Postby MrVibrating » 13 Aug 2015 02:11
The impossibly convoluted and tricky playlist functionality is just the tip of the iceberg, yet seems par for the course under Android...
I've just wasted another evening going through every single music player on Google's Play Store, and they're all unutterably atrocious.
Apalling junk, each and every one.
And all in the same way - a tiny set of incomplete player controls at the bottom of a massive screen filled with bloat / pictures / inane lists.
VLC has simply followed suit - it's almost impossible to navigate the awful library lists without accidentally selecting a track you're trying to scroll past.
Only a few feature volume sliders - the rest that even have on-screen volume controls require navigating to a separate screen. VLC doesn't have one at all.
I'm seriously considering trying to install an emulated Windows OS so i can run MPC or the proper version of VLC player. Those are precisely the kinds of GUI's i need, but which aren't available anywhere on the Android platform. Even the WinAMP port ditches everything that was good about the Windows version and copies the disfunctional Google Play Music GUI and its neurotic assumption that all music can be classified by Artist, Album, Genre and Song.
All i listen to is oldskool hardcore & drum&bass, no "songs", just tracks, few by the same "artist", even fewer as "albums" (Metalheadz, Ganja Cru etc. but you mix tracks from these, not listen to a whole album like it's pop music), and the "Genre" classification is just asinine - there's no jazz or rock etc. here, just oldskool hardcore!?
All these music players that copy this same dumb, redundant Library format from Google Play Music just make me facepalm - they could not BE more out of touch with my requirements. They're on another planet. In another dimension. Square pegs, round hole.
All i want is play/pause, stop, FWD/RWD, prev/next, a volume slider and a proper simple playlist editor (on its own page, not dominating the play control interface). Just the most basic rudimentary necessities, yet entirely absent from any app on the Play Store. It's a shockingly derelict state of affairs.
I've no problem parting with cash, but there's simply no such goods on offer.
In short, all i want is classic VLC player. Not "Yet Another Re-skin of Google Play Music". Don't put a stonking great list of files on the main play screen, where it's impossible to scroll or wake the screen without inadvertently selecting one. Use a SMALL file list, on a separate screen, next to a drag'n'drop playlist editor, that also allows range selection (ie. ALL, or ALL tracks between range points, plus individual select and de-select... you know, a normal, sane GUI).
This is my first week with Android. I expected it to be a mature platform, over-supplied with superior music players. I thought my new octacore fondleslab would be the last word in portable media players. What a fist-gnawing disappointment it's been. Even the stalwarts VLC and WinAMP have fallen to the same gormless malaise afflicting every other music app on the platform.
Tried a few Rockbox builds but couldn't get a runner, though i don't hold out much hope it hasn't simply joined the back of the giddy Google conga line.
I'm almost relieved there isn't an MPC port, since that would inevitably have gone the same way. At least it's retained its dignity by staying clear of the whole follow-my-leader Android asylum. Thank God they haven't sold their soul to the 'droid. The possibility of running an old win98 build under Bochs is the only light i see on the horizon..
/rant