, and that is a fact. Amarok 1.4 plays my shuffled songs perfectly, in the order I decide, I can shuffle my collection many times, until I'm sure all the songs are perfectly random in the playlist. But AMarok 2 has been CASTRATED. Probably, that function is not possible to restore?

Yeah, people is shifting to amarok 2, slowly but surely (don't count me on).

Nevertheless, amarok team cannot avoid being told the truth (but hearing the truth can be painfull) that the best AMAROK was produced YEARS AGO, and will not probably be equalled, cause the new code is screwed up. The solution is to resusitate the Amarok 1.4, the perfect, mature, equilibrated program, different looking and perhaps working better than itunes and any newer version, whatever they try to do. My 2 cents.

What I dislike are people ranting without a clue, especially those copying shamelessly other peoples false assertions: you have obviously never seen iTunes

@Maxei:

The "truth" has been told enough already. The devs heard it, i am sure. But what is also for sure, you can't expect the team to support 2 different versions.
And as even Qt3 has reached its end of life, what would you expect the developers to do?

So to keep it short, use amarok 1.4 as long as you can, maybe even try to get used to the 2 version or switch to one of the 100 other players. But nothing that can be done about it apart from this. (or you find new maintainers, as already said)

If some feature doesn't work or you are experiencing problems and you tell people by filing bug reports at bugs.kde.org we will probably be able to fix it.

I didn't start patching until a couple weeks ago so I don't know about Amarok 1.x, but I am under the impression that it had become too hard to keep it up with the times. 2.2.x on the other hand is quite clean and easy to work with.

By the time 2.4 comes out it could be a much better music player, but only if people tell us exactly what their issues are. In my experience, if you are willing to work with the Amarok devs, they are very friendly and willing help.

My biggest problem I have with 2.x is that I can't find all the features and scripts I had with 1.4. I've done some research but time doesn't allow me to spend hours trying to find ways around this. I will list some of the issues I have and if someone could point me in the right direction it would be appreciated.
- totally delete a file from playlist (not the currently playing one)
- queue a song with Ctr + Right Click
- what happened to the MusicBrainz tagger?
- where can I get the "move to collection" feature?
- I used to search in my library and hit enter to add to playlist. Not working anymore.
- ... and many more ...
Please direct me where I can find good info regarding the usage of 2.x!
Thank you!

My biggest problem I have with 2.x is that I can't find all the features and scripts I had with 1.4. I've done some research but time doesn't allow me to spend hours trying to find ways around this. I will list some of the issues I have and if someone could point me in the right direction it would be appreciated.
- totally delete a file from playlist (not the currently playing one)
- queue a song with Ctr + Right Click
- what happened to the MusicBrainz tagger?
- where can I get the "move to collection" feature?
- I used to search in my library and hit enter to add to playlist. Not working anymore.

To delete any track on the playlist, right-click and "Remove from Playlist."

Queue still works in the playlist. Having it come back to the Collection menu is under discussion by the developers.

Now that Picard is available as a stand-alone (and my favorite) tagger, it's better to use that or EasyTag or Kid3 to do mass-tagging. Amarok still can fix typos and such in your tags, and does a good job tagging when using it to rip a CD into the collection.

Right-click, and you can Move or Copy to Collection (from the files menu, at least).

Enter opens up the Genre, Artist, or Album. Right-click lets you add to the playlist, or Replace the Playlist at each of those levels.

Hope this helps!

As for finding all the features in one place -- a new Handbook is in the works. We're looking for all interested folks who want to help -- please join us in IRC or on the mailing list.

All the best,

Valorie

Mamarok has just pointed me to this bug report also: https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=192874

There Markey reports that "FWIW, we've just merged a patch that adds entries from the collection to the playlist if you middle-click."

Middle-click doesn't work for me (anywhere) so I can't test. Discussion of the queue continues.

My word, this 1.4 thing refuses to go away, doesn't it?

And to think, if y'all had just kept the original UI, no-one would have been any the wiser that you were rewriting the backend!

Perhaps a better idea would be to rename Amarok 2. It really has very little in common with the original Amarok. The UI is different, the functionality is different, the awesomeness is different. It's a different media player all together.

Obviously you wanted to capitalise on the success of the Amarok name - deserved success, in my opinion - but that is exactly why it is so galling to install Amarok 2 and get a buggy iTunes-lookalike.

And to pre-empt inevitable comebacks: yes, I've used iTunes. It's not that impressive, but I will say one thing: the base user interface has barely changed since I first downloaded it in 2006. Sure, some things have been added, but the core is exactly the same.

Now, some people may find this to be a bad thing. I would say it's a plus: Apple is king of the User Interface world, and they know very well that you don't break things that work. iPods wouldn't be iPods without the clickwheel. MacOS wouldn't be MacOS without the Dock. Both have remained pretty much unchanged since 2001.

If you must change things that users will notice, do it slowly, do it incrementally, and DON'T remove anything that your users can't put back. Otherwise you're just going to alienate your main userbase every time they upgrade.

Ultimately, it's your choice whether you want Amarok to be the killer Linux music app that it was in 1.4, or an obscure personal project.

It's also your choice to note that this message was written with the best of intentions, and would prefer not to attract sarcastic responses telling me how rubbish Apple's user interface really is. That isn't the point.

Well you might have used iTunes, but then you obviously never used Amarok 2.x, since I can't find the slightest similarity

valoriez wrote:To delete any track on the playlist, right-click and "Remove from Playlist."

Queue still works in the playlist. Having it come back to the Collection menu is under discussion by the developers.

Now that Picard is available as a stand-alone (and my favorite) tagger, it's better to use that or EasyTag or Kid3 to do mass-tagging. Amarok still can fix typos and such in your tags, and does a good job tagging when using it to rip a CD into the collection.

Right-click, and you can Move or Copy to Collection (from the files menu, at least).

Enter opens up the Genre, Artist, or Album. Right-click lets you add to the playlist, or Replace the Playlist at each of those levels.

Hope this helps!

As for finding all the features in one place -- a new Handbook is in the works. We're looking for all interested folks who want to help -- please join us in IRC or on the mailing list.

All the best,

Valorie

Middle-click works really nice, thanks for the tip, but it only adds one artist or song. If I have a selection of songs/artists in my local collection that meets a certain criteria (for example "doom") I can't add them all by hitting enter (the old way). Now I have to select them all (Ctr+a).
These are the little features that I miss from the old version.
Thanks and keep up the good work!

PS: I hate iTunes and I've been disliking 2.x, but progress is being made. I do miss 1.4 a lot, and I wish 2.x would look like 2.x but run like 1.4 and have those lost features.