Topic: MusicLobby Pocket PC Released! (Remote Jukebox) (Read 8613 times)

mcascio · « **on:** August 27, 2003, 06:46:40 pm »

It's Official...MusicLobby Pocket PC (PPC) is now available. It relies on Media Center 9 or Music Jukebox 8 so there's no need to reconfigure anything about your setup. Just enjoy controlling your music from anywhere in the home.

Here are version 1.00 Features:
> Displays Full Screen Color at 240x320 pixels
> View Album Cover art
> Supports and displays ID tags
> Browse entire Music Library
> Run MusicLobby PPC on multiple Pocket PC's - each instance will display live real-time information
> Filter by Artist, Album, Genre or File Location
> Add individual songs, entire albums or every song by the Artist to the playlist with one click
> Automatically resizes cover art
> Quickly remove any track from the playlist with one click
> Automatically imports information from J River's Media Jukebox or Media Center
> Clear playlist
> View playlists
> Easy access transport controls
> Hard buttons on PocketPC provide faster navigation

And now for some screenshots.

View Album Cover Art

Selecting Music is Easy

What's Playing Now

Intelligent Playlists

More information is available from the Cinemar's MusicLobby Pocket PC page: http://www.cinemaronline.com/musiclobbyppc.html

MusicLobby PPC screens were designed with the Full Windows version of MusicLobby in mind to create a seamless and coordinated look among devices, tablets, touchscreens, televisions and standard monitors.

We're looking forward to hearing everyone's feedback .

davidne0uk · « **Reply #1 on:** August 27, 2003, 11:37:12 pm »

looks cool, just what I've been waiting for.

What about multizone control ?

Davie

mcascio · « **Reply #2 on:** August 27, 2003, 11:50:16 pm »

Hi Drowbe,

I've got a pretty full slate for the next two weeks so I don't think there will be a trial before then unfortunately.

Davie,

Multizone is definitely something planned for the next update along with many other features.

Dave T · « **Reply #3 on:** August 28, 2003, 07:07:46 am »

Looks beautiful!

I'm a NetRemote guy, but I'd definitely be interested in checking this out, once you have a trial version. I don't mind the cost, but I'd need to try before buying.

Can you briefly describe how you navigate your library? Say you're in the artist/album view - how do you jump back up a level to get to the Genre/Album view. I don't see a "back" button anywhere.

Also - how do you scroll? The Artist/Album view screenshot seems to be missing scrollbars.

- Dave

mcascio · « **Reply #4 on:** August 28, 2003, 07:27:11 am »

Hi Dave T,

Stop by the following link to see how you navigate certain functions you mentioned:
http://www.cinemaronline.com/musiclobbyppc.help.html

They are available from the navigation/cursor buttons on your pocket PC.

Mike Noe · « **Reply #5 on:** August 28, 2003, 07:49:55 am »

Davie:
Just curious, what have you been waiting for? What is it that NetRemote will not do for you?
-Mike

Dave T · « **Reply #6 on:** August 28, 2003, 08:05:16 am »

Mario:

Gotcha. The picture is actually of the PocketPC that I have - the Toshiba E740. I assume that the scroll button on the upper left side of the PPC will scroll, too?

Mike:

Sorry - I don't know what you mean about "waiting". I'm not waiting - I'm using NetRemote now. I've actually helped Ben with the development of it - I did the "NRIRServ", IR server for it. So, you could say I have a vested interest in NR. I love NetRemote, but I also like to check out new things. MusicLobby seems to have a bit prettier screens, although some people have done some pretty nice ones with NetRemote, too. ML may be a little better on a larger screen, too, and I'm going to be getting a couple of Tablet PC's. I want to try ML, and see if people find it easier to use. The whole idea is to be able to hand a PocketPC or a Tablet PC to someone at a party, and let them control the music. If I like ML, I'd probably end up using both.

- Dave

Mastiff · « **Reply #7 on:** August 28, 2003, 09:47:01 am »

Dave, I think you need glasses, or if you've got a pair, you need stronger glasses. He said "Davie", not "Dave". Look further up in the thread and you'll see what he was referring to.

I'll stick to NetRemote because of the openness of the system (you can do just about anything with the screens) and especially because it's so much more versatile. So I don't think I'll pay 85 bucks any time soon for a system that's mainly a more limited version of NetRemote's Media Center control. And I can't believe how much room is taken up with eye candy! To browse my library looks like it would take forever on that system.

Mastiff · « **Reply #8 on:** August 28, 2003, 10:08:54 am »

Mario, you have a very nice design on the area around the screen in your home theater! But I would be interested in knowing why you have choosen such a light color on the walls and roof when you've got a projector that's already has enough problems showing dark and black images.

Buckaroo · « **Reply #9 on:** August 28, 2003, 11:12:03 am »

Mario-
Terrific work, and I for one welcome solutions that don't require the level of hacking that netremote does. I think that this opens the door to a new class of user for MC. I think that the market is extremely limited at your price point, but perhaps that can come down with future iterations.

gkerber · « **Reply #10 on:** August 28, 2003, 11:49:20 am »

Looks great, and I might consider buying it.

Are there any free trials? Try before I buy?

I've bought and paid for too much software that didn't meet my needs, I like to try first and then I pay (like I did for MC).

If no trial, is there a refund policy if I don't like it?

Dave T · « **Reply #11 on:** August 28, 2003, 12:26:25 pm »

Tor:

Actually, I've got 20:10 - no glasses. But, I'm not very observant. Or, I could say that I thought that Mike had come up with an affectionate nickname for me...

Anyway, I agree with you for the most part on NetRemote. I think it's awesome. But, I still might pay $85 for Music Lobby - it looks pretty cool to me. It does have a lot of eye candy, but it also makes better use of screen real estate in some cases - such as browsing the music library. NR takes up space with a scrollbar, and shifts everything to the right as you go down in the tree view. ML can start you with left justified artist names in the by artist/by album view.

Ease of use would depend a lot on how snappy it is to respond as you navigate, and it would require a free trial to evaluate that...

For those that think that NetRemote requires a lot of work, though - that's just not true. True, you can customize your screens, but you don't have to. People have already created some pretty nifty screens, such as the one that it defaults to when you install NetRemote.

- Dave

mcascio · « **Reply #12 on:** August 28, 2003, 12:30:37 pm »

Hi Guys,

I'll try to respond when more time permits - I'm wearing about 20 hats today, but I just wanted to clarify.

MusicLobby Pocket PC is not $85 - it is currently $35 and does not require the Windows version to run. It comes with its own MusicLobby Server plugin for MC9 and MJ8.

mcascio · « **Reply #13 on:** August 28, 2003, 12:35:52 pm »

Quote

Mario, you have a very nice design on the area around the screen in your home theater! But I would be interested in knowing why you have choosen such a light color on the walls and roof when you've got a projector that's already has enough problems showing dark and black images.

Thought I'd tackle this one though since it is easy.

Actually, I don't have any problems with the contrast from the 10ht. The Stewart Grayhawk screen helps in this area. But more importantly, the room colors were chosen because it is a living room first, theater second. The back wall is dark which is the most important. When watching a movie, I can't even see anything but the screen on the back wall. While yes, I can see the sides, but I don't think dark walls would fly with the wife and/or look good during the day in my situation. Another consideration was that because of my floorplan there wasn't an easy way to stop the colors so whatever color I used in the living room/theater would also need to be used in the kitchen.

I will have a dedicated theater in my next home so I'm sure you'll see a big difference as far as wall colors go.

The room does function well though for normal living. Press a button and voila...instant theater as the screen drops out of the ceiling and all components turn on via MainLobby.

Mastiff · « **Reply #14 on:** August 28, 2003, 12:40:12 pm »

Mario, I must say that it's a very reasonable explanation. But as a CRT-man I could of course say some things about the Sony, even with Greyhawk, but we'll do that another time, in another thread.

mcascio · « **Reply #15 on:** August 28, 2003, 12:48:07 pm »

Mastiff,

I can certainly see your point too. One thing I've learned though is that unless you have something to compare things to you probably won't know the difference. As long as I don't put a CRT projector in the same room with my Sony...I think I can live with the Sony.

I try to stay out of high-end theater stores.

It saves me a lot of moola.

Sorry guys - again - not sure when I'll have time to put together a trial version. Because this is software and I'm sure everyone's word is good, theres no way for me to make sure you delete the software after a refund.

Mike Noe · « **Reply #16 on:** August 28, 2003, 01:18:30 pm »

Quote

...require the level of hacking that netremote does.

Have you seen the .99 release? You gotta check it out if not, cake to install and the included MC CCF is very easy to use.

SBrandsborg aka Mouseman · « **Reply #17 on:** August 28, 2003, 02:26:24 pm »

Will it work on Microsoft Smartphone 2002???

gkerber · « **Reply #18 on:** August 28, 2003, 04:10:56 pm »

Quote

Sorry guys - again - not sure when I'll have time to put together a trial version. Because this is software and I'm sure everyone's word is good, theres no way for me to make sure you delete the software after a refund.

Certainly up to you, but I'll either do without, or wait till you get a trial version. There is not enough room here to list the software I've bought that turned out to be useless, meaningless or so buggy it was unusable. I promise if you ever get a trial verison, I'll try it.

I don't expect you to be "sure everyone's word is good", but if you say are sure, then your next statement makes no sense.

mcascio · « **Reply #19 on:** August 29, 2003, 11:53:14 am »

Mouseman,

I'm not familiar with Smartphone. If it supports Pocket PC 2000, 2002 or 2003 applications it should work though.

gkerber,

Sorry - sometimes my hands don't type as fast as I'm thinking or is it the other way around.

Mastiff · « **Reply #20 on:** August 29, 2003, 01:02:26 pm »

Mouseman, I didn't think the smartphone had support for any kind of LAN. I know you can use NetRemote if you're using a GPRS or a similar solution and send everything over the Internet (you'll have to have a fixed IP for the host, of course), but that sounds very expensive. But if it has WLAN or Bluetooth (if you don't mind the very short range) and complies with PPC standards, I would guess that it is possible. I think "trial version" are the key words here...

btw there's a new version of NetRemote out now (very beta, not yet stable, but wow!) where you can type for instance "back in black" in a field of the Panel (library view for MC) CCF and find stuff just like within MC itself! Incredibly fast and way cool! I've been playing with it all night!

mcascio · « **Reply #21 on:** August 29, 2003, 01:28:56 pm »

MusicLobby Pocket PC already contains the backend coding to allow for searching of the music database as well as control zones. The Windows version currently already contains these features.

I'm hoping to make them available in the next update to MusicLobby PPC after CEDIA.

I wish I had time to put together a trial - just too many other things to do before the show.

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Author Topic: MusicLobby Pocket PC Released! (Remote Jukebox) (Read 8613 times)

gkerber

gkerber