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[Awesome Donkey]

Please start a thread with more about what you think.

Okay!

I think it's a fantastic idea. I've used multiple Android media players in the past - for the last year I've been using Neutron out of necessity since PowerAmp went down the tubes. But they always lack the things I'd like to see a media player on Android provide since I'm dependent on MC in Windows, Mac and Linux for handling my music library and for the fantastic DSP studio features. For me having a JRiver-based Media Player for Android would really bridge that gap and bring full integration between all my devices. However, my opinions will only focus on audio since I don't use MC for video (yet) - I'm just not much of a video person as I am a music lover. Since you guys already have the Linux build of MC running on ARM devices, I've wondered how hard would it be to get that working on an Android devices using ARM processors.

Now, feature-wise this is what I think. If you can create a media player that uses JRemote's interface (which is beyond superb!) and can scan locally within specific directories for media files, this should work out perfectly for me. If it supports DSP studio's features - mainly output format, volume leveling and adaptive volume in my case. In fact, you could merge JRemote's DLNA features into the media player so users could have the best of both worlds (with maybe some way to pull and save files from the server and store them locally on the phone/tablet/device/etc. in a specified folder).

Heck, you might even be able to get DSD64 (stereo) output working on an Android phone, depending on the CPU.

[mwillems]

I'd be very happy if Gizmo or JRemote could play/manage local content and be selected as a DLNA renderer by other MC instances.  At that point Gizmo/JRemote would be an android music player and effectively a pocket Id! 

Local playback would be very exciting (whether accessing the android system audio database, or in a fenced off private storage location).  If it was integrated into the existing players, you could probably leverage your Doctor Who logic for it to make the whole thing completely seamless (i.e. you select a track in Gizmo/JRemote, and if it can find a local match, it plays that, otherwise it pulls from the server, etc.).  If you could then select tracks to download as well (i.e. use Gizmo/JRemote to manage local storage) that would be the icing on the cake. 

It would save me a fortune in data and be a killer feature. 

Being able to run Gizmo or JRemote as DLNA devices would also be huge as you could then convert any old android device into a zone, which would be mighty neat and give people lots of options for extra devices and/or system on a chip devices running android.  You can mostly do it now with BubbleUpnp, but integration isn't perfect by any means.

I only use two apps on my phone for media management other than JRiver (Poweramp and Bubble UPNP); I would love to ditch both.

[astromo]

I only use two apps on my phone for media management other than JRiver (Poweramp and Bubble UPNP); I would love to ditch both.

I've got Poweramp and agree with the above.

Makes sense to me to focus the first evolution of an Android player on audio. The main reason I went for an aftermarket audio player was to take advantage of replay gain.

The other function that I'd view as a "must have", is automatic detection of Bluetooth and initiation of playback. With Poweramp, it fires up when I get in the vehicle or turn on BT speakers and it recognises that there's a BT signal for audio transport.

As mentioned above, library management / syncing would be great to give a direct line of communication between the Android and MC on PC hardware that could be achieved via a network connection.

[Awesome Donkey]

At that point Gizmo/JRemote would be an android music player and effectively a pocket Id!

This is something I didn't even consider - with a HDMI adapter it basically would be a pocket Id!

[gvanbrunt]

I was/am an avid user of Power Amp. Nothing else comes close, but it's missing a lot of features and now most likely never will. I used it be cause it was the JRiver of mobile players. It had better sound and more dials to twidle. It supported Replay Gain etc.

With the vacuum created I think if JRiver moves fast enough they can have something that everyone in the market would buy. Especially if it support Airplay, DLNA and local playback.

[Awesome Donkey]

I was/am an avid user of Power Amp. Nothing else comes close, but it's missing a lot of features and now most likely never will.

Lacking seemingly simple ones like sort by album artist is what turned me off PowerAmp and on to Neutron.

[mwillems]

I've been using Neutron out of necessity since PowerAmp went down the tubes.

I was/am an avid user of Power Amp. Nothing else comes close, but it's missing a lot of features and now most likely never will.

Is poweramp dead or something?  It looks like they released an update a few weeks ago?  Or is it just that development has slowed way down?

[astromo]

Is poweramp dead or something?  It looks like they released an update a few weeks ago?  Or is it just that development has slowed way down?

Dunno, mate. I got an update through in that time frame. I reckon they've been pretty regular. Maybe monthly?

To keep on topic my use of media playback on my phone, mainly, is to block out ads and just listen to music in the vehicle. So I run a long playlist on shuffle. I'm not that worried about bells and whistles. Give me basic function and the JRiver engine and I'd be happy.

[gvanbrunt]

Poweramp hasn't released any new major features in some time. Mostly fixes. It used to see new features on a regular basis. So the dev is only putting the bare minimum of work into the product.

[Arindelle]

I missed this post ... this would be great! Hope you would think about an IOS version. If that is really on the backburner, let me know I need to buy a new phone and might finally dump apple if this is the case.

[JimH]

We're working on porting to Android now.  iOS would probably be next, but it's not possible to say when or even if we'll do it.

[newsposter]

Would an Android port replace or incorporate Gizmo functionality?

[JimH]

We don't know yet where it goes.  We're just porting pieces, so that we can build whatever it is.  A greatly simplified media player seems the most likely.  Not much management, just playback.  That alone is a big job.

[damwierd]

I've been looking forward to a MJ player for android since I switched from apple about 7 years ago. There are players out there but they all lack something!! I'm hoping that MJ can get something out there that can handle simple playback with ability to organize the music on the phone in the same manner as on the desktop. The ability to create a playlist on the desktop and then transfer it the phone seamlessly (as long as the music files exists on the phone) would be icing on the cake. If that could be accomplished I think a lot of people would be extremely happy to change over to MJ for their music playback on the phone and consequently add MJ to their desktop as well.
I can't wait!!
Thank you MJ
Dean 

[Arindelle]

We don't know yet where it goes.  We're just porting pieces, so that we can build whatever it is.  A greatly simplified media player seems the most likely.  Not much management, just playback.  That alone is a big job.

I'm very ignorant about hows apps in IOS and Android actually work.  I was just wondering why the existing JRemote app couldn't just be used to playback local content?  Why create another app ... JRemote is already a renderer, right? Like just loading a local library from the phone/tablet, wouldn't be feasible?