The MMA user interface in 1185 makes it easy to load a playlist. Excellent, but once you've got the playlist ready to go there is a UI void. The only visible control is the big yellow button to 'play with shuffle'. But I don't want shuffle - having carefully sequenced a playlist in a specific order, the last thing I want to do is to play that list with a shuffled sequence. Pressing that button does indeed fill the playing queue with a shuffled playlist sequence, which is exactly what I don't want, and for which there is no control to undo.
Some experimentation showed me that I have to click on the first file in the ordered playlist to get the playing queue filled with the playlist sequence. Works, but its not obvious. Why leave your customers in the dark over something so simple? If there is a big prominent control to 'play shuffled', why would users think to do something entirely different like click on a track to get the rest of the list played in sequence? There is noting in the UI to tell you how this is expected to happen. Why isn't there an equivalent button to simply 'play in sequence'? Or even an option to change the function of the button from shuffle to in sequence? And, given that the UI basically demands user experimentation to get songs to play, why isn't there a control to clear the queue contents?
As I see it, MMA is doing a great job of the complex stuff (sync) and stumbling over the basics (play UI).
So, I recommend:
- Provide an option to switch the behaviour of the prominent Play control between 'Play shuffle' and 'Play in sequence'.
- Provide controls to manage the content of the Playing Queue, at least to explicitly clear it after unintended additions.
Matt
