Hi Vinylman,

Are you using the "plain" "vanilla" version of MMW5 without the Custom Skins and the few limited add-ons?

Similar question for MMW4. What is you daily use and is this provided via the basic / standard version? Or is it the add-ons that make the difference?

I think many "seasoned" MMW4 users have found MMW5 difficult initially. Some are helped by the more MMW4 looking skins like Code Monkey.

24 hours of use / testing would not of been enough to convince me either.

Hang in there and why not use both. Every few versions or when a really good add-on is released you may find you start liking MMW5 more.

I have now tested this MM 5 for about 24 hours and personally I have not found anything in MM 5 that is better than in MM 4.

Something might be better ofcours but those functions might not be a part of my daily use of this software.


kind regards

Lowlander wrote: ↑Fri Oct 29, 2021 9:34 am Tools > Options > Playing list allows you to switch to List like in MediaMonkey 4 for the Playing window.

Thanks Lowlander, this is a step in the right direction. MMW4 had a concatenated presentation with a hyphen whereas MMW5 has less space efficient "columnated" display. Is there any functional reason for the columns?

I find that MM5 loads considerably faster than MM4. Likely due to the number of Add-Ons that load on startup in MM4.
Pros:
- the look of the mini-player with the Monkey Grove skin
- the layout of the options screen
- when custom code fails, having the ability to restart in safe-mode is a god-send.
- being able to case my audio to a selected device. Ingenious.

Cons:
- the screens are flat/bland. There no dimension/ 3D to it.
- I can't see to find how to add shortcuts to the toolbar through the interface. MM4 allowed me to right mouse on the toolbar and I could create a new one.
-Always on top when minimized to the miniplayer. This is really specific to me. I connect to work through Citrix Workspace. When MM4 is minimized, the player will stay visible. MM5 disappears.
-Programming is a royal pain. Trying to find documentation on objects and how to use them is an exercise in futility. Until I can convert my MM4 add-ons to MM5, I cannot make the switch.

Tools > Options > Playing list allows you to switch to List like in MediaMonkey 4 for the Playing window.

I would add a couple of things "better" with MMW5:

3D Album View
Custom Nodes
File / Report / File List (and having many more columns)
Scheduled Backups built in rather than being an add-on (although the MMW4 add-in does more)

But I personally see MMW5 as "in-development" and expect to use MMW4 and MMW5 together for some time to come. MMW4 is my preference for many things - Lyrics, CD burning, Synching - but I am sure this will evolve.

Not certain I see a big difference in startup performance. MMW5 takes 5-10s to load to the point where I can play and about 45s to complete scan. MMW4 takes longer to scan - probably because I have more add-ons loading at the start and checks for new podcasts. I think the Randomise Playlists add-on adds 15-20s and takes MMW4 to just over 60s before full scan completed.

I also find the Now Playing cluttered and less useful.

I hope this will not be taken badly, and maybe there is much I haven't discovered yet, but after a few days of using it, I am a bit hard pressed to find too much about mm5 that is better than mm4.

As much as anything, I'm looking for what useful bits others might have discovered

Better:

Autotag works again, and the part where it can analyze the file contents has found me some information I was missing.

I like the feature "file to edit - ungrouped multiple files" where it analyzes tracks to try and find which ones should belong together in an album, but for some reason have not been connected up yet

Worse, things I miss

Large font seems fuzzy looking and leads to cluttered screen appearance on 1080x1920 14" laptop screen

Missing search node in media tree

Now playing list is cluttered, two line default display allows only a few titles, I just discovered it can be popped in and out, which helps.

Much slower to load