QTMPlay takes the approach that you'll want the least obtruction from your music-player while doing work -- you'll only want to see it when you need to use it. Therefore, via a collaborative design effort by me (Chris Rutter) and Andrew Clover, QTMPlay's passive interface is totally configurable.
The main window of QTMPlay is a small toolbar. This toolbar can be configured to act in several different ways:
Shift-F12 will bring the iconbar and the QTMPlay toolbar to the front, and pressing Shift-F12 will hide the iconbar and QTMPlay again.) So, according to your preferences, the QTMPlay toolbar will be as prominent or as hidden as you like, but can always be recalled with the touch of a button. From this toolbar, you can control the majority of QTMPlay's common features, such as rewind, fast-forward, and so on.
Toolbar configuration
Not only this, but the layout of the toolbar can be altered to any that takes the user's fancy. The buttons on the toolbar, and the size and shape of the toolbar can altered from the Choices... option on the main menu. This means that the main bit of the program will always be ideal for the user, as they can design it themselves. No other program offers this flexibility. (Note: this functionality has since been copied and imitated in three other programs, but not surpassed.)
Main control window
Moving on from the toolbar, the main control window is the next highest control centre of QTMPlay. At a glance, you can see all the information you need to know about the current song, and the carousel status. You also have full control over the current song, and the volume. Unlike other programs, which have enormous control windows roughly half the size of a screen, designed with memory-wasting pictures meant to make the window look like the front of a CD player, QTMPlay spares all the time-wasting gimmicks other software writers like to put in, and goes straight for ease of use. (Note: the blue part of the volume bar is explained in the carousel section.)
Other features
QTMPlay allows the user to tell it where the user keeps his/her songs, and then to access this location via a handy toolbar button, or a menu option. This saves people keeping their songs directory pinned up on the backdrop, or anywhere else, and allows easy access at all times. QTMPlay is also fully controllable via keyboard shortcuts, and requires only 180--230K of memory, depending on which modules you load in. There is full online help for QTMPlay, via a Windows-like "ToolTips" module. QTMPlay also has a unique "module" system, where any BASIC programmer can write an extension to QTMPlay in minutes, fully described in the programmer section. (Note: there is also a full features list you can browse and download.)
