SlimPlayer Internet Radio plugin

[Brent94Z]

Thanks for the reply, Michael!

Originally Posted by mkanet

Hi Brent,

In order to use XMRadio or any other radio via Slimplayer, you need to learn how to use Squeezebox Server's web interface; as most of your configuration and settings are going to be there. There's nothing special or different about XMRadio than any other audio network plugin. The only difference is some radio networks you have to enter your username/password at http://www.mysqueezebox.com. All you have to do is enable the plugin in Squeezebox Server. Once you enable the plugin, you will see it as just another radio network displayed on the main web interface page. You will have to learn how to navigate to your favorite XM channel via Squeezebox Server and add it as a favorite (using the heart icon). The most common mistake is adding an item as a playlist or playlist item (which is NOT the same thing as adding a Radio station as a Favorite). This isn't something I can explain here, you'll just have to learn how to use Squeezebox Server's interface by trying. I assure you that it's not that hard to do. Once you add your Favorite channels, you can then go under "Favorites" in the web interface and and Edit (pencil icon)/customize the order of your favorites list items and give them friendly names. For example, I have my favorites with a standard naming format of |Radio Network| - Channel Name... and sort them by how frequently I access the radio stations.

I think you might have missed some of the details I mentioned about what I tried

Are you using XM or Sirius? It looks like by your screenshot you are likely using the official Sirius plugin. Or, do you also have XM too and it just doesn't show? Reason I ask is because I did play around with all that you mentioned prior to posting. The XM plugin is a 3rd party plugin and it looks like it may be a little different than the Sirius plugin? Anyway, I'm familiar with the heart icon for the radio stations. However, this icon doesn't show up for me for the individual XM stations. I've also tried to, via the web UI, add some XM presets and that doesn't show up either.

If you are familiar with the XM 3rd party plugin, do you know specifically how to set a channel as a favorite because no matter how much I click around in the web UI, I don't see how to do it

Originally Posted by mkanet

You want to make sure that Slimplayer is up and running while youre making settings changes in Squeezebox Server's web interface.

Even though I didn't know that I should have it like that, I did so got lucky. LOL I had the Sage Slimplayer up (green light on) while I was playing around with the web UI. Like I mentioned before, that is when I noticed that hitting play on an XM channel (all I have is PLAY and add to playlist... no heart here) it would start playing in the Sage Slimplayer and show the channel and channel info and everything... I just can't get it to do that from within the Sage Slimplayer plugin.

Originally Posted by mkanet

You should actually give your client a name in Squeezebox Server... you'll see the name you gave it on the top right corner of the web interface.

Yep, did that... called it SageSqueeze Now, one thing I noticed is that this only changes the name on the web UI. The name being displayed on the Sage Slimplayer plugin remains the same. I'm thinking this is normal because when I changed the name to SageSqueeze it indicated that it would change the name seen on that web page and didn't lead me to believe it would go out and change the name in Sage. So, I think I'm OK here.

Originally Posted by mkanet

Its a good idea to keep your other Squeezebox clients turned off so the changes you make apply aren't confused with any other Client. The most common client-specific settings changes are going to be "Menu" and "Audio". Under Menu, you can add what radio networks and plugins you want visible in Slimplayer (when using the 'Navigate' feature).

I actually saw this setting yesterday and thought that was my problem but no joy... even after checking the XM plugin and ensuring it move up in the list, I saw no changes on the Slimplayer. I've even tried restarting the Sage service. I was restarting the Squeezebox server too but I think I may have only done that at the beginning when I was setting up the XM Radio plugin. Hmmm... I'll try to restart everything and maybe even just reboot all my computers

Originally Posted by mkanet

Generally, the only thing I like to access via the Slimplayer menu/Navigate is my local music library.

Which brings up a question... I have the Squeezebox server running on my office computer (trying to keep my Sage server as "clean" as possible). I noticed that the location to my music files as shown in the web UI is listed as "C:\Users\blah blah". I didn't see any music files in the Sage Slimplayer. I was thinking I may need to make this a UNC path BUT I also noticed that the music files did show up on my actual squeezebox so am thinking that since the server is running on the computer where the actual drive letters are being used that it is probably OK.

I'm at work now and haven't played with this at all but will try some different stuff when I get home. Is it recommended to use UNC paths here or just leave it as "C:\..."?

Originally Posted by mkanet

If you want, you can add XM Radio to the menu in case you want to browse through the XM Radio stations via Slimplayer. The only items that are displayed under my menu is 'Now Playing', 'Music Folders', and 'Internet Radio'. Everything else is quickly accessible via the favorites list I created in Squeezebox Server; as, I listen to only my favorite radio stations.. nothing else. The 'audio' section, the most common thing to do is toggle either proxy audio or direct. I have to select "proxy audio" for plugins like Pandora to work. I also have the LAME encoder installed which allows me to transcode audio in real time (this isn't important unless you have a Placeshifter Slimplayer client (over the internet) to transcode in realtime to a certain bitrate.

I don't recall seeing that but will take a look at this as well. But, since what I can see in Slimplayer (just radio station favorites thus far) works OK, I think my setting here is probably OK.

Originally Posted by mkanet

Bottom line, you should just take your time in learning how the webserver interface works and interacts with Slimplayer.

Yepper. I definitely have more to learn about how it all works together.

Originally Posted by mkanet

The reason your standalone Squeezebox works a little differently; independent of Squeezebox server, is because it uses a newer generation of clients. Slimplayer is used no differently that the original hardware Squeezebox client. Once you've got all your channels and menu configured, you will very rarely need to use the web interface.

Yeah, I noticed that when I tried to use one of the plugins (via the web UI) that was already installed and working on my actual squeezebox, it gave me some kind of error indicating that that particular plugin works only on newer devices.

Originally Posted by mkanet

Koelec (creator of this plugin) is almost done with the latest version of Slimplayer... I'm sure he will announce the new version here any day now.

-Michael

That's great!

Thanks much again for helping me get this up and running!

[mkanet]

Hi Brent,

Im currently using the "No so Sirius" 3rd party Sirius plugin, since the builtin plugin has a bugs that affects all "classic generation" Squeezebox clients. I mainly got sirius to listen to Howard Stern in the mornings via SageTV and my phone.

If you're able to add favorites to all other plugins except for XM, then the XM plugin probably has a bug in it.

Is there something on XM that you REALLY need to have that SiriusXM doesnt offer? XM support is probably going to be on the bottom of the list of priorities for bug fixes; especially for Classic players. You might be better off using a more popular plugin that has more support (more people using it, the more support and bugfree it will be).

As for specifying local music library, I have always just used standard, C:\...\...\...\, not UNCs. All you have to do is specify a local drive (I'm not sure if network drives are supported; but, I dont see why not). Then, just add "Music Folder" to your menu to prove that you can access your music library. I've only tried using "Music Folder" menu option, but I remember other stuff like random play, etc worked for me as well. You do want to make sure that squeezebox server is set to scan your music folders when changes occur. Sorry if I can't offer any more help on this.

Just in case you didnt know already, Slimplayer isn't a built-from-scratch, rare client. It's using "Softsqueeze" 3.9 client's JAR which uses the original Slim protocol. It works no different than a classic Squeezebox client (that Logitech has official backwards support for). Slimplayer is just a frontend/shell to Softsqueeze. You may want to install the latest softsqueeze on your PC to see how they work exactly alike; just remember you can't haev softsqueeze and Slimplayer running actively in memory on the same PC at the same time. Softsqueeze should act exactly the same way as Slimplayer and the original Classic hardware client.

The best place to ask for this kind of help would be the Logitech Squeezebox Server forum. I suggest that you say you have a Classic Squeezebox client (to avoid complicating the discussion); and, ask the same questions you're asking here. They would be able to help you much better than I can. I know that the Classic Squeezebox will be supported for a while; since there are still lots of happy Classic Squeeze users out there. As far as Squeezebox Server is concerned, it doesnt know the difference between Slimplayer and a Classic Squeezebox; or, at least, they are so close that they can usually be used synonymously.

Let us know what you find out; and, good luck!
-Michael

Originally Posted by Brent94Z

Thanks for the reply, Michael!



I think you might have missed some of the details I mentioned about what I tried

Are you using XM or Sirius? It looks like by your screenshot you are likely using the official Sirius plugin. Or, do you also have XM too and it just doesn't show? Reason I ask is because I did play around with all that you mentioned prior to posting. The XM plugin is a 3rd party plugin and it looks like it may be a little different than the Sirius plugin? Anyway, I'm familiar with the heart icon for the radio stations. However, this icon doesn't show up for me for the individual XM stations. I've also tried to, via the web UI, add some XM presets and that doesn't show up either.

If you are familiar with the XM 3rd party plugin, do you know specifically how to set a channel as a favorite because no matter how much I click around in the web UI, I don't see how to do it



Even though I didn't know that I should have it like that, I did so got lucky. LOL I had the Sage Slimplayer up (green light on) while I was playing around with the web UI. Like I mentioned before, that is when I noticed that hitting play on an XM channel (all I have is PLAY and add to playlist... no heart here) it would start playing in the Sage Slimplayer and show the channel and channel info and everything... I just can't get it to do that from within the Sage Slimplayer plugin.



Yep, did that... called it SageSqueeze Now, one thing I noticed is that this only changes the name on the web UI. The name being displayed on the Sage Slimplayer plugin remains the same. I'm thinking this is normal because when I changed the name to SageSqueeze it indicated that it would change the name seen on that web page and didn't lead me to believe it would go out and change the name in Sage. So, I think I'm OK here.



I actually saw this setting yesterday and thought that was my problem but no joy... even after checking the XM plugin and ensuring it move up in the list, I saw no changes on the Slimplayer. I've even tried restarting the Sage service. I was restarting the Squeezebox server too but I think I may have only done that at the beginning when I was setting up the XM Radio plugin. Hmmm... I'll try to restart everything and maybe even just reboot all my computers



Which brings up a question... I have the Squeezebox server running on my office computer (trying to keep my Sage server as "clean" as possible). I noticed that the location to my music files as shown in the web UI is listed as "C:\Users\blah blah". I didn't see any music files in the Sage Slimplayer. I was thinking I may need to make this a UNC path BUT I also noticed that the music files did show up on my actual squeezebox so am thinking that since the server is running on the computer where the actual drive letters are being used that it is probably OK.

I'm at work now and haven't played with this at all but will try some different stuff when I get home. Is it recommended to use UNC paths here or just leave it as "C:\..."?



I don't recall seeing that but will take a look at this as well. But, since what I can see in Slimplayer (just radio station favorites thus far) works OK, I think my setting here is probably OK.



Yepper. I definitely have more to learn about how it all works together.



Yeah, I noticed that when I tried to use one of the plugins (via the web UI) that was already installed and working on my actual squeezebox, it gave me some kind of error indicating that that particular plugin works only on newer devices.



That's great!

Thanks much again for helping me get this up and running!

[Brent94Z]

Thanks, Michael, for the suggestions! I'm going to first try rebooting all the PCs. If that doesn't fix things the idea of your to try softsqueeze and see how it behaves makes good sense and I'll give that a try. If I can't get XM to work on that then at least I know it isn't an issue with Sage Slimplayer. I'll give things a shot and play around and report back. Working 15 hour days right now so not a lot of free time but will get to this soon.

And, I have like 4 subscriptions to XM with one being a lifetime with premium radio so switching to Sirius would be expensive. While I'd like to have the ability to listen to XM from the Sage interface, I don't need it bad enough to fork out that much money. LOL

Oh, also, for anybody else wanting to give the XM plugin a try there is a little trick to get it to even let you login... you have to put your username and password in in ALL CAPS! I luckily found a post via Google that mentioned this or I'd still be trying to figure out why I couldn't log in! hahaha

[DoPeFiSh]

nice plug in ! is it only youtube that plays or can other sources be chosen somehow, it says pandora and such, I have a pandora account and would love to use it ?

Thanks

[mkanet]

Hi, please read the first post. Slimplayer will playback pretty much any radio station (FM, Internet, Satellite, etc) via audio streams. It will also playback all your music library. You can have a universal list of favorite radio stations regardless of radio network. It even added all my local FM radio stations in my Favorites list so I dont need an actual FM radio. It supported my Sirius Radio, Pandora, Napster, Slacker, and LastFM accounts (there's many more networks). However, you first need to install Squeezebox Server. You can download it here. Squeezebox server runs quietly in the background. It will require a little bit of trial and error to learn how to configure Squeezebox Server to accomodate Slimplayer as well as any other clients you may have. You wont have to touch Squeezebox Server after its all setup. Slimplayer basically replaces the "real" hardware based version of the client; but, with fantastic enhancements that the hardware clients can't do.




In fact, Squeezebox Server can power these kinds of devices all over your home if you wanted to... or Slimplayer clients. You can control them via your phone, laptops, the clients themselves, etc. The more you learn about it, the more you can do. It's power is pretty much limited to your creativity and the time you take to learn it.

Originally Posted by DoPeFiSh

nice plug in ! is it only youtube that plays or can other sources be chosen somehow, it says pandora and such, I have a pandora account and would love to use it ?

Thanks

[dcardellini]

Originally Posted by Brent94Z

And, I have like 4 subscriptions to XM with one being a lifetime with premium radio so switching to Sirius would be expensive. While I'd like to have the ability to listen to XM from the Sage interface, I don't need it bad enough to fork out that much money. LOL

Oh, also, for anybody else wanting to give the XM plugin a try there is a little trick to get it to even let you login... you have to put your username and password in in ALL CAPS! I luckily found a post via Google that mentioned this or I'd still be trying to figure out why I couldn't log in! hahaha

I am having the same exact problem with XM Radio plugin....cannot add any stations as favorites....and therefore cannot expose stations to play in SlimPlayer. The Sirius (trial) worked just fine. Same painful path on the login stuff...need to use CAPS.

To get the extra data services from Sirius or XM, you need to pay another $2.99/month on top of your current radio subscription (about $16/month with royalties before the adder). Sirius will sell just the Internet data services alone...but for full $16/month.

As I have been an XM subscriber for many years, I called XM and requested that they give me the Sirius Data service for 2.99. They laughed, and I canceled my XM subscription (ok, they didn't laugh..but they really are two separate companies, with no joint technical/marketing). The few idiotic, low-end commercials on XM come so often now I have found myself shutting it off after the first commercial break, as I cannot bear to hear these anymore (I have signed-up to be "bigger" in my next life, thx).

Pandora will fill this gap from my Android (city dweller...always have internet service) on my next car with Bluetooth radio service.

MKANET: Thx for the great tips and encouragment. I have only been able to select added "favorites" and "playlists" from SlimPlayer...and didn't think I could browse my music library, or browse/choose radio stations. Are you running a newer version of SlimPlayer?

[mkanet]

dcardellini, I am using a newer version, but as far as how to play radio stations and local audio media files go.. things are still the same. You simply navigate to the station you want to play and press PLAY on your remote control; or the sageTV equivalent hotkey (play=ctrl-d, stop=ctrl-g, etc). Or, you can add the favorite from there by selecting that option and pressing the right arrow on your remote control.

In order to access your local music library or the actual music folders you need to add those options to your menu. This is how you add any type of source you want to navigate and access respective options. See below where to do this.

However, honestly, 99% of the time I already have all my favorite stations easily accessible in the favorites list. I hope this helps.

Originally Posted by dcardellini

MKANET: Thx for the great tips and encouragment. I have only been able to select added "favorites" and "playlists" from SlimPlayer...and didn't think I could browse my music library, or browse/choose radio stations. Are you running a newer version of SlimPlayer?

[dcardellini]

MKANET: thx for the lead to make this far more usable. I really haven't seriously played with the SqueezeCenter stuff.

I really haven't seriously implemented a whole home music solution. I recently posted a "whine" here, expecting the SageTV V7 would address my needs:

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/showthread.php?t=53195

Have owned a Squeezebox Duet for a year......now use SqueezeCommander on my Android. Starting to really think this Squeezbox stuff is the way to go for the big picture....and this SageTV integration really tips the scale.

Just saw this add in paper at Fry's for this Android 7" touchscreen on Sale for $102.00:

http://www.frys.com/product/6367651?...PDA%20Pod:Pod5

Wonder if I could buy a couple of these, mount to wall(s), run SqueezeCommander and do some home automation stuff. May pick one up just to see.

[koelec]

Just uploaded slimplayer version 2.3.0 plugin.
Thanks to Michael (MKANET) for inspiring me on this one.
changes:
-

• fix V7 theme misalignment.
• fix missing video on menu for SYNC playback mode (extenders and PS) causing start playback to fail
• fix navigation mode start playback issues
• fix bug where after using navigation mode 'Now playing' display would be stuck.
• fix issue that there would be no ArtistInfo for first song after startup.
• ViewType button as default focus after startup
• new artist/title alias function which you can use to define artist aliases to be used for lookup artist info on new.music.yahoo.com. Other use would be to setup additional coverart for artists. See slimplayer/slimplayer-ai-alias.xml file for more information.
• optional station name is shown next to 'Now playing' text if playing a remote stream (internet radio)
• Now includes artist main picture from artist main page on new.music.yahoo.com
• option to turn off photo cycling

enjoy,
- Chris

[jorton]

Originally Posted by koelec

Just uploaded slimplayer version 2.3.0 plugin.
Thanks to Michael (MKANET) for inspiring me on this one.
changes:

-

• fix V7 theme misalignment.
• fix missing video on menu for SYNC playback mode (extenders and PS) causing start playback to fail
• fix navigation mode start playback issues
• fix bug where after using navigation mode 'Now playing' display would be stuck.
• fix issue that there would be no ArtistInfo for first song after startup.
• ViewType button as default focus after startup
• new artist/title alias function which you can use to define artist aliases to be used for lookup artist info on new.music.yahoo.com. Other use would be to setup additional coverart for artists. See slimplayer/slimplayer-ai-alias.xml file for more information.
• optional station name is shown next to 'Now playing' text if playing a remote stream (internet radio)
• Now includes artist main picture from artist main page on new.music.yahoo.com
• option to turn off photo cycling

enjoy,
- Chris

I have installed the previous version and didn't have any problems seeing it in the menu.

I went to give the newer version a try, but for the life of my can't see on the menu even on a vanilla (Standard with no Diamond UI Mods etc..) client or server...

I think I should see a new entry in the Music section (if I remember correctly) but I just get the normal "Songs, Albums, Artists, Genres, Years, Playlists and Folders"...

In the plugins it says it's enabled but no go. UI restarted when prompted and all that good stuff. Using the lastest STV from Sage.

I'm a "Slim Player" rookie so any help would be appreciated. Probably just something silly I'm missing.

Thanks, J

EDIT - Not sure if this is the problem but I don't see the slimplayer.stvi in the following folder as listed in the Client.Properties file,

sagetv_core_plugins/koelecslimplayer/stvimports=C\:\\Program Files (x86)\\SageTV\\SageTV\\STVs\\SageTV7\\slimplayer.stvi

Checked on Server and Client and it's missing after install of both.

[gplasky]

Originally Posted by jorton

I have installed the previous version and didn't have any problems seeing it in the menu.

I went to give the newer version a try, but for the life of my can't see on the menu even on a vanilla (Standard with no Diamond UI Mods etc..) client or server...

I think I should see a new entry in the Music section (if I remember correctly) but I just get the normal "Songs, Albums, Artists, Genres, Years, Playlists and Folders"...

In the plugins it says it's enabled but no go. UI restarted when prompted and all that good stuff. Using the lastest STV from Sage.

I'm a "Slim Player" rookie so any help would be appreciated. Probably just something silly I'm missing.

Thanks, J

Doesn't it end up in the Online menu?

Gerry

[jorton]

Originally Posted by gplasky

Doesn't it end up in the Online menu?

Gerry

Just checked, it looks the STVi is missing from the STVi zip.

There's only an image for the player in the zip.

J

[mzup]

Same issue here. No option in music menu anymore.

[koelec]

Originally Posted by mzup

Same issue here. No option in music menu anymore.

Sorry guys,
I screwed up.
Update is coming up asap.
- Chris

[koelec]

Ok,
Submitted version 2.3.1, which fixes missing stvi.
Thanks
- Chris

[Crazyivan]

Sorry if my questions have already been answered, but I wasn't able to find the answers after a day or two of searching on the forum.

I installed Squeezebox server on my WHS machine and then installed the latest version of SlimPlayer on SageTV that is also on the same machine. When I go to the Music menu and access the SlimPlayer option the power button is off and there is no way to turn it on. I also have webfeederencoder installed and no sound drivers for the computer's built in soundcard. It's a Shuttle system.

I want to try this plugin with an extender eventually, but I need to first set it up to operate properly within SageTV on the WHS computer. Any help would be appreciated in getting SlimPlayer working.

[dcardellini]

You may not be connected to your squeezeserver. If on same computer, try something like 127.0.0.1:9000

see my item 2 on this post:

http://forums.sagetv.com/forums/show...1&postcount=51

[jorton]

Slimplayer image to match Diamond UI Mod. Download attached file "Slim-Server.png" and replace image in the Sagetv/Stvs/Sagetv7 folder with the attached file. You might want to rename the original instead of replacing if you want to restore later.

Cheers,

J

[Brent94Z]

Very nice! Thanks for the little mod, Jeremy

[Brent94Z]

FYI, for any XMRadio guys out there I figured out a "work around" to get the XM Radio plugin to work within Sage.

Open up the server web control.

Go to your XM Radio Plugin on the left.

Start playing a station you like.

In the lower right will be a disc looking (kinda) icon that indicates "save" when you hover over it. Click it.

It now shows up on the left as a Playlist. Give it a title.

Click the heart icon for your new playlist/station. This adds it as a favorite which is now accessible by the Sage Slimplayer plugin

The above is kinda laborious and I'm sure isn't the "right way" to do this but the only way I've found that works.

If anybody knows of a way to actually navigate the entire XM Plugin (like all stations without having to manually make each of them a favorite playlist as described above) please let me know!