Ampache Mobile

Ampache Mobile 0.9.6

2010-05-29T12:25:00.001-05:00

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.

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

Ampache Mobile 0.9.4

2010-05-03T17:26:00.001-05:00

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

Example: New Music (Since Mar 1, 2010 )

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

Ampache Mobile 0.9.3

2010-04-28T12:54:00.001-05:00

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

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.

Ampache Mobile in Palm Web Distribution

2010-04-24T14:10:00.001-05:00

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

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

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

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

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

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

Omg this is the best music app ever!!!

J. S on 04/16/2010

Awesome app! Really well done

Robert D on 04/15/2010

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

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

Frank W on 04/14/2010

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

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

The only app you will ever need for music!

Nathan Smith on 04/13/2010

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

2010-04-24T13:59:00.001-05:00

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.
Jump: Added Jump to Top/Bottom on Songs, Genre and Playlist screens. Tap the header to bring up the menu.
Added first time use popup

Bug Fixes

Infinite loop in now playing screen caused the app to lock up, possibly resulting in false audio stall detection.
Playback errors sometime broke the now playing list.
Fixed Check for Updates so it doesn't have to launch the browser.

Version 0.9.1 (04/17/2010)

Improvements

Updates to Help Scene, including Check for Update, User Guide and App Introduction
Made stall/crash recovery optional, configurable in account editor. Default:On
Added Donate Button to About Screen
Tweaked stall detection for less false positives
Fixed formatting on account editor

Bug Fixes

Reset Stall detection when buffer loss is detected
Fixed orange key on search causing scene to exit
Fixed load albums from the genre page
Fixed a bug which caused the playlist and buffer ahead to die

Ampache Mobile 0.9.0

2010-04-13T11:59:00.001-05:00

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!

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

Lets 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.

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

Ampache Mobile 0.8.5

2010-03-24T02:04:00.001-05:00

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.

New Features

Search Recent Additions to Ampache
- 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

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
- 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

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.

Ampache Mobile 0.8.0

2010-03-14T23:57:00.001-05:00

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.
- Application saves last view state between sessions
- Swipe to delete
- Drag to reorder
- 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.
- 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
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
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.

Ampache Mobile 0.7.0

2009-10-29T19:18:00.002-05:00

I'm really excited about this release. Hope everyone likes it as much as I do.

Version 0.7.0 (Beta)

New Feature: Now Playing
- Any list of songs can be enqueued onto the end of the current playlist
- Tap and Hold a song to add just that song
- Delete the now playing list from any scene
- TODO: Build a playlist editor to remove items from a list

New Feature: Random Music
- Shuffle all Songs NOTE: This is using an documented method from the Ampache Server and does not allow for retrieval of song information.
- Random Album Selector cover-flow like to allow random browsing
- Artist, Albums, Songs of the moment lists

New Feature: Redesign of progress indicator for loading content, works the same as the web browser and you can cancel while loading at any point.
New Feature: Added the ability to e-mail the xml from problem tracks with corrupted tags to enable easier debug
Improvement: Auto restart stalled stream after 20 seconds of stalled state.
Improvement: Optimized all images included in the ipk making for a much smaller download.
- NOTE: If you are using the included backgrounds you will need to reset
  your settings.
Improvement: Modified all icons to have the same look and feel.
Improvement: Spinner on now playing scene is now in the command menu and not covering up the cover art.
Improvement: Made restarting a partially downloaded list optional, button click continues download
Improvement: Removed all scene transitions makes the app much faster
Improvement: Fixed the buffering indicator
- Can now move the slider outside the buffered part of a song and it will start the download from the point you dropped
- If the start of the buffer has been deleted by the audio service it will now be displayed
- Fixed the issue where it would resize itself and make the now playing screen jump around
Bug Fix: Added code to remove bad characters resulting in "Unicode error" on the application side

Announcing the Ampache Mobile Blog

2009-10-29T11:06:00.001-05:00

I'm a huge consumer of RSS feeds so I thought I'd create my own to let people know about news concerning Ampache Mobile and it's development.

I plan on announcing releases here as well as other fun stuff regarding Ampache and streaming music.