Topic: My Music Files: is there playlist support?

Hello,

Is there a notion of playlists for "My Music Files"?  Also, does it provide a web-based interface like chumbipodd?

Thanks!

wayn3w

Re: My Music Files: is there playlist support?

No, however, you can do it with the My Streams.

Basically, if you set a stream URL to something like "file:////mnt/usb/myFiles.pls" it should work. In 2.6.54, you must use UNIX-style line endings in the PLS or M3U - that will be addressed in the next release.

You can also do individual sound files by not including the "file:///", ie "/mnt/usb/somefile.mp3".

Re: My Music Files: is there playlist support?

Cool -- thanks!  Perhaps that should go in the wiki?

Re: My Music Files: is there playlist support?

On this topic - sorta

I've got playlists working good with mystreams -  couple thoughts

1. Would you happen to be adding or have on the list to add the ability to pause audio playback?  It would be super to be able to pause playback of a playlist without needing to start at the beginning - which is the way it is now (ie. the stop button)

2. How about track forward and back for playlists?  Maybe this will be address under the general my music section.  I understand playlists right now are treated as a stream, and as such the concept of track forward and backward is foreign.

I'm currently really using  the playlists as a workaround to the weak my music files interface.  I'm sorry chumbians to be trashing on the hard work you have put into this product - really I am impressed with what we've been getting from you!

I'm assuming that the my music interface will really be snazzed up in the future - I hope.  Could you confirm Duane?  Any hints on what may be in store there?

Thanks!

Re: My Music Files: is there playlist support?

Well, I think it's fair to assume that the music subsystem will be under pretty constant improvement.  I wouldn't consider anything you currently see today as unchangeable - as we see how people are using the software and what works and what doesn't, we'll evolve as necessary.

We have other business relationships in development regarding music.  Some may come sooner than others - some have more liberal terms that make them quick to implement and deploy, others want restrictions that we're somewhat hesitant to impose on our users.

Re: My Music Files: is there playlist support?

Will there be asx, wma support ? Many good internet radio stations use this format.
Thanks!

Re: My Music Files: is there playlist support?

Probably not, at least for now.

In order to support these formats, we'd have to obtain a license from Microsoft, and they quite often put limitations in their licenses that preclude the creation of implementations under some of the more important Open and Free licenses, most notably the GPL - plus it would likely involve some sort of fee to them.

I guess our recommendation for streams in these formats is that one use some server-side transcoder, such as SlimServer, to convert these streams into something a bit less proprietary.

8 (edited by wayn3w 2008-02-16 19:56:08)

Re: My Music Files: is there playlist support?

I finally handcrafted my own playlists to play with My Streams and I'm happy to say it works.  What surprised me is that My Streams is playing the playlists in reverse order -- from the numerically last file to the first!  Is this a known issue, or do would you like me to supply one of the playlists as an example?

This is with 2.6.70, and it may be related to this: http://forum.chumby.com/viewtopic.php?pid=7408#p7408

Re: My Music Files: is there playlist support?

How did you do this? These are for playing files from USB?

Re: My Music Files: is there playlist support?

wayn3w wrote:

What surprised me is that My Streams is playing the playlists in reverse order -- from the numerically last file to the first!  Is this a known issue, or do would you like me to supply one of the playlists as an example?

Yes, I recently found that bug - it will be fixed in a slipstream release.

Re: My Music Files: is there playlist support?

I think I got the answer
Thx

Re: My Music Files: is there playlist support?

wayn3w-

Could you post up a sample playlist and step by step instrucitons? I personally am not a Linux guy, so alot of these things just fly right over my head. I would really appreciate it.

Thanks

-HuckFinn

13 (edited by wayn3w 2008-02-17 19:35:21)

Re: My Music Files: is there playlist support?

Pt. I  PLaylist format
A playlist is a file that looks like a Windows .INI file, with the following format:

[playlist]
NumberOfEntries=14
File14=/mnt/usb/BillFrisell/Nashville/14Gone.mp3
File13=/mnt/usb/BillFrisell/Nashville/13TheEndOfTheWorld.mp3
File12=/mnt/usb/BillFrisell/Nashville/12Shucks.mp3
File11=/mnt/usb/BillFrisell/Nashville/11DogwoodAcres.mp3
File10=/mnt/usb/BillFrisell/Nashville/10WereNotFromAroundHere.mp3
File9=/mnt/usb/BillFrisell/Nashville/09Family.mp3
File8=/mnt/usb/BillFrisell/Nashville/08PipeDown.mp3
File7=/mnt/usb/BillFrisell/Nashville/07KeepYourEyesOpen.mp3
File6=/mnt/usb/BillFrisell/Nashville/06WillJesusWashTheBloodstainsFromYourHands.mp3
File5=/mnt/usb/BillFrisell/Nashville/05Brother.mp3
File4=/mnt/usb/BillFrisell/Nashville/04MrMemory.mp3
File3=/mnt/usb/BillFrisell/Nashville/03OneOfTheseDays.mp3
File2=/mnt/usb/BillFrisell/Nashville/02GoJake.mp3
File1=/mnt/usb/BillFrisell/Nashville/01GimmeAHoller.mp3

The key pieces are: the '[playlist]'; the 'NumberOfEntries'; and then each path to the song preceded by File#= (where # is the index number of the song,)

This I named Nashville.pls, and all the files including this playlist I put on the USB drive when I mounted the drive to my computer.  I knew that chumby was going to mount my drive as /mnt/usb because it had previously mounted it there. If yours is mounted at a different place, you'll have to use something other than /mnt/usb in your list; see where your usb drive is mounted first, and use this location.

Please be aware that currently there is a firmware limitation that the file names for My Streams, and within this playlist have to be simple; that means no spaces, apostrophes or other unusual punctuation.  These files will otherwise be skipped when the Chumby attempts to play them.

Please note that I specified the 'FileN' entries backwards in order to address the problem mentioned earlier in this forum that the Chumby plays the songs from the bottom of the playlist up.  I numbered them the correct way in the hopes that when the problem is fixed I don't have to change this file.

14 (edited by wayn3w 2008-02-17 19:32:33)

Re: My Music Files: is there playlist support?

Pt II: Using the PLS on a Chumby

To use the playlist on the chumby, you have to create a new stream in My Streams, call it whatever you want, give it the type of PLS, but give it the URL of file:////mnt/usb/Nashville.pls  Note the 4 slashes (////) after 'file:' -- this is not a mistake.  Of course if your drive is not mounted on /mnt/usb you'd have to change the URL.

I hope an enterprising person can write a little set of CGI scripts to help you create the playlists on the Chumby.      The mp3.x command seems like it would be doing most of the work of discovering the files.

wayn3w

Re: My Music Files: is there playlist support?

Thank you very much for the detailed instrucitons. I am going to go pick up one of those Sony micro usb flash drives and load it up. Circuit City has these on clearance for $19.99 for a 2 Gig drive.

I can see that this will be pretty painfull for any long playlists, so I second the request for someone smarter than I to come up with an easier way.

-HuckFinn

Re: My Music Files: is there playlist support?

Pt. IB  Simple M3U file format

A "simple" M3U file format is a list of filenames.  An easy way to create a M3U list,  if all your songs are in one folder, is to redirect a list of the songs to a file.  As an example, if I start up the sshd daemon and log in, I can create M3U list similar to the PLS list mentioned above by typing:

ls /mnt/usb/BillFrisell/Nashville/* > /mnt/usb/Nashville.m3u

The file would like:
/mnt/usb/BillFrisell/Nashville/01GimmeAHoller.mp3
/mnt/usb/BillFrisell/Nashville/02GoJake.mp3
/mnt/usb/BillFrisell/Nashville/03OneOfTheseDays.mp3
/mnt/usb/BillFrisell/Nashville/04MrMemory.mp3
/mnt/usb/BillFrisell/Nashville/05Brother.mp3
/mnt/usb/BillFrisell/Nashville/06WillJesusWashTheBloodstainsFromYourHands.mp3
/mnt/usb/BillFrisell/Nashville/07KeepYourEyesOpen.mp3
/mnt/usb/BillFrisell/Nashville/08PipeDown.mp3
/mnt/usb/BillFrisell/Nashville/09Family.mp3
/mnt/usb/BillFrisell/Nashville/10WereNotFromAroundHere.mp3
/mnt/usb/BillFrisell/Nashville/11DogwoodAcres.mp3
/mnt/usb/BillFrisell/Nashville/12Shucks.mp3
/mnt/usb/BillFrisell/Nashville/13TheEndOfTheWorld.mp3
/mnt/usb/BillFrisell/Nashville/14Gone.mp3

To use this, follow the instructions for your file listed in Pt II, but specify the type as M3U.

Re: My Music Files: is there playlist support?

wayn3w -

Please consider putting these instructions on the wiki.

Re: My Music Files: is there playlist support?

Duane wrote:

wayn3w -

Please consider putting these instructions on the wiki.

I'd be happy to.  Could you please unlock the front page, or add a File Formats page off the front page (near or under Software?) I'll add the pages after that.

wayn3w

Re: My Music Files: is there playlist support?

I've added a "Chumby and music" link on the front page.

Re: My Music Files: is there playlist support?

Done for now!  Would you happen to know if the extended PLS and extended M3U files are supported?  I'd like to see those mentioned there, at least whether they are supported.

Re: My Music Files: is there playlist support?

Duane, when will the bug with the reverse order be fixed? Is is too much work to get my audio book working :-(

Re: My Music Files: is there playlist support?

evilchumby wrote:

Duane, when will the bug with the reverse order be fixed? Is is too much work to get my audio book working :-(

The last several betas had that bug fixed.

Re: My Music Files: is there playlist support?

Duane,
I thought the My music files function will be upgraded to view files.  Is it in the works for the next release?

Re: My Music Files: is there playlist support?

Is it possible to thru a playlist (ff or reverse)? I have a pretty long playlist setup as a "My stream". The problem is everytime I want to listen to this, it starts from the top! Also, would it be possible to read thru the music files on the USB drive?

Re: My Music Files: is there playlist support?

"My Music Files" scans all of the music on a USB drive - it has "next" and "previous" buttons, and doesn't require a formal playlist.