Kodi Community Forum

Hi all, new user here.

I'm trying to use Xbmc as a music player. This works, of course, but it seems to be overly complicated and lacking features. So maybe I'm doing something wrong.

I find the interface quite confusing, and I can never get it quite right. I can jump back and forth between a lot of screens with various buttons and information, but it's never quite what I want. Other skins don't help, they just have their own problems. I easily get lost.

I basicly just want to play my music. I have a well organised file tree, which I need to see at all times. But in Xbmc, I can apparently only jump in and out of folders and not see the path. The path is important, it tells me where I am and what I'm listening to.

So, my question is: How do I do this? Is Xbmc the wrong choice?

A smooth XBMC interface for music depends highly on immaculate tagging and using the library features. Usage in files mode may be too limited for your needs, depending on what those needs are. If you have scanned your music into the library, then it should be pretty easy to tell what you are playing, either by album or artist. If you have a bunch of singles, XBMC interface is a bit less 'useful' IMO.

XBMC is also optimized for using a remote control rather than a mouse for navigation, so if you are looking for a windows explorer type experience where you can jump quickly around with a mouse, you won't likely find it in XBMC.

If you have a i-device or android device, try the remote control apps, they enhance the music experience IMO.

My files are not tagged. They are simply organised in a structure of ~/Music/[artist]/[album]/[track number] - [track name]

Your structure is good.

Without tags, you will not be able to take advantage of XBMCs best features. There are tools like MP3Tag and others that have scripts which will easily tag your files using the filename and path. It can be a lot of work to get tagging done, but I would say its worth the effort.

I really don't like the concept of relying on tags in files, or keeping to sets of data in sync. I think I'll try tagging a couple of folders, and see how Xbmc works with those.

I won't be using a mouse all the time, but no matter what the input device is, a "windows explorer type experience" is preferable. A tree with collapsible branches is much, much better than showing one folder at a time.

Thanks!

It turns out that the machine I use for playing music can't run Xbmc, so none of the above matter.

It's this problem: Ticket #14213

Too bad!