whitman;207542 Wrote: > Erland, haven't you just answered your own question, by mentioning the > straightforward and efficient iTunes? Dare I suggest that most people > get a Squeezebox (and therefore Slimserver) becasue they're into music? > And that most people into digital music these days will have iTunes? > Problem solved, surely? Sure, iTunes would solve a big part of the problem. So everything would be fine if Logitech actually recommend people that the easiest way to use SlimServer is to use the iTunes integration and provide a default installation of SlimServer that where setup this way. But today they don't as far as I know, they just show all the possibilities and choices which can get a bit overwhelming for some people. This is my point, provide a default software and adjust the SlimServer installation so it is really easy to use SlimServer with this software. The software might be iTunes or might be something else, the exact software isn't important as long as it is easy to use. Some problem with iTunes is that people will start to ask why they can't play their new music purchased from the iTunes Music Store. Another problem is that since iTunes also can play music, they will ask why the play button in iTunes can't result in that the Squeezebox starts to play. After all the iTunes user interface is so much easier to use than the SlimServer web interface. The bundled ripping/tagging software would need to support Windows (and maybe Mac), Linux users will be able to use the more advanced settings to use SlimServer with another tagging/ripping software.
I can't use iTunes myself since both my desktop and server is running Linux, but I'm not "average Joe" so that is not a problem as long as SlimServer still makes it possible to use other tagging/ripping software than the bundled one. I'm also using FLAC which is currently not supported in iTunes, but average Joe will be happy with standard mp3, so that shouldn't be an issue. DrNic;207596 Wrote: > > @Erland: Where exactly is the big issue with ripping/tagging? > It really isn't that difficult in my experience. I have progressed from > starting with iTunes doing it all at the very beginning to using EAC > (with MAREO) and tag tweaking (if ever necessary) with MP3Tag. Even > with the different systems and the different ID3 tag versions (for my > old MP3 files - I've matured to FLAC a while ago!) that this has > produced I must obviously be very lucky and don't have Interface > issues. > Do we _really_ need to make it so noddy proof? There are several problems: 1. No specific ripping/tagging software is recommended, the result is that users starts to use EAC and other more complex solutions when they actually isn't ready for it, they would be much better off with something like iTunes. 2. All the different tagging/ripping software works differently. The problem with this is that SlimServer must support all the different ways of tagging your music. I would imagine that the result is hugh costs in: - Testing that SlimServer is actually working with all the different variations - Handling support issues that is caused by some behavior in a tagging software - Implementing support in SlimServer for all the different variations of tagging For people that knows how to use a computer this might not be a big issue because they can help to find the actual problem. But if you have tried to instruct someone that hardly knows what a window is and calls their operating system Microsoft Office you get what I mean. But in the end, I think the important thing is to decide who the target user is. The target user might not be average Joe and then the tagging/ripping part of the process might not be as important. -- erland Erland Isaksson 'My homepage' (http://erland.homeip.net) 'My download page' (http://erland.homeip.net/download) (Developer of 'TrackStat, SQLPlayList, DynamicPlayList, Custom Browse, Custom Scan, Custom Skip, Multi Library and RandomPlayList plugins' (http://wiki.erland.homeip.net/index.php/Category:SlimServer)) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ erland's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=3124 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=35906 _______________________________________________ discuss mailing list discuss@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
