Player UI suggestions, mostly alarm-related

[fallenguru]

I have a few suggestions for the UI on the player, mostly concerning the new alarm clock functionality.

- "alarm volume" and "fade-in" settable per alarm. My SO is a light sleeper and likes to be woken slowly, gently. Me, I sleep through anything that isn't very sudden and *very* loud.

- "alarm sound" is too cluttered and a bit confusing. It has three categories of pre-defined sounds at the top level, yet internet radio stations can't be picked as alarm sounds, at least not directly. While we're at it, what's the (conceptual) difference between "favorites" and "playlists"? Maybe the two could be unified (in general, not only for alarms)?
Seeing as there are so many different possibilities for alarm sounds it might be better to *always* use a playlist. After all, anything can go in a playlist, even nature sounds or radio stations.
The "current playlist" option is a bit counter-intuitive. I had assumed it would wake me using the current (at the time of setting the alarm) playlist. However it uses the current (at the time of *sounding* the alarm) playlist.

- one-off alarms, that not only do not repeat but also auto-remove themselves once they've gone off. Also they would not have a weekday setting but just go off at the earliest "opportunity".
I really like the ability to set an arbitrary number of alarms on an arbitrary number of weekdays, but sometimes I'm just too tried to remember what weekday tomorrow (or today, as the case may be) actually is :-)

- duration alarms, a. k. a. "wake me in X minutes / hours".

That's it for now ...

[peterw]

The "current playlist" option is a bit counter-intuitive. I had assumed it would wake me using the current (at the time of setting the alarm) playlist. However it uses the current (at the time of *sounding* the alarm) playlist.

I agree. "Most recent playlist" would be more accurate.

- one-off alarms, that not only do not repeat but also auto-remove themselves once they've gone off. Also they would not have a weekday setting but just go off at the earliest "opportunity".
I really like the ability to set an arbitrary number of alarms on an arbitrary number of weekdays, but sometimes I'm just too tried to remember what weekday tomorrow (or today, as the case may be) actually is :-)

- duration alarms, a. k. a. "wake me in X minutes / hours".

For duration/countdown alarms, if you can stand always using the "most recent playlist" model, and only being able to set the alarms with an IR remote or front panel knob/buttons, see KitchenTimer.
http://www.tux.org/~peterw/slim/KitchenTimer.html

It doesn't yet have the option to *not* fluctuate the volume, but I intend to add that fairly soon. See http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=52710 for more discussion.

-Peter

[Kiwi]

I have a few suggestions for the UI on the player, mostly concerning the new alarm clock functionality.

- "alarm volume" and "fade-in" settable per alarm. My SO is a light sleeper and likes to be woken slowly, gently. Me, I sleep through anything that isn't very sudden and *very* loud.

- "alarm sound" is too cluttered and a bit confusing. It has three categories of pre-defined sounds at the top level, yet internet radio stations can't be picked as alarm sounds, at least not directly. While we're at it, what's the (conceptual) difference between "favorites" and "playlists"? Maybe the two could be unified (in general, not only for alarms)?
Seeing as there are so many different possibilities for alarm sounds it might be better to *always* use a playlist. After all, anything can go in a playlist, even nature sounds or radio stations.
The "current playlist" option is a bit counter-intuitive. I had assumed it would wake me using the current (at the time of setting the alarm) playlist. However it uses the current (at the time of *sounding* the alarm) playlist.

- one-off alarms, that not only do not repeat but also auto-remove themselves once they've gone off. Also they would not have a weekday setting but just go off at the earliest "opportunity".
I really like the ability to set an arbitrary number of alarms on an arbitrary number of weekdays, but sometimes I'm just too tried to remember what weekday tomorrow (or today, as the case may be) actually is :-)

- duration alarms, a. k. a. "wake me in X minutes / hours".

That's it for now ...

second these alarm enhancements

[fallenguru]

Another one: the current time should perhaps be visible on the screen where you set the alarm time.

[fallenguru]

And one more: it seems the bell symbol ("alarm active") is displayed as long as the main switch for all alarms is set to on, even if all individual alarms are set to off.
How about the bell symbol only appear when an alarm would actually sound within the next 24 hours?

[max.spicer]

And one more: it seems the bell symbol ("alarm active") is displayed as long as the main switch for all alarms is set to on, even if all individual alarms are set to off.
How about the bell symbol only appear when an alarm would actually sound within the next 24 hours?

That's exactly what it's meant to do. Either you've still got an alarm enabled or you've found a bug. :-(

Max

[mherger]

> And one more: it seems the bell symbol ("alarm active") is displayed as
> long as the main switch for all alarms is set to on, even if all
> individual alarms are set to off.

The alarm bell should only be displayed when there's an alarm due within
the next 24h. Even if you have enabled alarms, but which are further away,
you shouldn't see it. Can you make sure all alarms are disabled?

Michael