This topic is about canola and about the questions i have about various issues that i encountered using the program.
Why i have installed the canola media player.
I have been using since the very first time i have the n900, the standard media player.
It is allmost perfect, save a few issues. But those issues, man, let me tell yah, i have lived enough putting up with them.
These issues are:
1)There is no built in method i can use to loop a single track. The only way, and it is an annoying way, to loop a single track is to place it alone inside a category.
After i have installed canola i noticed there is a way to repeat a track. Very sweet.
2)This problem is very annoying and is persistent.
To better describe it, i first have to describe the enviroment that creates the problem.
All my music library is in aac format, with id3v2 tags, and with album art. The aac is parametric stereo @ 64kbps.
There is an unknown reason why mp3tag, the music tagging program, does not and will not (i have talked with its creator) support id3v2 tags for aacs. While it is absolutly marvelous at organizing mp3 tags (it is the only program i ever know that can detect custom tags - meaning a tag id of your choosing - BAND, LENGTH, BITRATE, and you can create your very own tags, the only problem with this is media players are "tuned" to scan for certain tags, like ALBUM, GENRE, ARTIST, etc, and cannot detect those custom tags like BAND, BITRATE, etc) it is absolutly useless for organizing aacs.
Therefore i use tagscanner to organize my aacs. The aacs are created with easy cd da converter.
An important thing to mention is the fact that my library is huge, 6000+ tracks.
And now, the problem.
Let say the library in the phone is empty. I use the data cable to copy the bulk 10gb of 6000+ tracks in the phone.
Disconnect cable, and enter media player.
Another issue that bothers me, is that the program somehow detects new files, and initiates, on its own, the yellow scanning and updating bar.
Here canola shines, there is a refresh button, and the program scans for media files ON DEMAND. not when it feels like.
When all the long scan is complete, And HERE IS THE SECOND PROBLEM, a couple of music files remain, categorized in "unknown genre", when there should not be such a category, because absolutly all the tracks have a genre tag.
The only way to "fix" this problem is to the the following.
1)go to that category, note on a piece of paper, each and every track that is genreless.
2)Connect data cable on pc
3)Delete those traks
4)Disconnect data cable
5)Let the program scan for modifications. After this the genreless category dissapears because i have preveiously delete it.
6)Connect the data cable
7)Copy the previously deleted traks
8)Disconnect data cable
9)Enter program and let it scan again for the newly added tracks
After this there is still the genreless category, but there are fewer tracks than when i first started the process, meaning this time, the program, managed to somehow, READ some of them tracks.
This procedure is repeated (and the repetition is a painfull experience) until there is no more genreless category, meaning, all the tracks finnaly scanned fine.
However, after all of this wasted time, when i sometimes, connect the cable, in data mode, to move data from the phone memory to hdd or viceversa, again, the genreless category appears. Which can only mean the program again, lost, the previous read information for those tracks.
NOW, i don't know if this happens because there are too much tracks, or if the tracks themselves are busted, or if there is an issue with the media player, but it has annoyed me since day one.
That's why i decided to give canola a try, having heard of it before, and knowing it has plugin support (i know there is a last fm plugin)
Here are the questions i have regarding the program, opinions, and ideas of improvement.
The guy that created this program should read this post from now on, as it may have relevant information for it's future development.
1)My Music is stored in Nokia N900/Audio Clips/Music. I also have some ringtones stored in Nokia N900/Audio Clips/Ringtones
However, the folder Ringtones is removed from watching via an xml modification file (if i remember correctly) and those files don't appear in the standard music player.
Going into settings/media library/media folders/audio folders, i only have the options "audio clips" and "removable card"
What folders is the program watching when i check these marks ? Does it also add the ringtones folder ? What if i had the music files in some other folder ?
Wouldn't it have been easier just to let the user add the location of the media files you want to add in the media library ? Just like you do in winamP? You would have had a much better control that way. My opinion.
2)Photos. It seems to show only the photos in the folder Nokia N900/Images, and not show those in the folder Nokia N900/Camera.
Going into settings/media library/media folders/photo folders, i noticed there are only 2 entries "images" and "removable card"
I suppose the "images" entry is responsible for the showing of the pictures in the images folder.
Is there a way to add another folder there ?
3)Internet media/Internet radio, i have deleted everything that was there, and after that i tried to add new url, but typing on the n900 keyboard doesn't bring any character into the field. like the typing isn't working.
ANy way to fix this ?
4)Going to internet media/my download folder exists the program . Any way to fix this ?
5)Internet media/videocast, has 3 entries. I havent deleted these, as i think there may be the same problem. meaning i can't add another entry to the list. Also editing doesn't seem to work.
I have downloaded even so a videocast, from game trailers and it works perfectly. I have yet to understand how to add new entries, or wich sites support this type of video service (as in what exactly urll i need to add for it to work with the program)
6)Settings, choose theme, also exists the program.
7)Where can i see what version of the program am i using ?
And now, i make my comments regarding the music part, as this was the main reason i installed the program in the first place.
*)First of all, let me start by saying that adding a url in the internet radio doesn't work. TO bad. Maybe it has to be fixed (it the exact same issue that i described above, i can type anything in the field)
Issues and observations:
1)selecting genre works as expected, there are no genreless tracks like in the n900. A plus.
However, after selecting genre, the bulk of the tracks appear, and thats a problem when you have 6000+ tracks. N900 music player was better in this regard, because after selecting genre, i can further select, artist, and after selecting artist, i can further select individual albums of that artist. This is what i would like canola to do. It sorts the tracks a little more. And if not in neccesarayl that order, it could be made to use a custom selection path. And i can give here the example i use in winamp, and wich seems ideal to me:
Genre,\Album Artist,\Album (the 3 row type selector in winam library) and beneath there are the tracks in each individual album.
Or you could go on a custom selection branch. Like Year\Genre\Album. I hope i made myself understood.
Selecting Artist in canola brings me to a second seletion tab, displaying their individual albums. So what i said above could be done, theoreticaly.. Currently this is the method i use. However, the artists could be integrated after selecting genre. that would make scrolling and searching for a track much morea easier. Remember, i have 6000+ tracks.
2)Canola doesn't recognize the album art. Here there is a question. Does canola recognize the album art from within the track or does it need an album art in each album folder, a image file spearated from the music files ? Or maybe it can't read album art from aac. I havent tried with mp3s.
3)A real dissapointment is the next issue. The playback controls doesnt work with nokia bh 905 bluetooth headset.
I had previously before the 905, the 503, togther with my e90. My pouch with e90 and bh 503 got stolen, so i had my e90 replaced with n900 and i needed a new headset too. However i have been told that the 503 playback control don't work with the n900, and in this regard, the 905 was the only playback headset listed in the compatibility list of the n900 accesories. So i HAD to get the bh 905.
The 905 controls work with the n900 standard music player but they don't work with canola. Maybe canola doesn't have a link to the A2DP bluetooth profile or something, i don't know what could cause this. But is a very bad thing the controls don't work.
All in all canola seems to me a promising program, however, the stage it is in, i cannot use it to listen to my music.
However, with the required modification, it could become the only program one could ever need to handle all its media playback
Why i have installed the canola media player.
I have been using since the very first time i have the n900, the standard media player.
It is allmost perfect, save a few issues. But those issues, man, let me tell yah, i have lived enough putting up with them.
These issues are:
1)There is no built in method i can use to loop a single track. The only way, and it is an annoying way, to loop a single track is to place it alone inside a category.
After i have installed canola i noticed there is a way to repeat a track. Very sweet.
2)This problem is very annoying and is persistent.
To better describe it, i first have to describe the enviroment that creates the problem.
All my music library is in aac format, with id3v2 tags, and with album art. The aac is parametric stereo @ 64kbps.
There is an unknown reason why mp3tag, the music tagging program, does not and will not (i have talked with its creator) support id3v2 tags for aacs. While it is absolutly marvelous at organizing mp3 tags (it is the only program i ever know that can detect custom tags - meaning a tag id of your choosing - BAND, LENGTH, BITRATE, and you can create your very own tags, the only problem with this is media players are "tuned" to scan for certain tags, like ALBUM, GENRE, ARTIST, etc, and cannot detect those custom tags like BAND, BITRATE, etc) it is absolutly useless for organizing aacs.
Therefore i use tagscanner to organize my aacs. The aacs are created with easy cd da converter.
An important thing to mention is the fact that my library is huge, 6000+ tracks.
And now, the problem.
Let say the library in the phone is empty. I use the data cable to copy the bulk 10gb of 6000+ tracks in the phone.
Disconnect cable, and enter media player.
Another issue that bothers me, is that the program somehow detects new files, and initiates, on its own, the yellow scanning and updating bar.
Here canola shines, there is a refresh button, and the program scans for media files ON DEMAND. not when it feels like.
When all the long scan is complete, And HERE IS THE SECOND PROBLEM, a couple of music files remain, categorized in "unknown genre", when there should not be such a category, because absolutly all the tracks have a genre tag.
The only way to "fix" this problem is to the the following.
1)go to that category, note on a piece of paper, each and every track that is genreless.
2)Connect data cable on pc
3)Delete those traks
4)Disconnect data cable
5)Let the program scan for modifications. After this the genreless category dissapears because i have preveiously delete it.
6)Connect the data cable
7)Copy the previously deleted traks
8)Disconnect data cable
9)Enter program and let it scan again for the newly added tracks
After this there is still the genreless category, but there are fewer tracks than when i first started the process, meaning this time, the program, managed to somehow, READ some of them tracks.
This procedure is repeated (and the repetition is a painfull experience) until there is no more genreless category, meaning, all the tracks finnaly scanned fine.
However, after all of this wasted time, when i sometimes, connect the cable, in data mode, to move data from the phone memory to hdd or viceversa, again, the genreless category appears. Which can only mean the program again, lost, the previous read information for those tracks.
NOW, i don't know if this happens because there are too much tracks, or if the tracks themselves are busted, or if there is an issue with the media player, but it has annoyed me since day one.
That's why i decided to give canola a try, having heard of it before, and knowing it has plugin support (i know there is a last fm plugin)
Here are the questions i have regarding the program, opinions, and ideas of improvement.
The guy that created this program should read this post from now on, as it may have relevant information for it's future development.
1)My Music is stored in Nokia N900/Audio Clips/Music. I also have some ringtones stored in Nokia N900/Audio Clips/Ringtones
However, the folder Ringtones is removed from watching via an xml modification file (if i remember correctly) and those files don't appear in the standard music player.
Going into settings/media library/media folders/audio folders, i only have the options "audio clips" and "removable card"
What folders is the program watching when i check these marks ? Does it also add the ringtones folder ? What if i had the music files in some other folder ?
Wouldn't it have been easier just to let the user add the location of the media files you want to add in the media library ? Just like you do in winamP? You would have had a much better control that way. My opinion.
2)Photos. It seems to show only the photos in the folder Nokia N900/Images, and not show those in the folder Nokia N900/Camera.
Going into settings/media library/media folders/photo folders, i noticed there are only 2 entries "images" and "removable card"
I suppose the "images" entry is responsible for the showing of the pictures in the images folder.
Is there a way to add another folder there ?
3)Internet media/Internet radio, i have deleted everything that was there, and after that i tried to add new url, but typing on the n900 keyboard doesn't bring any character into the field. like the typing isn't working.
ANy way to fix this ?
4)Going to internet media/my download folder exists the program . Any way to fix this ?
5)Internet media/videocast, has 3 entries. I havent deleted these, as i think there may be the same problem. meaning i can't add another entry to the list. Also editing doesn't seem to work.
I have downloaded even so a videocast, from game trailers and it works perfectly. I have yet to understand how to add new entries, or wich sites support this type of video service (as in what exactly urll i need to add for it to work with the program)
6)Settings, choose theme, also exists the program.
7)Where can i see what version of the program am i using ?
And now, i make my comments regarding the music part, as this was the main reason i installed the program in the first place.
*)First of all, let me start by saying that adding a url in the internet radio doesn't work. TO bad. Maybe it has to be fixed (it the exact same issue that i described above, i can type anything in the field)
Issues and observations:
1)selecting genre works as expected, there are no genreless tracks like in the n900. A plus.
However, after selecting genre, the bulk of the tracks appear, and thats a problem when you have 6000+ tracks. N900 music player was better in this regard, because after selecting genre, i can further select, artist, and after selecting artist, i can further select individual albums of that artist. This is what i would like canola to do. It sorts the tracks a little more. And if not in neccesarayl that order, it could be made to use a custom selection path. And i can give here the example i use in winamp, and wich seems ideal to me:
Genre,\Album Artist,\Album (the 3 row type selector in winam library) and beneath there are the tracks in each individual album.
Or you could go on a custom selection branch. Like Year\Genre\Album. I hope i made myself understood.
Selecting Artist in canola brings me to a second seletion tab, displaying their individual albums. So what i said above could be done, theoreticaly.. Currently this is the method i use. However, the artists could be integrated after selecting genre. that would make scrolling and searching for a track much morea easier. Remember, i have 6000+ tracks.
2)Canola doesn't recognize the album art. Here there is a question. Does canola recognize the album art from within the track or does it need an album art in each album folder, a image file spearated from the music files ? Or maybe it can't read album art from aac. I havent tried with mp3s.
3)A real dissapointment is the next issue. The playback controls doesnt work with nokia bh 905 bluetooth headset.
I had previously before the 905, the 503, togther with my e90. My pouch with e90 and bh 503 got stolen, so i had my e90 replaced with n900 and i needed a new headset too. However i have been told that the 503 playback control don't work with the n900, and in this regard, the 905 was the only playback headset listed in the compatibility list of the n900 accesories. So i HAD to get the bh 905.
The 905 controls work with the n900 standard music player but they don't work with canola. Maybe canola doesn't have a link to the A2DP bluetooth profile or something, i don't know what could cause this. But is a very bad thing the controls don't work.
All in all canola seems to me a promising program, however, the stage it is in, i cannot use it to listen to my music.
However, with the required modification, it could become the only program one could ever need to handle all its media playback
Last edited by Bytales; 2010-10-05 at 20:39.