Ideas for a Music UI mod.

[ptzink]

Originally Posted by Opus4

Actually, this is a problem that you can correct in the music tags -- make sure the "Album Artist" tag is correct for each album. It is often blank.

- Andy

Yes, I know this now and have updated my music with the Album Artist tag. However, I still think it would be nice if the UI just displayed the album art embedded in the file instead of relying on the album artist tag. If no album art is embedded, then use folder.jpg. Album Artist is useful for Various Artist albums, but not as common as Artist tag (obviously). My 2 cents.

[ghost5]

How about integrating the music UI mod with one of the many players (and databases) out there like media monkey (or itunes).

That way we can keep our ratings and playcounts in sync and maybe even tap into the extra features like auto-dj and auto playlists

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by ghost5

How about integrating the music UI mod with one of the many players (and databases) out there like media monkey (or itunes).

That way we can keep our ratings and playcounts in sync and maybe even tap into the extra features like auto-dj and auto playlists

Itunes would be the only one I'd consider integrating since there is already jriver integration. I can't possibly integrate everything as that would take too much time and only benefit a few people. Itunes would be more widely used, especially for me since I plan to use airplay for whole house music. Sonos integration maybe, but even then most people don't want to control their system from their tv. If they do they need to post here.

As of now the only integration being considered will be itunes.

[panteragstk]

From what I'm reading if I can find a way to sync the itunes xml with sage then we would be able to store ratings, but this is another database that would have to be used. If I can find a way to have sage create an .xml for the ratings and the library then I can make it compatible with itunes without the need for itunes to be present.

[Skirge01]

I don't have my Sonos yet (soon, though), but I definitely would like to be able to control it from within Sage, as well.

[pjpjpjpj]

Originally Posted by panteragstk

Sonos integration maybe, but even then most people don't want to control their system from their tv. If they do they need to post here.

Funny you should mention that, I am in the midst of setting up a whole-home audio system that will use the Sage music system and be controlled by the mobile web interface webremote, using our family's multiple iPod touches as the remote when not in the same room as the HD300 extender. So I will be controlling my house system from my TV... on the cheap, too!

[PLUCKYHD]

Originally Posted by Skirge01

I don't have my Sonos yet (soon, though), but I definitely would like to be able to control it from within Sage, as well.

Originally Posted by pjpjpjpj

Funny you should mention that, I am in the midst of setting up a whole-home audio system that will use the Sage music system and be controlled by the mobile web interface webremote, using our family's multiple iPod touches as the remote when not in the same room as the HD300 extender. So I will be controlling my house system from my TV... on the cheap, too!

No no no sonos needs to be controlled via touchscreen. Cheap itouch, android phone, iPhone, android tablet or iPad are the ways to control music. Itouches are cheap especially older models. You can't be efficient on a tv screen believe me I have toyed with it. Not to mention the power you save not having your tv on.

[Skirge01]

Yeah, and SSD's need to not be cloned to. Opinions vary. Ok, seriously, one reason I'd like the SageTV integration is so that I don't have to have a Sonos controller in every single room. This would allow the main TV room to not NEED a controller in there.

[PLUCKYHD]

Originally Posted by Skirge01

Yeah, and SSD's need to not be cloned to. Opinions vary. Ok, seriously, one reason I'd like the SageTV integration is so that I don't have to have a Sonos controller in every single room. This would allow the main TV room to not NEED a controller in there.

To me easier everyone has a portable device But to each theri own.

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by Skirge01

Yeah, and SSD's need to not be cloned to. Opinions vary. Ok, seriously, one reason I'd like the SageTV integration is so that I don't have to have a Sonos controller in every single room. This would allow the main TV room to not NEED a controller in there.

SSD's not cloned to? What? I'm half with you on not having a controller in each room, but interfacing with sonos would be a "bonus" feature for me as I don't have very many tv's, but will have lots of music zones. I don't plan to buy sonos for the simple fact that Airplay will do everything I want it to do. I need to look at the pro's and con's of both, because the only one I'll focus on will be the one I use.

Either way it is a long way down the road. I'm focusing on the UI first, then functionality.

EDIT: I've looked at sonos more in-depth and it looks like it seems to be better than airplay, and includes airplay as well. The only thing I can see that I would say is missing is the ability to use something similar to itunes dj. That is where your friends can browse your collection and vote on what songs they want to hear. Pretty cool if you've seen it in action. I can't seem to find anything like that with sonos.

[Skirge01]

Originally Posted by panteragstk

SSD's not cloned to? What?

Hehe... sorry, inside joke.

EDIT: I've looked at sonos more in-depth and it looks like it seems to be better than airplay, and includes airplay as well. The only thing I can see that I would say is missing is the ability to use something similar to itunes dj. That is where your friends can browse your collection and vote on what songs they want to hear. Pretty cool if you've seen it in action. I can't seem to find anything like that with sonos.

Never heard of that, but it does sound pretty cool.

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by Skirge01

Hehe... sorry, inside joke.



Never heard of that, but it does sound pretty cool.

Yeah, but it doesn't seem that sonos has anything like that. However, sonos is compatible with itunes in the fact that it can read the library xml. For others that want a rating system i think that xml will work well with what I'm trying to do. I do want some sort of rating system, but would like it to be independent of any other software. In theory I could use that xml for sage and itunes and sonos would be able to read it with no issues. Then I could have sage essentially find out what is playing on itunes or sonos and display it on the tv screen or use a visualization. If I can get them all to sync this would be pretty awesome, but that would take quite a bit of effort to get that working. I'm going to do more research to see what I can find out.

EDIT:Ok. Finished researching. Sonos and itunes are totally compatible with each other. Airplay is used with an airport express and sonos auto switches the input. Workaround, but it works. So I basically need to make sage read the itunes xml for ratings and we're good.

[pjpjpjpj]

Originally Posted by PLUCKYHD

No no no sonos needs to be controlled via touchscreen. Cheap itouch, android phone, iPhone, android tablet or iPad are the ways to control music. Itouches are cheap especially older models. You can't be efficient on a tv screen believe me I have toyed with it. Not to mention the power you save not having your tv on.

Who said my TV would be on when I'm controlling Sage's music via iTouch? See the webremote thread about "blind" control of an extender. If the extender's audio-out is tied to an amp/receiver, the TV could be off.
/digression from the point of this thread

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by pjpjpjpj

Who said my TV would be on when I'm controlling Sage's music via iTouch? See the webremote thread about "blind" control of an extender. If the extender's audio-out is tied to an amp/receiver, the TV could be off.
/digression from the point of this thread

Care to elaborate on how you plan to accomplish this? Are you using extenders as "zones"?

[panteragstk]

OK so more thinking out loud for me (on text for the picky). Sonos is controlled via upnp so there is someone out there that can help with that (you know who you are) so in theory sonos should be easy to control with sage.

[pjpjpjpj]

Originally Posted by panteragstk

Care to elaborate on how you plan to accomplish this? Are you using extenders as "zones"?

Okay, so my setup won't really be able to do what Sonos can do (on the other hand, it will cost about 10% of an equivalently-sized Sonos system). There will be one audio feed from one extender, and it will be able to play through multiple zones in the house. I won't be able to play different things in different places as Sonos would allow. I'll have the extender audio wired to a distribution amp, and each zone will have a wall-mounted volume dial in the zone. That's about it - I can play music (or the audio from anything on Sage) throughout the house.

I've exchanged a few posts on the mobile web browser thread about the idea of having the webremote (which gives a basic extender remote control interface) some sort of feedback indicator showing "where you are" within the UI - so that you could navigate a little better "blindly" without needing the TV to be on. This would obviously only be needed for music control, since anything video-related would (by definition) need the TV on! Anyway, as the webremote is now, you can do basic stuff - play, pause, stop, skip fwd and back, etc. So you can turn on a playlist, then turn off the TV and use your webremote (iTouch, etc.) to control it that way. But if my suggestion is implemented, you would be able to feel your way around and perhaps change playlists, perhaps navigate the UI a little bit without needing the TV at all - i.e., from another room in the house. Basically I am hoping the devs can find a way to show on the webremote an indication of what is currently highlighted on the UI - even if it's a simple text box and you'd need to have the UI tree "memorized" in order to navigate.

I'm in the process of having a covered patio added to my house, which will be the zone that I'm most expecting to use this for. I would love to grab the extender remote and power on the extender (I typically keep it asleep) as I head outside, and then use my iTouch to turn on some music, or choose a playlist, or whatever, and completely control it from out there.

However, I've not thought about it before, but the webremote function of the mobile webserver does allow control of multiple extenders - you could turn on different audio devices (connected to each extender) and control different music in different zones. They just wouldn't be tied together if you wanted to play the same thing everywhere.
===================================

Alright, all of that being said (hey, you asked ), this really has nothing to do with your plans to improve the music UI. Let's get back to brainstorming great ideas for how to make the music UI prettier!

[panteragstk]

Originally Posted by pjpjpjpj

Okay, so my setup won't really be able to do what Sonos can do (on the other hand, it will cost about 10% of an equivalently-sized Sonos system). There will be one audio feed from one extender, and it will be able to play through multiple zones in the house. I won't be able to play different things in different places as Sonos would allow. I'll have the extender audio wired to a distribution amp, and each zone will have a wall-mounted volume dial in the zone. That's about it - I can play music (or the audio from anything on Sage) throughout the house.

I've exchanged a few posts on the mobile web browser thread about the idea of having the webremote (which gives a basic extender remote control interface) some sort of feedback indicator showing "where you are" within the UI - so that you could navigate a little better "blindly" without needing the TV to be on. This would obviously only be needed for music control, since anything video-related would (by definition) need the TV on! Anyway, as the webremote is now, you can do basic stuff - play, pause, stop, skip fwd and back, etc. So you can turn on a playlist, then turn off the TV and use your webremote (iTouch, etc.) to control it that way. But if my suggestion is implemented, you would be able to feel your way around and perhaps change playlists, perhaps navigate the UI a little bit without needing the TV at all - i.e., from another room in the house. Basically I am hoping the devs can find a way to show on the webremote an indication of what is currently highlighted on the UI - even if it's a simple text box and you'd need to have the UI tree "memorized" in order to navigate.

I'm in the process of having a covered patio added to my house, which will be the zone that I'm most expecting to use this for. I would love to grab the extender remote and power on the extender (I typically keep it asleep) as I head outside, and then use my iTouch to turn on some music, or choose a playlist, or whatever, and completely control it from out there.

However, I've not thought about it before, but the webremote function of the mobile webserver does allow control of multiple extenders - you could turn on different audio devices (connected to each extender) and control different music in different zones. They just wouldn't be tied together if you wanted to play the same thing everywhere.
===================================

Alright, all of that being said (hey, you asked ), this really has nothing to do with your plans to improve the music UI. Let's get back to brainstorming great ideas for how to make the music UI prettier!

I was just curious. That seems like the right way to do it. I'm going to attempt a mock up this weekend so I'll keep this thread updated.

[tbone01]

Originally Posted by panteragstk

I was just curious. That seems like the right way to do it. I'm going to attempt a mock up this weekend so I'll keep this thread updated.

One thing you might want to check out is the TiSageTV application for iOS devices. This will give you the ability to browse, search and play to an extender any music file. It does cost some money, but in my opinion is a much better experience for 'blind' playback than the web remote.

[panteragstk]

OK. Looking into some sort of ratings system doesn't seem to be too complicated to implement, but what are you guys wanting from such a system? I know there is a request for ratings from itunes/mediamonkey and if I can find a way for sage to read the itunes xml I can get the ratings and playslists from itunes.

What functionality would you want from ratings? Would you want sage to recommend songs? Smart playlists?

[PLUCKYHD]

Originally Posted by pjpjpjpj

Okay, so my setup won't really be able to do what Sonos can do (on the other hand, it will cost about 10% of an equivalently-sized Sonos system). There will be one audio feed from one extender, and it will be able to play through multiple zones in the house. I won't be able to play different things in different places as Sonos would allow. I'll have the extender audio wired to a distribution amp, and each zone will have a wall-mounted volume dial in the zone. That's about it - I can play music (or the audio from anything on Sage) throughout the house.
r!

Okay sorry won't compare to sonos, but then again those who don't use sonos don't know what they are missing.Audio control in the wall is expensive as is a distribution amp not sure you will come out as cheap as sonos definitely will lose the features that make sonos what it is and that is internet radio Pandera,Rhapsody,LAst FM, I heart radio etc etc. There is no need to ever even buy music again with sonos. We use rhapsody as it is available on our iphones and soon to be car radios as well as computers so we really get our music every where and any cd we want for $9.99 a month. Airplay is pointless with sonos nice they added it but you can already control from any idevice or computer. I don't see why you need airplay on top of that but maybe I am missing something.