EMMS playlist buffer · three directions
Same playlist, three treatments. All are achievable inside an Emacs buffer, but they cost different amounts. Today it shows raw stream URLs (below); each direction fixes that and goes further. Mockups, not live renders.
low liftFaces + text only. Names come from the .m3u #EXTINF and local tags; the glyph is a nerd-icon; the bar is one timer-driven line. No images. Sits naturally in the buffer you already have.
medium liftCover art + variable-pitch serif. Emacs shows images (station favicons, embedded album art) and a serif face for titles via `display` and face remaps. The vinyl cover and segmented bar are drawn with faces/SVG. Needs an art fetch-and-cache layer; the warmth is a theme overlay.
higher liftPushes hardest against the buffer model. Rounded art, pill controls, the seek-bar dot handle, and rounded rows are easy in a browser but need SVG-rendered widgets or `svg-lib`-style images in Emacs, redrawn on playback. Doable in GUI Emacs, but it's the most code and the least "text buffer." A cool accent (mint) instead of the theme's amber to read contemporary.
My read: Minimal is the honest sweet spot for an Emacs player you live in, and it kills the primitive feeling on its own. Fancy is worth it if you want the now-playing moment to feel like hi-fi and you're happy to add cover art. Modern is the most striking but fights Emacs the most, so it's the biggest build for a look that a browser does more naturally. All three keep the n/t/m radio row and the same keys.
Left out of every direction to stay tasteful: animated equalizers everywhere, a separate browser pane, mouse-first chrome. Glyphs shown here (◉ ♪) stand in for nerd-icons.