Appreciate your work on this. My POV for whatever it's worth:
In general, I think you're mixing BUGs with Requests for Improvements. As an x-Programmer guy, a bug is when something is not working as designed. Tesla hasn't told us what their specs are, so that's hard for us to determine, but IMHO if a function hasn't been there since MS first was introduced, and it isn't say contrary to ID3 specs that it appears Tesla is making use of, as much as it pains me, some of these become requirements, not broken code per se. Sematics perhaps, but if you're gonna have two lists, it may add credibility if there is a little more consistency in how things are separated.
1. Sorry, but I still don't quite get your "ghost results", and if it is related to multi-USB devices/partitions/whatever that you're doing, or if it also happens with a single USB device. Apologies for being dense on this...
3. Requirement, not a bug.
5 & 9. What's the difference here? I really feel you've missed what I consider the biggest problems with .40 which I explained very precisely in
my previous long post under SORT ORDER IS HORRIBLY PROBLEMATIC. The very net issues are really that:
- Songs View: Requirement to improve how it's sorted (see my previous post)
- Artists View: FILENAME is being used instead of DISCNUMBER+TRACKNUMBER within track listings for playback, & Albums with the same title now have tracks being erroneously merged
- Albums View: FILENAME is being used instead of DISCNUMBER+TRACKNUMBER within track listings for playback, & Albums with the same title now have tracks being erroneously merged
- Genre View: TRACKTITLEs within a genre should be presented in ALBUM+ALBUMARTIST+DISCNUMBER+TRACKNUMBER sequence to make any real sense out of this long list
- Folder View: FILENAMEs should be used exclusively, not mixed with use of TRACKTITLE at the lowest level as is now the case; Per best practices, Folders should always be presented at the top of the listing, not interspersed alphanumerically with tracks.
(I know you are trying to summarize, and some people don't like my longer dissertations, but I still believe Tesla's root cause for much of this is they don't internally manage tracks by ALBUM+ALBUMARTIST+DISCNUMBER+TRACKNUMBER, which would keep most everything straight by default except in Folder View when they use the file structure and alphanumeric sort order to display and playback.)
6. Requirement, not a bug. I would suggest though, be specific -- we want sorting to exclude "A, An, The" when it's the prefix within a tag, but we want the tag always displayed in it's original form.
7. See our recent exchange in another thread on this one. This is far too complicated as it is, or I don't understand what the intent is. I could have misinterpreted, but I thought maybe you agreed with my suggestion of an improved definition to replace this one over in that other thread. Maybe not.
8. TU. In lieu of "Supported Playback Formats" you may want to say "Audio Encoding Formats". It really is the way a track is encoded, not the way it's played-back that is the question.
NEW 10. I would suggest stating that Tesla must consistently (with the exception of Folder View), always present and play tracks within the same album in DISCNUMBER+TRACKNUMBER sequence. Period. Without exception unless on random/shuffle play.
1. I would suggest this be summarized more like "Implement an optional Automatic Volume Leveling feature for USB media, which performs the same on-the-fly relative volume control as all other major automobiles offer for CD and USB music sources".
4. I must be tired. I just don't understand this.
5. I would suggest this just point blank say "M3U Playlist Support". Don't mess around. Honestly though, I don't hold much hope for this -- while home computer players do this, I've never owned a luxury vehicle that supported playlists with USB devices (they instead supported native iPod or MP3 players that had the function built-in).
6. I would suggest you add the word "optional" in there. I get what people want, but the problem is, it's gonna be tough to implement unless it's all or nothing, meaning, Tesla could provide an option that allows 100% of USB tracks played to be gapless or not until the option is changed back -- best case it shows as a new icon like random and continuous play are underneath a track. It's not reasonable to expect Tesla could do something specific by track, as some media players allow and maintain in their internal libraries at the track level. I personally will never use this as a majority of my tracks are meant to have a slight gap between them, but I appreciate the desires of those that play Classical, Audiobooks, and other specific album types.
NEW 7. I would suggest adding: "Use ALBUMARTIST in lieu of TRACKARTIST throughout the interface." You're welcome to see or just reference my very specific reasons and benefits to Tesla in
my long post before last under what I called BUG 4.
In general, does everyone believe all these requirements are as important as other non-USB Infotainment desires (like Waypoints and other Nav improvements?)
I don't, but will again defer to you representing the collective. If the list is this long, you may want to consider weighting the biggest ticket items to the top.
Ok B, take a look at this. Also, help remind what we had talked about for Bug #7 so I get it right. I apologize, it's a lot of threads and posts to go check out. If you can remember the best way to put it, thanks. And yes, I'm trying to summarize a lot of what you said. It's not that it's not important at all, it's that I believe our requests are going through a non-dev filter before moving on. I have *always* noted the specific threads though for more clarification.
To clarify Number 4, what I'm trying to accomplish is when you hear a particular song you like either in regular or random play, you can quickly (1 button push), queue up another song from that album or artist without going back through a directory browse or search query. Over the years, I've found this feature great and so much bettery than just a thumbs up for internet radio type sources. "Oh, you like hearing the Decemberists?", "Here is another song by them." Not just a band that might sound like them.
Media Player Bugs as of .40 of v8
1. Search
SEMI-FIXED (text input search works, voice search is hit or miss) Some instance of “ghost results” from previous media that is no longer plugged in. Selecting these items causes the Media Player to not play anything. There should also be an option to apply preferential treatment to search results (USB vs. streaming) and/or eliminate certain sources from results by user preference / Streaming people will want it one way (remove USB results), USB media people will like it the other way (remove streaming results) / Not all results are displayed when clearly there are more matches / What does “Top” mean in search results?
2. Playback Resume
Tracks still reset to beginning when exiting and then returning to the vehicle. Observed slight causality with track resetting when a driver returns to the car after longer than 15min from leaving it – need more testing / passenger door status change may also affect this
3. Playback
Multi-disc albums should always be played in DISCNUMBER+TRACKNUMBER sequence unless shuffle/random has been engaged.
4. Shuffle/Shuffle Toggle
Shuffle is much better, however, there are hints that it is still playing the same set of songs depending on either which song is selected or how many times the shuffle button has been toggled. Entering into the car for the first time of the day results in the last playing song from the night before to play from start but then next series of songs to play are the same repetitive set from the day before. Also, Shuffle still randomly turns off between USB sources, player sources, and entering/existing vehicle, Shuffle "on" is not persistent overnight, or when playing between USB sources, seems random
5. Sort Order Issues
• Songs View: Requirement to improve how it's sorted (see my previous post)
• Artists View: FILENAME is being used instead of DISCNUMBER+TRACKNUMBER within track listings for playback, & Albums with the same title now have tracks being erroneously merged
• Albums View: FILENAME is being used instead of DISCNUMBER+TRACKNUMBER within track listings for playback, & Albums with the same title now have tracks being erroneously merged
• Genre View: TRACKTITLEs within a genre should be presented in ALBUM+ALBUMARTIST+DISCNUMBER+TRACKNUMBER sequence to make any real sense out of this long list
• Folder View: FILENAMEs should be used exclusively, not mixed with use of TRACKTITLE at the lowest level as is now the case; Per best practices, Folders should always be presented at the top of the listing, not interspersed alphanumerically with tracks.
5. File Directory Listing
Folders should be listed first alphabetically, and then files next alphabetically / Files and folders still intermixed in Folder View / Do not use tag data for sorting anywhere within Folder View
6. Grammatical Articles Used in Alphabetical Listing
Lists are using ‘A’, ‘An’, ‘The’ as alphabetical markers for sorting. These prefixes should be ignored for alphabetical sorting, but included in the file listing. For example, ‘The Beatles’ should be under “B”, not “T”
7. Multi-artist Album / Multi-disc Albums
Multi-artist album tag is not being read, indexed, or displayed for when ID3 Artist tag is not populated / Media Player needs to perform an IF/EXIST query and display album artist if song artist is not populated / ID3 tag DISCNUMBER should be used when sorting a list of files, should group by disk first, then by track
8. Documentation on USB Functionality
• Expected scan times per track/data size – disclose effect of MCU reboot and list rescan triggers
• Documented hard limits to volume size, individual file size, max number of files, ID3 tag fields
• Physical device support/specifications (Flash/SSD, max. USB output power per port/as a pair)
• Supported Tags
• Supported File Formats
• Supported Playback Formats
• Album Art Size/Type Limitations
9. Directory/File Sorting
Directory listing should place folders at the top in alphabetical order, followed by individual files in alphabetical order
Most Popular Software Enhancement Requests from Ownership:
1. Automatic Volume Leveling based on interior cabin noise, or speed of vehicle
2. Bookmark Feature
Especially in light of the ‘Playback Resume’ error, request feature to "Bookmark" exact place (time and album) in audio track and save 3-5 different slots for resuming later / critical for audiobooks and podcasts played via USB / Trying to find an exact timestamp in a file can be dangerous while driving. Allowing a “Favorite” to save the current timestamp and album would suffice for this feature or it can be a separate section: FAVORITES / RECENT / BOOKMARKS
3. "Play Down" from Current Folder View - The first entry inside a folder should be to play everything within that folder, ie. all files listed in that view as well as all the files within the subfolders of that view / should also apply to songs and albums within an artist folder
4. Make Artist and Album Selectable Tag Info in Now Playing - so that pressing them immediately starts playing the match. For example, if you are in a random mix of songs and Michael Jackson comes on, pressing the Arist Name will begin playing all songs by Michael Jackson. Pressing the Album Name (ex. Bad), will start playing that whole album as the selected playlist, but from that track forward in the album. ALTERNATIVELY, Queue next song, artist, album by making the displayed text in 'Now Playing' hot-linked/clickable, then matches to the field clicked are moved from their existing place in the current playlist to the next track in queue. Essentially, behind the scenes, the Media Player would be performing a “Search USB” function and then automatically selecting the proper matches. This eliminates all that time trying to speak the name correctly and/or type, then browse, then select, through the results on the screen while driving.
5. Playback from Recents - Remember the "playlist" that the 'recent' was a part of when selected / If you play one of these items that was part of an album or list, it should go back into playing the same album or the same list respectively when chosen again
6. .m3u Playlist Support
7. Optional Gapless Playback - for audiobooks and concert albums
