Introducing RecordBox

Some time ago I wanted to make an AmiDock subdock that would act as a playlist launcher. Intially I just added all my playlists to AmiDock and used DefIcons to setup a default icon for M3U files that pointed to AmigaAMP. The end result was a very text heavy subdock which I was not too keen on. I decided to try making some album cover icons to improve the subdock. To do this I used images downloaded from the net which I then converted to icons with Image2Icon. Initially I planned to upload these to OS4Depot as an icon pack, but wondered if there was a better approach.

I wanted a tool that could simplify the task of making these icons and adding them to AmiDock, ideally one that searched online for appropriate art work, downloaded it and created the icon in as few clicks as possible. I found various scripts and tools for this on other platforms, although some were broken and others I couldn't work out how to adapt to AmigaOS. After some experimenting RecordBox is the end result.

RecordBox's subdock showing some albums

Once launched RecordBox adds a docky to AmiDock. When a compatible playlist is dropped on the docky RecordBox will check through its database and attempt to download a matching cover image. If an image is downloaded successfully an icon is then created from this which is added to the playlist file. The playlist's default tool is set to AmigaAMP3 and it is then added to a AmiDock subdock. If no match is found RecordBox will still add the playlist to the subdock, however it will have a generic icon. The guide included with RecordBox lists supported titles and there are example playlist files included for you to try the program out with.

This first release has its limitations which I hope to overcome in the future. The main one being the limited database, only 100 albums are supported for now. In this first release only files with a .m3u extension are accepted and the default tool is always set to AmigaAMP3.

You can download RecordBox from OS4Depot with future updates available through AmiUpdate. I hope you enjoy trying out RecordBox!