Sounds good but UI is terrible
The player sounds great, especially compared to iTunes but is very basic in functionality.
Its missing a bunch of features essentially making it a bit of a chore to use. Its
suitable if you are the type to make curated playlists and just let it run, but those who
demand a little more functionality should look elsewhere. Think of it as a physical player
on a shelf, only basic controls are available. Its also ridiculous the remote app costs
$10 itself. I havent been able to control it with any other app yet.
Detailed review follows:
Although the sound is a huge improvement, I’ve still had clipping issues.
Usability is the main crux here. Its a sign the product is poorly executed/thought out
when you start noticing features you’ve always taken for granted before.
No right click in the playlist/library, or anywhere for that matter. No context menus
anywhere, no ability to edit tags or go to artist/album/genre. The library window
essentially just show the songs available. “Open in Finder” is the only option available
when a song is selected in the library.
When shuffling, the playlist itself shuffles rather than the play order. That would be ok
if "Go to the current song" was an option. Although you can make a playlist from selection
there’s not a “Play Next" or “Add to Queue” option.
When it shuffles to a song you like, theres no ability to go to artist or album. Instead
you have to unshuffle, sort by artist, and scroll to the artist to find the little “Now
Playing” icon next to the song. There is no filetype sort either.
In general, the library has been the most frustrating part of the app. There has been
instances where songs are greyed out without any explanation why. Other times it hangs
indefinitely when importing large folders and even outright refuses to add certain files.
The issue seems resolved now though Im not sure exactly why as it hasnt updated. I
suspect that files need to be added into Fidelias Library first before being able to
insert specific songs into other playlists.
Always on top is also not a feature. It wouldn’t be a major issue if universal commands
worked or if the Mac hotkeys didn’t lose focus after time. The player itself should also
respond to two finger gestures but it only works on the volume knob. The ability to scan
with two-finger drag would be nice too or a skip fwd/rev feature.
Overall, its a very mediocre app that needs much more refinement. Theres a closely priced
which Ive read favorable reviews about or a free one in the fruit family which you should
at least try first. Kudos to the developers though, its a nice looking and great sounding
app but they should be polishing the app more. Even the support forums are sparse.
Update: Years later, still no updates. UI feels more frustating every day, inability to create playlists/add files, the list goes on. I’m reduced to playing my entire library on shuffle or just normally. There are no smart sort options, playback features, nothing. I regret paying money as it looks like there are free players out there that actually make enjoying my music enjoyable. Terrible app.
Feds-A about Fidelia
