Music - No search functionality?

[philh]

Hi there,

This is my first post as a new member, so hi everyone!

I've had my PS3 for just a couple of weeks now. I bought it not just for the great gaming capabilities but also to replace a media-center PC.

On my old media-center PC I was of course able to use any music player (WMP, WinAmp...) to not only play my MP3's, but to manage and search my MP3 collection. I could very quickly find any MP3 by using keyword searches and queue tracks up for playback.

I've used TVersity, but don't want to have a PC on all of the time just to serve media to my PS3, so I've replaced the HDD with a 160gb unit and transfered all of my media to the PS3.

Imagine my disappointment when I find that I'm unable to perform basic keyword searches of my music on the PS3! The best I can do is to group the MP3's by artist or album and then manually (manually!!) scroll through until I find the track that I want.

My MP3 collection isn't huge. Only about 5500. But thats still too many to have to scroll through.

Is anyone aware of a way that I can use the PS3 XMB to perform keyword searches of my MP3 collection? If the PS3 is supposed to be a fully-formed home media system, surely this has to be high on the list of features for a future firmware release?

Does anyone feel the same or have any info?

Cheers!

[Death_By_Angels]

good point, though personally i would have kept the pc.. .... the ps3 after all is still mainly a gameing console, i think ppl expect to much from it

[philh]

The flexibility of a HTPC is nice, but just gets too much like hard work after a while. I enjoy tinkering with PC's, but I want a media center to be something that I just switch on and it works. No buggering about with codecs, updates, AV etc... I changed to a PS3 to make my life simpler. And for the great games!

The Playstation website says "PS3 delivers the next generation of interactive entertainment. Enjoy Blu-ray Disc movies, cutting edge High Definition games, easy music, video and photo storage, free access to PLAYSTATION®Network and much more."

I don't agree that the PS3 is mainly a games console. From the very start, Sony have promoted it as a single 'do-it-all' solution for home entertainment for not just games, but all media. This is why it's surprising to me that some very basic music playback functionality is missing.

It's interesting to note the trivial developments included in the latest firmware rollup when seemingly more important features - like music playback whilst browsing the web - remain absent.

I'd like to send my feedback to Sony in the hope that they listen to customer input and feed it into their firmware development. Does anyone know how to do that? I couldn't see anything on the PS3 website!

Cheers!

[KIARAN_08]

Originally Posted by philh

The flexibility of a HTPC is nice, but just gets too much like hard work after a while. I enjoy tinkering with PC's, but I want a media center to be something that I just switch on and it works. No buggering about with codecs, updates, AV etc... I changed to a PS3 to make my life simpler. And for the great games!

The Playstation website says "PS3 delivers the next generation of interactive entertainment. Enjoy Blu-ray Disc movies, cutting edge High Definition games, easy music, video and photo storage, free access to PLAYSTATION®Network and much more."

I don't agree that the PS3 is mainly a games console. From the very start, Sony have promoted it as a single 'do-it-all' solution for home entertainment for not just games, but all media. This is why it's surprising to me that some very basic music playback functionality is missing.

It's interesting to note the trivial developments included in the latest firmware rollup when seemingly more important features - like music playback whilst browsing the web - remain absent.

I'd like to send my feedback to Sony in the hope that they listen to customer input and feed it into their firmware development. Does anyone know how to do that? I couldn't see anything on the PS3 website!

Cheers!

ps3 is brilliant, you can even go on the internet onit,

did u say you had 5500 songs on your ps3 becuz that is ALOT lol
especially to scroll, they should do something about it

[PhatBoy92]

Originally Posted by philh

It's interesting to note the trivial developments included in the latest firmware rollup when seemingly more important features - like music playback whilst browsing the web - remain absent.

im typing this on my ps3 web browser whilst listening to kanye west on my ps3

in all honesty, using the PS3 as a media centre is a bit stupid since it uses more juice than a steroid addict (i.e. uses alot of electricity).

[philh]

Stupid? Well, thanks for your help PhatBoy92. Before branding me stupid, perhaps you'd like to take a look at this...

http://uk.playstation.com/ps3/news/a...-media-centre/

"Internationally known for the European EISA Awards, EISA started in 1982 when the editors-in-chief from five European photo magazines came together to select their camera of the year for the first time."

"Describing it as "a wonderful example of a powerful media centre", they pointed to its ability to play music, picture and video content, as well its wide range of media storage options and connectivity to other devices and the Internet."

Surely you're aware that the PS3 is sold as a multimedia entertainment centre? It's DLNA compliant and supports all major formats of music and video.

Also regarding power consumption:

http://www.engadget.com/2007/10/30/4...r-consumption/

I'm consuming 135w. My old HTPC had a 400w PSU. I'd say I'm doing alright on the 'juice' ta.

So, care to enlighten a stupid PS3 user on just how you're managing to listen to music whilst running your PS3 browser?

Cheers!

[PhatBoy92]

i didn't call YOU stupid, i said "using the ps3 as a media centre is a bit stupid".
anyway...open web browser >>> press PS button >>> go to music >>> press X on your desired song.

unless they took it out of the 40Gb it should work

[philh]

Ahh, simple. See, I am stupid.

You've gotta admit. The music player tools are particularly lacking. I'm just hoping that Sony will put some basic essentials in the next firmware release...

Cheers for the help!

[PhatBoy92]

Originally Posted by philh

You've gotta admit. The music player tools are particularly lacking. I'm just hoping that Sony will put some basic essentials in the next firmware release...

true, i'd be happy if they patched some games for custom soundtracks

[razgriz]

philh, copypasta is bad.
how many forums have you posted this on? what do you expect to gain from this?

[philh]

Sorry razgriz, I don't know what you mean by 'copypasta'?

This is the first forum I've posted on. Why do you ask? What do I expect to gain? Well, some insight really and maybe some advice. The PS3 is an awesome piece of kit. The games are amazing. But so far as other media is concerned I think Sony have forgotten some really basic functionality.

But I'm only two weeks into PS3 ownership. So I guess I was hoping to hear that I'm missing something, doing something wrong, or that good things are coming in the next firmware rollup...

[razgriz]

Copypasta = copy and paste

this just seems like a post that someone would sign up to a lot of forums and just stick it on all of them seeing though it was your first post and all

as for the update, nothing has been mentioned and honesty, the lack of search function has never even been mentioned here so i doubt sony have it pinned to their to do list

as for the ps3, wild idea here but treat it as a games console and blu ray player, not a glorified mp3 player?

Maybe in the future they'll release more music options, especially when custom soundtracks become common place. Until then my friend, you'll have to make do! Sorry!

[philh]

Ah, I see. No, I chose this forum after looking at a few (there's loads huh?). This seems to be the best.

Although... I must say that I'm a little bemused as to why my post has uncovered perceptions that the PS3 is merely a games console and blu-ray player. If this is so, then why is so much emphasis to the contrary made by Sony and the home-entertainment industry?

I'm not sure why copy and paste is bad razgriz, but I'll refer back to the info I linked to earlier. From the very start of Sony's PR for the PS3, long before the console was even released, it has been promoted and sold as a fully-featured media-centre. To brand it a glorified MP3 player is ludicrous. The PS3 supports all major media formats and is DLNA compliant - I'd say that makes it a damn glorious MP3 player, don't you?!

I've given the impression that the PS3 isn't working well as a media centre for me. Well, thats not true. I've slipped a 160Gb HDD in, transfered all my media across and it's working well. My point is only that Sony have missed some real humdingers when it comes to functionality.

I've spent some time browsing this forum and it's really great. But I can see that it's mainly focused on gaming. I know, I know. The PS3 is predominantly used as a games console! But I'm interested in using it for all of the things that Sony built it for. Not just the (incredible!) games.

I'd still be interested to know what the best method is for sending feedback directly to Sony.

Cheers!

[PhatBoy92]

Originally Posted by philh

Although... I must say that I'm a little bemused as to why my post has uncovered perceptions that the PS3 is merely a games console and blu-ray player. If this is so, then why is so much emphasis to the contrary made by Sony and the home-entertainment industry?

Sony thought selling it as a all-in-one media centre would gain more sales and outweigh the starting price (£425).
well, that's my guess anyway i only use the ps3 for games, web browsing & the occasional DvD.
the fancy photo viewer novelty wore off after 10 seconds along with the music visual player.

[philh]

You might be right!

Sod it. I'll play Motorstorm instead. It's daft though. How hard would it be to add some quick