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Audials is overly dependent on and trusting of Microsoft resources ( msvcredit-something errors during installation, I just ignored them, I give up trying to troubleshoot Microsoft crapola ).
Audials first run asked me to enter my name and email, but does not identify which box gets which, than asked me to create an Audials account or try later, but does not offer to let me sign into or even find / look up an existing account … this reveals right up front that there is poor auditing on the part of the programmers, as the first thing I experience, so I am getting ready for other careless / thoughtless / slipped / goofed / quirky / needs-work-arounds / “problems” throughout Audials.
If I have low expectations of Audials, then I will not be let down, right?
The first presentation screen just sits there with dozens of screen elements in view, NONE of which indicate if the program thinks of itself as a noun or a verb, NONE of the on-screen stuff offers the traditional functions any and all computer programs:
… [ create ] [ save ] [ edit ] [ present ] …
Where are those functions?
I dunno, let’s hunt .. the Audials programmers must have put those functions in there someplace!
I presume is should offer to let me [ listen ] to Internet radio, let me [ record ] stuff, let me [ save ] stuff, let me [ find ] stuff ir saved and stuff I already have, let me [ organize / edit ] stuff I already have … but I see nothing obvious that promises to do anything or show anything.
Fun, eh?
By letting me down, Audials is not letting me down ( see my low expectations above ! ).
I appreciate the modern affectation to make programs appear to have a low-contrast low-brightness gamer-cool screen … but I do not appreciate that there is nothing that distinguishes one element from another, no borders, no boundaries, no menus, some multiple lines might be single elements, some multiple lines might be multiple elements, some single or multiple lines may be nothing clickable at all …
I found the gear-icon “open options”, I signed into my Audials account there under [ UI settings ] ( luckily I remember my password, I have no idea how it would handle a forgotten ID or password ) … hey, wait a minute, so, the goofy Microsoft circle-and-a-half icon ( upside-down-Picasso-bull ) meaning “edit your credentials or sign out” ( it says that now, but I have no idea what it offered before I found the “sign-in” inside “options” … argh ).
Inside “options”, I select [ Color scheme: Snow ] then [ OK ], and … oh my goodness, the screen now looks like a real program — there are real borders and boundaries, oh my — hey, there’s a paint-roller icon that lets me directly change the program colors — cool!
I’ll figure this out … it’s like a new video-game-hidden-treasure-hunt to find what this program does, and to learn how to control it.
Okay, click on things … no response … right-click on things … no response.
I’d tell you what “things”, but it’s anything and everything that is unresponsive to any clicking.
Clicking on the Audials program screen is like clicking on a picture of a program, not like clicking on a real program itself.
I managed to get Internet radio stations to appear on the middle of the screen ( I remember a text-list in prior Audials versions with lots of information about the station, this version show icons with not so much information … and nowhere I can see how to control how the Internet radio station list is displayed … ) …
… I clicked on one of the icons and something appeared on the lower right corner of the program … oh, a [ > ] play icon … I clicked that … nothing … so, I wandered around the screen looking for other stuff … OH, suddenly it started playing the thing I clicked on earlier, a while ago, apparently there’s an unidentified delay before loading the chosen Internet radio station to play ( no “please wait while loading chosen station ____” message ? ) … ooo, well, it’s cool song anyway … now, how do I record it?
Maybe it auto records anything I’m listening too — that would be appropriate …
Nope, nowhere on screen is anything saying whether what I am listening to is being recorded or not ( it’s automatic then, right ? ) … my old physical cassette player/recorders ALWAYS had a [ RECORD ] button along with the other buttons, along with the [ > ] Play button and [ || ] Pause button and [ << ][ < ] Rewind button and [ > ][ >> ] Fast Forward button … but, what, no [ RECORD ] button?!?
I guess the programmers have never actually seen a physical recording device with real buttons, but have only played with all-purpose programming tools designed by others where “buttons” are a whimsical, optional philosophy, who needs buttons, really, actually, physically, existentially, ephemerally?
No [ RECORD ] button, along with the [ > ] Play button, seriously?
Oh well.
And Audials can’t find my existing music … I KNOW I have music on this PC … oh, change the default location from [ …\Music\Audials\… ] ( that’s not MY Music location ! ) to [ …\Music\… ] … so, Audials couldn’t figure out where MY music was?!?
Okay, I hear a cute song … click on the title and artist … no response … right-click on title and artist … nothing … so much for information on screen being available for my own cut-and-paste and look-up so that I can use it to find more of the same music inside or outside Audials.
Hmm .. there’s a panel saying “last 100 ( 4 new )” … and it’s showing … nothing that I’ve listened to, and nothing from my existing collection … ( and little scissors on some, little triangles on some … I’ll figure out that later ) … I suppose all this means something, but it means absolutely nothing to me.
Will it record stuff in the background if I subsequently click on additional stuff?
Will it show me multiple items in a “now recording” list?
Anywhere?
Can I play one thing while recording another?
… actually I can ONLY record something else, something other than what I’ve been listening to, in spite of my intention to actually record what I am listening to.
What on earth is it recording?
Nope, yup. Audials is not letting me down by letting me down — if I keep my expectations low, lower, lowest!
Apparently a [ -> Record ] button I clicked on the screen somewhere else was somehow related to another station than the station I was listening to, it did not record the station I was listening to, the song I was watching in the lower right corner that had a [ > ] Play control on it, the station in the lower corner that was playing, but had NO [ RECORD ] button on the controls …
… so I was listening to some cool stuff, but apparently Audials was recording some other unrelated stuff in the background, completely and totally missing the chance to record the cool stuff I WAS actually listening to.
Ooops, I click on something else, and everything in the program screen disappeared, it was all replaced with other stuff, I have NO IDEA what’s happening, because I can still hear the Internet radio station I was listening to, but it’s NOWHERE ON SCREEN, just playing in my headphones … how do I get it back on screen so that I can see what I can hear, so I can see if what I hear is being recorded so I can …
… argh, Audials went silent …
… argh, Audials popped up a “not responding, close audials?” window …
… ( just ignore it, Peter Blaise, just ignore it … wait … wait … ahh, there, the sound came back, Audials started playing once again … continuing on … I wonder if it recorded the silence … )…
… I wonder if Audials will recorded anything or will do anything with the … with the …
… hey, the list of “last 100 …” is way-behind what I’m listening to, the displayed list is a couple of songs behind what I’m listening to, making me think that Audials is NOT recording what I’m listening to at all — it needs to show me a pre-list of “in process” songs, otherwise, I feel like I should kill Audials and re-open it again to see if it ever gets up to it’s own speed in real time …
… restart to … what, start this all over again, guessing at what does what, what’s doing what, what I’m missing, how to do anything, how to do one thing, how to do two things, how to do …
… argh.
_________
Conclusion:
Audials may be a neat little program, be patient, have zero expectations, play, and remember, radio is NOT stationary, so to speak, in that you can’t rewind a live song on the radio th re-hear it, so if a song goes by, quickly try to write it’s information elsewhere in a list in, say, Microsoft Windows Notepad, and then use that list to drive your search for that later, inside Audials or elsewhere.
Maybe, if I get some free time ( ! ) and the desire, I’ll explore if there are any tutorials that explain where the Audials programmers hid the “Easter eggs” within the program, as everything in Audials seems to be hidden “Easter eggs”, a challenge for me to hunt and find and figure out … maybe I’ll see something at:
https :// support. audials. com/
… maybe.
I’ve given Audials and others loads of information here on what would make the program better:
COMMUNICATION
Summary: NRFPTY ( Nerf Putty ) Not Ready For Prime Time Yet.
Considering that their web page offers Audials 2019, then maybe this offering of Audials 2018 should be withdrawn, considering how it’s doing nothing but pissing me off?
I wonder how Audials 2019 is programmed?
No, I don’t.
.