ViddyMP3 Main Window
Full-screen view:

Mini-view:

Resume - your last bookmark or program exit point is remembered
Dropdown Filepicker - a most-recent Browse history of 30 items
Browse - locate media with Windows FileOpen dialog
Tag Editor - update your MP3 tags to create a cleaner, more navigable tree view
Close - your place will be bookmarked before exiting
Play/Pause - play or pause the current media file
Create Bookmark - a large, hard-to-miss button
Volume Slider - adjust the volume up or down
Previous/Next - navigate through bookmark history (99 entries)
Slider Bar - a "draggable" control to set file position
Seek, looping & other options - right-click on the slider bar to enter an exact offset

- tree view button bar -

Go - launch the highlighted bookmark
Create - Create Bookmark's little brother
Rename - change the text in an artist or bookmark node
Delete - remove the highlighted artist(s) and/or bookmark(s)
Options - set the tree view font and various other things
About - displays program version and usage notice

Tree View

Right-click within the tree view to access a popup menu, which just reiterates options already presented, except (1) the Tag Editor option focuses on the highlighted tree view item; and (2) the Select All option can't be accessed any other way.
Always be sure the entries highlighted are the entries you want to be highlighted before deleting; right-click selection of tree view items seems shaky sometimes (prior item retains focus).
The tree view is currently only single depth. The outer nodes are assumed to be well-tailored and accomplished musical artists or authors of critical renown and substance. Lacking the names of such notables, the program will use the full path and filename of the media source. Beneath the outer or parent nodes are the bookmarks. In some vague future update (or at least somewhere in another dimension), an n-depth tree is sure to be implemented.
If the tree ever behaves oddly, try the Compact option, which will recreate the tree and remove any records marked for deletion.

Status Bar

The status bar displays the current player mode, play time and media source. Play time is currently only accurate for MP3 and WAV files.

Playlist Editor

Full-screen with playlists dropped down:

A reduced view without files and folders:

An independent Active Playlist tracks current state:
A new Find window locates text from bookmark names, playlist names, MP3 tags and filepath/names:

Easily repoint or remove missing media links:

Tag Editor (ID3v2)

Copy - save the current record to a buffer area
Paste - overwrite the current record with the buffered contents
Fill - populate fields from the contents of the filename and/or the folder structure

This is a poor example since the tags are already populated, but let's pretend they are blank, or more realistically, full of bot-generated junk.
An MP3 file has as many filename "parts" as it does delimiters (plus one). That's the nice, logical pattern we like, anyway.
A delimiter is a character used to separate items from each other, usually a dash in the case of MP3 filenames, but there's really no standard. Sometimes delimiters are chucked altogether for bracketed, braced or parenthical inner text. That's why we need complicated tag editors - everyone's different, and it's like, let's all be free, man. But the program attempts a sort of lackadaisical enforcement of a reasonably sensible convention for both music and books, and if you just sort of go with it everything will be much better. But if you must be obstinant, or are just tired of all this passive authoritarianism, you can stamp the tags any way you like. Hell, I don't care.
So anyway, there's these parts...
Artist/Author, Album/Book Title, Track/Sequence, and Track Title (the year and genre fields aren't used for stamping or renaming)
...and you indicate how to string them together with the drop-down lists. Each time you change something the results are updated. Click Ok once everything looks right (or mostly right). To abandon it all as a lost cause, click Cancel. Your settings will be preserved to taunt you until the program reloads.
This screen shows the Folder Name drop-down list displayed. These options may override other settings, and results aren't guaranteed to be accurate, only to contain elusive fragments of desired text. To further increase your torment, you cannot copy text from the panel controls at the top of the dialog. But if all else fails, the entire path and filename can be dumped into the tag fields for editing - use the Last Resort option.

Copy downwards, auto-filling Track/Seq - if you have multiple files that will only vary by track/seq, edit the first entry in the file list and Save. Use the Copy downwards option and the tags will be copied to all the files listed beneath the one edited. The Track/Seq field will populate with '02' - '999...'.
Reload record - discard any changes since you last saved and reload the file's tags
Edit an autolist entry - an edit queue is maintained which fills with likely candidates for tag editing as files are encountered via Browse or importing. If you are especially bored (or digitally fastidious) you can use this option to request a record for editing. It will probably be craving input.
Rename file - change the name of a single file and repoint any bookmarks. This is a tag-based rename operation; to supply your own name, right-click on the folder pane and Explore the file's folder, right-click the file and use the Rename option.
Mass rename - a safe way to view the results of tag-based renaming on any number of files.

It's safe because you preview all the effects prior to committing changes. You can select or deselect specific items before proceeding.

Resizable columns and flyover hints help display long filenames.
Lastly, a log is presented itemizing each rename operation and its status. Bookmarks are repointed to the new filenames.

Creating Sound Bites w/ Windows Shortcuts

The essential info...
Optional program parameters
p1 - drive:\path\filename.ext
p2 - seek point (integer, 0 = start of file)
p3 - exit after playing for p3 seconds

The visual tour...
First, right-click on an empty part of the desktop and select New -> Shortcut

Next, locate ViddyMP3.exe

Title this sound bite. Avoid illegal filename characters like the question mark.

Now right-click on your new shortcut and select Properties

Last step! Supply your parameters after the "ViddyMP3.exe" portion of the Target field. If the filename has spaces in it, enclose it within quotes. Do not quote the next two items, the offset and number of seconds to play. Make sure all parameters have a single space between them.

Double-click your shortcut to test, and adjust parameters to suit.

Last updated: Mar 5 2008