Topic: Android Music Player (Read 18384 times)

johnnyboy · « **on:** October 15, 2010, 06:42:37 am »

Hi guys,
Seeing as Android is fast taking off as the #1 OS for the SmartPhone market and its built in player lacks quite a few features I was wondering if you guys had considered building a Music app for Android.

Just make a replacement player but one that could properly Sync with MC and do ratings, last played, play count, etc, etc.

I'm not sure how big or small a task this would be but the potential for everything to Sync seemlessly with MC seems like a HUGE potential gain and would surely encourage a lot of extra users to MC as they discovered that the best music app for android worked even better when they bought MC.

Right now Gizmo can stream from our home PC's which is great and could be an additional extra feature to throw into the music player.

What'd you guys think? Its a HUGE potential market and would get MC a LOT of free press if it built the best Android player out there.

Crayola Boy · « **Reply #1 on:** March 03, 2011, 08:04:07 pm »

I pray for this every day and I check the market regularly just in case one shows up.

glynor · « **Reply #2 on:** March 03, 2011, 10:44:48 pm »

If they did this, that would be a pretty big deal.

One of Android's major problems IMHO is that the media players have all been terrible. A "Theater View" quality media player, that can stream from your PC and access content local to the device itself, has huge hit potential and could certainly drive business for MC. If Google was smart, it would be exactly the type of thing they could point to in a demo.

Developing a rich application like this for Android, and perhaps more importantly supporting it, could prove very challenging though.

Crayola Boy · « **Reply #3 on:** March 03, 2011, 11:01:41 pm »

I would do if I knew anything at all about how. As it is, I do like the MixZing player for Android. It seems to do everything I want except playcounts and star ratings. I read on another forum that playcounts and lastplayed can't be done on Android because the devices are basically all drives. Something about the file system.

It's all gobeldy goop to me. I just want my J River App.

dbalkunjr · « **Reply #4 on:** March 04, 2011, 09:57:58 am »

Wow. This would be HUGE for me. This is still one of Androids biggest drawbacks....Don't get me wrong, I still can't wait until the Samsung Galaxy S WiFi player hits our shores and I would still use any of the current Android music players over any Apple products that require me to use Itunes. I think this would indeed open up an even bigger market for JRiver. I hadn't given it much thought previous to this post but I am excited right now at the mere mention of such a thing.

+1
+1
+1
+1

Matt · « **Reply #5 on:** March 04, 2011, 10:28:02 am »

JRiver makes an Android media player:
http://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Gizmo

dbalkunjr · « **Reply #6 on:** March 04, 2011, 11:21:37 am »

Yes Gizmo is great as long as you have an internet connection. Without that no dice......Correct me if I am wrong???

Matt · « **Reply #7 on:** March 04, 2011, 11:29:57 am »

Quote from: dbalkunjr on March 04, 2011, 11:21:37 am

Yes Gizmo is great as long as you have an internet connection. Without that no dice......Correct me if I am wrong???

That's true. We think connected devices are the future.

With that said, playing content from the SD card (or caching previously played content) is something we would like to add to Gizmo.

dbalkunjr · « **Reply #8 on:** March 04, 2011, 12:21:12 pm »

What is this internet thing I keep hearing about???

newsposter · « **Reply #9 on:** March 04, 2011, 01:49:21 pm »

"connected devices" almost universally require the user to have a data plan costing $200- a year and up. Free WiFi is not available in near enough places. Then there are the personal security (and copyright liability!) problems of allowing your home media server to be available to the internet, even if efforts are made to 'lock' it down to a select few known and controlled devices.

That's a lot of coin and legal uncertainty. It's also why disconnected devices will continue to be the choice for many (most?).

What's the ratio between connected-device power users and disconnected-device ordinary users? 1:10? 1:100?? 1:1000??? More?

Not having a $10- (insert a reasonable add-on price here) player for the top-3 portable device OS is deliberately bypassing a huge percentage of the market.

Not too long ago JR floated the idea of having a blue-ray HD addon for MC. Certainly the potential market for that is a lot smaller than the potential market for an Android/iOS/WinCE player would be.

WinoOutWest · « **Reply #10 on:** March 04, 2011, 04:26:47 pm »

I'd pay $10 more for a Gizmo integrated player for my android device!

Crayola Boy · « **Reply #11 on:** March 04, 2011, 09:51:08 pm »

Quote from: Matt on March 04, 2011, 11:29:57 am

That's true. We think connected devices are the future.

With that said, playing content from the SD card (or caching previously played content) is something we would like to add to Gizmo.

You couldn't pay me to only listen to my music over the internet. I use my Droid as my music player in my car and if I drive out of an internet connection area, the music stops. Then I have to take my eyes off the road to try to get it going again. That's a deal breaker. That's why I stopped using Pandora and switched to Slacker Radio, it allows me to cache stations on my SD card so that the music never stops.

Until the highways are blanketed with internet coverage, I'm keeping my music on my SD card and that means I'm not using Gizmo.

WinoOutWest · « **Reply #12 on:** March 05, 2011, 01:00:25 pm »

Quote from: Crayola Boy on March 04, 2011, 09:51:08 pm

Until the highways are blanketed with internet coverage, I'm keeping my music on my SD card and that means I'm not using Gizmo.

+1

RainCaster · « **Reply #13 on:** March 07, 2011, 03:04:33 pm »

Another good reason for using SD to cache music locally is that draws far less power than network streaming. This is vital for those times on my bicycle.

glynor · « **Reply #14 on:** March 08, 2011, 09:45:41 am »

Quote from: Matt on March 04, 2011, 11:29:57 am

That's true. We think connected devices are the future.

Unfortunately, if you live in rural America, I think they're going to stay there... The future.

Local storage has to be considered.

raldo · « **Reply #15 on:** March 11, 2011, 07:56:09 am »

An Android player that syncs local storage over local WIFI based on handheld settings, now that would stand out from the crowd.

Has anyone managed to sync folders over WIFI at all? There are apps that are supposed to do this but they all seem flaky and I've just uninstalled them after semi successful tries.

park · « **Reply #16 on:** April 04, 2011, 10:11:57 pm »

Just want to mention that the best local based audio player I've found on the android market so far is something called "Player pro". It lets you browse by album artist, sorts songs in disc number before track number, and has a really good MC style Tile View for browsing albums. You can also rate songs in there, but I dont think MC will look at ratings when you do a sync at the moment.

I've also tried the HTC music player, and Songbird, and Player Pro is definitely the best so far.

WinoOutWest · « **Reply #17 on:** April 05, 2011, 12:57:40 am »

Quote from: park on April 04, 2011, 10:11:57 pm

Just want to mention that the best local based audio player I've found on the android market so far is something called "Player pro". It lets you browse by album artist, sorts songs in disc number before track number, and has a really good MC style Tile View for browsing albums. You can also rate songs in there, but I dont think MC will look at ratings when you do a sync at the moment.

I've also tried the HTC music player, and Songbird, and Player Pro is definitely the best so far.

I'll second this. I've tried a half dozen players as well and am now happily settled on Player Pro as well. (that is until Gizmo catches up as a stand alone player!)

leezer3 · « **Reply #18 on:** April 05, 2011, 08:25:53 pm »

Quote from: park on April 04, 2011, 10:11:57 pm

Just want to mention that the best local based audio player I've found on the android market so far is something called "Player pro". It lets you browse by album artist, sorts songs in disc number before track number, and has a really good MC style Tile View for browsing albums. You can also rate songs in there, but I dont think MC will look at ratings when you do a sync at the moment.

I've also tried the HTC music player, and Songbird, and Player Pro is definitely the best so far.

IMHO the HTC player is marginally better in some areas. Biggest issue with Player Pro at the moment is the widgets- They don't have the track number or duration/ timeindex on them. I'd also note that it simply doesn't handle non-square coverart and just mangles it to suit. (The pad/ stretch options only seem to shift square coverart to the screen resolution)

I think the most recent version from the market (2.03) should sync ratings via the file's tags if this is enabled via options

Never tried or much cared for ratings, so I'm biased in that regard.

Definitely the best non-HTC offering though, and what I've got at the minute. (Did have a Hero, but replaced with a Galaxy S)

-Leezer-

seldenr · « **Reply #19 on:** April 19, 2011, 03:01:36 pm »

Has anyone tried Poweramp? I downloaded the free trial version and it seems to play flac files just fine. MC recognizes my phone (an HTC Inspire) and allows me to transfer albums to the phone in flac format (after I manually added flac to the list, since Poweramp plays them).

However, when I transfer albums, Poweramp recognizes the artwork and album name, but does not list them by album or artist. The main problem is that it does not pick up the track numbers, so when I open an album/folder, all the songs are there, and they play just fine, but they are in alphabetical order, not by track number. A big problem with classical and most jazz.

Does anyone know how to instruct MC to send the track number or to tell Poweramp how to see it? I know they can since I first transferred some albums with the mp3 conversion feature on. All tags (including track numbers) transferred just fine, but the files sounded awful, so I told MC not to convert, just use flac, and then no track numbers.

Thanks for any help!!

Crayola Boy · « **Reply #20 on:** July 08, 2011, 01:35:48 am »

I hope the developers are still considering having Gizmo play songs from the SD card. I only bring this up again because Verizon just stopped allowing unlimited date plans for new customers, which leaves my wife high and dry. Playing songs from the SD card while keeping play stats and ratings (and maybe dynamic smartlists, but that's asking too much) in sync would magically pull money from my wallet and into the hands of the J River team.

Roll24Dive7 · « **Reply #21 on:** July 08, 2011, 10:09:21 am »

I certainly would pay for an integrated video/image/music player by J River! There don't seem to be many high-quality all-in-one players.

Add a media player to Gizmo! Not just music

imugli · « **Reply #22 on:** July 08, 2011, 08:48:00 pm »

+1

Oh for an app that would automatically sync a Smartlist over wifi as soon as it connected...

100 random songs, say...

jeffx · « **Reply #23 on:** July 25, 2011, 06:36:28 am »

I just switched from JRiver's subscription music service to Rhapsody due to Rhapsody's excellent Android app that allows me to use subscription tracks on my Evo 3D. And with the Rhapsody player there is no need to sync with my PC--I can download/manage tracks/manage playlists all from my portable device. And all my playlists syncronize between Android/PC automagically. And Rhapsody even costs less.

If/when JRiver brings this type of functionality to Android, I will probalby switch back.

HTPC4ME · « **Reply #24 on:** July 25, 2011, 12:06:01 pm »

kind of on topic... those of you that use gizmo. could you please check out my post here - http://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php?topic=65478.0

and let me know your experiences/and also settings?

I love gizmo, but i want my stuff to stream instantly, and im not sure if it's user error, or if gizmo/jriver server just doesnt allow for streaming like htc streaming player does.
thanks

remixedcat · « **Reply #25 on:** August 20, 2011, 07:35:47 pm »

If I had a player as sophisticated as media Jukebox on android or WP7 I would be the first to get it! Most of the media players are not as good and I want one that plays local files on SD card becuase I'm getting a droid and using it on page plus prepaid so data usage would be only for brief online checkups and not music streaming.

scm · « **Reply #26 on:** October 15, 2011, 05:15:16 pm »

I have to throw in my 2 cents that the native Blackberry Media Player is a joy to use and I pray every day for the ability to stream music to my Blackberry from a hard drive connected to my home laptop with MC (connected to the internet of course). I have unlimited data on my Blackberry with no extra charge with sprint so it would literally be a dream come true if I could access my ENTIRE music collection portably like this.

I currently use a 32GB micro SD card and that's wonderful, but my entire collection is larger than this so I'm always compromising. So don't forget us Blackberry users, because, although not flashy, the fundamentals of Blackberries, including media player, are top notch!

remixedcat · « **Reply #27 on:** October 15, 2011, 05:41:54 pm »

does the blackberry have DSPs like media center???

scm · « **Reply #28 on:** October 15, 2011, 05:50:32 pm »

No. I haven't even used DSPs with MC. I love media center for it's superior library features since I regularly listen to new songs and rate and assign genres to them so I can easily browse later on when I'm in a listening mood.

Since my Blackberry is always connected to the internet via 3G, I'd just like the ability to stream my collection, which resides on a 2TB external hard drive at home, to my phone. It'd be the most amazing thing ever.

Also, Blackberry does not display or recognize ratings. Not a big deal for me at the moment because I'm using the 32GB micro sd card so the only songs I put on there are highly rated songs. But yes, whether the app is interfacing WITH the native BB player, or whether it's an app written from scratch, it would just be nice to have access to the ENTIRE collection.

However, a new app written from scratch with ratings support would allow me to also rate songs I haven't ever heard before. But that's not a dealbreaker. I'll look into DSPs but I always thought those were equalizers and I like to listen to my music as flat and true as possible, which is why my home speakers are active studio monitors.

Thanks for replying!

remixedcat · « **Reply #29 on:** October 15, 2011, 07:51:39 pm »

awww.... I use rockbox on my fuze instead of my crappy samsung phone (non droid) because it's player only has 3 presets and none of them even come close to my rockbox'd fuze's SQ.

I don't care about star ratings or any of that to me SQ is the most important thing.

with rockbox you can widen the soundstage making me have less fatigue when listening with headphones or IEMs. without it I get fatigue and a bit of a headache after 30 minutes of listening with no DSPs or soundstage wideners...

if you can find an android media player (anyone) that has these features please let me know!

scm · « **Reply #30 on:** October 15, 2011, 07:57:59 pm »

Ya I can see why that's a very important feature in your case.

In my case I'm sending audio out via bluetooth to my head unit (car stereo) so as to avoid distortion out of the headphone jack. Do you think the headaches could also be due to the distortion caused by the digital to analog conversion being performed in-phone? Even though bluetooth is downgrading it to 64kbps which sounds like it would suck, the lack of distortion due to digital to analog conversion being done in the high quality head unit in the car is worth it for me, not to mention the wireless convenience as well as obviously being able to have a hands free "auto answer" feature on the head unit so it breaks into the music when a call comes in.

Eventually, I'd like to not use bluetooth but rather go out via usb or hdmi with future phones so keep the signal digital all the way into the head unit, which can also perform sonic equalization. Ya ratings I can take or leave, but they would be nice if and only if I can access my entire collection via my phone. This can be done, but how hard is it?

remixedcat · « **Reply #31 on:** October 15, 2011, 09:05:23 pm »

Possible could be from the conversion....

my phone has bluetooth and all that as well but my car stereo is just a standard cd head unit with no aux jack just fm and cd.... I use modulators and they sound like crap LOL. Plus I gotta turn my phone or my fuze up all the way to be able to hear it decently and that drains batteries like mad.

I agree USB would be the way to go it would play and charge. I will see about getting a decent stereo and speakers when I get a decent car LOL.... kinda tight on cash though so that'll have to wait.

scm · « **Reply #32 on:** October 15, 2011, 09:40:33 pm »

Not JUST the conversion, but also the fact that your tiny cell phone is sending that digital signal, converted to analog noise up that 3.5mm jack and that alone can make the sound suffer a lot. So I like to keep it dig (pronounced didge!)!

Well I just got my head unit installed yesterday after 3 weeks of steady research. I found one for $230 which has all the features of one that costs $1000, so I know what you are talking about but I was really able to get a great value. Bluetooth in the home and bluetooth in the car has made my life really wonderful, and I always still have my direct USB audio out on my home computer, into a mixer, into 2 studio monitors so the sound is just so amazing, even with mid range quality mp3s. Obviously, top notch speakers which can recreate all the sounds present are a must. Mine have the amplifiers built in which helps as well.

I added bluetooth to my computer with a $5 ebay usb adapter from china, but it only does A2DP, so I bought another brand name one for $30 which does A2DP and HFP (for phone calls), and I'm still waiting for that to come in.

Blackberry doesn't currently support sending USB audio out. However, in the case of my home computer, it's not my computer that supported it, it's the mixer I'm plugging into which runs via USB 1.1 and installs the codec automatically when plugged in. It's great! I have no receiver whatsoever, and a mixer is just so much cooler cuz all the "doors" are open for all sources at all times, whenever they are ready to start chirping.

remixedcat · « **Reply #33 on:** October 16, 2011, 12:09:38 am »

yeah sucks more phones need to support usb audio out. that would be the best.....

what kinda headphones you use?

and what speakers do you have in your car system?

scm · « **Reply #34 on:** October 16, 2011, 02:40:26 pm »

My speakers in the car are Polk, but I'm not necessarily saying they are the best. When I'm ready to spend $1000 on speakers, I'll do it. The original blackberry stereo headphones with microphone is very good quality and a very robust piece. It lasted about a year of heavy use before breaking. That's dropping it down the gutter next to my car seat like 100 times, stepping on it, sitting on it, and using it to repel cliffs. But I am also not jogging with it or anything. I hear there are some phones with hdmi mini out which I imagine could take audio only, but none of the Blackberries have that yet. I'm not even sure how much pressure there is on them to add USB audio out to their phones. It seems obvious, but not enough people are aware that it can be done. So bluetooth for now.

remixedcat · « **Reply #35 on:** October 16, 2011, 03:25:04 pm »

yeah most people are "casual listeners" that only listen to mainstream music through thier crappy ipod earbuds without any eq or processing..... I listened myself and it was so god awful LOL.... zunes are worse though.

scm · « **Reply #36 on:** October 17, 2011, 07:45:24 pm »

Maybe we can stage Occupy Blackberry to protest the lack of USB audio out functionality?

remixedcat · « **Reply #37 on:** October 17, 2011, 11:34:59 pm »

That would be awesome!!!! LOL

preproman · « **Reply #38 on:** December 21, 2011, 03:39:10 pm »

Quote from: remixedcat on October 17, 2011, 11:34:59 pm

That would be awesome!!!! LOL

Could someone start a poll for the (Gizmo) Android Music Player? I would but I don't know how.

Castius · « **Reply #39 on:** December 22, 2011, 02:26:28 pm »

ya i'm kinda torn. I just started to use gizmo.
But have been use subsonic and it's android app. That lets me cache my music and listen offline.

Without this i don't think i can switch to gizmo as my main phone app. because running two servers is difficult for me.

JIMV · « **Reply #40 on:** January 29, 2012, 11:57:36 am »

Quote from: Matt on March 04, 2011, 11:29:57 am

That's true. We think connected devices are the future.

With that said, playing content from the SD card (or caching previously played content) is something we would like to add to Gizmo.

I am using two apps on my Droid 3...Gizmo for when I have Wi-Fi connectivity, and PowerAmp for use of music on my SD card. I find the PowerAmp app to sound better than the same file played on my iPOD...

INTERACT FORUM

Author Topic: Android Music Player (Read 18384 times)

Roll24Dive7