[beaver316]

Foobar2000... the program of choice between most audiophiles, mainly because of it's customizability and superior sound quality. Despite all the good things the program has going for it, its always suffered from poor library management. Especially for someone moving from another program such as iTunes or Media Monkey where there exist many sorting options such as Recently Played, Recently Added, Most Played etc. These options just dont exist in Foobar. So why not extend these features into Foobar (sort of) with the help of a separate program?
 
Im using a program called MusicBee which has to be one of the best music organizers. It has the option of launching music using external programs such as Foobar. So it's the best of both worlds, MusicBee library management and Foobar playback. It's great because even though Foobar is playing the files, MusicBee is still tallying up the playback statistics. Anyway to get MusicBee to allow you to open external players you'll need to go into Edit > Preferences > Player > external player > player location > search for foobar2000.exe.
 
Some screenies, click for full resolution....
 
 

 
 

 
 
Just wanted to share this with Head-Fi because i know there are plenty in my position who try to customize foobar to mimic other audio players in terms of management but are held back by it's capabilities. 

 

[xnor]

Quote:

Especially for someone moving from another program such as iTunes or Media Monkey where there exist many sorting options such as Recently Played, Recently Added, Most Played etc. These options just dont exist in Foobar. So why not extend these features into Foobar (sort of) with the help of a separate program?

These options do exist in fb2k so no need for a separate program if all you need is a plugin. The plugin system is what makes fb2k such a popular choice.
 
Google foo_playcount and autoplaylists.
 
For example you could create a playlist with the query pattern: %last_played% DURING LAST 3 WEEKS
or sort by %play_count%
 
You can even create playlists that sort by the length of a track multiplied with the number of times the track was played or songs with a rating greater 2 not played within the last month and much, much more.

 

[HeatFan12]

There is a thread on MusicBee and I have been using it for a while.  Foobar needs to be customized to your liking.  There are so many components, that it's hard to keep up.
 
In reference to MusicBee, with the last update, the WASAPI plug-in has some backround noise (very minor static) and I thought it was one of my tubes until I checked with the other players I use (Foobar, MediaMonkey, Itunes etc.)...Overall, I like MB.  I remember in the MusicBee thread, users gave their opinions on how it could be improved and the devs listened and made changes..
 
In reference to the WASAPI issue, I have not investigated it enough to tweak any of the settings but in time I'll get to it..
 
Good times!!!!
 
Cheers...

 

[xnor]

Last time I made major changes to my fb2k setup was ~5 years ago. Once you get the hang of it it does everything you need, with only few additional plugins.
 
Saying that fb2k is a turn-off because you need to invest some time to customize it, on a forum like this, is kinda ironic.

 

[HeatFan12]

I personally like to experiment with various players, but Foobar is my go to player.  I love my Foobar indeed...

 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 

 
 

 

[beaver316]

There is a thread on MusicBee and I have been using it for a while.  Foobar needs to be customized to your liking.  There are so many components, that it's hard to keep up.

In reference to MusicBee, with the last update, the WASAPI plug-in has some backround noise (very minor static) and I thought it was one of my tubes until I checked with the other players I use (Foobar, MediaMonkey, Itunes etc.)...Overall, I like MB.  I remember in the MusicBee thread, users gave their opinions on how it could be improved and the devs listened and made changes..

In reference to the WASAPI issue, I have not investigated it enough to tweak any of the settings but in time I'll get to it..

Good times!!!!

Cheers...

Yeah I know the wasapi plugin has some issues in MusicBee, but with the method I mention it uses foobars wasapi executipn

 

[HeatFan12]

Thanks beaver..
So, using it as you mention takes care of MB's wasapi issue and uses Foobar's?


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[beaver316]

That's right, because it actually launches Foobar to play the song. So you'll need to set up wasapi in foobar.

 

[HeatFan12]

Great, thanks. I'll give it a spin later today.


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[HeatFan12]

It's growing on me a bit more beav,
 
Just installed it on my XP laptop so no wasapi, but using it with my NFB-16 which has it's own ASIO driver and sounding good with a black backround.  Made a quick shuffle playlist to see how it behaves and so far so good...
 
 

 
 

 

[beaver316]

I noticed in that picture you're playing the music in Musicbee, the point of this thread was to launch the song from Musicbee into foobar like in my second picture

 

[HeatFan12]

You gotta enjoy the journey en route to the destination beav. MB has changed for the better since I spent significant time with it. I had been using it with Vista x64.
I just installed it on my XP laptop last night while burnin' in some gear. Going to try the external player option when I get home.

Cheers!


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[HeatFan12]

Good times beav....

 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 

 

[xnor]

Ahhh my eyes, are you serious?
 
While what you did with fb2k looks awesome I'm not so sure about that purple.

 

[HeatFan12]

Quote:

Ahhh my eyes, are you serious?
 
While what you did with fb2k looks awesome I'm not so sure about that purple.

 
 
lol...Purple is fun...

 
 
Got carried away with the skins....Changed it...It was a bit loud indeed...lol