User:DJ VorTechS/PhatHack Media Manager/Manual/Basic concepts

PhatHack Media Manager Manual - Basic Concepts
Before starting to use PhatHack Media Manager it is important to understand some of the terminology used in the application, and the concepts that were used to derive the application functionality.

Essentially PhatHack Media Manager is a device management utility allowing you to easily store and transfer media between devices. Throughout the application you may see reference to 'Media Device'. Within the context of the application, 'Media Device' applies to any logical or physical device that can be used to store media (audio/video).

Examples of these devices are, and not limited to:

Local Computer Folders (Logical)

CD or DVD drives (Physical)

MP3 Players(Physical)

'Card readers' (Physical ie SD, XD, Flash)

DMS Cartridges (Physical - PhatBox / Kenwood Keg)

Unlike traditional media management utilities, PhatHack Media Manager does not require you to scan all disks containing media. It allows you to import and manage media at your own pace and store it in whatever way you like. To this end, the application has a concept known as 'Watch Folders'.

Watch Folders

Watch folders allow you to create a virtual media device linked to a physcial path on your computer (or indeed Network Share). A virtual media device in this context is a device that has it's own configuration options and can be used to import media, and transfer media to and from another 'media device'.

Managing Media

The application was designed under the premise that media would be represented by one or more 'Playlists'. This concept basically comes from your average CD changer approach within the Car Audio space, where a CD has many tracks, and you can have  number of discs in your changer. Obviously, the number of Playlists and tracks within the application is limited only by your 'media device' capabilities.

Therefore the application uses this concept as the foundation for most things that you can do within it. It is slightly different from traditional media player approaches where you can only have one 'playlist' available at a time and this approach comes from the author(s) detailed understanding of the workings of the PhatNoise PhatBox / Kenwood Music Keg.

More recent versions of the application have allowed the user to 'dispense' of the 'Playlist' concept to a degree with the addition of a 'Viewing Mode' allowing you to browse all media associated with a 'media device' (media imported into it) in one of 7 ways:

- Playlist - Album - Artist - Genre - Year - Decade - Recently Added (date)

Dynamic Playlists

The application was modified to make use of the 'Dynamic Playlist' concept. A dynamic playlist in this context is a playlist that is automatically generated, and maintained by the application through the importing of media. Rather than forcing users to create and manage their media through playlists, when initially importing the media, the application will find empty slots in a dynamic playlist and fill them. If the dynamic playlist is full (derived from a value determined in the application configuration) then a new dynamic playlist is created.

Because Dynamic Playlists are solely used with the media import process, you are still able to create, edit and maintain your own playlists separately.

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