Squeeze Control for Android (support thread)

[wayne@angrygoat]

I tried the WIMP app and it has a lot less battery drain (>50% less).
Fiddling around with PowerTutor2 it became clear that it is mainly due to the fact, that Wifi is used to download a whole song and then paused (relying on the built in android media server also seems to be battery friendly). I guess with the squeezebox protocol that is not possible? (because of the synchronization feature?)

It's not just about synchronization. The Squeezebox protocol (SlimProto) is designed for use with relatively low powered hardware players that usually do not have a lot of on-board storage, thus downloading before playback is not really an option. It also needs to allow streaming from a variety of different sources most of which are unlikely (or in the case of internet radio, impossible) to support a download first scheme.

It is just simpler to use a single way of retrieving music from the server instead of supporting multiple methods depending on the source, which once again is probably dictated by the use of hardware players without a lot of on-board processing power.

SB Player has an input buffer of about 3MB (the size is chosen to match that of the Boom). If you're streaming lossy formats like mp3 or aac from a source that's not bandwidth limited, the song will probably finish downloading well before it finishes playing. That may actually be what you're seeing with the WiMP player, but that player may use a larger buffer so the song will finish downloading sooner.

Also if you're comparing streaming WiMP through the Squeezebox system, versus they're own player, it's probably not a fair comparison since they could be limiting the bandwidth of streams to third party players.

 

[bwaldron]

The latest update added the backup option. However, since I don't buy my own apps I doubt that it would work on my devices. If anyone ever has the opportunity to try it, I'd appreciate some feedback.

I don't see such an option anywhere in the app preferences. Are my prefs saved/restored to/from Google automatically -- i.e., do I test simply by removing and then reinstalling Squeeze Control?

 

[wayne@angrygoat]

I don't see such an option anywhere in the app preferences. Are my prefs saved/restored to/from Google automatically -- i.e., do I test simply by removing and then reinstalling Squeeze Control?

Every time you exit Preferences, it signals that the settings should be backed up. Actual backup is handled by the system and should happen automatically in the background at some point afterwards.

Restoration should be automatic.

 

[bwaldron]

OK. I uninstalled then reinstalled Squeeze Control -- and all settings have been reverted to default. Will the preferences restoration occur on its own within a short time? I tried doing a Google Account sync via my device Settings, but this didn't restore my prefs.

 

[wayne@angrygoat]

OK. I uninstalled then reinstalled Squeeze Control -- and all settings have been reverted to default. Will the preferences restoration occur on its own within a short time? I tried doing a Google Account sync via my device Settings, but this didn't restore my prefs.

Did you do an account sync before you uninstalled the app?

 

[bwaldron]

Did you do an account sync before you uninstalled the app?

Yep.

 

[wayne@angrygoat]

Yep.

Ok, I think I figured out what's going on. First there was another setting I needed to enable and second the documentation neglected to mention certain restrictions that Squeeze Control happen to run into. I've got it fixed now and backup will work in the next update.

BTW, Syncing the Google account doesn't force a backup. You can force a backup with the developer tools when the device is connected to the computer, but I don't think there's anyway to force a backup from the device itself.

 

[bwaldron]

Ok, I think I figured out what's going on. First there was another setting I needed to enable and second the documentation neglected to mention certain restrictions that Squeeze Control happen to run into. I've got it fixed now and backup will work in the next update.

Gotcha.

BTW, Syncing the Google account doesn't force a backup. You can force a backup with the developer tools when the device is connected to the computer, but I don't think there's anyway to force a backup from the device itself.

I didn't think so, but figured it couldn't hurt

Backing up Squeeze Control via the developer tools/ADB (I use Helium by ClockworkMod to automate that) has never worked for me -- tells me that Squeeze Control has disallowed backup of application data. This may perhaps be what you're fixing.

Thanks as always.

 

[wayne@angrygoat]

Gotcha.



I didn't think so, but figured it couldn't hurt

Backing up Squeeze Control via the developer tools/ADB (I use Helium by ClockworkMod to automate that) has never worked for me -- tells me that Squeeze Control has disallowed backup of application data. This may perhaps be what you're fixing.

Thanks as always.

Yes, it's a flag in the application definition called allowBackup that I had set to false. That only allows the backup, you still need a little bit more code to actually do the cloud sync.

The other problem was that the restore doesn't happen until after a certain point in the application's life cycle, but I was accessing the preferences before that point, which cause the restore to fail.

To force a sync, you can use the adb tools to issue this command:
adb shell bmgr run

 

[bwaldron]

Just tried with the new version -- after uninstalling and reinstalling the app, my preferences were indeed restored.

 

[krischan]

I'm using SC for a while and it is a very good app for LMS. But I still have an issue (also with the latest version). I am using the LMS 7.9 and I ripped a CD-Box containing 7 CDs. In the LMS setup I am using the option that all the 7 CDs are treated like one CD in the GUI. Normally when I select one title, SC asks me if I want to play the title now or sort at the end of the playlist and so on. But I found out that if there are more than 44 titles, than SC functioned not correctly. So if I for instance select title 45, SC don't ask me if I want to play the title now or sort to the end of the playlist.
I think there is a little bug in the app. When I am using the LMS GUI, than it works.

Regards,
Krischan

 

[wayne@angrygoat]

I'm using SC for a while and it is a very good app for LMS. But I still have an issue (also with the latest version). I am using the LMS 7.9 and I ripped a CD-Box containing 7 CDs. In the LMS setup I am using the option that all the 7 CDs are treated like one CD in the GUI. Normally when I select one title, SC asks me if I want to play the title now or sort at the end of the playlist and so on. But I found out that if there are more than 44 titles, than SC functioned not correctly. So if I for instance select title 45, SC don't ask me if I want to play the title now or sort to the end of the playlist.
I think there is a little bug in the app. When I am using the LMS GUI, than it works.

Regards,
Krischan

7.9 is a developmental branch which in commercial software would be considered beta software. Since beta software is constantly changing, I do not support them or guarantee compatibility with them (it's like trying to hit a moving target).

That said, from what you describe, it actually sounds like a it could be problem with LMS. The menus you see in Squeeze Control are generated and sent to the app by the server. If part of the menu works, then it could be that the server is not generating the rest of the menu correctly.

Squeeze Control accesses LMS through a different pathway than the web GUI, so just because something works in the web GUI does not mean that its not broken for remote apps like Squeeze Control.

It it also possible that LMS is working correctly but they made changes that are not completely compatible with Squeeze Control. Since 7.9 is still in development things are still changing and there's no point for me to make Squeeze Control compatible with it until it is stable.

 

[paqueuc]

Hello,
I definitely look for a squeezebox controler that would allow me to move from room to room and have the music follow me. Some kind of ibeacon (for android) feature coupled with a "follow me" in app option would be great. I don't think, this exists already. But at least, is your app able to select a song, then move from one room to another and with a simple touch make this song sync to the new room and pause it in the old room ? I have already tested 4 other apps and all of them start from, first, choose the player to, second, choose the song. None starts from, first, choose the song to, second, choose the player. And it's quite boring when you move from one room to another and you do the whole search for your song again. If your app does this, I buy it. Thanks for your reply.

 

[paqueuc]

Hello,
I definitely look for a squeezebox controler that would allow me to move from room to room and have the music follow me. Some kind of ibeacon (for android) feature coupled with a "follow me" in app option would be great to "auto-follow". I don't think, this exists already. But at least, is your app able to select a song, then move from one room to another and with a simple touch make this song sync to the new room and pause it in the old room ? I have already tested 4 other apps and all of them start from, first, choose the player to, second, choose the song. None starts from, first, choose the song to, second, choose the player. And it's quite boring when you move from one room to another and you do the whole search for your song again. If your app does this, I buy it. Thanks for your reply.

 

[wayne@angrygoat]

I have already tested 4 other apps and all of them start from, first, choose the player to, second, choose the song. None starts from, first, choose the song to, second, choose the player. And it's quite boring when you move from one room to another and you do the whole search for your song again. If your app does this, I buy it. Thanks for your reply.

No in Squeeze Control you still need to select the player first, but that is because of how the Squeezebox system works. When a controller connects to a server, it cannot find out what music is available unless a player is chosen.

But at least, is your app able to select a song, then move from one room to another and with a simple touch make this song sync to the new room and pause it in the old room ?

There is a plugin for the server called "Switch Player" by Triode that will allow you to do this and it should work with most controllers.

 

[krischan]

A question or suggestion...
Is it possible to implement a function that will cause the LMS to scan the directories for new files?

 

[wayne@angrygoat]

A question or suggestion...
Is it possible to implement a function that will cause the LMS to scan the directories for new files?

I'll put a button in Preferences > Servers to do this in the next update, but it will only be a full library rescan. LMS doesn't expose a command to remote control apps to just scan for new files.

 

[krischan]

Thanks

 

[wayne@angrygoat]

Ok the latest version has the rescan button, but the description in Preferences is wrong. It turns out that the command I'm sending is actually triggering a new/changed music scan and NOT a full rescan. The documentation in LMS wasn't very clear about this.

 

[VolkerOne]

SqueezeControl is the best Squeezebox Controller!
But I miss the sorting and modification of the favorites!
Is it possible to integrate this function?