A little tip for setting song ratings with foobar2000 via hotkeys*
*Playback Statistics component required
Although song ratings can't be set with bangs in Rainmeter, it's easy enough to assign whatever keys you want in foobar to adjust the rating of the currently playing track.
Click File > Preferences and select Keyboard Shortcuts in the left pane.
Click the "Add new" button and then Filter list by: rating
Scroll to the bottom of the list, beneath [context / now playing] where you'll find the various rating actions that can be assigned. Click the + and then click inside the Key field and press the key combo you wish to use. Be sure to choose something unique from other hotkeys you use in Windows & other programs. Tick the Global hotkey box, hit Apply, then go back to step 2 to set the other hotkeys.
Here are the 3 ratings hotkeys I'm using: Alt+Win+Num + adjusts the rating up Alt+Win+Num - adjusts the rating down Alt+Win+Num 0 removes the rating (aka <not set>)
Now you can change the rating of the currently playing song and see it reflected in your Rainmeter skin, even while foobar plays minimized in the system tray.
DaveTheBat wrote:Seems like something bugged with the latest update of Rainmeter or someting.
Keep saying I need to update Rainmeter even thou I got the latest one.
IIRC, you were on foobar2k? Try redownloading the latest foo_rainmeter.dll (from the manual page) as well as the latest Rainmeter beta as it works fine here.
Matt wrote:A little tip for setting song ratings with foobar2000 via hotkeys*
...
Thanks for the tip, will have to link to that from the manual.
poiru wrote:Thanks for the tip, will have to link to that from the manual.
Cool. I hope someone finds it useful.
I wanted to help test some more, so I downloaded MusicBee. I'm still digging through its settings. The way it handles external album art is a little weird to me, but it is a nice player.
When MusicBee is opened and playback is started from a previously paused position, only the position and volume measures work until the next track begins or playback is fully stopped (not paused) and then restarted.
SetRating 5 currently seems to be ignored by MusicBee. 1-4 work, though.
Matt wrote:When MusicBee is opened and playback is started from a previously paused position, only the position and volume measures work until the next track begins or playback is fully stopped (not paused) and then restarted.
Can't seem to reproduce (opened MusicBee, started a track and then paused it, started Rainmeter and it displays all info fine). Is there something more to it?
Matt wrote:SetRating 5 currently seems to be ignored by MusicBee. 1-4 work, though.
Seems to be a bug with MusicBee -- sent the developer a message.
poiru wrote:
Can't seem to reproduce (opened MusicBee, started a track and then paused it, started Rainmeter and it displays all info fine). Is there something more to it?
What you describe is slightly different, I think. With Rainmeter running and MusicBee playing, pause & close MusicBee. Then re-open MusicBee and hit play. Preferences > Player > on startup: resume position may need to be set to see it. (I don't recall if that is a default setting.)
Matt wrote:What you describe is slightly different, I think. With Rainmeter running and MusicBee playing, pause & close MusicBee. Then re-open MusicBee and hit play. Preferences > Player > on startup: resume position may need to be set to see it. (I don't recall if that is a default setting.)
Will be taken care of for next beta
Scream81 wrote:@poiru: have also looked at including VLC player already? would be quite nice to see that . Really great job so far!
I have looked at it, yes. VLC has a 'MSN Now Playing' interface, which I plan to implement into NowPlaying.dll at some point. However, the MSN interface only provides minimal information (title, artist, album -- that's about it).
Might look into making a proper plugin for VLC, when I get some time -- we'll see..
