[FIRST POST]
Hello,
Has anyone else been disappointed by the lack of playback control in mainstream (notably Winamp and Foobar2000) software players for audio books and speech media, in particular? And if so, have you found a working solution?
Recently, I have taken to listening to fiction through (mp3) audio books and I am also in the process of learning a language from various media, including CDs with almost 100% speech and language cassette tapes. Interestingly, I find using an 80's cassette deck considerably easier than anything on a computer. For example, the forward/rewind controls skip foward and backward smoothly and in small increments while holding down the controls. On release, they stop seeking.
So, to that end I have a small wishlist of playback control features that I really need and would imagine many others would also welcome:
1. Press-release incremental fast foward/rewind controls. As described in the example above,
2. Navigation by resettable frame or index counter. Using on-screen arrows or buttons to have a numerical representation of where and/or how far one has navigated. A counter should be easy to reset to 0 at any absolute track position,
3. Bookmark absolute position within a track and play list. For single track CD or a single large audio file the in-track bookmark would be invaluable. Bookmarking within a playlist is a natural expected feature and should be easier to implement,
4. Fine-grained, zoomable seek or control bar. The usual seek bar, but with a couple of differences: a micro mouse movement should move only 1 frame (smallest audible unit), and the ability to choose an arbitrary or at least large number of scales for the seek bar.
That is all I can think of for now. But, no doubt you get the idea. More control is good! And makes a huge difference to the seamlessness between the audio and digital worlds, as well as being invaluable in certain applications. If anyone can think of any useful playback control features (and stating clearly why they are useful), then please feel free to add to the list!
Yes, I am aware that all the items listed above and more are available in audio editors and possibly expensive DJ mixing software. But I'm looking for these features in a relatively inexpensive and real-time software player. Just importing the contents of these media into audio editing tools takes a lot of time and represents another large hurdle to convenient features that one comes to expect in any good audio playback tool, be it analogue or digital, hardware or software.
If anyone actually is aware of an audio player that can do all these things and more, I, and many others no doubt, would be ecstatic to hear from you!
Thank you very much for these great forums!