Web Player Problem

[Valaire]

Hi all,

Been using subsonic for months with the isub app but have always had trouble getting the web player to work right. I'm not updated to the latest version, but I doubt that is the issue, and since I'm at work right now I can't upgrade it so I thought I'd take a stab at getting it fixed.

When I add songs to the playlist from an album to play it always does the same thing:

1. The play symbol becomes a pause.
2. It begins downloading the song.
3. It never starts on its own even after the song is downloaded.
4. If I hit the pause button, and then hit play again, it still won't play.

The only way to get it to play is to seek forward to any part of the song, and it willl play. When the next song comes up, it stops again.

Needless to say this is very annoying.

Any ideas?

[Kirk]

Can I assume you have tried the following troubleshooting steps?

- Restarting the Subsonic server daemon.
- Clearing your browser's cache and cookies. (And\or trying it on another computer or browser on the same computer.)
- Deleting the player you're currently using, or changing your active player. (Dropdown menu by the player area and flash player can change your active player.)
- Making sure your active player is set to "Web" and not any of the "External" player options. (Settings > Players)

If you've hit all these bases, then there might be a problem... but I suspect that if you run down that list, you'll discover the solution.

-Kirk

[Valaire]

Hi, thank you for the reply:

1. Yes
2. Yes -- can be reproduced on many browsers and computers.
3. Yes -- deleted player many times
4. Yes -- active player is set to web

When I get home I will of course upgrade, but like I said, I've had this problem since I started with subsonic, and since I seem to be a minority of people with this bug (has this ever been reported?), I probably need some guidance to get rid of it.

Thanks.

[GJ51]

Definitely not the normal behavior. I'd reinstall SS.

You can check on my site at the bottom to verify that the feature does work properly, unless the installation has issues.

[Valaire]

I will nuke my installation tonight and update to the latest version and report back. I will also check out your test site.

Thanks.

[Valaire]

Yours works perfectly so I can at least verify that it's my installation. :p

[Valaire]

It is still doing it after wiping the old install and updating. Any other tips?

[Valaire]

It also skips certain songs and won't play them. These songs are in mp3 192 kbps format and work fine in any other music player.

[GJ51]

We've seen instances before where some collections needed to be "cleaned" with a utility in order to work well with SS. I'll post here if I can remember some of them, but I know there are posts somewhere that discuss similar issues.

[jeffcavicchi]

I've had a problem with the web player as well - ever since version 4.4. Not as bad as your problem - but every few songs the player hesitates briefly after it begins playing a track. It seem to be worse with vbr tracks, and if I set the downsampling to 192kbps, which is strange.

I've cleaned my entire collection with a couple of different utilities, and the whole collection plays fine on a local client and Google music...

I think it is either a transcoding or website player problem.

I have also reinstalled ss, and I have reinstalled java as well.

[Kirk]

If you set your transcoder to some ridiculously low bitrate, like 32k or 64k so it has to transcode every song - does it fix all of your problems?

If so, the issue is likely with JWPlayer, the flash player used in Subsonic. It might be having trouble playing your raw MP3s, because maybe they're corrupt or incomplete... and when LAME transcodes them to a different bitrate, it might have better ability to compensate for errors, and it creates clean (albeit lower bitrate) mp3 files that JWPlayer can easily play.

If the transcoder is fixing the problem, you may really have some bad\corrupted MP3s, and replacing them may be your only good option.

-Kirk

[Valaire]

Well, all I can say is that a song that refused to play yesterday is playing today.

So that seems to be variable and I have no idea why it sometimes doesn't feel like playing it.

However, the issue I have with a song never playing upon load, on its own, is constant. I have to click on the seekbar to get it to play. It won't play on its own, even after it has DL'ed the entire song. Furthermore, if I have a playlist, and I "force" a song to play in this manner, when it goes to the next song, it will not play again (the button will be set to suggest it is trying to play, but the icon does not move along the seekbar and sits at 0).

Nobody else has seen this before?

[GJ51]

Well, all I can say is that a song that refused to play yesterday is playing today.

So that seems to be variable and I have no idea why it sometimes doesn't feel like playing it.

However, the issue I have with a song never playing upon load, on its own, is constant. I have to click on the seekbar to get it to play. It won't play on its own, even after it has DL'ed the entire song. Furthermore, if I have a playlist, and I "force" a song to play in this manner, when it goes to the next song, it will not play again (the button will be set to suggest it is trying to play, but the icon does not move along the seekbar and sits at 0).

Nobody else has seen this before?

It appears that you have a bad installation of SS. When you reinstalled, did you delete the Subsonic directory. On Windows, to do a complete uninstall you need to run the Programs and Features uninstall from Control Panel then delete C:\Subsonic. This will remove all traces of the old install. Then make sure Java and Flash are up to date. It might not be a bad idea to uninstall all Java and do a clean Java install. If you ever use the 64 bit IE then you'll also want to install the 64 bit Java. Both can be found here:

http://www.java.com/en/download/manual.jsp

[Valaire]

I will try that when I get home, thanks.

[Valaire]

Did a clean uninstall of Subsonic and updated Java to latest version. Upon reinstallation, some songs play and other songs consistently won't play. The songs that consistently won't play will play if I do the seekbar trick.

It will load the songs really quickly and then move to the next one, as if it detects it can't play it.

I don't understand why my music is 'tainted' in some way, since it has worked in every other music player. I'm willing to test this by running it through some 'utility' you all mentioned, but I'm hoping it doesn't mess with the tags on my music or anything. Obviously I'll run it over a copy of an album as a test. What do you guys recommend?