Internet Radio apps - AT&T Samsung Galaxy S II Skyrocket SGH-I727

Are there any Internet radio apps like Pandora which offer a landscape mode that is more entertaining than simply pasting the static album color for visual effect?
Maybe an app that draws from Pandora (or something else) and displays some sort of cool live motion? I use my phone in landscape mode in a car dock and just want it to look more interesting I guess. Pandora just puts up the static album cover and that's nice, but it seems like there is more that can be done.
Also, does anyone know of a way to customize the Pandora stations folder so I don't have to weed through 30+ stations I'll never listen to, just to locate the four or five that I listen to a lot?

Try Slacker, I've been using it on my Skyrocket and works well.
http://www.slacker.com/

i prefer Tune In Radio

CZ Eddie said:
Are there any Internet radio apps like Pandora which offer a landscape mode that is more entertaining than simply pasting the static album color for visual effect?
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Click to collapse
hgajjar said:
Try Slacker, I've been using it on my Skyrocket and works well.
http://www.slacker.com/
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Click to collapse
Slacker seems to have the same static album look to it. Thanks though.
AllGamer said:
i prefer Tune In Radio
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Click to collapse
Same, kinda.
Thanks for the PM about incorrect forum. I get confused with so many forum choices.

CZ Eddie said:
Also, does anyone know of a way to customize the Pandora stations folder so I don't have to weed through 30+ stations I'll never listen to, just to locate the four or five that I listen to a lot?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I figured this out. But it's not real cool.
You pull up the Pandora app on your phone.
Then go to the stations list.
Then press/hold down on a station you want removed and it deletes that station from both the stations list and the "My Stations" folder you can put on your desktop.
I don't like this because I want a folder with my top-five radio stations.
But I still want to be able to access other stations from time to time.

Related

shoutcast mobile

hi everyone. i ve searched for mobile version of shoutcast.com with no luck so i ve created my self. http://mobilust.net/shoutcast is the address for now its basic. got genre listings and you can start listening by clicking to the radio names. system is live and uses shoutcast's xml feed data to create internet radio listings.
i will add more features to it eventually. just wanted to let people know
thanks. I'll use this from time to time....
-----------
Posted with my 8525
is there a shoucast player for WM5/6 devices?
nokia has one for S60 devices - http://opensource.nokia.com/projects/s60internetradio/index.html
GSPlayer will allow you to play the Shoutcast streams
does Conduits pocket player 3.2 support shout cast?....and if so how do I add it?
Or if you would like to use a shoutcast for mobile but don't want to see a porno picture you can use http://mobile.treobits.com/index.php?ind=shoutcast
I want to make something without any adds. so where I get those xlm's?
or can it be done?
batesie said:
is there a shoucast player for WM5/6 devices?
nokia has one for S60 devices - http://opensource.nokia.com/projects/s60internetradio/index.html
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Please make sure you read all my articles - I've listed all the SHOUTcast-capable clients in the chart of my dedicated article at http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=350181
Maybe not the most efficient way, but the way I went after this was to install Core Player then, on my PC, go to the Shoutcast website and right click the Tune In link and select 'Save As'. I then named the .pls file after the station. Once I saved a bunch of stations I was interested in, I copied the (very small) .pls files to my device (AT&T Fuze). I now just launch Core Player, Click Menu, Click Open File, and select the .pls file for the station I want to listen to.
It is a bit of hassle to gather up all the .pls files you want, but this works very well for me. I work in a cubicle at work where our proxy blocks everything enjoyable, so with my HTC ear buds and my phone plugged into USB for power, my work day is much more enjoyable with music to listen to.
Edit: I just tried jamespaulritter's link above, and it works fabulously. I just click Tune In on the station I want, and it goes right to Core Player and gets down to business. Thanks, jamespaulritter!
Kinoma Play
Comes with SHOUTcast , and Live365 in the services menu.
I went ahead and bought Kinoma Play. Holy cow, man! This thing is the holy grail of portable entertainment!
Yeah, it is really versitile and I love the guide content. I just wish the menu system worked better. back, back, back, back to get to the main menu gets old.
Thanks! love this site
jamespaulritter said:
Or if you would like to use a shoutcast for mobile but don't want to see a porno picture you can use http://mobile.treobits.com/index.php?ind=shoutcast
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This is the only site you need. Basically a reproduction of the actual shoutcast site.
great man
1. thanks for the site.. u did a great job
2. Kinoma works Great on HD2 with the WIFI.. but with 3g Kinoma couldn't stream any sounds.. so i use this site to stream with TCPMP player..
realy good job.
now what do we do for phone 7. love to have something pinned to the start page but pls seems not supported

Yes You Can Stream Live Internet Radio

So this is now my 2nd official post (1st was apps2sd for newbies) and i know many people have been trying to stream live internet radio stations (.pls,.aac,.aac+,.asf,.asx & .m3u files) on the Android OS.
As of now there really isnt a way to play all of those files but yes you can stream them.My last phone was the T-Mobile Wing an i was accustomed to streaming tuned.mobi on my TCPMP and so i was determined to find a way of getting me local radio stations back because i can't live without my sports radio WFAN 66 (NY station).Heres the instructions of getting this to work:
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Download StreamFurious from the android market (Theres a free and paid version,i use the free version)
2. Go to tuned.mobi from your phone browser and from there just choose your country you will find your EVERY local radio stations to stream.
3. To stream the station you want just click on the stream bit for the station
example: 64kb,128kb (will be highlighted in blue)
WHAT YOU CAN AND CANNOT PLAY:
You can ONLY stream stations with MP3 (.PLS,.M3U & .AAC) or OggVorbis links
You CANNOT stream any links that says AAC+ or WMP next to them (Windows Media Player formats is not support on Android through streams as of yet. (.asf or.asx etc..))
That's it folks.Good Luck...Now all i need is my Slingplayer for Android OS and i have everything i had on my Wing and more
If anyone has a way of getting WMP formats to stream live radio please let me know because of all my favorite radio station there's 2 that i can't have on the go due to this issue. (Hot97 & Z100 NY stations)
Hey good looking bro. I was wondering if this was possible. I know Tunewiki says you can get local radio but that app leaves much to be desired. Im gonna try this and see what happens.
My friend just turned me on to StreamFurious I love it. Thank for letting posting about tune.mobi i will have to check it out
Dude you are a awesome. I was able to find the two local stations I listen to and streamfurious loaded them just fine. I was already using streamfurious before this and loved it and now it's perfect. So my friends with FM tuners in their cell phones can go to hell...lol
I love StreamFurious. Your post actually prompted me to make this Way, Way Too May Reboots thread because when I run SF my phone loves to reboot.
Does anyone else's do the same? If so and idea why and how to fix?
I like friskyradio.com in SF for electronic music.
I dont know how i could have ever overlooked an app like this. I been wondering for the longest if something like this was eveb available. Much thx to the op.
Quick question tho, anyone know where i can find a site or something that can stream Howard 100. I ask because i noticed that within the app you can select Howard 101 but they usually dont broadcast the re-runs etc of the show on the channel. I been out of the loop with the show for a while. Would like to take advantage of this app thx again
Thanks for the heads up on the tuned.mobi service. I have been using SF for a while already but some local channels don't have mp3 streams available (many CBSRadio stations) and this let me tune into them with SF.
BTW, maybe this thread belongs in the apps subforum?
I got windows media streams on my G1 by using the AndrOrb app and setting up the stream as a custom radio station on the orb website.
dunno if thats any good to you.
Streamfurious is the best one I've seen for Android.
The other two I have found are FlyCast and AntPlayer. FlyCast has the benefit of showing album covers. It rotates between album cover, song info and ads. It's a little annoying, but it's easier to see what is playing than the tiny text on Streamfurious.
I just found AntPlayer today. It has a very nice search feature. You don't need to know the URL.
tekkyjim said:
I got windows media streams on my G1 by using the AndrOrb app and setting up the stream as a custom radio station on the orb website.
dunno if thats any good to you.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That sounds interesting,i will try that because 2 of my fav stations are WMP formats.Thank you.
Streanfurious is good but OR Player is better
Awesome app. Thanks for the heads up!

My summary of Music Apps

As of Jan 3,2011...
If anyone can give information / review about how different apps save downloaded art, it would be very helpful. It seems that art can be embedded in ID3 tags, or it can have put in a folder. But different programs save in different folders or into an "album art" file...which may not be compatible with different programs. Also, how does iTunes, Winamp, and Windows Media handle this? (Ive used each for my music collection, and so may have different types of cover art formats in my collection)
12/28/2010 I didn't mean to start making this into a bigger post. But let me first say what I'm looking at/for:
Features I'm paying attention to:
headset control
Lock Screen and homepage widget
General UI ( and in particular, ease of getting from a "playlist" back to the "Now playing" quickly
Features which are sort of cool to me:
lyric display
Folder / File Organization
Album art (it would help me if someone could tell me about the different types and options here. ID3 mode? Files?
(and a distant fourth in importance) Video player
Equalizer (I don
't care about this but everyone else seems to be)
Features are just can't get myself to care about:
Scrobbing (whatever the hell that is)
Social stuff
Any damn fraking thing that statistically analyzes my preference in order to help me decide what I like. I don't want to robotize my music.
So this is what I have looked at so far:
Samsung Default:
Great Status bar and lock screen controls. headset controls. Has equalizer. NO Folder Select (it scans all music on the phone and so will get unintended stuff into the library). Nothing special other than this, but it a good app. HOWEVER, I'm now using Darky's ROM which does not have the Samsung Lock Screen. The Samsung player's lockscreen widget is tied to the Samsung lockscreen. Also does not have homescreen widget, but this is more than made up for by the very good notification bar integration.
Meridian:
Plays video and music. Headset controls but no lock screen. Good gesture control. Edit ID Tags
Cubed:
Video and Music. NIce Lockscreen widget. Headset controls. Art download in ID3 mode. However I still don't terribly like the interface, but it works. Has a directory filter , so can play just a folder and keep out unwanted songs (like game songs). Downloads art in ID3...method. Don't know if that's good or bad. There really is no "Now Playing" screen. It just shows it super-imposed on the song library. Which is not pretty but its actually functional. For me, Cubed is a good free app.
MixZing:
Plays music and video. Options up the yingyang, including lots of social crap. I'm not going to detail here because lockscreen version is a paid app, and I'm focusing on not paying (it does have trial period though). Good UI. Can do folder view, and has good folder management options. Can switch between folder list and now playing very quickly. Has headset controls. Has Equalizer. Auto-download album art. The free version is staying on my phone because it plays video. Lots of damn social crap.
Winamp:
Just plays Music. Interface easy, but maybe a little dull (maybe there are skinning options?). Has headset controls and lockscreen. Ability to look up info and search on the artist. Ability to syn with Winamp desktop, so a good choice if you use that. Some social crap. No Equalizer
DoubleTwist:
Looks a little like Winamp, but also plays video. Has Lockscreen wideget and headset controls. With $5 purchase can sync with Itunes. No equalizer.
UI is mostly good, if not exciting. Does not do folder view(!). Not that many options. If I wanted to use one player for both music and video, and have the lockscreen widget and handset controls, this definitly works. It also has art download, but that's not so important to me. I also use iTunes Agent to file-sync anyway.
Miui:
Bare basic player. No equalizer. No lockscreen widget. No headset controls. What this does have is a) art download , and most exciting b) lyric read-along. I intend to use this app just for my KTV practice, so it will stay on my phone
(but I recently discovered Lyrics App, which allows me to see Lyrics of everything).
PowerAmp:
This has everything. But the free version is 15 day trialware, and I don't want to go through it all here. One thing I remember about this is that it allows fine customization of its widget appearence.
TinyPlayer:
As the name implies, a small player with minimum bells and wistles. My device is an SGS which generally has an OK time with demanding applications, so this is not for me. But for those who want a simple bare-minimum player, this works.
......
Others have mentioned apps which I need to pay for to try, such as Lithium Player... apps which have a social network focus (Tunewiki), and apps that I need to flash (CW Mod). I'm sorry I cannot add these to this list now.
12/27/2010
I'm in China and sometimes the market is problematic (although I could just fix that with a VPN). When I can download again, I intend to note the features of :
btunes
Astro Player
TuneWiki
Also, I will re-download all the above (I just wiped-flash Darky's awesome ROM for my SGS) and go back over the others and note down features I missed.
Here is a pic of the homescreen widgets.
Widgets (from top to bottom):
Meridian
Cubed
MixZing
Winamp
Doubletwist
I'll never understand why people say they don't understand "cubed" interface. What's confusing about it? It's the same thing as scrolling through albums with a little animation. The new update gives you control over the directory files, so it's not like it's different then any other player. Do people really get that shocked when they see something that looks different but operates the exact same?
Just scroll up or down, man. You'll see the albums or artist (depending on how you choose) in ABC order. You want to skip to a different letter, scroll side to side. That's literally the entire learning curve. Don't like the cube? Change the view mode to Morph Flow. Don't like looking at albums? Change the view mode to boring, it just gives you a list.
The only thing I can possibly imagine people being slow to realize is that to change the place of a song, you click on the dotted light thing at the bottom. To change from artist to album to song you drag the dotted bar in the bottom-middle to the right or left.
This all took me less then 2 minutes to figure out.
poweramp = iTunes . I'm off it. same **** different skin. Cubed can scan all the bands in your library and tell you A) when their upcoming release is and B) the next time their playing a show within 50 miles of you (you can adjust the distance). Now THAT'S practical application.
I appreciate you putting this list together. It is exactly what I was looking for. Thanks.
Hands down the best player is TINY PLAYER. It actually does REAL folder play like you're using windows explorer on your home computer.
Another great feature is the live font size option which lets me read long file names. Even Poweramp doesn't have that crucial feature. What good is it if I can't read what song it is. Especially true for Classical music with long file names.
PS - It is the ugliest ui ever tho lol. But I really don't care.
PS2 - Poweramp doesn't have everything. It lacks sleep timer and font size changing to read long file names. And no true folder play. Both of which are available in tiny player. and it is tiny at 64kb
I figured I would throw a few notes in the discussion about music players since music is a big part of my Android experience. I use two apps, one for playing music located on my phone, and another app for streaming from my home PC.
1) Mixing:
the main reason I bought this app was because of the lock screen abilities. Not only does it give you gesture commands from the lock screen, but it also has a setting that will make the lock screen come active for a few seconds each time a new song starts, showing the album art and song information. I like this a lot since it allows me to see what has just started playing, and mainly because it gives me a few seconds to skip the song if I do not like it ... instead of having to hit the power button first to activate the screen, like all the other music apps do ... it's one less step to distract you when driving. It is a small, nitch feature, but it is worth the money of the full version app for me. I have yet to find another music app that does this.
2) Audiogalaxy:
Hands down, this is the best app to use if you want to stream music from your home computer. This is great for people like me that have huge music libraries that will not fit on an SD card. All you have to do is download the app for your phone, install a small program on your PC, and sign up on their website. It is free, and it simply works with no hastles. I have tried many other apps that I could not get to work ... they all required me to **** around with ports and IP addresses, and I could not get any of them to work. Audiogalaxy was so easy my mom could do it. No screwing around with ports or IP's, just install, setup which folders you want to scan, and then wait for it to build your library. Great app!!
Hopefully Mixzing adds streaming ability into its code so I can just use one music app. Until then I will continue to use these two apps together. Together they make for an awesome music experience on the Android phone.
hi, nice list for reference.
just a quick note from me, i'm using miui and the lockscreen and heatset controls works on cm6 which has those tweaks modded on.
irish22022 said:
I'll never understand why people say they don't understand "cubed" interface. What's confusing about it? ...
Just scroll up or down, man. You'll see the albums or artist (depending on how you choose) in ABC order. ...
...Cubed can scan all the bands in your library and tell you A) when their upcoming release is and B) the next time their playing a show within 50 miles of you (you can adjust the distance). Now THAT'S practical application.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I guess I should say I like "folder view". Or just Song List. I have a lot of songs from independents, songs un-attributed in the tags, songs from Chinese artists, etc. So I don't want to go to an Album or Artist, but rather to a folder. I'm sorry...I did not know the correct terminology.
As for internet-related content, you may have seen I call that stuff "social crap". I have no idea what scrobbing is. The artists don't come to China. And even if I was in the US, I really could not care to share my music tastes with others... let everyone find their own muse.
nghj said:
hi, nice list for reference.
just a quick note from me, i'm using miui and the lockscreen and heatset controls works on cm6 which has those tweaks modded on.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Oh. Sounds cool. I don't want to have to flash something just to get that function though. But having lyrics is fun.
AlexNC75 said:
I figured I would throw a few notes in the discussion about music players since music is a big part of my Android experience. I use two apps, one for playing music located on my phone, and another app for streaming from my home PC.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm just focusing on Apps that I can use outside. But thanks for those comments. Does AudioGalaxy allow non-streaming, regular functionality? FYI some of the other players above (I think Meridian) also have streaming, but I didn't review this because its not something I look for. I need to update for this feature I guess.
I will now download tinyplayer and add this to the review. I also hope to download (from somewhere) the stock Android player.
Right now probably Doubletwist will be my main player, only because its a music and video player that has lockscreen widget and headset controls. OR I will try to reinstall the Galaxy SGS player (which is uninstalled after flashing Darky's ROM). Funny thing is Doubletwist's main sell-point is iPhone integration, and I don't care enough about that to purchase it.
If I was going to spend money (which I may just do), then Mixing is the best of what I have reviewed so far. I don't know if its worth $5 for now.
I personally use 2 music players
1 standard CyanogenMod player
2 Lithium player
I normally do this because I will have music on lithium, and podcast download through methods other than my podcast player in t he CM music player.
since nobody mentioned lithium and it's a pay app I would mention a few things..
Pro: Looks great, UI is great and has nice things like volume built in, multi-colors/customizations and the #1 reason I bought it is it grabs album art for with a few clicks!
Cons: The ui for FF/RW skips to big of a segment in a 2 hour, or 2 hour podcast (not a big deal, it's a music player not a podcast player) and one semi-major issue for me is the program NEVER shows up in tasks (holding home), or previously used programs (etc). For some reason android doesn't recognize it as a program and the CM lockscreen music controls don't work for it.
To me the pro's outweigh the cons so I purchased it even if just for the album grabber.
I still really like bTunes.
I know it's abandonware, but it's only $1.49.
Looks like the iPod player (may be a good thing or a bad thing), it's very simple to use, it has a nice widget and even though it hasn't been updated in some time, it works great on froyo and never crashes on my phone. I don't think it has an equalizer.
TuneWiki is my fave, actually one of my fave Android apps.
Music Player Pro is still the best for me, I wish PowerAmp gets some of MPP features to use only one.
Thanks for the comments about the apps you tested
Tinyplayer for me on the Inc. Half the players can't find the built in memory. Most of the others can't restrict themselves to a folder so a bunch of sound files that aren't music and belong to games.
dvdivx said:
Tinyplayer for me on the Inc. Half the players can't find the built in memory. Most of the others can't restrict themselves to a folder so a bunch of sound files that aren't music and belong to games.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm looking at Mort Player now and it also does folder selection but has a lot more options, (headset control for one)
I'm still using the basic player ...
I've tried some of the more robust apps, but damn if they don't chew up a bunch of runtime memory, causing lag. I'd like an equalizer, but I don't want all the extra garbage that comes with an app, when I don't need it.
Have gone through various music players but Power Amp is the best it's worth paying for in the market.
Rockbox is absolutely the best choice. Equalizer, actual playlist support, themes, lockscreen controls, and plays every codec at the highest quality you throw at it. Just missing widgets, but it's a little buggy at the moment and it's still early in development.
i think u forgot TTPOD
A nice feature is if it is compatible with Last.FM scrobble apps
Nice summary atm i use Winamp becausr it has a esay ui and i love the shoutcast Radio Feature but maybe i switch to Double Twist because of the wifi sync i dont know yet...
Lollipop_Lawlipop said:
Rockbox is absolutely the best choice. Equalizer, actual playlist support, themes, lockscreen controls, and plays every codec at the highest quality you throw at it. Just missing widgets, but it's a little buggy at the moment and it's still early in development.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I will check it out. Widgets is a must-have for me, unless it also has a status bar control option (which is even better than widgets.
jonny68 said:
Have gone through various music players but Power Amp is the best it's worth paying for in the market.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I tend to agree, but I'm not sure how much money I want to spend on my phone. Part of me wants to get an iPhone and never have to fudge around with settings and roms again. Part of me hates the iPhone because I can't do with it what I want. So I'm trying not to invest more money in my phone unless I get something really really must-have. As the default player with the SGS is good (and now can use it with Darky's ROM), I'm good.
phoezies said:
i think u forgot TTPOD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Will check it out and update.
Zalastax said:
A nice feature is if it is compatible with Last.FM scrobble apps
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm in China and so have missed the social network craze. I think if I was in USA, I still would have missed it.
Poapfel said:
Nice summary atm i use Winamp becausr it has a esay ui and i love the shoutcast Radio Feature but maybe i switch to Double Twist because of the wifi sync i dont know yet...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Winamp's UI is easy, but Double Twist is very similar UI IMO.

What I want from a music manager (on the PC) and music player app (on Android)

I really don't listen to music on my phone very much. I have a desk job and keep Pandora streaming while at work. On my ~hour commute to and from work, I listen to audio books (it's the only time I get to "read"). But, I do enjoy music and have over 200GB of MP3s. Occasionally, I do want to listen to some of my music using my phone, such as when doing yard work or between audio books. Service around here is spotty, so streaming is typically out of the question.
I use Ubuntu on my PC. My phone is a Captivate. (As soon as I can cut off from AT&T, I'm upgrading!) It's been running SlimICS for a while, but I'm getting ready to upgrade to SlimBean.
I've tried a lot of different programs on the PC, and a lot of different apps and haven't found anything that fits my use. This is what I want:
What I want from the Android App:
- Designate a particular folder as the source for music. This is the big one for me. I don't want it catching my audio books (I have a dedicated audio book player that I love, but it's not suited for music), audio recordings, and other sound files. All but two apps I've tried didn't have that capability and one of those didn't seem to really work right. Why is that so rare of a feature?
- Use ID3 tags, including album art. But that's fairly common.
- Easy navigation. By artist, album, song titles, etc. Don't rely on "playlists." I don't build them. Just show me all my music and let me easily chose if I want to play a particular album, everything by a particular artist, a particular genre, everything all mixed up together, etc.
- Lock screen controls.
My favorite music app so far is 3 (Cubed). But, specifying a music directory doesn't work. It has a menu option to only look in a folder your specify, and I've enabled that, but it's still seeing my audio books and other sound files. It has lock screen controls but I don't like the way it changes the lock screen. And it has a beautiful interface interrupted by these ugly "pop up" boxes. I love using parts of it, but find other parts hard to use.
What I want from a Ubuntu program:
I'm currently using RhythmBox, and it's OK. It serves most of my needs except the big one. How it syncs to my phone. I have a LOT of music and I hate building playlists. I also hate trying to manually go through the thousands and thousands of songs trying to pick out which ones I want to copy to the phone. I just don't have that kind of time. What I want it to do is just randomly pick songs until a threshold that I set has been met. For instance, copy 5 GB of random songs from my entire collection to my phone. Or, copy 3 hours of random songs from the Metal genre. Or perhaps I'm in a Dylan kind of mood so I want it to copy 3 hours of random Bob Dylan songs. And if there's something specific I want to put on the phone, I can do that manually.
So, am I overlooking something that will give me these options? Is there something out there for me?
ubuntu: moc
android: poweramp
I am pleased with both.
Sent from my SGH-I777 using xda premium
I haven't looked at PowerAmp because, well... it's not free. Free isn't a requirement, but I just don't feel like I listen to music on my phone enough to justify paying for an app like that.
Now, about moc... I had not heard of that before. I googled it and read about it, but I don't see any way to do what I'm wanting to do.
yeah, its different than what you want. The complete opposite, actually. But I still recommend it -- it grows on you. Worth an apt-get.
Sent from my SGH-I777 using xda premium
I haven't tried it yet, but this program looks promising: http://mr-random.sourceforge.net/docs.html#Doc/
Give PowerAmp a try, they have the trial version. Once you've tried it, it's hard to use any other.
Music
HeathicusF said:
I really don't listen to music on my phone very much. I have a desk job and keep Pandora streaming while at work. On my ~hour commute to and from work, I listen to audio books (it's the only time I get to "read"). But, I do enjoy music and have over 200GB of MP3s. Occasionally, I do want to listen to some of my music using my phone, such as when doing yard work or between audio books. Service around here is spotty, so streaming is typically out of the question.
I use Ubuntu on my PC. My phone is a Captivate. (As soon as I can cut off from AT&T, I'm upgrading!) It's been running SlimICS for a while, but I'm getting ready to upgrade to SlimBean.
I've tried a lot of different programs on the PC, and a lot of different apps and haven't found anything that fits my use. This is what I want:
What I want from the Android App:
- Designate a particular folder as the source for music. This is the big one for me. I don't want it catching my audio books (I have a dedicated audio book player that I love, but it's not suited for music), audio recordings, and other sound files. All but two apps I've tried didn't have that capability and one of those didn't seem to really work right. Why is that so rare of a feature?
- Use ID3 tags, including album art. But that's fairly common.
- Easy navigation. By artist, album, song titles, etc. Don't rely on "playlists." I don't build them. Just show me all my music and let me easily chose if I want to play a particular album, everything by a particular artist, a particular genre, everything all mixed up together, etc.
- Lock screen controls.
My favorite music app so far is 3 (Cubed). But, specifying a music directory doesn't work. It has a menu option to only look in a folder your specify, and I've enabled that, but it's still seeing my audio books and other sound files. It has lock screen controls but I don't like the way it changes the lock screen. And it has a beautiful interface interrupted by these ugly "pop up" boxes. I love using parts of it, but find other parts hard to use.
What I want from a Ubuntu program:
I'm currently using RhythmBox, and it's OK. It serves most of my needs except the big one. How it syncs to my phone. I have a LOT of music and I hate building playlists. I also hate trying to manually go through the thousands and thousands of songs trying to pick out which ones I want to copy to the phone. I just don't have that kind of time. What I want it to do is just randomly pick songs until a threshold that I set has been met. For instance, copy 5 GB of random songs from my entire collection to my phone. Or, copy 3 hours of random songs from the Metal genre. Or perhaps I'm in a Dylan kind of mood so I want it to copy 3 hours of random Bob Dylan songs. And if there's something specific I want to put on the phone, I can do that manually.
So, am I overlooking something that will give me these options? Is there something out there for me?
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The best suggestion I can give you is not a PC application, but is rather a piece of hardware. I would recommend getting a Pogoplug and an external HDD. Connect the Pogoplug to the HDD and then connect the Pogoplug to the internet via cat5/6, then create an account and download the app on your phone.. in this scenario, the only limit to what you want to store and how much space you have is the capacity of your external HDD; This device can support multiple HDD's, so its pretty much limitless.
^^1(2050]=7 1337 said:
The best suggestion I can give you is not a PC application, but is rather a piece of hardware. I would recommend getting a Pogoplug and an external HDD. Connect the Pogoplug to the HDD and then connect the Pogoplug to the internet via cat5/6, then create an account and download the app on your phone.. in this scenario, the only limit to what you want to store and how much space you have is the capacity of your external HDD; This device can support multiple HDD's, so its pretty much limitless.
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I appreciate the suggestion, and it looks like a nice product, but I fail to see how that accomplishes my goal.

[Q] New Nexus - have a couple tweaks I would like to make, not sure how though

Hello all. I just a Nexus 5 last night. I am really enjoying the stock Google Launcher. Two things I would like to do are:
1) tap/double tap the screen to wake up. Pressing the power button on the side is fine, but I would like something else when I am driving.
2) Pandora unlimited skips. I am not asking for free/no ads. I currently pay $36 as a Pandora One customer. I would just like to be able to skip more than 6 times.
When I rooted my Galaxy S5, it changed a lot of things on the phone - most for the better. However I am really happy with the Nexus and would love to keep it as stock as possible.
Thanks for any help you can give
Erik
1) You need a custom kernel for that, then enable the feature thru trickstermod
You can wake the phone when the screen is off by saying "OK google". To do this you must enable it in the settings of the Google search app or in the settings of the Google now page. It will only work with screen off if it's plugged in to power. As for the Pandora unlimited skips install exposed framework and get the module called "Pandora patcher". There are kernels to double tap to wake, but it's a huge battery hog, I wouldn't recommend it.
Lokke9191 said:
You can wake the phone when the screen is off by saying "OK google". To do this you must enable it in the settings of the Google search app or in the settings of the Google now page. It will only work with screen off if it's plugged in to power. As for the Pandora unlimited skips install exposed framework and get the module called "Pandora patcher". There are kernels to double tap to wake, but it's a huge battery hog, I wouldn't recommend it.
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Thank you. If I install the xosed framework, will that change my Google launcher? Sorry for being such a newb...
edwelly said:
Thank you. If I install the xosed framework, will that change my Google launcher? Sorry for being such a newb...
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You can use xposed with the Google launcher, you will need root for that though. Root doesn't change your phone at all, it will just give you access to install cool stuff. Xposed framework is the best way to stay stock and only add the features you want. As opposed to using a custom rom.
Iirc, GravityBox module has settings specifically for the stock launcher.
write pandora an email explaining to them how its necessary for you to skip more than 6 songs.
simms22 said:
write pandora an email explaining to them how its necessary for you to skip more than 6 songs.
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I have read thru a lot of the threads and posts you have commented on. I appreciate the knowledge you bring to the forum. Given your background in making custom kernels, etc. I would think you would understand the desire to tweak and improve upon software. I am a current subscriber to Pandora One and will continue to be. However I do not see how skipping 7 or 8 songs impacts their bottom line.
While I have never written Pandora a direct email, I have posted/commented about my displeasure of the song limit skip on their blog.
As much as we can tweak things with Android, there's a limit to what can be done with a proprietary, closed source service like Pandora.
edwelly said:
I have read thru a lot of the threads and posts you have commented on. I appreciate the knowledge you bring to the forum. Given your background in making custom kernels, etc. I would think you would understand the desire to tweak and improve upon software. I am a current subscriber to Pandora One and will continue to be. However I do not see how skipping 7 or 8 songs impacts their bottom line.
While I have never written Pandora a direct email, I have posted/commented about my displeasure of the song limit skip on their blog.
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in this case, google will be your friend. search google for a pandora with unlimited skips, only then will you be successful in this outcome. xda doesnt have the answer for you in this case. again, you didnt hear it from me :angel:
---------- Post added at 02:21 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:19 PM ----------
Wakamatsu said:
As much as we can tweak things with Android, there's a limit to what can be done with a proprietary, closed source service like Pandora.
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right, but the limit is there for legal reasons, not because we cant. and on xda we follow the legality. but google is indifferent.
Pandora One is nearly useless on mobile now. Mobile has always been locked to 64kbps (so you don't get the increased sound quality) and with the removal of unlimited skips all you get is the removal of ads. I'd honestly recommend switching to Slacker. It has higher sound quality even in the free version, and the "Plus" version still gives you unlimited skips. They also have a much larger music library so you don't get the same song playing over and over as frequently.
Edit: As far as the double-tap to wake feature, just keep in mind you will see some additional battery drain when idle.
Spotify for my money.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
rootSU said:
Spotify for my money.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
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I use Play Music for a lot of features it has over Spotify (caching radio, viewing songs that have previously played on a radio station, managing tags on your library music,etc...) but Slacker's still a great option for a free/$4 per month radio-only use.
I've been using a lot of rhapsody lately, and paid the $4 a month for it. I really love that i can listen to any album or song by any artist, that I want. and all skips are unlimited when listen to the "radio" with it.
raptir said:
I use Play Music for a lot of features it has over Spotify (caching radio, viewing songs that have previously played on a radio station, managing tags on your library music,etc...) but Slacker's still a great option for a free/$4 per month radio-only use.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I have play set up but the quality is too inconsistent for me.. I'm not gonna spend a couple of hundred dollars on headphones then listen to play through them.
There's nothing play has for me that is better than spotify, yet everything spotify has for me is better.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
I was able to find a pandora .apk that has the unlimited skips. I also have Spotify with I pay $9.99 a month for. I have tried Pandora, Spotify, Slacker, Iheart, Amazon, Google PLay, Mog, Beats and another one that I can't remember the name of but the app icon is pretty. I just find the Pandora radio plays more music that I like and want to listen to. Example: Old school hip hop - Pandora will play Dr Dre, Tupac, Biggie, - all of their hits. Spotify plays the same artists but songs I have never heard before. Very few hits.
I will try Slacker again and see if I can make that work for me. I do appreciate the help guys - thank you.
Oh and I have given up on the double tap once I found out about the extra battery usage.
rootSU said:
I have play set up but the quality is too inconsistent for me.. I'm not gonna spend a couple of hundred dollars on headphones then listen to play through them.
There's nothing play has for me that is better than spotify, yet everything spotify has for me is better.
Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk
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Play is 320kbps MP3, Spotify is 256kbps Vorbis.
raptir said:
Play is 320kbps MP3, Spotify is 256kbps Vorbis.
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Not true.
Spotify is 320 Ogg on extreme quality as it happens, much better than MP3
Play also depends on the source. If you upload something, it matches the album to files that already exist, based on tagging an audio signature. You don't really think they're hosting 14 million copies of Brittney Spears, Hit me baby one more time do you?
rootSU said:
Not true.
Spotify is 320 Ogg on extreme quality as it happens, much better than MP3
Play also depends on the source. If you upload something, it matches the album to files that already exist, based on tagging an audio signature. You don't really think they're hosting 14 million copies of Brittney Spears, Hit me baby one more time do you?
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Anything that matches is matched to 320kbps MP3. It doesn't match to other people's uploaded files. Anything that's subscription based (which is a fair comparison, since Spotify doesn't even allow uploaded) is also 320kbps.
Ogg isn't CBR so I'm not really sure what settings Spotify is using. If they're saying 320kbps then it's probably q9. But Ogg is only better than MP3 at low bitrates, as you get up to 256kbps they're transparent to each other. A trained listener may be able to hear the difference on high-end audio equipment, but you're certainly not hearing the difference off of the Nexus 5's DAC. And I'd still say it's ridiculous to say that Ogg q9 is "much better" than 320kbps MP3.
Anyway, this has gotten completely off topic.
raptir said:
Anything that matches is matched to 320kbps MP3. It doesn't match to other people's uploaded files. Anything that's subscription based (which is a fair comparison, since Spotify doesn't even allow uploaded) is also 320kbps.
Ogg isn't CBR so I'm not really sure what settings Spotify is using. If they're saying 320kbps then it's probably q9. But Ogg is only better than MP3 at low bitrates, as you get up to 256kbps they're transparent to each other. A trained listener may be able to hear the difference on high-end audio equipment, but you're certainly not hearing the difference off of the Nexus 5's DAC. And I'd still say it's ridiculous to say that Ogg q9 is "much better" than 320kbps MP3.
Anyway, this has gotten completely off topic.
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Ok, well I disagree but whatever

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