Lyrics Enchantment

formeo · August 27, 2024, 1:07pm

Feature description:

I have two specific features in mind that I believe would greatly enhance the app’s usability, as they currently cause me some inconvenience. Having previously used Metro as a music player,
I’ve experienced firsthand how beneficial these features can be.
Firstly, I would appreciate an option to display lyrics by simply clicking on the album cover, rather than having to select the small icon at the bottom of the cover.
Secondly, it would be incredibly useful to have a toggle feature that allows users to switch between synced and played lyrics when available

Problem solved:

The initial feature I mentioned would address a common issue I encounter: frequently pausing the song when I wish to view the lyrics, simply because I miss the small button. This enhancement would streamline the process.

The second feature is equally important. I’ve noticed that the synced lyrics in the app are often inaccurate—they display the correct timestamps but fail to highlight the corresponding lines. This discrepancy is puzzling and frustrating. Implementing this feature would allow users to manually scroll through the lyrics, avoiding the inconvenience of being directed to the wrong lines. Additionally, there are times when the synced lyrics are incorrect due to differences in remixes provided by the service.
I uploaded some files in https://upload.symfonium.app

Brought benefits:

Overall, the inability to rely on synced lyrics can be quite troublesome, making the option for plain lyrics a necessary alternative.

Additional description and context:

Overall, the lyrics functionality on Metro / Retroplayer surpasses that of Symfonium. Metro offers a full-screen experience where the current line is highlighted in a prominent color, allowing users to scroll through without being immediately forced back to the actual line. Symfonium, on the other hand, snaps back to the current line if the screen isn’t touched and doesn’t display timestamps while scrolling, unlike Metro. Symfonium often presents incorrect lines with correct timestamps. Going to the lyrics view is leading to frequent song pauses when all that’s desired is to view the lyrics. Metro also utilizes more screen space effectively, avoiding the issue of an empty line at the beginning that Symfonium has, which is be problematic when trying to close lyrics without returning to the start of a song. Additionally, Metro’s text clarity is superior, with the active line standing out clearly but the other lines are also clearly readable, whereas Symfonium often renders much of the text unreadable and fades it out, making it harder to read the rest of the lyrics. The sync/desync button on Symfonium works, but its effectiveness is diminished when the text is heavily faded. Therefore, a plain lyrics button or more visible lyrics would be beneficial.

It would also be advantageous to streamline the interface by giving an option for removing unnecessary buttons, allowing the sync/desync button to be relocated to the top or alongside the player controls for more space. Settings to the actual settings and the ± buttons as an option. For me this would enhance usability.
I hope this clarifies the issues I’ve encountered with the lyrics view, as it has been quite bothersome.

Metro is exclusively for local music and encounters issues with large libraries, yet its overall handling is more thoughtfully designed than Symfonium’s, particularly in the areas of lyrics and search capabilities. Metro allows for searches from any point without losing valuable screen space at the top due to vertically aligned tags. While both Symfonium offer settings access from anywhere, but in my opinion I use the search mor often than the settings. From my point of view Metro’s approach is more user-friendly.

The lyrics view on Metro is notably easier to open—a single click on the cover brings it up, and then you can switch back to the cover at the bottom. A swipe down gesture then returns you to the lyrics. I believe Metro’s design is more well-considered, especially for lyrics.

However, the ability to open lyrics directly via the cover, ensuring lines are properly readable, and having the close button not on the zero line, so you can exit the view without any interruptions, would alone be a significant improvement.

Screenshots / Mockup:

//support.symfonium.app/uploads/default/original/2X3/32b66c3bbc5a28f0d33edfe7ce3313ad8e7c5d84.png

Tolriq · August 30, 2024, 11:01am

There’s way too much different things here and a few things already requested

Configuration of the clicks on the cover is in the todo already.

Next release will have:

An option to hide the close button, for the record as every screen you can use Android back button or gesture to close the dialog.
Won’t use alpha on the lines when you disable autoscrolling on synced lyrics.

For the search things, I have absolutely no idea what you mean and it’s unrelated to lyrics, open another issue with proper details.

formeo · September 2, 2024, 8:50am

There’s way too much different things here and a few things already requested

Yes, everything came together as I was writing.

Configuration of the clicks on the cover is in the todo already.

Great

An option to hide the close button, for the record as every screen you can use Android back button or gesture to close the dialog.

While the Close button itself isn’t the main issue, the presence of an empty zero line is more problematic. I’m uncertain if this line is part of the lyrics, but the Close button overlaps it, causing the song to restart frequently when I attempt to close the lyrics.

Won’t use alpha on the lines when you disable autoscrolling on synced lyrics.

That sounds like a good idea.

I will be creating a second feature request later this month for improvements to the search function, as well as raising an issue concerning the lyrics display. The issue at hand is that, although the timestamp is accurate, the wrong line of lyrics is being highlighted, as demonstrated in the screenshots provided.