Music Player (Remix)

[DanPLC]

When I configured the lock screen with Widget Locker and NiLS, the basic controls would appear, but kinda overlay other notifications there. Inconsistently, they would function correctly or not respond at all to taps.

Unfortunately, apps don't control where or how the basic controls are displayed on the lock screen. They're a part of Android itself. Apps can only register as a lock screen controls client. This basically tells Android that the app wants it to display the controls and it should send messages back to the app (to actually pause/play and skip tracks). Android controls the positioning, layout, behavior, and appearance of the controls.

Personally, I think the basic controls are severely lacking. The buttons are very small and hard to use, and the album art is washed out. I use the mini-player on my tablet lock screen. The controls are much larger, plus you have all of the extra features in the mini-player. On my phone, I have my timeout set to 30 minutes with a pin lockout, so essentially I don't have a lock screen.

Also, they would still be there even after closing the app with the "x". Once, I had to restart the phone to clean it all up.

(Note: the basic controls have sometimes appeared even after I gave up and turned them OFF in lock screen)

I'll investigate any issues regarding the appearance of the basic controls even if the app isn't running or the controls are disabled on the Preferences screen.

 

[DanPLC]

Version 1.4.3 has been released to the Google Play Store and Amazon App Store and should be available soon. It has a new autolist called "Breath of Fresh Air" that allows you to play a random mix of songs you haven't played recently. It also contains a bunch of bug fixes.

The 14-day free, fully-functional trial version is being reset for all users!

Here's the complete changelog:

- (New Feature) Add 'Breath of Fresh Air' autolist (random mix of songs not recently played).

- (Bug Fix) NuPlay new song notifications sometimes did not appear immediately on certain devices.

- (Bug Fix) If the 'Auto play when loading app' setting was selected (on the 'Miscellaneous' Preferences screen) and you switched orientations while the music was paused, the music would resume playing.

- (Bug Fix) The basic lockscreen controls would sometimes still appear even after disabling them or even killing the app.

- (Bug Fix) If you switched to a bookmark from the widget or notification controls and then brought up the mini-player, the song/album/artist info would be blank.

- (Bug Fix) Fixes for various causes of app crashes.

- (Bug Fix) Users in a restricted profile under Android 4.3+ may not have access to all apps (such as a web browser), so before launching an external app (for instance to view a web page), verify the user has access to that external resource. If not, display an error.

 

[DanPLC]

Android Police posted a great review of Music Player (Remix). Check it out: Music Player (Remix) Puts Other Music Apps To Shame With A Laundry List Of Features And A Swipe-Up Mini Widget

 

[DanPLC]

Version 1.4.4 has been released. It contains a tutorial when you first run the app introducing you to the Now Playing screen. The tutorial will no longer show up if you either finish the tutorial or select "Skip Tutorial". If you do skip it and would like to view it later, you can view it on the app's Help screen. Also included in this release are a bunch of other enhancements and bug fixes.

Here is the complete changelog:

- (New Feature) Add a welcome screen that provides a tutorial of the Now Playing screen. If you reach the end of the tutorial or choose the 'Skip Tutorial' option, the tutorial will no longer appear when you load the app. However you may view it at any time by visiting the app's Help screen.

- (Enhancement) If you try to add a song to a playlist that already exists in the playlist, a confirmation popup will now appear to verify you want to add a duplicate copy to the playlist.

- (Enhancement) When long-tapping one of the customizable preset shortcuts on the Now Playing screen, display a label at the top of the screen indicating what is the current function assigned to the shortcut.

- (Enhancement) When long-tapping one of the icons at the top of the right-side sliding panel, display a label indicating the function of the icon.

- (Enhancement) Do not auto-play when first loading the app after it was installed. Instead a Shuffle All list will be loaded without the music auto-playing.

- (Enhancement) Add the ability to disable expandable notifications on Jellybean devices (via an option on the Notifications preferences screen).

- (Bug Fix) If you had a dialog popup on the screen and switched orientation, certain functions on the popup would not function.

- (Bug Fix) App could crash when a dialog popup was displayed under certain cirumstances.

- (Bug Fix) If you tapped '...' next to an album on the Genre Details screen, options for songs would appear, instead of options for albums.

- (Bug Fix) If you left the Now Playing screen and went back to it, the scrubber bar would momentarily go to 0 seconds before jumping back to the correct position.

 

[anon(363857)]

Looking at coming over to Music Player Remix from PowerAmp you're doing some really nice things with this player that I like. I currently have one question and one problem. First my question is the Music Player supposed to have available presets? Mine just says custom... secondly I'm having trouble with playlists. Music Player can see the names of all my existing playlists but can't see any tracks, in addition while I can create a new playlist in music player if I add a track to that playlist I get a successful add toast, but if I go view the playlist, it still shows zero songs. In addition this is probably affecting the duplicate add option as well. I add the song to the playlist again it says it added it successfully technically it should be a duplicate, however the playlist still says zero songs.

 

[DanPLC]

First my question is the Music Player supposed to have available presets? Mine just says custom...

The equalizer presets are provided by the Android effects library and are different on every device. For instance, my old Evo 3D only had 5, while my S4 has 10. If you tap on "Custom" it should provide a drop-down list of the presets available on your device. If nothing is present in the list, then your device may not have any pre-defined presets.

secondly I'm having trouble with playlists. Music Player can see the names of all my existing playlists but can't see any tracks

So what happens if you tap on the playlist? Does it say that no songs were found? The list of songs in a playlist is provided by the Android media database. Assuming PowerAmp saves its playlists in the standard Android media database format, then Music Player (Remix) should see the songs. However if my memory serves correctly, I thought PowerAmp used its own playlist format. One way to tell would be to load up the playlist in Google Play Music. If it also has a problem seeing the songs, then it's probably an issue with how PowerAmp saves playlists.

in addition while I can create a new playlist in music player if I add a track to that playlist I get a successful add toast, but if I go view the playlist, it still shows zero songs. In addition this is probably affecting the duplicate add option as well. I add the song to the playlist again it says it added it successfully technically it should be a duplicate, however the playlist still says zero songs.

I'm guessing it's because of the way PowerAmp saved its playlists. If you create a new playlist in Music Player (Remix) and add songs to it, it should function properly. Music Player (Remix) creates standard playlists within the Android media database.

 

[anon(363857)]

The equalizer presets are provided by the Android effects library and are different on every device. For instance, my old Evo 3D only had 5, while my S4 has 10. If you tap on "Custom" it should provide a drop-down list of the presets available on your device. If nothing is present in the list, then your device may not have any pre-defined presets.

Ok I have none that's fine.

So what happens if you tap on the playlist? Does it say that no songs were found? The list of songs in a playlist is provided by the Android media database. Assuming PowerAmp saves its playlists in the standard Android media database format, then Music Player (Remix) should see the songs. However if my memory serves correctly, I thought PowerAmp used its own playlist format. One way to tell would be to load up the playlist in Google Play Music. If it also has a problem seeing the songs, then it's probably an issue with how PowerAmp saves playlists.

I'm guessing it's because of the way PowerAmp saved its playlists. If you create a new playlist in Music Player (Remix) and add songs to it, it should function properly. Music Player (Remix) creates standard playlists within the Android media database.

Yes poweramp uses its own DB IIRC that was done due to some earlier version of android having a nasty habit of losing its playlists... however this is happening with playlists that I create right from within Music Player Remix.

I created a Playlist called Test... I played a song and added it to the playlist... it said it added, however when I went to view the playlist it was empty.

 

[DanPLC]

I created a Playlist called Test... I played a song and added it to the playlist... it said it added, however when I went to view the playlist it was empty.

That's odd. The Android media database must not be updating. If you're running Ice Cream Sandwich or earlier, you can access your app logs using an app like aLogCat or CatLog and email them to me (filter using com.hedami.musicplayerremix for the full version and com.hedami.mprtrial for the trial version). That might give me a clue as to what's happening. If you're on Jellybean you won't be able to do that since Google locked down the app logs.

Other than looking at the logs, I'm not sure what I can recommend. The only thing I can suggest is to try to create a playlist using Google Play Music and add songs to it within Google Play Music. If that's not working, then you may be having an issue with your Android media database on your device. If that's the case, you can try rebooting your device. If that doesn't work.you can try clearing the data in the "media storage" app. This will force the Android media indexer to re-index your music. However this will also result in your playlists being wiped out.

 

[anon(363857)]

Running JB. As for the playlists being wiped I'm cool with that as I've been frustrated with how I categorized etc and a fresh start wouldn't hurt, I'll clear everything ok and rerun the media scanner and see what happens...

edit: Well this has gone bad quickly cleared the media scanner rebooted the phone, saw the media storage app data size after a few min go back up to the size of the media I have on my phone, go in to music player... it says there are no songs... same with google play... smh... seems I'm in a bit of a pickle.

edit2: ah now they are starting to come back. and your playlist functionality (including the duplicate checker) is now working... sigh of relief.

 

[DanPLC]

For folks who have updated to version 1.4.4, it introduced a bug where the app will crash if you download album art. I'm going to issue an update (version 1.4.5) later tonight.

 

[DanPLC]

Running JB. As for the playlists being wiped I'm cool with that as I've been frustrated with how I categorized etc and a fresh start wouldn't hurt, I'll clear everything ok and rerun the media scanner and see what happens...

edit: Well this has gone bad quickly cleared the media scanner rebooted the phone, saw the media storage app data size after a few min go back up to the size of the media I have on my phone, go in to music player... it says there are no songs... same with google play... smh... seems I'm in a bit of a pickle.

edit2: ah now they are starting to come back. and your playlist functionality (including the duplicate checker) is now working... sigh of relief.

Yeah it takes a little while for the media indexer to find the music again. I'm glad it's working for you now.

 

[DanPLC]

For folks who have updated to version 1.4.4, it introduced a bug where the app will crash if you download album art. I'm going to issue an update (version 1.4.5) later tonight.

Version 1.4.5 has been released. It fixes the "download album art crashing" bug. It should be available for download soon.

 

[welipshi]

Looks like a nice player. But IMO these are basic features that I'm missing:

• Track number (in e.g. the album list). It's strange you can sort by number but you can't see them (at least make them toggleable in settings).
• Showing which song is playing when you select "View album".
• Maybe I'm blind but I don't see a volume slider anywhere.

 

[DanPLC]

Track number (in e.g. the album list). It's strange you can sort by number but you can't see them (at least make them toggleable in settings).

I don't think many music apps bother to display track number in an album list. I just checked Google Play Music and Samsung's music app and neither display track number. So I'm not sure this would be considered a "basic" feature that's missing. I'm curious why it would matter what the track # was as long as the songs are already sorted in track # order? Does the track # somehow impact the way you choose a song from an album?

Showing which song is playing when you select "View album".

You're correct for this one. I've seen other apps do this. But I just didn't see the need for it. If you want to access your currently playing song (and your whole Now Playing list), just swipe up from the bottom of the screen. The "view album" feature is there so people can quickly access the album of a particular song. When using this feature on the Now Playing screen, most likely people are looking for another song from the same album to either play or queue up in the current list.

Maybe I'm blind but I don't see a volume slider anywhere.

This is something I'm going to be adding soon.

 

[welipshi]

I don't think many music apps bother to display track number in an album list. I just checked Google Play Music and Samsung's music app and neither display track number. So I'm not sure this would be considered a "basic" feature that's missing. I'm curious why it would matter what the track # was as long as the songs are already sorted in track # order? Does the track # somehow impact the way you choose a song from an album?

I can agree when you say it that's probably just something I'm used to and not a basic feature.

You're correct for this one. I've seen other apps do this. But I just didn't see the need for it. If you want to access your currently playing song (and your whole Now Playing list), just swipe up from the bottom of the screen. The "view album" feature is there so people can quickly access the album of a particular song. When using this feature on the Now Playing screen, most likely people are looking for another song from the same album to either play or queue up in the current list.

Some songs in albums stick together. E.g. Pink Floyd and Jean Michel Jarre. If you've shuffled songs and decide you wanna queue the next 1-2 songs after the one you're playing it'd be much easier if you saw which was playing now at a glance. Instead of being forced to remember the current playing song (ok, you can pull up the player from the buttom. but still) and look for it in the list.
It doesn't even have to be for the above reason. It can be just "I wanna queue more songs from this album and then continue with the playlist, but not queue same song I'm playing now (obviously)." Once again, easier if you see at a glance the current playing song under View album.

 

[DanPLC]

Some songs in albums stick together. E.g. Pink Floyd and Jean Michel Jarre. If you've shuffled songs and decide you wanna queue the next 1-2 songs after the one you're playing it'd be much easier if you saw which was playing now at a glance. Instead of being forced to remember the current playing song (ok, you can pull up the player from the buttom. but still) and look for it in the list.
It doesn't even have to be for the above reason. It can be just "I wanna queue more songs from this album and then continue with the playlist, but not queue same song I'm playing now (obviously)." Once again, easier if you see at a glance the current playing song under View album.

Do you really have to pull up the player to see which song is playing when you're listening to it? But yeah I can see how it might be useful to visually see the currently playing song in one of the browsing lists (albums, artists, etc.). I'll look into adding this.

And I agree it would be nice to exclude the currently playing song when queueing the song's album. So I'll update the app so if you queue an album/artist/genre/composer/playlist and the currently playing song is in one of those lists, it'll exclude that song from being queued up.

 

[welipshi]

Yay, lost my whole post...why don't I ever learn to never type directly in forums.
"Your submission could not be processed because you have logged in since the previous page was loaded." Stupid forum...

Seems you can't browse autolists. For some it doesn't make senes, but for others it does e.g. NuSongs (weird name ) and top songs. Though as you need to select a filter every time you select an autolist (which seems annoying in the long run) I guess you'd have to change the app so you can set an autolist to e.g. "top 25" and then it'd make more sense to be able to browse autolists.

 

[DanPLC]

Yay, lost my whole post...why don't I ever learn to never type directly in forums.
"Your submission could not be processed because you have logged in since the previous page was loaded." Stupid forum...

Seems you can't browse autolists. For some it doesn't make senes, but for others it does e.g. NuSongs (weird name ) and top songs. Though as you need to select a filter every time you select an autolist (which seems annoying in the long run) I guess you'd have to change the app so you can set an autolist to e.g. "top 25" and then it'd make more sense to be able to browse autolists.

That's a good idea. It would be nice to browse certain autolists (like NuSongs) without interrupting the current list. I'll look into this.

 

[DanPLC]

Version 1.5.0 development is in progress and it's going to be grand. Here's just one of the new features (wallpaper for widgets):

 

[welipshi]

Seems your app scans the whole internal and external memory and adds the files to the app playlists. I guess it might be a good idea but as it also adds podcasts it really isn't. Shouldn't it scan preset folders that contain music on phones (e.g. synced with Kies) or you could also/instead point the app to a music directory (e.g. you've manually copied to a SD card).

Though in one way it was good, now I know many apps don't really remove folders when uninstalling. It added podcasts because Doggcatcher left files behind when I "uninstalled" it.