Chapter 2. Using Elisa

Elisa indexes your music either by using Baloo if possible or by searching in a list of paths configured by the user through a dedicated interface.

In case the Baloo support is activated and your setup is not working, a notification is shown with hints allowing to deactivate the indexer or to activate the Baloo indexer and to feed Elisa with music tracks.

In case the file indexer is not finding anything, a notification is shown with a button to open the configuration interface.

You can find a list of changes at Elisa Project.

Currently no configuration is required before use of Elisa. You can explore the menu of the application to see the customization possibilities. It is possible to choose the paths that will be indexed for music. It is also possible to modify the shortcuts for common actions inside the application.

If you use the internal music indexer, you can configure the paths that will be searched.

Elisa features

Elisa provides two different tasks: browsing your music to build a playlist and playing music.

Browsing Music

From the different sources of music, it collects all your music and analyses their metadata such that their title, artist, ... It provides fourth ways to browse your music: a list of all albums, a list of all artists, a list of all tracks or a list of all genres.

Each method uses a view of all your music along with a filter to allow to quickly find what you are looking for. You can also filter by rating.

The filter of the view of all albums is implemented on the title or the artist of albums or the list of artists of each track of an album. The filter of the view of all artists is implemented on the name of the artists. The filter of the view of all tracks is implemented on the track title, track artist and track album name (if any).

It is also possible to directly browse the file system and play music files.

Building a Playlist

When browsing your music, artists, albums and tracks can be added with a button shown when mouse is over it. It is also possible to clear the playlist and at the same time add some music.

A toolbar below the playlist allows to operate on it. The following actions are possible:

  • You can clear the whole playlist.

  • You can navigate to the currently playing track.

  • You can save the playlist to the m3u8 format.

  • You can load a playlist that will replace your current one.

Playing Music

The playlist is read in the order of the tracks unless the Shuffle option is selected. At the end of the list playing is stopped unless the Repeat option is selected.

It is possible to switch to the next or previous track in the list. If the mouse is over a track, it is possible to skip to it by pressing a button.

The currently playing track is indicated by a flashing play icon.