Meedio Essentials 1.15.22.0, Part 1 - A Sleek and Clean HTPC Interface

Meedio Essentials - My Music (cont.)

Adding music for a playlist can be done either in the music library or in the Jukebox, which simply lists things by album instead of artist. Adding music for a playlist is as simple as switching from "play mode"' where "enter" functions as play and stop for selected tracks, to "playlist mode", where the first track selected will be played and the subsequent tracks will be added to the playlist. This is indicated by the round white icon instead of white play icon.

Any time that music is selected for the playlist (not necessarily playing), album art (if available) for that track in focus will be displayed in the lower left hand corner of the screen, along with the track's artist name, album name, time elapsed vs. total time (not included in the cycle unless playing), and track name that cycles the information about every 3 seconds.

"Play album" will play the album that is currently at the top of the listing, even though that album icon will not be selected.

Click to enlarge.

Click to enlarge.

For whatever reason, we were unable to get the CD player to work with an external drive, which Meedio tells us is due to a bug that they are trying to resolve. When we used an internal drive, it wasn't a problem. Note that ME doesn't implement cover art here. They tell us that it is because they are working out licensing agreements, so we should expect something in the future.

Click to enlarge.

Click to enlarge.

Now, playing brings you to a different screen where more music playing options are available. The interface is simple, just like the rest of ME. The currently selected icon will be highlighted (in this theme's case, it would be blue). Viewing visualizations is possible by changing the cover art option to visualization (there are four of them that are all line/block themes). The elapsed time will be cycled in the lower left hand corner and will be displayed above the track slider if cover art is displayed in the main window. And just like other media players, shuffle and repeat options are provided. Remember, the text displayed indicated the current status of that option (i.e. in the screenshots below, shuffle is off and repeat is on).

Click to enlarge.

Click to enlarge.

"Show playlist" will bring you to the tracks selected for the playlist. There are priority/sorting options via the arrange function and shuffle. The shuffle function here is different then the shuffle on the main "Now Playing" screen. Here, it is a random sorting of the tracks displayed. Shuffle on the main screen is like WMP9, where it keeps the arrangement of track listings, but randomly picks a track for playing.

Click to enlarge.

Click to enlarge.

The playlist in its arrangement can be saved and loaded later for future use. Once saved, you will be brought back to the main playlist screen, where you will need to go to the load function or load playlist function from the main "now playing" screen to access previously saved playlists. The only quib we have is that once you get into the save function, the back button is first selected, but typing from that position will not enter anything into the name field. Instead, we have to maneuver to the name field, type and then select save. It would be nice to be able to start typing right away and hit enter as the save function (enter function as selecting the icon currently highlighted).

Click to enlarge.

Click to enlarge.