New audioplayer for n8x0
 

As I've said in other thread I have a dream of a perfect audioplayer for our devices.
Currently I use Quasar (interface for mplayer). It has a lot of unnecessary features and it's a bit baggy, other players I've tried do not seems to be perfect.
Is anyone interested? What I want right now is to propose and discuss:
- features
- decide what base to use (mplayer or what?)
- language (qt, or so)
- interface (colour, scrolling etc)

I can design the interface, make a pixmaps and push some ideas.

But again first of all... Is anyone interested?

Re: New audioplayer for n8x0
 

don't forget about name for player :D

Re: New audioplayer for n8x0
 

Hey Kroll.

There is so much there with Xmms, perhaps you should give it a revisit.

There are even thousands of skins for this if you search for Winamp themes.

If you really insist on starting your own, here's a couple of name suggestions...

Ingénue
AF Player (audio frequency)
or name it after your girlfriend. I'm sure that she'll think that would be hot. :)

Re: New audioplayer for n8x0
 

By the way Kroll, I wasn't trying to shoot down your idea, but Xmms can be customized like crazy plus it already has all of the audio features most people would like (eq, skinning, playing internet radio, flac support, cover viewer, etc.)

Not only that, some of the skins are awesome.

http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/3920/...1091712115.png

Just trying to save you from getting a new headache. :)

Re: New audioplayer for n8x0
 

If you are encountering bugs in Quasar, please file a bug over at http://trac.katastrophos.net/quasar/report/1

Also, if you have any other input, please drop me a line.
That would definitely help to improve things in the new version that I am currently developing.

Here is a pretty old preview featuring a prototype of the new interface: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2ePoF...ature=youtu.be

Thanks!

Re: New audioplayer for n8x0
 

oh snap! That skin for Xmms looks like a Winamp skin! I absolutely <3 Winamp and I would love a Winamp port (with the exact same features) for N810/N900.. with some features added/modified of course. I already have some ideas in mind, and I'm willing to show them to a developer.

// Roth

Re: New audioplayer for n8x0
 

Not using Qt may be preferable as not everyone have cloned maemo to SD yet.

And using mplayer as backend could allow for interaction with a2dp.

Re: New audioplayer for n8x0
 

It is a Winamp skin. :)

Some of my favorites are:
http://www.1001skins.com/skin_details.html?skin_id=3645
http://www.1001skins.com/skin_details.html?skin_id=2756
http://www.1001skins.com/skin_details.html?skin_id=2038
http://www.1001skins.com/skin_details.html?skin_id=2904
http://www.1001skins.com/skin_details.html?skin_id=2900
http://www.1001skins.com/skin_details.html?skin_id=765
and the one I like the most
http://www.1001skins.com/skin_details.html?skin_id=2754

But hey, I don't want to derail this thread any more so I'll stop right here.

Best of luck with whatever you decide Kroll. :)

Re: New audioplayer for n8x0
 

@Addison
Thanks, bro. It is very nice of you but the one thing I got during 2 and a half years using my n810 is: Desktop application is for desktop PC.
IMO all skins you've posted are unsuitable for tablet. Look at our screens, we need something neat and clear.
Do not want to hurt you, man. Sorry If I did :(
By the way, you should try AIMP instead of Winamp. I use it about 6 or 7 years and it is much better then Winamp.

@evilJazz
Oh so you are developer of Quasar? So thank you very much!
Unfortunatelly I don't know how to report about bugs (I saw the link u've posted but I still can't understand what to do) but I can send you a PM or post it here.

Re: New audioplayer for n8x0
 

I would be interested in another media player.

I would like to see an interface similar to the N900 player which is clean, simple and to the point.
One of the key and best things about the N900 player is the "one-touch" random play from the whole library.

Otherwise reuse the interface from the current maemo4 player, but "pretty" it up slightly with album art.

Re: New audioplayer for n8x0
 

Since you are making another "Media Player" you could just put "Advanced" before it and call it AMP for short. :)

XMMS is not touch friendly and it has to be minimized before other apps can be used because it stays on the top of stack (unless mine is broken).

1) make it use very little memory, like xmms. media player and canola use too much.
2) make it start up fast like xmms
3) touch friendly UI like canola or media player
4) you should be able to immediately begin playing music after launching it like xmms, canola requires requires you to drill down into your music
5) don't require metalayer-crawler, allow music directories to be selected like canola/xmms
6) control from dbus or command line app

Re: New audioplayer for n8x0
 

And even those who have still have the same amount of RAM as the rest of us. The glib/gtk/hildon stack is already loaded, use it!

Re: New audioplayer for n8x0
 

If only Xmms supported .wal extension Winamp skins instead of just the older .wsz ones.

Problem solved. :)

http://forums.skinconsortium.com/wcf.../176/promo.jpg

There is work being done on Xmms2 with it's new formatting.

It probably would be a pain to compile though. :)
http://xmms2.org/wiki/Install_instructions

Re: New audioplayer for n8x0
 

Hmm, just discovered that i still have youamp installed. Wonder what happened to that one.

If it had the ability to just dump one or more dirs into a playlist rather then this overly clever media library it would get more use from this person at least.

Re: New audioplayer for n8x0
 

YouAmp was halted for somereason. Developer doesn't answer so I think the project was abandoned.

Addison, all skins you showed are not "touch friendly". Thats the problem. All we need is a few buttons, playlist(s) and progress bar.
I can make a draft in a PS and upload here. Just give me some time :)

@auouymous
Nice, this is a completely what we need.
But I am a noob in programming, I even don't knwo what the difference between C++ and qt :D And I can't bring this kind of help to the project.

Re: New audioplayer for n8x0
 

C++ has one letter and two symbols, QT only has two letters. ;)

--

I have this dream of a new file manager for maemo. Think of telescope's launcher view but with a scrollable icon section and an action bar and a shelf on the action bar to temporary store files for moving them between dirs. A selection of multiple files would be stored on the shelf as a single icon representing the collection. Actions include basic file manager stuff but some are hidden until a file is selected. And other actions are context sensitive and change based on the files in a directory. And some actions will be grouped into a menu with the most used of the group appearing on the bar with a little symbol indicating that you can swipe it up to open the menu with more actions.

There would also be an action to open a special shortcut folder where you can place direct links to your most important files and the shortcuts folder also has special icons in it that represent typed collections such as music, videos and images. Multiple directories can be tagged as music and they automagically appear in the music shortcut. Each collection type also has a plugin that can alter the view inside the collection. So when you enter the music shortcut it changes the window to a playlist with music controls. And when you are navigating the file system and click on a music file it would launch the plugin to play that file but you would also see the music plugin on the action bar when inside tagged directories and could switch between file manager mode and music mode.

I also want it to have a text editor plugin similar to maemopad so it can open text files and rich text files quickly inside its lightweight editor and exit back out of them just as quickly. Instead of having a bunch of memos stored in a single database file you can have each one stored in a universal format as separate files.

The image plugin would be like the music plugin. Movies could be played with a plugin but might be better with an external app. Same for other file types like PDFs.

And of course the entire thing must launch fast, use very little memory and switch contexts fast. It would also start up in shortcut mode and there would be special "resume" shortcut that takes you to the same place you were at the last time you closed the file manager. Browsing the filesystem, close it, launch it again, tap music and then play to begin playing your music or tap resume to return to the spot in the filesystem you were last in. Or tap one of the other shortcuts for to go to your favorite directories, such as the one containing your text files.

:)

Re: New audioplayer for n8x0
 

Hey Kroll.

What about a front end for Xmms and using Xmms-ctrl?

Just trying to make it as easy of a project as possible for you. :)

Anyway, here's a couple of screens that might give you some ideas.

http://www.droid.net.au/wp-content/u...ain-screen.png

http://www.nokiaprogramok.hu/letolte...94160657_3.jpg

http://www.arbybean.com/temp/skintest01.png

http://www.arbybean.com/temp/arbyfs01.gif

http://www.mp3car.com/attachments/rr...in-preview.jpg

http://www.mp3car.com/attachments/rr...player_big.jpg

Re: New audioplayer for n8x0
 

best bet is to improve youamp which is the best player out there

Re: New audioplayer for n8x0
 

Just installed youamp and it has a few flaws. Its python and uses 30meg. It is slow and laggy. Its volume slider would reset back to about 1% volume everytime I changed it. All but the first problem can be fixed.

<rant>
BTW, a HAM replacement would also be nice. I know about FAM but it has a few bugs and doesn't have all of HAM's functionality. Would be nice to not have to spend a minute "updating" to see the apps I have installed and would be nice not to update the repos everytime I open it.
</rant>

@ addison
The first two shots are nice, the others are desktop apps. Do you know how to make xmms run without a window? I know xmmsctrl can hide/show the main and playlist windows but they would still show up in telescope/navigator. It would be rather easy to make a nice looking wrapper that calls xmmsctrl for play, stop, next, prev, open/close xmms's playlist window and even display the song playing. I'm not sure if its possible to get status updates back from xmms or xmmsctrl so the wrapper would have to continuously poll to update the current song. Although, xmmsctrl has to be communicating with xmms via a pipe. The wrapper should bypass xmmsctrl and communicate directly with xmms over the same pipe.

Would be really nice if it could make xmms run without a window and if it can send status updates over the pipe instead of polling for them. Why don't you crack open the xmms and xmmsctrl source and see if either of those are possible. ;)

Re: New audioplayer for n8x0
 

Well, nothing new. I took my favorite things from my favorite applications and put it together.
Hope u like it.

http://i060.radikal.ru/1109/2d/ce8cadfa3ead.png


By the way, What about Simp? Simple Audio Player.

Re: New audioplayer for n8x0
 

@auouymous
Oh the file manager you describe will make my very happy!

@Addison
Thank you! First two screenshots looks very nice. But I already made something not so difficult... see my post above :)

I never tried Xmms-ctrl, but I will, I promise! Thanks!

Re: New audioplayer for n8x0
 

I usually have Xmms minimized and off the screen 99% of the time since it always has the highest desktop priority and gets in the way of everything.

You just introduced me to xmms-ctrl the other day so I don't know what all commands and features this supports.

I was just thinking of a full screen GUI, and when clicking on a certain area, this would send a specific xmms-ctrl command.

To me, this might be the very simple way to go. :)

Re: New audioplayer for n8x0
 

If I understand you correctly — Quasar can do it.

By the way, what I have to improve on my draft for player on previous page?

Re: New audioplayer for n8x0
 

Okay. Here we go.

Having a nice front end for xmmsctrl could turn out to be the best way to go that's easy enough to finish in creating an awesome release. :)


'xmmsctrl' is a simple tool designed to be used at the shell level,
typically in a small shell script associated to a keyboard shortcut. There
are 4 different command types:
- simple commands, e.g. "xmmsctrl play", which perform a simple task,
- commands with a flag argument, e.g. "xmmsctrl main 1", which set
a particular state,
- condition testing, e.g. "xmmsctrl playing", which can be used in
if statements in shells. Something to notice: this was designed to be
used simply, which is, directly in if statements: if <command>; then
<command>; else <command>; fi. There you put directly "xmmsctrl playing"
to test if xmms is playing. Notice how the if statement works: if the
command succeeds, it returns a 0, which means OK, otherwise it returns
an error code,
- more specific commands with particular arguments.

The simple commands are:
launch : launch a xmms instance if none is running
not : negate the next condition test
clear : clear the play list.
cur : print the current mp3 song file.
eject : open xmms "Load file(s)" dialog window.
getlength : print the length of the play list.
getpos : print the current mp3 song position in the play list.
gettime : print the current song's playback time in seconds.
getvol : print the master volume value.
help : print this help message.
next : xmms next song command, go to the next song.
pause : xmms pause command, pause the playing song.
play : xmms play command, play the current song.
playlist : print the play list songs.
playfiles : print the play list files.
pref : open xmms preference window (as Ctrl-P).
prev : xmms previous song command, go to the previous song.
previous : go to the previous song and wrap round to last if position is first.
remove : xmms removes mp3 currently playing from playlist.
repeat : toggle xmms repeat flag.
shuffle : toggle xmms shuffle flag.
stop : xmms stop command, stop playing.
title : print the current mp3 song title.
uniq : remove duplicate files from the playlist.
quit : terminate xmms.
--help : print this help message.

The flag setting commands are used with 0 or 1:
equalizer : hide/show xmms equalizer window.
main : hide/show xmms main window.
play_list : hide/show xmms playing list window.

The condition testing commands are:
paused : returns OK if xmms is paused.
playing : returns OK if xmms is playing a song.
is_equalizer : returns OK if xmms has its equalizer window open.
is_main : returns OK if xmms has its main window open.
is_play_list : returns OK if xmms has its playing list window open.
is_stream : returns OK if xmms is playing a stream (http://somewhere).
running : returns OK if xmms is running.

The other specific commands are:
session number : use the session number 'number', xmmsctrl looks
automatically for the first working session.

dir <name> : clear the play list and load the directory/file
<name> as the play list. This works with devices
like /dev/cdrom to handle music CDs.

time [+|-|/]seconds :
seconds : set the playback time to seconds,
+seconds : advance the playback by seconds,
-seconds : rewind the playback by seconds,
/seconds : set the playback time to seconds from the end
of the song.
Examples : xmmsctrl time 30, xmmsctrl time +10.

track <n> : set the n'th track in the play list as the current track.
track last : set the last track in the play list as the current track.

vol [+|-]percent, with the following effects
percent : set the volume to percent,
+percent : increase the volume with percent,
-percent : decrease the volume with percent.
Examples : xmmsctrl vol 40, xmmsctrl vol +5, xmmsctrl vol -5.

print <string> : general formatted print, similar to printf. The codes are:
%n : new line,
%t : tab,
%F : current filename,
%T : current title,
%P : current position,
%s : playback time in sec,
%m : playback time in min:sec,
%S : song length in sec,
%M : song length in min:sec,
%v : master volume,
%l : playlist length,
%p : playback time in percent,
%(x): where x is a decimal number, evalutation string x depending if the current
printed song == (eq) or != (neq) the currently played song (see playlist2html.sh).
In addition, if the code is preceded by a number (say i), then the song i is
taken instead of the current one. If * is used then print evaluates on all the
songs. Examples: "%*P: %*T (%*M)%n" prints the whole playlist,
"%T (%m:%M)%n" prints only the current song, and "%3F%n" prints the 3rd file.

eq : add evaluation string for the case treated song == current played song.
neq : add evaluation string for the case treated song != current played song.

+file <file> : add the file/directory to the playlist without clearing the playlist.
You can use 'xmmsctrl +file something uniq' or 'xmmsctrl +file BEGIN dir1 dir2 END uniq' for
a cleaner result.

-file <file> : remove the file/directory from the playlist. You can use
'xmmsctrl uniq -file something' for a cleaner result.

Except for 'session', these command now support a
batch mode. You can give a list of arguments beginning
with BEGIN and ending with END, e.g.,
xmmsctrl +file BEGIN dir1 dir2 song1 song2 END

Examples of shell scripts to define simple functions:
Play/Stop :
sh -c "if xmmsctrl playing;\
then xmmsctrl stop;\
else xmmsctrl play; fi"
Play/Pause :
sh -c "if xmmsctrl playing;\
then xmmsctrl pause;\
else xmmsctrl play; fi"
(with xmmsctrl in your path). See more examples in the bindings
for twm in the distribution.

Re: New audioplayer for n8x0
 

Looks good. Is that fullscreen mode with the red X? So where is the link to download the program? ;)


or SiMP - Simple Music Player


I need to finish a couple things in ASUI and then I'm going to start on the file manager. I've been designed it for the last few weeks.



That is how the wrapper would work if we could get xmms to run without a window, not just minimized. Although you would need to launch xmms to set it up and do any advanced stuff. It would still work if we can't remove the window, there would just be that ugly blank window in telescope.

Would be better to use gstreamer or mplayer to remove the dependancy on xmms and then everything could be handled inside the app without going over to xmms for settings.

BTW, the next release of ASUI will have launch actions so the xmms profile can have something like "launch xmmsctrl launch;xmmsctrl play;xmmsctrl play_list" and when you enter audio lock mode it will execute the launch command. And that command would launch xmms if it wasn't already running, start playing and open the playlist window.

@ addison
You could've just posted a link to the man page (which I've already seen) instead of pasting the entire thing here. :)

Re: New audioplayer for n8x0
 

Yes it is. I'll put a link to download here as soon as somebody write a code, test it and make a deb :D
Yep. I meant this :)

Re: New audioplayer for n8x0
 

Just a few more drafts :D
http://s45.radikal.ru/i107/1109/c7/f226119b7c01.png


http://s011.radikal.ru/i318/1109/8e/cfd0242e0380.png


If you like it, I can make demo of settings page, playlists, etc.

Re: New audioplayer for n8x0
 

kroll thats looks good

Re: New audioplayer for n8x0
 

It's very lovely. http://www.christianforums.com/image...nion/flat4.gif

Re: New audioplayer for n8x0
 

Thanks folks! :)
I forgot to change playlists icon on one screenshot, so I updated my post.

I think that Title gonna be a button too. Tap it and you will see details: Album, year, genre, .mp3/flack/wav/ogg, mHz, stereo/mono, delete from hard disk button, delete from playlist button.

In setings menu will go shuffle, repeat, fullscreen (if somebody don't like alltime fullscreen mode), font size, hardware keys.


Guys, I can make this drafts all day long as many as you want, but this is only interface. We need a programmer to make the application.

And we have to decide what engine to use (mplayer or what?). I would like to use dsp cuz as far as I know it use much less energy than mplayer...

Re: New audioplayer for n8x0
 

So this is how much players use electricity:

(Screen blanked)

Mplayer (comand line:
play mode: 0,18А
pause mode: 0,14А
BT headphones a2dp:
play mode: 0,09-0,13А
pause mode: 0,02А

Mplayer launched from simple Python application without showing timeline.
play mode: 0,15А
pause mode: 0,14А
BT headphones a2dp:
play mode: 0,09-0,11А
mode pause: 0,02А

Xmms:
play mode: 0,16А
pause mode: 0,01А
BT headphones a2dp:
play mode: 0,09А
pause mode: 0,02А


Bu the way it looks like I found a right person to involve in project. His name is Mitrandir and he is a Telescope creator :)

Re: New audioplayer for n8x0
 

Actually, if it will be like this, I'd welcome it on my N900 as well :) All major media players have some flaw on Maemo platform, either buggy and/or slow, unusable interface, CPU/power hog or all of the above.

Re: New audioplayer for n8x0
 

Shadows for text, background from n900 call application, new top borders...


http://s41.radikal.ru/i092/1109/e3/7c4ea0b55836.png


http://s001.radikal.ru/i194/1109/bb/7d10d23dfbc4.png

Re: New audioplayer for n8x0
 

Looking forward to see what you two can cook up!

Re: New audioplayer for n8x0
 

One request Kroll.

Perhaps have a possible feature where the backlight remains lit while playing music for those who have this on their nightstand, or at work, etc.

Something like:

gconftool-2 --type int --set /apps/osso/applet/osso-applet-display/turn_off_display 6000000
gconftool-2 --type int --set /apps/osso/applet/osso-applet-display/brightness_period 6000000
gconftool-2 --type int --set /system/osso/dsm/display/display_dim_timeout 6000000
gconftool-2 --type int --set /system/osso/dsm/display/display_blank_timeout 6000000

Re: New audioplayer for n8x0
 

non full screen mode would be helpful for anyone who uses the status bar clock.....course being able to show the current time in the player window would be even better.

Re: New audioplayer for n8x0
 

I think Canola had the right idea here: Allow the player to be configured. There are somethings that work better in mplayer (e.g. more video formats), and somethings that work better (e.g. using the DSP to reduce CPU overhead and power consumption).

If it wasn't for it's bloat, I would say Canola is just about perfect for my uses. Here some of the features I find I really like and would like to see in a new player

• Flickable scroll lists
• Podcasts
• Separate Images, Videos, "Music" categories
• Configurable backend

I also would love to see a player that allows EQ Settings (and uses the DSP at the same time -- yeah, right).

- John

Re: New audioplayer for n8x0
 

As i said before Only one? C'mone guys, feel free to discuss and request!
Ok, I think it is easiest thing to do. And there will be a blank screen button as well to lock&blank screen immediately, but leave keys unlocked (to make possible switch the song in the pocket for example)

Re: New audioplayer for n8x0
 

@jwernerny
I am sorry, but title of this thread says "audio player", not media. So no videos or photos at all.
Please can you describe it? I did not get you.
And again, I didn't understand.
Podcasts possibly will be added later. For now we have to make it play at least local music.

Re: New audioplayer for n8x0
 

Okay. Second request. :)

Buttons should change appearance when pressed.

Whether this be highlighting, a new image with a smaller shadow to make it look like it's being pushed down, just something so the entire screen doesn't act like a still picture.

Does that make sense? :)