Squeeze Control for Android (support thread)

[mannekijn]

Thanks for the response, I'll see if I can figure it out...

UPDATE:

Well on Linux you can edit your /etc/squeezeboxserver/convert.conf (or make a custom-convert.conf in the same dir) to do whatever you want:

flc mp3 * *
# FB:{BITRATE=-B %B}T:{START=--skip=%t}U:{END=--until=%v}D:{RESAMPLE=--resample %D}
[flac] -dcs $START$ $END$ -- $FILE$ | [lame] --silent $RESAMPLE$ -V0 - -

 

[lebobmorane]

Great app again.

Would it be possible to have a setting to invert the current behavior of the up arrow at the bottom left of the screen close to the volume_+ to select the player?

I would like that a short press allows to select the player to control, as opposed to a long press today. I actually almost never use the short press.

 

[wayne@angrygoat]

Great app again.

Would it be possible to have a setting to invert the current behavior of the up arrow at the bottom left of the screen close to the volume_+ to select the player?

I would like that a short press allows to select the player to control, as opposed to a long press today. I actually almost never use the short press.

I'll consider that for a future update.

 

[mannekijn]

Another question about the download feature: when transcoding the resulting mp3 is missing the tags for year and the track number. The year doesn't bother me too much but it would be nice to have the track number preserved.

 

[wayne@angrygoat]

Another question about the download feature: when transcoding the resulting mp3 is missing the tags for year and the track number. The year doesn't bother me too much but it would be nice to have the track number preserved.

The transcoding process on the server strips the resulting audio of all metadata. There's no way around it, it's just how transcoding works on LMS.

The downloaded audio in Squeeze Ctrl has metadata, because Squeeze Ctrl retrieves the metadata for a song when it is queued for download and then writes that data back into the downloaded file. Due to a certain limitation of LMS, the app could only retrieve a limited number of metadata per song when queuing it for download and that limit is already used up. This means that I can't add another piece of metadata to retrieve without omitting another and everything else is important.

 

[potsreebie]

Hi Mr Angry Goat
I bought the latest version of the app and am running LMS on a windows 8.1 machine. All my other controls connect to my Touch player but with Ctrl I get: "Error No Players Connected" Any advice?

 

[wayne@angrygoat]

Hi Mr Angry Goat
I bought the latest version of the app and am running LMS on a windows 8.1 machine. All my other controls connect to my Touch player but with Ctrl I get: "Error No Players Connected" Any advice?

Are you sure the app is connected to the correct server? Make sure the Touch is connected to the local server and not Mysqueezebox.com. Also if you don't have players connected to Mysqueezebox.com, make sure you turn off Mysqueezebox.com in Squeeze Ctrl.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

[dipsqueezectrl]

Since the last update Squeezectrl crashes immediately after it has been started on my Medion Tab running Android 4.2.2. How can I restore the latest version until this bug is fixed?

 

[lebobmorane]

THANK YOU!

I had asked in a past post "Would it be possible to have a setting to invert the current behavior of the up arrow at the bottom left of the screen close to the volume_+ to select the player?" and I just found it added to the settings!

It's really nice of you to be listening to user requests.

 

[wayne@angrygoat]

Since the last update Squeezectrl crashes immediately after it has been started on my Medion Tab running Android 4.2.2. How can I restore the latest version until this bug is fixed?

Are you sure you are running 4.2.2? The only crash reports I see where it indicates a crash at launch are on pre 4.1 devices?
I see 3 crashes on a LifeTab P9514 and it indicates that it's running Android 4.0.3-4.0.4

Anyway that bug will be fixed soon.

 

[wayne@angrygoat]

I've just started using this app on a Nook Color tablet. Aside from the performance issues due to the age of the Nook, the app is pretty good. I'm used to using iPeng on my iPhone so there are a few things that bug me about the UI but mostly I can get used to them. One feature I'd really like to see implemented would be some way to customize the items that appear on the Home menu. On my SqueezePlay software players, I can add and remove items, such as adding Pandora & Mog while removing Extras & App Gallery, etc. It would be great if this feature could be implemented on Squeeze Control.

Editing the home menu is already available. Open the app menu (the 3 dots button) and select Edit Home Menu.

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

 

[VikingOy]

I fail to understand the purpose of the ChromeCast icon in the Squeeze ctrl app. Yes, tapping it does allow me to connect to my ChromeCast Audio, and the welcome sound plays, but that's it. How do I get the Squeeze ctrl app to cast music to the ChromeCast Audio and not to any one of my Logitech players?

Posted via the Android Central App

 

[wayne@angrygoat]

I fail to understand the purpose of the ChromeCast icon in the Squeeze ctrl app. Yes, tapping it does allow me to connect to my ChromeCast Audio, and the welcome sound plays, but that's it. How do I get the Squeeze ctrl app to cast music to the ChromeCast Audio and not to any one of my Logitech players?

Posted via the Android Central App

Chromecast support in Squeeze Ctrl does not send audio. It is only meant to display a Now Playing screen on a TV. Unfortunately Android does not differentiate between a normal Chromecast and a Chromecast Audio.

 

[VikingOy]

What does that mean?? If I use Spotify, it will send the audio output to either the CC Audio only or the normal CC including cover art, navigation bars etc, so clearly it is possible!

 

[wayne@angrygoat]

What does that mean?? If I use Spotify, it will send the audio output to either the CC Audio only or the normal CC including cover art, navigation bars etc, so clearly it is possible!

It means exactly what I said. The support for Chromecast is only for the display of information, not the playback of audio. Since Chromecast Audio has no display, it is not supported by the app. Unfortunately since Android does not differentiate between the normal and audio only devices, the app can't specify that it requires a Chromecast with a display.

When you use Spotify, it is not sending audio from the device to the Chromecast. It is just telling the Chromecast to stream audio directly from the Spotify server. If you need proof that this is how the Chromecast is designed to work, just look at the Google music app. It can't send audio files from your phone to the Chromecast, it can only stream from the cloud.

There is a complicated method an app could stream from the device, involving creating a music server on the device and telling the Chromecast to stream from that instead of the cloud. However Squeeze Ctrl is NOT a music player. It is just a remote control, it has no access to the music stream at all. If I was to do something like that, I would put it in SB Player, but I don't really think it's worth the effort.

Also please don't tell me to use the built-in mp3 stream that LMS provides. If I add any sort of Chromecast Audio support, users will expect to get full Squeezebox functionality and that stream cannot provide that.

 

[VikingOy]

Ok, thanks - I was not aware that Spotify streams directly from their server. Now, since my LMS is available from the internet, would it be possible to stream directly from it to the CC?

 

[wayne@angrygoat]

Ok, thanks - I was not aware that Spotify streams directly from their server. Now, since my LMS is available from the internet, would it be possible to stream directly from it to the CC?

Yes, LMS provides a built-in stream at this address: http://<server address>:<server port>/stream.mp3

You can open it in a Chrome browser and cast the tab to the CC.

That stream will appear as a separate player on your LMS.

 

[VikingOy]

Indeed, but does that establish a connection directly between my Chromecast and my server (independant of my PC)?
If I close my browser, the stream stops...
And by the way - this is a very rudimentary stream. None of the audio controls work, and pressing pause only inserts silence into the stream, and pressing stop doesn't stop the music until the buffer is empty, so really, it's not a good solution. Unless I've got it all wrong?

 

[wayne@angrygoat]

Indeed, but does that establish a connection directly between my Chromecast and my server (independant of my PC)?
If I close my browser, the stream stops...
And by the way - this is a very rudimentary stream. None of the audio controls work, and pressing pause only inserts silence into the stream, and pressing stop doesn't stop the music until the buffer is empty, so really, it's not a good solution. Unless I've got it all wrong?

Yes the connection should be from the server to the Chromecast. The browser becomes the control, so when you close it, the stream stops too. This is just like how casting from your Android device works. When you close the app, and not just hide it, the stream to the Chromecast should stop.

No, you are doing it the right way. The stream from LMS is very rudimentary. That is why I can't use it to support casting audio in Squeeze Ctrl

 

[VikingOy]

This is an interesting conversation
Here's my experience - If I initiate a stream using Deezer, I can close not only the browser but the whole PC, and my Chromecast continues to play and display albumart. I've enjoyed using an App named Dashboard Cast on my Android Phone, and it too continues to play on my Chromecast even if I leave my country and fly to Bangkok (which I did). Upon my return - when I turned the TV back on, the Chromecast was still playing.
So does also a number of Apps in the NatureCast series (Candlecast, FireplaceCast, RomaticCast, etc). They all seem to play forever. This leads me to believe that once a connection stream has been set up between the Chormecast and a server somewhere on the internet, it will continue to play forever until actively shut off (unless a timeout is programmed somewhere).
Do you agree?