User Interface
From Musik
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Sources list (left side menus)
- This is the core of using musikCube. Each of the menus can be collapsed by clicking on its title.
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Browse Menu
- Library This is the main library for the user’s music in musikCube. Right clicking here gives the user the ability to show all songs in the main library.
- Collected This is the place where all songs that musikCube is directed to play by an internet browser or by a right click from explorer are kept. It is a temporary place to list these files for on-the-fly playing, but Collected acts just like a normal library giving the user a lot of power over their music. One might compare this view to winamp's playlist in the way that it behaves. Right clicking gives the user the option to Synchronize or setup Synchronization paths.
- Now Playing This is the list of songs currently being played. Right clicking here gives the user the ability to copy the songs currently playing to anywhere on their computer, the ability to move the files to anywhere on their computer, the ability to shuffle the songs currently playing, and the ability to clear the now playing.
- Net Radio This is the list of the user’s net radios in their currently selected library. To add new net radios click File -> Music Library -> Add Net Radio. Musikcube can play MP3 streams, but not cannot play WMA streams. If you have a choice of stream on the site, click the winamp streams rather than the media player streams. It will probably download a pls playlist which you will need to open in a text editor to get the URL. Right clicking on the Net Radio menu item has no effect.
- Search Allows the user to search their current library by typing in the artist, album, title of the song, or even the file name and it will find what you are looking for. Right clicking here has the same results as a left click.
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Devices Menu
- CD Audio Allows the user to play audio files from CD. Right clicking gives the user the ability to rip the disc in that drive, refresh the tracks displayed in that drive, look up the disc with freedb which gets the track names, album, artist, etc.
- Disk Drives Gives the user the ability to create libraries on other disk drives or even an mp3 player if you connect your mp3 player then start up musikCube it should be listed as a disk drive. Right clicking gives the user the ability to unload, Synchronize the device, or set Synchronization paths. Unloading the device would allow the user to use Windows to "safely remove" the device if the drive is a removable drive and has a musikCube library on it. If the user attempts to "safely remove" the device with a musikCube library on it before unloading the library then Windows will tell the user that the drive is still in use. Synchronize the device would update its library.
- Dragging and dropping files onto removable disk drives results in a pop up that asks the user if they would like to copy the files to the devices library or copy the files to the device itself. If the user chooses to copy the files to the drive they are given a new pop up requesting them to choose the directory to copy the files to.
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Playlists Menu
- A playlist Gives the user the ability to make custom playlists for listening to their music. Playlists can be created by dragging files to playlists or to the create button. Right clicking a playlist allows the user to copy the files in the playlist to anywhere on their computer, move the files in the playlist to anywhere on their computer, the ability to move the playlist up or down in its section, delete the playlist, rename the playlist.
- The Create button Allows the user to create a playlist by clicking the button and typing the name in then hitting [Enter] or dragging files onto "Create…" then typing a playlist name in. Right clicking here has the same result as left clicking.
- Importing Playlists Importing and exporting playlists is currently supported through a plugin (http://www.musikcube.com/page/plugins).
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Dynamic Playlists Menu
- Right clicking where it says "Dynamic Playlists" allows the user to "Create Stock Dynamic Playlists."
- A dynamic playlist Gives the user the ability to make playlists that are compiled according to certain criteria such as last played fifty songs. musikCube comes with stock dynamic playlists. Right clicking a dynamic playlist allows the user to copy the files in the playlist to anywhere on their computer, move the files in the playlist to anywhere on their computer, the ability to move the playlist up or down in its section, the option to edit the query which is how the dynamic playlist determines which songs to list, delete the playlist, and rename the playlist.
- The Create button Allows the user to create a dynamic playlist by clicking the button and typing the name in then hitting [Enter] or dragging files onto "Create…" then typing a dynamic playlist name in. Right clicking here has the same result as left clicking.
See additional tips on creating Dynamic_Playlists.
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Plugins Menu
- A plugin Left click varies depending on how the creator of the plugin (http://www.musikcube.com/page/plugins) decided to handle left clicks, but right click gives the user the options to Execute the plugin, Configure the plugin, Stop the plugin, or see the information about the plugin by clicking "About".
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Selection Boxes (album, artist, genre, etc.)
List of views: Album, Artist, Bitrate, Format, Genre, Rating, Times Played, Track Number, Year
All of these views act as filters for the data displayed in the Playlist view.
To change the field a view displays, click the arrow button in the top right corner of the view; you will be presented with a menu that allows you to change the field, add another view, or close the currently selected view.
Right clicking in any view gives the user the options: Delete -> From Library (deletes the selected item and its contents from musikCube’s library not computer), Delete -> From Computer (deletes the selected item and its contents from both musikCube’s library and the computer), Rename (rename the selected item). The user can also choose to play the selected item or queue the item in the playlist.
One thing to note is if you use one view and select the album "Hot Fuss" the artists view will be narrowed to just the artists in that album and the same goes for any other view. Selecting the artist "The Killers" will limit the album view to just albums containing songs from "The Killers".
The Select all (albums, artists, genres, etc.) will return the view to the entire libraries list of albums, artists, genres, etc. All of the views can be moved and docked elsewhere in the musikCube window or not docked at all.
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Main Library Window (songs are listed here)
Right clicking the area directly above where the songs are listed. This area:
Results in the ability to show/hide Album, Artist, Bitrate, Comments, Duration, Filename, Filesize, Format, Genre, Last Played, Rating, Title, Time Added, Times Played, Track Number, Year. This pop up:
Right clicking a song in the main library window results in this context menu:
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Playback
- Play Now plays right clicked song(s) when you click Play Now.
- Queue as Next plays the right clicked song(s) next.
- Enqueue puts the song(s) right clicked at the end of Now Playing.
- Replace Now Playing replaces Now Playing with the right clicked song(s).
- Replace Now Playing and Play same as Replace Now Playing, but starts playback if it has not already been started.
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Tags
- Reload Tags from File brings back the original tag of a song. So if the user was editing a tag and completely messed it up all they would have to do is use this feature to bring back the original (unless they already went Tags>Modified Tags>Write Modified Tags to File).
- Rewrite Tags to File writes the file's tag in musikCube's database to the actual file's tag.
- To Lowercase makes the currently selected song’s tag (artist, title, album, etc.) completely lowercase.
- To Uppercase makes the currently selected song’s tag (artist, title, album, etc.) completely uppercase.
- Remove Extra Whitespace removes any extra spaces or tabs at the end of any part of the tag. For example, "Mozart " would become "Mozart".
- Auto-Capitalize makes the currently selected song’s tag (artist, title, album, etc.) be capitalized in a normal fashion. For example "mozART's 9th mozart clAssIcal" would become "Mozart’s 9th Mozart Classical"
- Auto-Capitalize and Remove Extra Whitespace completely normalizes the songs tag (properties). Normalizes meaning the tag is altered to use proper capitalization and removes extra spaces or tabs.
- Tag from Filename pulls the title, artist, album, or whatever the user has saved in the songs file name and to put them in the tag of the file so most mp3 players can read the songs properly and musikCube can show the title, artist, and album of the song that is Now Playing. musikCube does this by allowing the user to choose how information is pulled from the filename. For example, the if filename goes "track – title – artist – album" then the user would want to enter "$TRACK-$TITLE-$ARTIST-$ALBUM". That would then pull that information from the filename and store it in the file’s tag.
- Tag to Filename does the opposite of Tag from Filename. Tag to Filename basically takes the information stored in the tag of the file and changes the filename to reflect that information. The user is allowed to choose how the information is saved to the filename through the creation of a mask. This "$TRACK-$TITLE-$ARTIST-$ALBUM" would make a song’s file name read "12-Mozart’s 9th-Mozart-Classical Music Across the Ages".
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Rate
- Allows the user to rate the currently selected song(s) through a system of -1 to 5 stars that is visible in the rating column.
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Delete
- From Library meaning musikCube will remove the file reference from it’s database, but the file itself is not deleted from your computer
- From Computer removes the file from the users’ library and the users’ computer.
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Remove From Playlist
- Does what it says. Remove From Playlist removes that song only from the playlist it is currently being selected in. The song will remain in your main library.
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Show in Explorer
- Shows the right clicked song in the Windows file manager.
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Properties
- selecting properties from this context menu allows the user to view the files properties including where on their computer the file is located and the ability to edit the tags manually.
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Top Drop Down Menus (File, View, Audio, Tags, Help)
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File Menu
- Music Library
- Synchronize Synchronizes, adds new files to library removes missing files from library and updates changed files, the directories specified by the menu item further down the list "Synchronization…".
- Add Files Open Files gives the user the ability to import specific files into the musikCube database.
- Add Directory Open Directory gives the user the ability to import many files at once by selecting a general directory containing their music collection.
- Add Net Radio Creates a new net radio that the user inputs and is stored in the current library.
- Change Changes the currently loaded music library.
- Export Exports (creates a copy of) the currently loaded music library.
- Erase Removes all files from the music library.
- Settings
- Preferences Opens the list of preferences. See Preferences.
- Synchronized Paths: Allows the user to define, which directories they want synchronized, add new files to library remove missing files from library and update changed files, on musikCube’s startup.
- Interface Colors Opens a graphical user interface that allows the user to easily alter their color settings for musikCube. See a few Themes
- Plugins Opens a graphical user interface so that the user can easily manage their plugins (http://www.musikcube.com/page/plugins).
- Exit
- Exits musikCube.
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View Menu
- Sources Enables/Disables the view of the sources, the menus on the left side of musikCube, individually or all at once.
- Now Playing Enables/Disables the view of Now Playing, the area at the bottom of musikCube with the play and pause buttons.
- Playlist Info Enables/Disables the bar containing the information of number of songs, running time, and size.
- Playlist Info Vis Enables/Disables the moving graphic behind the text on the bar containing the information of number of songs, running time, and size.
- Equalizer Enables/Disables the view of the equalizer (NOTE this does not control whether the equalizer itself is enabled/disabled).
- Always on Top Keeps the musikCube window over all other windows.
- Full Screen Puts musikCube in full screen mode.
- Reset Interface Resets the views and every other part of the musikCube interface back to default.
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Audio Menu
- Random Enables/Disables random playing of songs.
- Repeat Single Enables/Disables the repeating of a single song.
- Repeat Playlist Enables/Disables the repeating of the playlist currently in Now Playing.
- Intro Enables/Disables playing of the first ten seconds of each song only.
- Shuffle Shuffles the current songs in Now Playing.
- Crossfader Enabled Enables/Disables the Crossfader (default enabled).
- Equalizer Enabled Enables/Disables the Equalizer (default disabled).
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Tags Menu
- All Tags Allows the user to modify all the tags at once in three ways.
- Remove Extra Whitespace removes any extra spaces or tabs at the end of any part of the tag. For example, "Mozart " would become "Mozart".
- Auto-Capitalize makes the currently selected song’s tag (artist, title, album, etc.) be capitalized in a normal fashion. For example "mozART's 9th mozart clAssIcal" would become "Mozart’s 9th Mozart Classical"
- Auto-Capitalize and Remove Extra Whitespace completely normalizes the songs tag (properties). Normalizes meaning the tag is altered to use proper capitalization and removes extra spaces or tabs.
- Modified Tags Has three options.
- View Modified Tags allows the user to view the tags which they have modified, but not finalized to database or written to file yet.
- Write Modified Tags to File which makes any changes made to the files in musikCube’s database apply to the actual file’s tag also.
- Finalize Modified Tags to Database Only meaning changes the user made to files’ tags are not applied to the actual files, but the files that are finalized will no longer show up as modified tags when attempting to "View Modified Tags".
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Help Menu
- Online Help Links to this page.
- About Displays thanks, contact information, etc. Displays your version of musikCube.
