[ANNOUNCE] Squeezster - The Squeezebox remote control
 

This application has been around for some time, but I thought I would start a thread here for a general discussion around Squeezster.

What is Squeezster?
It is a Squeezebox remote control for the Nokia N900, N9 and Symbian (Anna & Belle). It connects to the Squeezebox server over the network.
Squeezster is developed in C++ using the QT framework. The GUI for N9 & Symbian is written in QML.

What do I need to use Squeezster?
You need a Nokia phone (N900, N9 or a Symbian phone with Anna or Belle), a Squeezebox server running somewhere and an Internet connection. The N900 version requires a local server, while the N9 & Symbian version also supports www.mysqueezebox.com.

What can Squeezster do?
- It controls (multiple) Squeezebox players connected to a common server. Play, stop, power volume etc.
- It presents the current playlist, song, album, artist and cover art.
- It supports playing music from your local music library, internet radios and streaming services (although only Spotify has been tested by me).
- It supports creation of playlists.

What can't Squeezster do?
- Moving players between different Squeezebox servers.
- Creating sync groups of multiple players (has to be setup by e.g. the web interface)
- and a lot more :)

Where can I get Squeezster?
It is available from the Extras-testing repository (N900) or Ovi Store (N9 & Symbian).

What's next?
The N900 version is undergoing an update. It will receive the same server communication engine as the N9 & Symbian version. This will enable support for www.mysqueezebox.com etc.
The N9 version will be updated with regards to the larger PR1.2 line spacing.

Screenshots and more are available at http://squeezster.garage.maemo.org

Re: [ANNOUNCE] Squeezster - The Squeezebox remote control
 

Hi your app looks great !
Any chance you will support the N9 ?
I just switched last week...

Re: [ANNOUNCE] Squeezster - The Squeezebox remote control
 

Sounds good. I hadn't heard of squeezebox before but it sounds interesting. I will be trying it and Squeezster out this evening!

Re: [ANNOUNCE] Squeezster - The Squeezebox remote control
 

Thanks!
I don't have access to any N9 device at the moment. If I decide to get one I would definitely go for the N9 support. It would probably just require some UI redesign to port it, since Squeezster is QT based.

Re: [ANNOUNCE] Squeezster - The Squeezebox remote control
 

+1 on the N9 support - I'm very tempted to buy one, and I'm looking around for apps to replace what I have on my Palm Pre 2. When/if I get one I'd be very happy to help where I can.

Does this work with the SqueezeNetwork? IE if I had a Squeezebox Radio but no SlimServer can I still use Squeezster with it?

I use Spotify with my Squeezebox Radio almost exclusively. Does the Spotify app work with it? IE can I control Spotify on my Radio with Squeezster?

Re: [ANNOUNCE] Squeezster - The Squeezebox remote control
 

Spotify and other streaming services work. However, I have only verified Spotify using the 3rd party server plugin. I have the Boom and Receiver devices myself, and they do not support Spotify on their own hardware. It should work on the Radio and Touch devices though.

Using mysqueezebox.com (SqueezeNetwork) as server is on the to-do list, but it isn't supported at the moment.Currently you need to have a local server.

Re: [ANNOUNCE] Squeezster - The Squeezebox remote control
 

Regarding N9, I'm porting my Squeezecontrol to N9. I just don't really have the time to finish it yet.

pakarlss, I'd love to colaborate instead of having 2 different apps serving the same purpose, but I don't really know any C++ (mine is written in Python).

Re: [ANNOUNCE] Squeezster - The Squeezebox remote control
 

I think it's a good thought. However, I think it is hard to find a practical way of collaborating, since the two apps are written in different languages. I would be happy though to share thoughts and ideas etc.
I haven't really started any porting, and I haven't got the N9 yet.
What I'm currently doing is to move from the CLI interface, and instead use the Json/cometd interface.

Re: [ANNOUNCE] Squeezster - The Squeezebox remote control
 

I'm happy to announce that a N9 version of Squeezster is on the way. A beta version will be released very soon.

Re: [ANNOUNCE] Squeezster - The Squeezebox remote control
 

Beta v0.6.5 for Nokia N9 available here:
http://squeezster.garage.maemo.org/deb/

Status:
Should be fully working. No known major bugs so far,

Any feedback can be posted in this thread until furter notice,

Re: [ANNOUNCE] Squeezster - The Squeezebox remote control
 

Hey there - this is FANTASTIC! I'm a long long time squeezebox user, but no real expectations or hopes that someone would do this for N9... To hell with 1.2, this is real progress.

The only feedback beyond that i have is that volume control (rather than just mute) would be great, but i don't know if that is available via the interface method you are using.

Re: [ANNOUNCE] Squeezster - The Squeezebox remote control
 

The (hardware) volume keysshould act as volume control.

EDIT: It seems to be a problem with the volume keys. I need to look into that.

Re: [ANNOUNCE] Squeezster - The Squeezebox remote control
 

Yeah, i initially wondered about that, but it didn't when i first tried - the app then went a bit laggy so it was kind of hard to see what was working. I have restarted the app and that is now working. GREAT

There is still some odd behaviour though around the mute button...

* UI says it is muted, but music is playing & has volume -
* unmute and music then mutes and will not return.
* Try to unmute via a touch and after a second it UI reverts to muted...
* Go to Web Interface - volume has been minimised
* Use volume keys to increase volume...

I can reproduce.. not a major obviously, but something to look at

Re: [ANNOUNCE] Squeezster - The Squeezebox remote control
 

Hey pakarlss
This is really great! Fantastic app-good job! Thank you very much.
In my opinion, there is only one thing missing:
It would be fantastic if there were a possibility to browse for artists and after that, selecting a certain album of this artist. it should then play all songs of this album.

Re: [ANNOUNCE] Squeezster - The Squeezebox remote control
 

Thanks valimir and PhatApteryx!

@valimir
I'll put your proposal on the todo list for upcoming versions.

Re: [ANNOUNCE] Squeezster - The Squeezebox remote control
 

Very awesome.

One of the most important things missing on my N9 and now it's here. Thank you so much :D

Only thing I noticed is that when I picked help in the menu I were not able to scroll so could only see the first help page.
No big deal as everything was quite intuitive but might be nice to have it fixed for future users.

BR Skare

Re: [ANNOUNCE] Squeezster - The Squeezebox remote control
 

Yep, second that!

Re: [ANNOUNCE] Squeezster - The Squeezebox remote control
 

I plan a solution with the actions listed below:

• For artist views:
  - Click: Gives a view of the artist's albums.
  - To play the artist: Long press -> Context menu -> Play
• For album views:
  - Click: Gives a view of the album songs
  - To play the album: Long press -> Context menu -> Play

Would that be ok?

Re: [ANNOUNCE] Squeezster - The Squeezebox remote control
 

So, the following action should then be possible, right:
After selecting an artist, the list of the artist's albums pops up. Out of this list, one is then able to let the squeezebox play the full album by pressing long on the requested album.
If yes, this would be the perfect solution and exactlly what I'm missing in the first version so far :D. Thanks pakarlss!!

Re: [ANNOUNCE] Squeezster - The Squeezebox remote control
 

Correct :).

Re: [ANNOUNCE] Squeezster - The Squeezebox remote control
 

Excellent application, I have since I came out, and I use it almost every day.:D:D
Any new update for maemo 5 (n900):)

Re: [ANNOUNCE] Squeezster - The Squeezebox remote control
 

Sounds great to me.. happy to test..

Re: [ANNOUNCE] Squeezster - The Squeezebox remote control
 

Thanks!
I have been fully loaded with the creation of the N9 version for some time. However, some work has been done on the N900 version as well, e.g. moving from the Squeezebox server CLI, to using the json interface.
I haven't released that work to the repository, since the changes isn't really visible to the end user. But this change will e.g. enable the use of the remote server (www.mysqueezebox.com). I'm not that far yet. Let's see when I find the time to finish that work.

Do you have any other wishes for the N900 version?

Re: [ANNOUNCE] Squeezster - The Squeezebox remote control
 

Oh hey! I was just about to ask about the CLI requirement, given that have my http port opened to the internet (with password), but not the CLI. Would be great if this means I can start using your tool!

Re: [ANNOUNCE] Squeezster - The Squeezebox remote control
 

after a few more days of use, i think the ability to search in artists as you can in albums would be very useful...

Re: [ANNOUNCE] Squeezster - The Squeezebox remote control
 

Just got me a Squeeezbox Touch. I was also looking for a new job for my N900 as have a new phone.

Squeezster is just the thing, thanks ! :-)

Re: [ANNOUNCE] Squeezster - The Squeezebox remote control
 

Yes....:D:DIt would be nice, a new update, I'll be wait for an update for my n900

A question pakarlss be possible that can be played directly on the phone, I know it's impossible for now a matter of logitech.

Sorry for my bad english:)

Re: [ANNOUNCE] Squeezster - The Squeezebox remote control
 

Thanks for your feedback.

The current status is as follows...

• N9 Harmattan
  Has been updated with the suggested features. I also found some issues during testing, which now should be fixed.
  I have submitted Squeezster to the Nokia (Ovi) store. Let's see if it passes all checks and actually reaches the store. Unlike the N900 version, the N9 version will not be completely free, but will be available for a small fee (~2 euros).
• Symbian
  Squeezster for Symbian Anna is a port of the N9 version. It features the same functionality as Squeezster for N9. It has also been submitted to Nokia Store with the same pricing as the N9 version.
• N900 Maemo
  I will make an update for the N900, using json instead of CLI, as mentioned earlier.
  The N900 version will stay in the Extras repository as before, and still be free.

Re: [ANNOUNCE] Squeezster - The Squeezebox remote control
 

Excellent thanks - look forward to it making its way to the store.

Squeezster is now available in the Nokia store
 

Squeezster is now available for download in the Nokia store.

Symbian:
http://store.ovi.com/content/251147

N9:
http://store.ovi.com/content/251528

I have also made some progress regarding the N900 updates, so you shouldn't have to wait too long for it.

This is unfortunately not planned at the moment. I haven't investigated it deeper, but I would assume it's a big task to make it work.

Re: Squeezster is now available in the Nokia store
 

Great - the search & artist/album handling is looking great in the paid version... Good job!

Re: [ANNOUNCE] Squeezster - The Squeezebox remote control
 

Thank you! :)

Re: Squeezster is now available in the Nokia store
 

Thanks for this app!

Regarding audio playback, in principle it is possible via some workaround: you can access http://ip.address:9000/stream.mp3 e.g. from some internet radio player on N9 and control it via web-interface. This stream also shows up in Squeezter, but it was not very responsive there. Maybe this was since I was not in my home network when I tried.

Another possibility is to run squeezeplay on N9, but I got audio working only as root.(see the sqeueezeplay thread).

Re: Squeezster is now available in the Nokia store
 

Super cool! Everything seems to work perfect. And as for now, I have no more suggestions for improvement! Just perfectly happy! Thanks to pakarlss!!! :)

Re: [ANNOUNCE] Squeezster - The Squeezebox remote control
 

just bought your n9 app. absolutely lovely, and worth the money already. great job, way better than what i'd be able to do, i think.

just one thing: playing an album sorts the tracks alphabetically, not by track numbers. i'm sure this is a easy to fix :)

didn't know about the json interface. will look into that as soon as possible. sounds way easier than the cli.

please let us all know if you ever figure out how to get the device to act as a squeezebox itself.

Re: [ANNOUNCE] Squeezster - The Squeezebox remote control
 

Sorry for not replying earlier. I have been away the last days,
Could you describe how you play the albums? I haven't noticed any issues with albums playing in the wrong order.
I usually go "Show albums > "long press on <album>" > "Play".
Then all songs are listed in the original order in the now playing view.

Actually, Squeezster only provide the album ID to the server, so Squeezster does not do any sorting. Could it be a setting in the server configuration?


About the PR1.2 update:
I just reflashed my phone with the recent PR1.2 update, and the font spacing update makes some things look bad currently. I'll correct those things and issue an update to the Nokia store. It could take 1-2 weeks before the update is available for you.

Re: [ANNOUNCE] Squeezster - The Squeezebox remote control
 

An update of the N9 version has been posted to the store. Change log:
* PR1.2 font change updates
* Added library rescan option
* Search radios now working

The new version will hopefully pass the QA review and hit the store the upcoming week.

Re: [ANNOUNCE] Squeezster - The Squeezebox remote control
 

Yep, arrived today via update notification... Thanks!

Re: [ANNOUNCE] Squeezster - The Squeezebox remote control
 

Hi & first thank for the App!

I did an Update for my N900 after the notification, too - but since this update I can not find any of my players (it's the latest LMC) and can't connect to LMC. Opening the Connection Settings I can enter the "WOL" and the "mysqueezebox.com" section - nothing to check or change the adress of my LMC!!?? :confused:

What went wrong and how can I solve this??

Christian

Re: [ANNOUNCE] Squeezster - The Squeezebox remote control
 

I guess "mysqueezebox.com" (button) is enabled, i.e. it's highlighted? Then you are in the new mode where you connect to mysqueezebox.com. If you click the "mysqueezebox.com" button, you disable it, and you get the local server settings.

The new N900 version has been reworked a lot under the hood, so it means that your old settings are lost unfortunately. Here's the change log:
* Player switching bug fixed.
* Optimized startup time. Patrik Karlsson 2012-03-10 12:15 UTC
* Completly new communication core, using http access only (no CLI port needed)
* Remote server support (www.mysqueezebox.com)
* Artists browsing improved - now results in albums and titles
* Rescan music library option added
* Use volume buttons as volume control
* Bug fixes

It turns out "mysqueezebox.com" is the default mode, which I consider to be a bug. I could also try make the switch between local server and "mysqueezebox.com" clearer.

I hope you can get started and proceed with this information.