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#39030 - 22/09/2001 11:16 Absolute positioning
tigloo
member

Registered: 25/04/2001
Posts: 122
Loc: Hamburg, Germany
Hi all,

I'd like to have a useful feature which is probably very trivial to implement: absolute song positioning.

For example, when pressing on the volume knob, a slider appears (just like the volume bar) which behaves like the song position slider in Winamp.

To the left hand the song percentage could be displayed and to the right hand the song position in minutes:seconds.

I have several mixes on my Empeg, from half an hour to several hours in length, and I hate to keep pressing the skip forward button just to find a certain place in the song.

Till



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#39031 - 22/09/2001 12:03 Re: Absolute positioning [Re: tigloo]
alear
enthusiast

Registered: 05/07/2000
Posts: 301
Loc: Montana, USA, Bozeman
This is a very good idea. I also have 2 hour long mp3's. This would be a fast way to jump to a later section without having to split the file into several discontinuous files.


Alex Lear
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Alex Lear

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#39032 - 22/09/2001 14:16 Re: Absolute positioning [Re: alear]
Kit
journeyman

Registered: 03/10/2000
Posts: 69
Loc: San Diego, CA US
In fact, it would be nice to also have the line that is in the middle of the display in the "Track" mode to have a marker that moves left to right as the song plays to indicate at all times where you are in a track. This could be done without using up any more real estate of the display by just making color changes dynamically.

-Kit


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#39033 - 22/09/2001 17:20 Re: Absolute positioning [Re: tigloo]
beaker
addict

Registered: 19/08/2000
Posts: 588
Loc: England
What a superb idea .

Marcus (beaker)
32 gig (various colours)
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#39034 - 23/09/2001 23:29 Re: Absolute positioning [Re: beaker]
muzza
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 21/07/1999
Posts: 1765
Loc: Brisbane, Queensland, Australi...
There already was a post regarding the functions of the rotary control, started by tfabris, here. This is a bit more discussion than just that feature but it is in there somewhere.

I'll take this opportunity to reiterate back again my preference...

If you turn the rotary control, it adjusts the volume.
If you press it in and turn it, it acts like a shuttle controller, varying the ffwd/rew speed and a bar at the bottom of the display shows your position in the track and the speed of the shuttling. This could stay active for a time (like the volume display) so you can use the control without pressing it in all the time.
If you press and release the control, it brings up the sound menu
If you press and hold, then release the control, it could seek to a point by winding the control left or right.

There is obviously a fair bit of flexibility here

$0.02 inc tax



Murray
Go-Wit-Da-Fro
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#39035 - 06/11/2001 21:09 Re: Absolute positioning [Re: tigloo]
Diznario
enthusiast

Registered: 17/10/2001
Posts: 265
Loc: Portland OR
when pressing on the volume knob, a slider appears (just like the volume bar) which behaves like the song position slider in Winamp.

This is exactly what I want!!!

I have the same problem, long mixes, where 3 or 4 songs are all slapped together as one giant mp3 file. It sucks to have to hold down fast forward to get where you want!

"Absolute Song Positioning" as you call it would make empeg life much more enjoyable, especially when trying to show somebody a particular part of a track.

You definitly got my vote!
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Dario
MK2 in an Impreza 2.5RS

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#39036 - 07/11/2001 05:00 Re: Absolute positioning [Re: Diznario]
Taym
carpal tunnel

Registered: 18/06/2001
Posts: 2504
Loc: Roma, Italy
Maybe the good old MLord may do something about it! ;)
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#39037 - 08/11/2001 01:14 Re: Absolute positioning [Re: tigloo]
borislav
addict

Registered: 30/04/2000
Posts: 420
Loc: Sunnyvale, CA, USA
I'd like to have a useful feature which is probably very trivial to implement: absolute song positioning.

For example, when pressing on the volume knob, a slider appears (just like the volume bar) which behaves like the song position slider in Winamp.


I don't understand how such a slider is supposed to work. The empeg doesn't have a mouse or a touch screen, so you can't point to the absolute position you want. You'd have to hold the left or right button to move it around. Wait... that sounds too much like a fast-forward/rewind control.

I think what you are really asking about is a more sensitive / faster fast-forward control.

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#39038 - 08/11/2001 03:27 Re: Absolute positioning [Re: borislav]
Nosferatu
enthusiast

Registered: 24/08/2001
Posts: 344
Loc: France, Champagne
I think that Tigloo (tell me if not ) want an absolute positioning but the scale for the positining will be different that for fast forward.

If possible, it could be with the knob button like when scanning FM Band.

When you'll rotate it , the position of song appears and it will be in real time poistioning.

Or the same way but jump to every 20 s cut off the song.

I mean 0s 20s 40 s etc of the song.

We can also imagine that this parameter could be user set.

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#39039 - 08/11/2001 08:29 Re: Absolute positioning [Re: Nosferatu]
Dearing
addict

Registered: 22/07/1999
Posts: 453
Loc: Florida
I thought there was a hack like this already..Select Mode, Play/Pause, Select Mode, 3,0,Select Mode or something...
Oh, wait, that's the TiVo...my bad
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#39040 - 08/11/2001 18:50 Re: Absolute positioning [Re: Nosferatu]
muzza
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 21/07/1999
Posts: 1765
Loc: Brisbane, Queensland, Australi...
If the absolute positioning indicator pops up when you start ff / rw you could then use the dial to move the locator to the position in the song you want to go.
If the line represents 100%, you can scoot through extra long tracks really quickly by positioning the mark in the line and releaseing the button or something.
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#39041 - 08/11/2001 23:40 Re: Absolute positioning [Re: muzza]
tanstaafl.
carpal tunnel

Registered: 08/07/1999
Posts: 5546
Loc: Ajijic, Mexico
If the line represents 100%, you can scoot through extra long tracks really quickly by positioning the mark in the line and releaseing the button or something.

Ummm, guys... the FF ramps up to a truly amazing speed already -- it starts out slow, but by the time you are three or four seconds into it, it is FF at the rate of one minute per second -- 60x playing speed. So even a 20 minute track can be gone through start to finish in about 23 seconds. And, if you wanted to be at the 18 minute point of a 20 minute track, you could skip to the next track, and then back into the 18 minute point of the previous one using the REW function.

The REW does not go as fast as the FF, however. (6.5 minute track FF start to finish in 8.7 seconds; REW finish to start in 12.2 seconds. Is this a bug?)

tanstaafl.
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#39042 - 09/11/2001 05:01 Re: Absolute positioning [Re: tanstaafl.]
muzza
Pooh-Bah

Registered: 21/07/1999
Posts: 1765
Loc: Brisbane, Queensland, Australi...
Yeah but it's gotta LOOK cool!


what the hell was I thinking when I came up with this tag???
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-- Murray I What part of 'no' don't you understand? Is it the 'N', or the 'Zero'?

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#39043 - 09/11/2001 10:54 Re: Absolute positioning [Re: muzza]
Diznario
enthusiast

Registered: 17/10/2001
Posts: 265
Loc: Portland OR
Another $0.02 from some guy in Santa Cruz:

Having a progress bar is much more user friendly then just having the "8:47/16:14" style indicator that we currently have. Visual representation is almost always easier to use than just numbers.

Also, the whole point of using the knob, is that you can adjust how fast it fast forwards or rewinds on the fly. Turn the knob slowly, and it goes slowly. Turn it fast, and it goes fast. Not a hard concept to understand.

This ability would alow you to quikly jump to halfway through a track, and then slowly fast forward to the part you're looking for. You could even back it up a little bit if you overshot it, all with the same controll.

IMHO, this would be much improved over our current controlls.
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Dario
MK2 in an Impreza 2.5RS

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#39044 - 10/11/2001 05:13 Re: Absolute positioning [Re: borislav]
tigloo
member

Registered: 25/04/2001
Posts: 122
Loc: Hamburg, Germany
Wasn't able to be here for a while, so my answer is late:

The intention with the absolute positioning is, as the name says, absolute positioning: without having to skip through the song!

It is very annoying when you want to listen to the last 5 minutes of a 90 minute mix and have to do fast forward just to get to that point.

Imagine the dimmer control in the current beta (or loudness etc). By just using the knob, you'd be able to jump to a certain position very quickly. Also, you have the visuals helping you to jump to the correct position, with a very very fast forward you will most likely miss and have to skip back etc.

Once you have the feature, you know you don't want to miss it. For all those who do not know what I mean, install Winamp and imagine using the slider with the knob.

Till

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#39045 - 10/11/2001 17:22 Re: Absolute positioning [Re: Diznario]
jwickis
addict

Registered: 24/08/2000
Posts: 658
Loc: India
Having a bar/slider is also easier to remember where in a particular file you want to go versus just numbers.
I also agree it should look cool.
Can the empeg respond quickly enough if you go from lets say 55 sec into a song to 2 hr 30 sec, w/o screwing up the playing?

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#39046 - 11/11/2001 15:03 Re: Absolute positioning [Re: jwickis]
tigloo
member

Registered: 25/04/2001
Posts: 122
Loc: Hamburg, Germany
I think that's not a real problem as you can adjust by using the slider and taking a look at the song position in minutes:seconds - if you think you are at the right spot, it will probably only take part of a second until the playback starts from there.

Till

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#39047 - 11/11/2001 17:50 Re: Absolute positioning [Re: tigloo]
dionysus
veteran

Registered: 16/06/1999
Posts: 1222
Loc: San Francisco, CA
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