Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[wig]

Hey Robert,

Glad to see you on board with JRiver. I'm sure great things will be coming soon in the remotes department.

I have a question about guests and remote use. I'd like for my guests to be able to add music to Playing Now, either through my device or quickly installing an app on theirs.

I'd like this experience to be easy for users, giving them a single add option, as opposed to the menu full of choices I currently see in Gizmo for Android (add next, play now, etc).

I'd also like for guest use to be foolproof for me, so that a user can't accidently (or purposely  ) delete the Current Playing Now or otherwise derail the current listening experience.

Do you think these sort of features might be worked into future development of the JRiver remote? In additional to my own purposes, I think it would be a great way to introduce potential new users to JRiver, which can be a bit intimidating at fiirst.

Thanks. 

[TCube]

Wig,

Can't wait for the answer to your request.
I'm actually using my own Home Web Servers (either Apache or Delphi programs or both)  in order to get the level of control I want per User or User Group.

TC

EDIT : after reading the hereafter. Not my thing.

[6233638]

I like the idea of a "Guest remote" but there are some problems I can see with this.
 
Firstly, some sort of access control would have to be implemented to only allow guests to add to the current playlist, rather than making any changes to it - and I can see that being quite frustrating if they accidentally add a full album rather than a track, or select the wrong track, for example.
I suppose you could, in theory, track what changes a specific guest/device has made, and allow them full control over their own additions, but it seems like the sort of thing which leads to headaches.
Perhaps giving them full control, except being able to clear the entire playlist in one go might be the solution? These sort of control restrictions just seem problematic.
 
 
Another issue is actually giving them access. The first thing is that they have to be on your WiFi network - OK, if they are going to be staying a while, or they are frequent visitors, I suppose they would already be on the network.
The bigger issue I see, is that apps like JRemote cost money. If they aren't running Media Center at home, and don't already own it, it seems unreasonable to expect them to buy an app for this. (maybe if it were 99 cents that would be acceptable)
 
An alternative to an app would be a web app that they access via the browser - and I think this would be a better solution.
WebGizmo works, but I have problems with giving my guests access to it. You have to log in, so once you've done that, they now have worldwide access & control of your home setup. (assuming you're configured to allow external access)
 
 
Perhaps the best solution is "guest mode" access via WebGizmo, running off a separate account.
If there was a separate Guest login, which only allowed internal access to the library, with completely separate library views (I don't necessarily want guests to have access to the entire library) it could work.
 
Personally, I wouldn't have any problem with guests being able to clear or replace the playlists, but I might want to restrict what zones they can play to, and what content they can view.
E.g. audio only, and only control over the living room and kitchen zones, rather than whole house control.


Right now, the easiest solution is probably to just hand them your device, or keep an older tablet around as a dedicated remote.

[wig]

Good thoughts, 6233628. I agree that there are a lot of roadblocks to making this happen from a permissions standpoint. Let me focus on your last statement.

Right now, the easiest solution is probably to just hand them your device, or keep an older tablet around as a dedicated remote.

I'd be happy with this solution, but it just doesn't work on Android for Gizmo right now.

If I hand someone my phone and they want to play, say, a Janis Joplin song, here is what they see.



Hoever, when they tap on a song it simply replaces the current Playing Now and starts playing. Not optimal 

My preferred action would be to add the song to the current Playing Now, but to do that a user has to long press and choose from a menu.



Even here, there are several options and the most obvious one (Play) also replaces the current Playing Now.

This is just an example; my thrust is that the current Gizmo is not very 'guest friendly', and I'd like to see that considered during any redesign.

[6233638]

Ah, I see. This is something that JRemote handles quite elegantly.
At the top of the view, there's a button which lets you change what tapping on a song does:



The nice thing about it is that it's not a setting buried somewhere deep in the app, you can quickly change the mode that's being used depending on what you want to do.

[wig]

Ah, I see. This is something that JRemote handles quite elegantly.
At the top of the view, there's a button which lets you change what tapping on a song does:

That button is outstanding! Can we get one for Android devices?

[JimH]

Click and hold is different from click.

[6233638]

Click and hold is different from click.

Yes, wig's problem is that the default behavior for a tap in Gizmo replaces everything in the playlist, rather than adding to the playlist.
JRemote has a button to set the default tap mode. (as pictured above)