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    W8 music player for tablet

    [Apologies if this is the wrong place for this]

    I've a small (7"?) W8 tablet that I use as a media player in the office (I never know which workstation I'll be using so this lets me export the music to a "common point"/appliance from which it can be player).

    But, the music player application (MS?) is obviously designed for a desktop machine -- all of the controls are tiny (on a 7" screen) instead of being "finger sized (consistent with a touch screen).

    I'm looking for alternatives. Big buttons. Support for album artwork (so I can recognize covers instead of trying to read tiny text!). No need for any "on-line" support (like google play) as EVERYTHING is already present on the device's uSD card (and I don't want to have to tether it -- wired or wirelessly -- to anything).

    Ideally, supports gapless playback.

    I can recode the media to another format (instead of FLAC or MP3) if necessary.

    "Free" would be nice -- and without having to get it through some "store" portal.

    #2
    Re: W8 music player for tablet

    Trusty old WinAmp, the older versions...say 2.81?
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      #3
      Re: W8 music player for tablet

      What about kodi? I think it has everything you are looking for. Install it on a usb stick to try it, if it don't work delete it.
      Last edited by R_J; 01-27-2019, 11:44 AM.

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        #4
        Re: W8 music player for tablet

        Originally posted by R_J View Post
        What about kodi? I think it has everything you are looking for. Install it on a usb stick to try it, if it don't work delete it.
        Kodi as in XBMC??

        Comment


          #5
          Re: W8 music player for tablet

          Originally posted by Topcat View Post
          Trusty old WinAmp, the older versions...say 2.81?
          I went hunting for screen shots and what I found seems pretty "text-y":

          http://forums.winamp.com/showthread.php?t=453606

          Ideally, I'd like icons for artists; then icons for albums; then BIG controls (PLAY, PAUSE, NEXT, PREVIOUS -- I can live with a hard-to-use volume control as it doesn't change once I set it).

          I use BlackPlayer (?) on one of my phones. It's marginally useful -- once you get to the title you want (the "TRACKS" display is way too "small" to be able to pick individual titles easily). But, once playing, I can sort-of find the play/pause controls without needing a stylus to invoke them.

          (though I typically only use this while driving and, then, use the controls on the steering wheel, instead)

          Maybe they have a W8 version?? I'll check...

          Comment


            #6
            Re: W8 music player for tablet

            Originally posted by Curious.George View Post
            Kodi as in XBMC??
            Yes, It has'nt been called xbmc for a while.

            Comment


              #7
              Re: W8 music player for tablet

              Originally posted by Curious.George View Post
              If this was an automotive forum, would you entertain questions like:
              • "The back left tire on my vehicle is flat. How do I fix it?"
              • "How come the radio isn't playing my favorite station?"
              • "Why does the gas pump turn off before the tank is completely filled?"


              The forum isn't "Computers R Us" or "Computers for Dummies". And, we've had google for 20 years, now -- if someone hasn't figured out how to ask a question THAT HAS UNDOUBTEDLY BEEN ASKED BY TENS OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE and get an established answer by that means...

              A querent (not to be confused with a queer ANT!) has some basic responsibility to think about the question they're posing before posting it!

              OTOH, if you want the forum to devolve into one of the above (CRU, CfD), then please don't be annoyed when you then have to spend considerable time digging through mindless posts trying to find anything of substance!

              Had the OP asked an equally "stupid" question about "Why did my REPLACEMENT caps short out?", I would imagine a more tolerant response (e.g., have you checked to make sure you didn't install them BACKWARDS? have you checked their WVDC ratings?)
              Originally posted by Curious.George View Post
              I don't see anyone "attacking" anyone else.

              Uranium expressed a valid observation -- no one is disputing that.

              I simply stressed that we have a reasonable expectation to have querents think twice about whether this is the right place to ask particular questions. The OP could just as easily have typed his/her query ("windows 10" "reset password") into google and found "About 6,400,000 results (0.75 seconds)".

              But, that would assume the querent could read an answer without then having to ask for clarification ("hand-holding") -- which is what a forum would provide!
              This forum is not Computers for Dummies. If you cared to try Google, there are plenty of suggestions.
              ------------
              Be a mensch

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                #8
                Re: W8 music player for tablet

                Originally posted by R_J View Post
                Yes, It has'nt been called xbmc for a while.
                Understood. I just wanted confirmation that you were speaking of that product. I couldn't see how it would fit my needs (though I haven't run it for many releases -- and never on a device with a touch interface!)

                Comment


                  #9
                  Re: W8 music player for tablet

                  Originally posted by Curious.George View Post
                  Maybe they have a W8 version?? I'll check...
                  They want an Android emulator in place. Screw that!

                  Distressing that most of the candidates I've reviewed seem more interested in stressing their cataloguing or conversion capabilities instead of just being a "media player" with a UI intended for touch devices.

                  I'm currently exploring the re-skinnable products I've found to see if I can find one that doesn't waste the screen on lots of text and "useless" controls. Sadly, very few seem to orient around the controls instead of the "data"

                  (No, I don't care what the lyrics for the song happen to be!)

                  I also found a utility that simplifies tying icons to controls so maybe I can just hack something together around that.

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Re: W8 music player for tablet

                    Originally posted by Curious.George View Post
                    Understood. I just wanted confirmation that you were speaking of that product. I couldn't see how it would fit my needs (though I haven't run it for many releases -- and never on a device with a touch interface!)
                    I would think it would work, there are various skins and it supports touch screen etc. Like I said, Its easy to try and can be installed as a portable standalone on a usb or in one single dirctory if needed. 32 & 64 bit versions latest version is 18.1 "Leia" and the source is available if you want to modify it.

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Re: W8 music player for tablet

                      Originally posted by R_J View Post
                      I would think it would work, there are various skins and it supports touch screen etc. Like I said, Its easy to try and can be installed as a portable standalone on a usb or in one single dirctory if needed. 32 & 64 bit versions latest version is 18.1 "Leia" and the source is available if you want to modify it.
                      OK. I only used it as a video client for my media tank, many years ago -- never even considered it for audio.

                      I DL'ed a few apps that looked like they might be skinnable enough to meet my needs. Most descriptions concentrate on showing you their "collection" (library) handling features.

                      (I'm looking more for "iPod functionality" -- just let me play the media that I know to be on the tablet but let me do so without having to try to push tiny little "buttons" for controls when the rest of the screen is being wasted on cruft)

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Re: W8 music player for tablet

                        try to see if jetaudio interface is usable on that small screen i switched to it since winamp official download site was closed and never did go back to winamp

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Re: W8 music player for tablet

                          Originally posted by dragos2009 View Post
                          try to see if jetaudio interface is usable on that small screen i switched to it since winamp official download site was closed and never did go back to winamp
                          After a bunch of looking around, I rethought the idea: W8 was a desktop OS that tried to bridge the gap to touch devices (tablets). So, developers wouldn't have fully embraced the idea of a small screen, no "fine" pointing capability, etc.

                          I discarded the small W8 tablet in favor of a similar sized android tablet and the number of "solutions" increased dramatically! I'll see if I can install android on the w8 tablet to make it somewhat more useful -- else sh*tcan it as another example of MS missing the boat...

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Re: W8 music player for tablet

                            cant you run Mplayer??

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Re: W8 music player for tablet

                              Originally posted by stj View Post
                              cant you run Mplayer??
                              I can run damn near anything I want; the problem I've found is the UI's aren't optimized for tablet-type devices. They all want to bedazzle you with their library management functions... or their ability to download artwork... or the fact that they can scroll lyrics while the song is playing... or silly "visualizations" synced to the music, etc.

                              I want a closed device (I will manually add content when I choose) with a known collection of music that concentrates on making it easy for me to play/pause/select tunes/playlists. I'd like to move down to the smallest display practical (e.g., phone sized) BUT don't want to have to hold it in my hand in order to poke at a microbutton drawn on the screen alongside a bunch of other "controls" (to access all these worthless "features").

                              I looked at LibreMusic thinking I could easily tweek the source code to adjust button size, placement, etc. But, the developer had a poor notion of how a user might want to navigate the UI -- "can't get there from here -- but, if you go to this OTHER place, then you should be able to find your way to where you'd LIKE to go!"

                              I've already used BlackPlayer on a phone and was comfortable with it -- for a PHONE (i.e., I can't use any of its controls while driving because it has too high of a cognitive loading factor). I had hoped that the larger tablet would result in the software scaling its controls UP to exploit more of the screen. But, in stead, it seems to want to hide them and use the added screen space for less efficient information displays.

                              I'm now playing with Phonograph...

                              Comment


                                #16
                                Re: W8 music player for tablet

                                a car?
                                look at "android-auto"
                                it's a UI optimised for cars.
                                https://forum.xda-developers.com/android-auto

                                Comment


                                  #17
                                  Re: W8 music player for tablet

                                  Originally posted by stj View Post
                                  a car?
                                  No, I was merely using the car as an example of the problem with these UI's -- they require your "full attention" to use.

                                  By contrast, the media player in my car has just a few huge buttons on the screen: pause, play, next, previous... And, the same controls replicated on the steering column so I don't even have to divert my eyes (to the screen) to use them.

                                  OTOH, if I want to search for a song, that's too complicated to do WHILE DRIVING!

                                  I want a similarly simple interface for a media player. Let me pick an album (by poking at cover art) and then PLAY, PAUSE, NEXT, PREVIOUS without having to focus my attention on that task to ensure my finger hits exactly the right little spot on the (relatively large!) screen.

                                  If you're designing a media player where the interface is on the same "screen" (LCD monitor) that you're already looking at, then you orient the UI around use of the mouse as a FINE pointing device. You expect the user to focus on that task to the exclusion of whatever he was working on, previously. OTOH, if the media player is a freestanding appliance, then it's likely NOT got your primary attention.

                                  Comment


                                    #18
                                    Re: W8 music player for tablet

                                    Originally posted by dragos2009 View Post
                                    try to see if jetaudio interface is usable on that small screen i switched to it since winamp official download site was closed and never did go back to winamp
                                    This is my latest "best pick". Though I can't seem to alter the layout of the various screens as the "Preferences" suggest should be possible. But, the navigation and controls seem to be spot-on for my needs...

                                    Comment

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