$12256 / $11500
Currently it's cumbersome to browse and play though the music section. At a minimum, a radio player should allow users to have a listen, rate and 'favorite' tracks, and maybe edit playlists.
The benefit to users of OGA is that they'd be more likely to find music to use for their projects, and for the musicians, better exposure of their works and a way to get quick feedback (the ratings). This also might make OGA more entertaining to browse, and may encourage more community participation in the music and sound effect categories.
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The problem I see is that OGA isn't a music streaming service and abuse as such will put quite a strain on the already not that fast server backend.
There are other such services, most notably Jamendo that fills the nieche of a creative commons music streaming site where anyone can upload their songs.
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http://freegamedev.net
So, would it be better to upload the entire music collection to Jamendo? OGA should probably encourage users uploading music to go there instead. I don't see the purpose of having the music on OGA if it is difficult to find, and impractical to host/serve.
I can play music from OGA in the browser no problem (including from search results).
It's possible to "favourite" music tracks to give feedback, as well as adding to collections in order for people to keep track of ones that they like. OGA also now keeps track of your downloads.
I don't think a "music player" is needed, because unlike Jamendo, the intention isn't to provide a music streaming service where people listen to music (e.g., in the background), it's to provide music for game developers to download and integrate into their games. So as long as I can easily listen to it when I find it, that's fine, I don't need things like playlists.
I don't see how a music player would make it easier to find music. Whilst the OGA search could do with improving, this is something that is being worked on. Is Jamendo easier find music? At a quick test, it seems similar in that you type terms, then get a list of hits, and can play from the list of results.
Whilst Jamendo is another good place for people to distribute or find music, I don't think OGA should encourage people to go there instead. OGA has the advantage that music uploaded is geared towards being used in games, meaning you don't have to wade through other kinds of music. Also Jamendo allows non-Free licences like non-commercial and no-derivatives. And the advanced search only allows limiting it to one licence - I can't select a list of licences to search for (which OGA does, incidentally).
Yeah, I don't feel like the current audio system is cumbersome at all.
+1 to this:
--Medicine Storm