Try changing the skin to Confluence. Unfortunately the music section of Kodi has not been given the same love that video/movies have received but that is changing in the upcoming versions. Unsure if you have done this yet but you also need to scan your music into the library, go to music>files and right click the source and choose “scan to library”
Kodi is the core media center app that OSMC uses, OSMC is the operating system and Kodi is the media center app.
Please do - what a lot of this negativity shows is no attempt has been made to check on things (like using a different skin when using a mouse can improve that aspect)
Derek
the mouse bit is the least of my worries.
not being content with (and fighting against) mediocrity is how you eventually end up with a great product. If people are content with the product as it stands then sorry but it’s not going to get anywhere. It’s going to end up the same way Linux did, i.e after 20 years it’s still on the sideline while it could have taken over the world a long time ago, if only people were not happy with mediocre work.
I think you have some valid points but I am just worried that you use all your energy by till barking up the wrong tree. Change to confluence (the original Kodi skin) and all your ideas and issues that than are still exist you should tell over at Kodi
You need to be very careful about blaming Kodi’s shortcomings on OSMC. I think this is the largest flaw in your entire post here, and the reason people are bucking back against your generalizations. It appears that your knee jerk reaction to vent your displeasure with all the wailing and gnashing has made you look foolish since it is very clear that you don’t have a firm grasp on the difference between the two.
So you want this to behave as a multimedia device and be easy and intuitive to use, yet are treating it as a computer and wondering why that doesn’t work so well for you.
When was the last time you tried to use a keyboard and mouse to control, for example, an iPod?
If you use a multimedia keyboard (one with dedicated play, pause, FF/REW, … keys) you can pause or stop playback using the pause or stop keys. Same if you set your system up with a remote. Or used CEC (though there seem to be some issues with that for some people at the moment), if your TV supports it, and control it with your TV remote (if that has play/pause buttons it). Or …
Virtually every multimedia player I’ve used in decades continues playing while allowing you to access menus. It’s so you can (for example) queue up more items, edit the playlist, … without interrupting your listening. Believe me, from the (very) few media players I’ve used which don’t continue playing, you don’t want it to do that - it’s extremely irritating.
So if you can’t find a way to play/pause/stop playback, either use an input device which is appropriate to the intended use (E.g., something with play/pause/stop buttons …) –or– actually read up what the keyboard mappings are if you insist on using an inappropriate device and expecting it to work (see here) –or– set up your own custom keyboard mappings so the keys you want perform the actions you expect (see here).
And/or try using a different skin, and/or …
Playlists I can’t comment on - not used them (and various people have pointed out that yes, the music section could possibly benefit from some improvement) - but as for the rest, some thought first (what am I expecting to achieve and how should I do that?) and maybe 10 seconds of research afterwards would have saved you a lot of frustration …
(unless, of course, you are using a multimedia keyboard, or appropriate remote - are you? - and play/pause etc. still aren’t working, in which case you might want to check the Kodi WiKi and see whether anyone else has reported a similar problem).
I don’t want it to stop playing music while I access menus, that’d be really annoying. What I do want is to be able to control the music myself whenever I feel/want to.
What if I have a touch screen (which I what I intended to have at some point). I mean, how come I cannot find a play/stop/ff/rew button ANYWHERE on the screen? I mean, that’s a bit weird for a media centre, right?
Go to Settings>Appearance>Skin and change to Confluence Also Settings>System>Input Devices and enable mouse/touchscreen support
Ha! 
It’s all context sensitive. That tripped me up for a while when I first got our “Vero 2” - it comes with its’ own, very nice, little remote … which only has 13 buttons on it.
I feel like a complete tw@t about it now, but I remember my pleasant surprise the first time I pressed “OK” when something was playing and up popped a context dependent menu …
So if you can’t figure out which key/mouse button/… it should be (and I very quickly gave up trying to use an RF multimedia keyboard/mouse - a Rii as it happens) then either look through the existing input maps (see links in my earlier reply) –or– just keep mashing everything until you find what triggers the context dependent menu. [[Edit: –or– go and read the link @fzinken shared below to read about the existing mappings/functionality]].
Then I think you’ll get on a lot better with Kodi/OSMC
Darn’ it, that was the link I was trying to find earlier (a much better place to start than the keyboard mappings ones I posted) but couldn’t (CloudFlare kept telling me kodi.wiki is down).
Thanks @fzinken!
Why would an end user care? I’m interacting with a erratic UI. Maybe the problems are a few layers deeper but no user will care about that. what’s the point in building something on top of something that’s broken?
I don’t want to blame Kodi, OSMC or anybody else. All I did was download OSMC, installed it and then when I tried using it, I was in for a bit of a shocker.
Because if they need to report a perceived problem, they might want to consider reporting it to those who can actually affect a solution! Who would contact Microsoft when Google Chrome stops working?!
Well then it would seem that Kodi, therefore OSMC, might just not be for you…
seems like it
depends what the problem is I guess.
@slos Have you tried changing skins or any other suggestions offered in this thread? Or are you just trolling?
@everyone It seems this thread is trying to turn into a “pissing match” if it continues I WILL close the thread, be constructive or stay out
@Dilligaf. Not trolling at all. I did try some of the suggestions indeed. Don’t see much improvement on most of the issues that I raised.
What happened:
To all the developers who’s heart I’ve broken: if you release crap code then don’t be surprised if someone mentions it’s crap.
Enjoy using our crap! Good luck!