Topic: Performer store -- unlimited streaming (Read 21130 times)

JimH · « **on:** September 25, 2009, 12:40:12 pm »

In the MC 14.0.71 or above, you'll find a "Performer Store" link. It's the store we introduced a year ago as a separate player for subscription and download purchases. In the latest builds, it also has music video content.

Without a subscription of any kind, you can play 30 second samples to find music you like. The "Similar Artist" feature and the artist bios are a good way to discover new music.

It's based on the MediaNet library of 5,000,000 plus tracks. It's the same content that the major labels license to Napster, Real, and others. MediaNet is also the provider of content for the Zune service. For more than 5 years, we've made many of the players that their customers use.

The first time you click on the link, MC will download the library of albums and artists (no content) to make searches very quick. You will experience a delay of 30 seconds or so when this happens, but only the first time you run it.

There is a free 12-day trial period. Other terms are described on the Performer MC page. There is also a limited free player for Performer there, but the MC14 player is newer and much more capable.

If you don't want the store, you can remove it in Plug-in Manager by selecting it and clicking on "Hide".

CadErik · « **Reply #1 on:** October 01, 2009, 10:25:49 am »

Quote from: JimH on September 25, 2009, 12:40:12 pm

It's the same content that the major labels license to Napster, Real, and others. MediaNet is also the provider of content for the Zune service.

Any news on having the store available outside the states? I believe Zune is available in many countries - if so, MediaNet might have a "legal" way to have customers in other countries?

Erik.

rrt · « **Reply #2 on:** October 10, 2009, 08:56:26 pm »

I think the the store is a great addition, and have signed up for it. From what I see, however, lots of albums are not available when I search for artists. Is the collection going to improve in the near future?

Thanks

JimH · « **Reply #3 on:** October 10, 2009, 09:52:46 pm »

Yes, the catalog will continue to expand.

What did you see that was a problem? Any specific examples?

stevenf · « **Reply #4 on:** October 17, 2009, 03:03:53 am »

I've noticed 128 kbps, for me, that quality is far too low, as most of my files are, or in the process of being ripped to the flac format. Will the quality increase in the future, or is this it?

Stevenf

JimH · « **Reply #5 on:** October 17, 2009, 06:55:40 am »

Quality of streaming may change in the future. It's up to MediaNet, the provider.

Purchased MP3 files are usually 256Kbps or 320Kpbs.

stevenf · « **Reply #6 on:** October 17, 2009, 08:17:57 am »

Thanks for the quick information

Stevenf

tjobbins · « **Reply #7 on:** October 31, 2009, 02:59:42 pm »

Let me know if FLAC is ever supported.

This is the barrier to me ever using any media store; none will give me full lossless files.

I'd probably spend quite a lot on online music if this were available - I would certainly appreciate the convenience of being able to download, doubly so with integration straight into MC.

tjobbins · « **Reply #8 on:** October 31, 2009, 03:07:28 pm »

Got a bug:

I can't remove the Performer Store Plugin using the Plug-In Manager. In fact, I can't remove any of the plugins in the Store section of the Plugin Manager.

When I click on Uninstall, I get a confirmation saying the plugin was deleted OK. But if I then expand the Store tree, I see the plugin is still there. I have tried uninstalling, then clicking OK and restarting MC, but it's always back again.

This problem seems specific to the Store plugins; I was able to properly uninstall the Theater View->Weather plugin for example.

This is in build 90

Matt · « **Reply #9 on:** November 09, 2009, 01:34:41 pm »

Quote from: tjobbins on October 31, 2009, 03:07:28 pm

Got a bug:

I can't remove the Performer Store Plugin using the Plug-In Manager. In fact, I can't remove any of the plugins in the Store section of the Plugin Manager.

When I click on Uninstall, I get a confirmation saying the plugin was deleted OK. But if I then expand the Store tree, I see the plugin is still there. I have tried uninstalling, then clicking OK and restarting MC, but it's always back again.

This problem seems specific to the Store plugins; I was able to properly uninstall the Theater View->Weather plugin for example.

This is in build 90

Use the 'Hide' button in Plug-in Manager to remove a store.

park · « **Reply #10 on:** November 11, 2009, 08:28:14 pm »

Does MC need access to any special ports to access the performer store? It connects but refuses to login on my work computer. I disabled windows firewall and tried to connect again but it didnt make a difference, so it must be being blocked somewhere further down the line.

ThoBar · « **Reply #11 on:** November 11, 2009, 08:58:38 pm »

Why has some music disappeared? Some albums are no longer available... have you lost rights to the music?

... and how long until performer is available in Theater View?

JimH · « **Reply #12 on:** November 11, 2009, 09:34:16 pm »

Quote from: confishy on November 11, 2009, 08:58:38 pm

Why has some music disappeared? Some albums are no longer available... have you lost rights to the music?

... and how long until performer is available in Theater View?

It should be there. Any specifics?

Theater View will take a while.

JimH · « **Reply #13 on:** November 11, 2009, 09:36:31 pm »

Quote from: park on November 11, 2009, 08:28:14 pm

Does MC need access to any special ports to access the performer store?

I don't think so.

ThoBar · « **Reply #14 on:** November 11, 2009, 10:57:44 pm »

Quote from: JimH on November 11, 2009, 09:34:16 pm

It should be there. Any specifics?

Crash Test Dummies - Jingle all the Way (and a couple of other albums of theirs, but I cannot remember their names.) I'm sure there was some by some other artists too, but I didnt really pay any attention to begin with.

Quote

Theater View will take a while.

OK, looking forward to this though - it will greatly increase Performer's use in my house.

park · « **Reply #15 on:** November 12, 2009, 04:27:11 am »

Could it be anything other than a firewall issue? Login fails every time for me. JohnT told me that my login isnt being rejected at the jriver end so it must be something at this end.

WinXP service pack 2 all up to date.

JimH · « **Reply #16 on:** November 12, 2009, 06:29:21 am »

Quote from: confishy on November 11, 2009, 10:57:44 pm

Crash Test Dummies - Jingle all the Way (and a couple of other albums of theirs, but I cannot remember their names.) I'm sure there was some by some other artists too, but I didnt really pay any attention to begin with.
OK, looking forward to this though - it will greatly increase Performer's use in my house.

How do you imagine it working in Theater View? Navigation may need to change with 7,000,000 tracks.

ThoBar · « **Reply #17 on:** November 12, 2009, 08:53:46 am »

Quote from: JimH on November 12, 2009, 06:29:21 am

How do you imagine it working in Theater View? Navigation may need to change with 7,000,000 tracks.

heh... thats for minds greater than mine

Seriously, I haven't given any thought - I assumed (yes, yes I know) that you guys would have something on the cards.

I will ponder on your behalf $:-\$

park · « **Reply #18 on:** November 12, 2009, 09:16:44 am »

Here's how I envisage the store should be (in standard view as well as theater view).

To aid new music discovery
Artists, Genres etc. featured on the front page should be a combination of artists and similar artists of the user's own library. This might sound counterintuitive as a way of discovering new artists, but I actually think that people want to discover from a position of comfortability (ie. start from what they know).

There should be a "community" section with albums, artists thrown in based on how similar they are to your own tastes and how popular they are amongst users with similar tastes. This should appear on ever page and be contextual (change to reflect the genre etc. that you are currently browsing). This could be extended to the point where users are able to browse profiles and music tastes of other MC users. They could also share playlists with each other.

You should have "Styles" or "Subgenres" to help whittle down the list of artists in a genre. Currently, the only way to discover new music is to search for and artist or album directly (unless clicking on random names in a list of thousands of entries is your thing). These styles should appear as a page with graphics, rather than a pane, when you enter a genre.

Radio. Random music of a genre, style or artist that you pick.

Theater View
Top level store should have the above suggestions as root elements. That is:

New Music (takes you to a list of genres which in turn leads to a list of artists and albums with the "similar" ones to your library ranked at the top.)
Community (which leads to a list of: friends playlists, top albums from users with similar tastes, all time most popular albums from the whole community)
Standard Genre, Styles, Artists, Albums type browsing.
Search.
Radio.

unless
if I cant get the store working on my work machine I might cancel my subscription though. Lack of iphone compatibility and work access pretty much wipes out any chance I have of using the store.

ThoBar · « **Reply #19 on:** November 12, 2009, 09:32:30 am »

Quote

Quote from: JimH on Today at 10:34:16
---------
It should be there. Any specifics?
---------
Quote from: Confishy
Crash Test Dummies - Jingle all the Way (and a couple of other albums of theirs, but I cannot remember their names.) I'm sure there was some by some other artists too, but I didnt really pay any attention to begin with.

Just realised another, related Album (and artist) has gone missing... The baritone vocalist from Crash Test Dummies released his own album "Crash Test Dude" which is also no longer in Performer.

Is this an issue? Or something we're likely to see wrt licensing changes for performer from time to time?

JimH · « **Reply #20 on:** November 12, 2009, 09:33:27 am »

Quote from: confishy on November 12, 2009, 09:32:30 am

Is this an issue? Or something we're likely to see wrt licensing changes for performer from time to time?

It's probably our bug. We're checking.

park · « **Reply #21 on:** November 13, 2009, 02:40:10 am »

I tried typing in wrong username and it told me that user name or password was wrong.

So then using correct credentials, it gives me a slightly different, but not very useful:

"Error logging in. Please try again later"

The store downloads and connects ok, but clicking on anything (album artist etc.) takes me to a page with an empty "Review" box (Message: "No review available"), and empty file list (Message: "Not available").

JimH · « **Reply #22 on:** November 13, 2009, 07:36:28 am »

park,
If you're still having trouble at work, it may be the network configuration. They may intentionally be preventing access.

Try from another location outside of work (as a test).

park · « **Reply #23 on:** November 13, 2009, 11:04:48 am »

I can connect from home.

I asked one of the network admins today and he couldnt think of anything that could be preventing me from connecting. I can actually connect to the store and load it. It's just that it wont let me log in. What theoretically could be preventing that if it's not
a) firewall blocking mc14.exe, or
b)http or https ports being blocked?

Bean · « **Reply #24 on:** November 15, 2009, 05:36:19 am »

Hello!

I got a few questions about this service i would like to know before i buy a subscription

If i buy a portable subscription, will i be able to play the files i download on my Symbian S60 5th version mobile phone?

Can i use the Performer store on all the 5 computers we have at home if i buy just one subscription?

JimH · « **Reply #25 on:** November 15, 2009, 06:54:10 am »

Quote from: Bean on November 15, 2009, 05:36:19 am

If i buy a portable subscription, will i be able to play the files i download on my Symbian S60 5th version mobile phone?

The Performer store has a 12 day free trial. If the S60 will play Microsoft DRM protected files, it should work. If it works with another major service like Napster or Rhapsody, it will work.

Quote

Can i use the Performer store on all the 5 computers we have at home if i buy just one subscription?

You can play the service on all 5, but only on two at one time. If you log on to a third PC, it will log someone else out.

Thanks for your interest.

Bean · « **Reply #26 on:** November 15, 2009, 12:34:39 pm »

Quote from: JimH on November 15, 2009, 06:54:10 am

The Performer store has a 12 day free trial. If the S60 will play Microsoft DRM protected files, it should work. If it works with another major service like Napster or Rhapsody, it will work.You can play the service on all 5, but only on two at one time. If you log on to a third PC, it will log someone else out.

Thanks for your interest.

Thanks for the answer.

One more question: I see that it is very easy for my kids to click the "buy" button. Is there any way to prevent this?
I don't want them to buy any music.

park · « **Reply #27 on:** December 01, 2009, 09:18:28 am »

I noticed that on my work computer incoming traffic on port 80 is being blocked. Seems everything goes through a proxy on port 8080. Could this be a reason why my login is being rejected by the performer store?

JimH · « **Reply #28 on:** December 01, 2009, 09:48:28 am »

Quote from: Bean on November 15, 2009, 12:34:39 pm

Thanks for the answer.

One more question: I see that it is very easy for my kids to click the "buy" button. Is there any way to prevent this?
I don't want them to buy any music.

You would have to log out to prevent it.

JimH · « **Reply #29 on:** December 01, 2009, 10:01:12 am »

Quote from: park on December 01, 2009, 09:18:28 am

I noticed that on my work computer incoming traffic on port 80 is being blocked. Seems everything goes through a proxy on port 8080. Could this be a reason why my login is being rejected by the performer store?

I don't think there is anything inbound.

If you use a proxy outbound, try disabling it. My guess though is still that the network is set up to prevent access.

park · « **Reply #30 on:** December 01, 2009, 10:34:05 am »

The network allows me to browse all other http content. It's a university network. Disabling the proxy essentially cuts me off from the net.

Media Freak · « **Reply #31 on:** April 29, 2010, 11:01:52 pm »

Question: is any work being done backstage to negotiate for more music to be added to Performer? I mean will it ever catch up with Zune/Rhapsody/Napster's music library size?

jacky · « **Reply #32 on:** May 01, 2010, 11:40:16 pm »

serious problem here on hi-res screens - no page size scaling on the front page

)p( · « **Reply #33 on:** May 02, 2010, 01:40:35 am »

Quote from: Media Freak on April 29, 2010, 11:01:52 pm

Question: is any work being done backstage to negotiate for more music to be added to Performer? I mean will it ever catch up with Zune/Rhapsody/Napster's music library size?

And a better bitrate? I love the close integration of the performer service in mc...but 128kbs just does not sound good enough to my ears.

The view schreme in the performer store with the biography info etc. is really nice. I guess this has not yet been extended to normal mc views because of licensing. But maybe this could be made available throughout mc for subscribed users to the performer service?

soulcancer · « **Reply #34 on:** May 04, 2010, 04:04:47 pm »

There should be an option to purchase a song for unlimited streaming for 10 cents. we have the subscription, individual download, and streaming subscription, why not individual purchase for streaming?

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Author Topic: Performer store -- unlimited streaming (Read 21130 times)