Saturday, May 29, 2010

Ampache Mobile 0.9.6

This new version brings dashboard controls.  I missed the blog post for 0.9.5 it was a minor update with no major features added to the app.

ampachemobile_2010-29-05_121030


Version 0.9.6 (05/29/2010)

New Features
  • Dashboard
    • Displays current track, art and buffering info
    • Previous, Play, Pause and Next
    • Tap art or song info to return to app
    • Controls available from locked screen
    • Configurable in settings
Improvements
  • Button to close release notes
  • Saved search now a button on the header in the search screen
Bug Fixes
  • Filtering songs and albums lists caused text overlap
  • Stall detection tweaked further, less false positives

Monday, May 3, 2010

Ampache Mobile 0.9.4

The main feature new to this version is Stored Searches.  This allows you to save your most commonly search for items, for quick access. 

ampachemobile_2010-03-05_111735

Example: New Music (Since Mar 1, 2010 )

 ampachemobile_2010-03-05_120458 ampachemobile_2010-03-05_120500

New Features 

  • Stored Searches
    • Save your favorite searches for quick access to your music.
    • Tap and Hold Search from the main menu for quick access.
    • Searches are stored per account.
    • Some searches can be date limited. Including Artists, Albums and Songs
    • Tap Icon to Edit, Swipe to Delete, Hold to Reorder
Improvements
  • Video Search, added video search to search options.
  • Added a “No items Found” message for empty search results.
Bug Fixes
  • Type to search in video scene broken.
  • Banner notifications didn't show up when in app but away from now playing screen.
  • Extended stall detection timer to 30 secs, was 20
  • On/Off preferences weren't being saved correctly
  • Paused now playing didn't show current time

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Ampache Mobile 0.9.3

Many people have asked for it so here you go, video streaming!

ampachemobile_2010-26-04_010407ampachemobile_2010-26-04_010805videoplayer_2010-26-04_010809

New Feature

  • Video Playback
    • Playback of Videos indexed by Ampache which webOS supports. m4v seem to work the best.
    • Using Palm Video Player for streaming playback. Launches in separate window.
    • Ampache has no video transcoding yet, so videos must be preconverted. I've found handbreak to work best.
Bug Fixes
  • Delete confirmation turned off in now playing list, on now.

Saturday, April 24, 2010

Ampache Mobile in Palm Web Distribution

It’s been a big month for Ampache Mobile.  Buffer Ahead has been a huge success!  I submitted the Application to Palm for distribution which means you can install it on your phone with out any homebrew tools.  Just by clinking this link.  This makes Ampache Mobile available to a much wider audience than its prior home on precentral.

Since submitting the App on April 13th it’s been downloaded over 3000 times and the reviews are in!  24 in all so far, all but 2 are 5 stars.

More and more people have discovered how liberating it is to have all their music at their finger tips!  Thanks to all those who have helped make Ampache Mobile the success it has become.

Next up I hope Ampache Mobile can crack the ranks of the Hot Apps Contest.  So spread the word.  Here is a look it’s current position.

Some Reviews

Nick M on 04/22/2010 yellowstarssm

Excellent app, if you can get an Ampache server working and configured properly. There are a couple bugs, more related to webOS, but there's not much the developer can do about it yet I don't think. Thanks! My 8gb limit is no more! Edit: And btw, once you figure out how to downsample/transcode mp3s, the performance is stellar.

Dave M on 04/22/2010 yellowstarssm

Unbelievable application on all fronts! If you are a music lover this is a must have. Overall it isn't overly complicated but the external ip setup was pretty tricky at points. If you Google any places you get stuck you'll find someone else who worked through the same issue. Thank you Bryce for giving us this picture perfect palm app!

Brian P on 04/19/2010 yellowstarssm

It's awesome, so is AmpachePre, so I have them both. Yes,, it's a little tricky setting up Ampache server, but that is not the fault of this app. Thanks so much!!!

Jeff C on 04/18/2010 yellowstarssm

Great app. Dev keeps working on new features and takes user requests into account. I had no problems setting up the Ampache server on my end. With this app I have all my music with me everywhere I go. I use it all the time.

James L on 04/17/2010 yellowstarssm

Ampache Mobile and AmpachePre turned my iPod into an expensive backup drive. The feature list on the Pre vs. the iPhone and Android isn't in the same league. All my music from anywhere without taking up space on my phone's drive. Speaking of a drive, I haven't tested the Android, but the iPhone requires a wireless connection and Sprint does not meaning I can stream while driving. Another nice thing is the ability to download your songs to the phone (and later delete if needed) when you know there will not be coverage. The jury is out on which I enjoy more the AmpachePre or Ampache Mobile, but I can say I like the random feature on this app much better. Awesome! Update - the Jury is in and Ampache Mobile, with this update, wins. The navigation and focus on getting the music playing makes AM the best. I cannot believe it's free! Donation forthcoming!

Jason L on 04/16/2010 yellowstarssm

Omg this is the best music app ever!!!

J. S on 04/16/2010 yellowstarssm

Awesome app! Really well done

Robert D on 04/15/2010 yellowstarssm

Absolutely the best app that I have found in the catalog. Setting up Ampache was the trickiest part - I think they need to do a better job on their end to provide the documentation that a novice needs - but once my PC was set up, this app worked flawlessly, including all artwork, decent sound, no buffering etc. Recommended.

Julian B on 04/14/2010 yellowstarssm

Wow. Excellent! Only problem is äü.... umlaute.

Frank W on 04/14/2010 yellowstarssm

Great app. It is really nice having access to all my music from my phone. I am not wasting time now syncing new music onto my device: it is already there.

Ian H on 04/13/2010 yellowstarssm

I love this app and Ampache! Why pay for Grooveshark when you can do it yourself and so much more. I'm still learning about Ampache but it has potential for much more than just accessing your music from your webserver.

Evgueni Naverniouk on 04/13/2010 yellowstarssm

The only app you will ever need for music!

Nathan Smith on 04/13/2010 yellowstarssm

Outstanding streaming music player, and keeps getting better. Search and play my entire home music collection from anywhere. Prebuffered songs are great when driving through dead zones. Buy it now! Oh, wait, it's free... Donate now! :D

Ampache Mobile 0.9.1 and 0.9.2

0.9.1 and 0.9.2 have added a few new features and cleaned up some big bugs.

Version 0.9.2 (04/21/2010)

Improvements


  • Sorting: Tap and Hold the Header on any list to bring up a sort menu. Only the Albums Sort saves its state. ampachemobile_2010-21-04_153735 ampachemobile_2010-21-04_153635
  • Jump: Added Jump to Top/Bottom on Songs, Genre and Playlist screens. Tap the header to bring up the menu. ampachemobile_2010-24-04_135541
  • Added first time use popup
Bug Fixes

Version 0.9.1 (04/17/2010)

Improvements


Bug Fixes

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Ampache Mobile 0.9.0

 

Note: I've switched to using the Palm App Catalog to distribute Ampache Mobile, mostly because I want to win some money. The application can now be installed by clicking this link from your phone... Install

New Features

Buffer Ahead!

ampachemobile_2010-12-04_174457
  • Configurable from 1 to 5 songs
  • Near gapless playback, provided you have enough bandwidth.
  • This is true buffer ahead, using system RAM.
  • Intelligent buffer selection, attempts to provide seamless playback with no downloading break between tracks.
  • Many workarounds for bugs in webOS, don't think many people have attempted to use webOS in this way.
  • Auto Detection of changes in network coverage and buffer stalls
  • Auto Detection of buffers lost due to device sleep
  • I've done my best to make this stable without transcoding, but it really shines when you enable it with transcoding.
  • Settings in the Accounts Settings Page
  • Updated the error reporting to follow the new audio API

Artists and Albums List Caching

  • Saves a local copy of your entire albums and artists lists, load times are ridiculous!
  • Auto detects when a change to your server occurs and re-saves the lists. Note: if you have auto scanning enabled on your server this will cause the list to re-download after every scan.
  • Only applies to full Albums and Artist lists, everything else still goes against the server.
  • Updated account editor to reflect how many saved items you have

New Icon and Splash Screen

icon-64Lets face it, the old icon is kind of ugly. Thankfully forum contributor Globex has stepped up and volunteered his services and designed a new one along with anew splash screen!

It still pays homage to the people at the Ampache project, aka it features their squirrel logo but I hope you agree with me, it looks a lot better on the phone.

So a big thanks to Globex Designs, Inc. for the new icon and splash screen. splash

Improvements

  • Figured out how to use the Shift and Sym Keys, updated the controls popup with changes.
  • Lowered the search character limit to 2.
  • Redesign of the Accounts Editor page to accommodate all the new options.
  • Added a whole more shuffle to the playlist shuffle.
  • Changed repeat list once to repeat song.
  • Banner notifications where they felt right.
  • Shuffling a list now displays the list in the order playback will occur.
  • Banner Notifications of new songs when you are looking at another app. Will not wake up screen if its asleep.
  • Go straight to songs view from artists if there is only one album

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed date selector CSS so its no longer black on black with palm-dark
  • Added work around for %20 (spaces) in song URL issue. If you have been having trouble streaming enable it in the Account Editor

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Ampache Mobile 0.8.5

This release adds a couple features that I’m sure will make people happy.  More UI customization and Recent Music Additions.  The recent additions allows you to easily find music you’ve recently added to your server.  I don’t know why I didn’t add this earlier its easily my favorite way to load music quickly.  Other than that this version is mostly cleanup, bug fixes and optimizations.

 ampachemobile_2010-24-03_003658

New Features

  • Search Recent Additions to Ampache ampachemobile_2010-24-03_003711
    • Find Artists, Albums and Songs recently added to your server 
    • Choices include: Last Update, 1 Week, 1 Month, Custom Date
    • Tap and hold from main menu for quick access, time span configurable in preferences
    • NOTE: This is the date files where scanned into your server, not the timestamps on the files. It will be most useful for servers that have been running awhile and have had music added periodically.
  • Theme and Text Configuration

 ampachemobile_2010-24-03_003637

    • Customizations preview in preferences
    • Selection of text color
    • Selection of theme, current options: none and palm-dark
  • Keyboard Commands

    • Type to Search
      • Just start typing while on the main screen and a search will start.
      • Default search type is denoted with an enter image, configurable in preferences
      • Tap Delete twice to exit
    • Now Playing Screen
      • Previous Track: @ (Left of space bar)
      • Next Track: Period (Right of space bar)
      • Skip 15 second ahead: P (Upper Right Key)
      • Skip 15 second back: Q (Upper Left Key)
      • Toggle Play/Pause: Space Bar
      • Toggle Shuffle Mode: S
      • Toggle Repeat Mode: R
      • Toggle View: V ampachemobile_2010-24-03_003841
    • Global Commands
      • Note: Hold finger in gesture area for Meta
      • Meta + P: Preferences
      • Meta + D: Delete Now Playing
      • Meta + N: Goto Now Playing
      • Meta + [Space]: Play/Pause
  • Improving User Experience
    • Release Notes
    • Help Page
    • Keyboard Commands Popup ampachemobile_2010-24-03_003726

Improvements

  • Tap and hold an Artist to skip the albums screen and go straight to all songs.
  • Many optimizations to Now Playing screen, should improve performance
  • Numerous formatting fixes
  • Release Notes Link in About
  • Added time countdown to now playing playlist.
  • Added new icons to various scenes: Connection, Preferences, Accounts

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed a bug which caused buttons to not work correctly while a song was loading on the now playing screen.
  • Update to Now Playing button so it clearly shows its been pressed (turns blue).
  • Alpha Divider rendering incorrectly
  • Hold single song to play/enqueue, broke with jslint changes.
  • Enqueueing the same song more than once broke the playlist.
  • Date in "About.." was incorrect.

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Ampache Mobile 0.8.0

The big addition to 0.8.0 is a playlist viewer.  With the start of some editing functionality, eventually it will allow you to build, edit and save playlists on your server.

Version 0.8.0 (Beta) (03/14/2010)

NOTE: New application name space, no longer using com.palm.ampachemobile, the API is mature enough to move to com.ampachemobile. This means 0.7.0 and 0.8.0 can coexist. Transfer account settings and delete old app.

  • New Feature: Playlist view added to now playing screen.ampachemobile_2010-14-03_233206
    • Application saves last view state between sessions
    • Swipe to delete

      ampachemobile_2010-14-03_232327

    • Drag to reorder ampachemobile_2010-14-03_232342
    • Buffer and playback indicators  
    • Tap Header to toggle view
    • Coming with Ampache 3.6, ability to save a now playing list to the server
  • New Feature: Added configuration for auto stall recovery, per account. Default:Off
    • Turn this off if you are having issues with songs restarting
  • New Feature: List Jump: tap the header on a page with dividers to bring up a Selector to jump down in the list. No more scrolling forever.ampachemobile_2010-14-03_233130
    • Currently on Artists and Albums Lists
    • Long lists can take awhile to populate the drop down, be patient
  • New Feature: New splash screen when app starts ampachemobile_2010-14-03_234433
  • New Feature: Volume Keys: instructs webOS that the application wants music volume, allows changing of music volume prior to starting playback of music
  • Improvement: Added drag to reorder accounts in preferences screen.
  • Improvement: Requests which result in no information from the server now display a useful message allow the user to retry the request. Formerly these messages were mistaken as Unicode errors.
  • Improvement: Request confirmation for preferences screen when playing music
  • Improvement: About... now shows server information

    ampachemobile_2010-14-03_232127

  • Bug Fix: Downloading indicators broke with webOS 1.4
  • Bug Fix: Simplified AudioPlayer class due to improvements made in webOS media handling
  • Bug Fix: Fixed alpha divider in artists view.
  • Known Bug: Ampache 3.5.4 broke stream all songs. Requested fix, slated for Ampache 3.6. Added error message.