Subsonic Forum

I've just configured Subsonic 4.6 on a Ubuntu 10.04 machine at work with the hope that several of us can control a single jukebox playlist to which we all listen instead of the crappy radio.

I've created individual user accounts for everybody plus a 'jukebox' account that people will use instead when they want to control the jukebox's playlist.

Individual logins are working fine: people can listen to their choice of music through their own browser.

Jukebox mode plays music on the speakers connected to the Subsonic server. But when a person logs in with the jukebox account they don't see a common universal jukebox playlist. Each person can build a playlist for the jukebox but they are the only one who sees the playlist they've built. If a user clicks a track in their own jukebox playlist then it stops whatever was playing before and starts their track playing on the server instead. In the "Now playing" column I see three different jukebox players, all playing something different. (I can attach a screenshot if it would help.)

I thought we'd all see one shared playlist whenever we logged in with the jukebox account. When we added a track it would appear at the bottom of the playlist that we all see. Have I misunderstood the purpose of the jukebox mode? I'd be grateful for some advice!

The playlists do not become "shared" until they are saved. The playlists in the browser window are on a per user basis.
However if you create a user called "jukebox" for example and all the users log on to that same a/c (from different clients) then they will see the same playlist and SS will work as you described.

Thanks for the reply.

BKKKPewsey wrote:The playlists do not become "shared" until they are saved. The playlists in the browser window are on a per user basis.
However if you create a user called "jukebox" for example and all the users log on to that same a/c (from different clients) then they will see the same playlist and SS will work as you described.

That was my expectation too... but it's not what's happening.

All users access the Jukebox with the same 'jukebox' account. But they each see a different list of songs in the bottom frame of the web interface. Adding songs to the list on their screen doesn't change the list for other users.

Hope I'm explaining this correctly!

I just did a quick test and it is working as I described for me [4.6]
Make sure that they are also using the same "jukebox" player.
I also find I may have to hit the refresh button once or twice to get the playlist to show.

BKKKPewsey wrote:Make sure that they are also using the same "jukebox" player.

Ahhhh.... *clink*
That's the sound of the penny dropping. Thank you: that might be the vital bit I hadn't realised. I'll test this tomorrow and see how I get on. I thought that users were only shown one 'player' in the little drop-down next to the Flash object in the bottom frame, but perhaps there are options there.

The documentation for the jukebox mode seems rather lean. I haven't managed to find much of it anywhere. Or am I being fick?

When you mention the refresh button, are you talking about refreshing the whole Subsonic browser page (i.e. F5/Ctrl-R) or is there a 'refresh' button somewhere in the page for the bottom frame of the Subsonic GUI?

Edit:
OK, I've just run a quick test from home on the Subsonic I have in the house, and whichever browser I use to connect to the server with my 'jukebox' account, I see a single player ID in the drop-down in the bottom frame of the GUI. All browsers control the same queue and changes in one screen are propogated to the others nicely. That's how I imagined it would work, and it fills me with more confidence. But, why didn't all users connecting with the 'jukebox' user at work see the same thing? Why did they get given a new player ID every time? Is there something I forgot to do during the set up at work?

Further edit: (for some reason, double-posting in forums is a crime)
I've connected from home to our work network and experimented.
At first, all browsers on my home PC showed me the same queue when I connected with the same jukebox account to the work server. I thought all was OK. But then I started a VNC session to the server running Subsonic and connected with the Ubuntu browser to Subsonic with the jukebox account too. The queue was empty. Checking for differences in the settings between work and home, I noticed that my home jukebox account is allowed to change its settings whereas I've removed that for the work accounts to stop people changing the jukebox password. So I enabled that option for the jukebox user and refreshed all my browser pages. Suddenly the 'player' drop-down became visible in the queue frame and I could check that all browsers were using the same player. When I did this they all showed the same queue again. Awesome.

But every time someone new connects to the jukebox, or connects from a new machine/IP, will I have to go through this process again to ensure their browser uses the main jukebox player? Seems weird if so. I'll be able to check in the morning.

SiliconS wrote:(for some reason, double-posting in forums is a crime)

It only frowned upon when the new post's sole aim is to "bump" the thread.
In your case it doesn't apply because you are supplying new/further information.

With regard to the players I find it useful to name the players - that way you can spot very quickly if SS has created a new player.

BKKKPewsey wrote:With regard to the players I find it useful to name the players - that way you can spot very quickly if SS has created a new player.

That's a handy tip.
Everything ran smoothly at work in the end though. Every time someone new connected to the jukebox Subsonic made a new player for them, but I just deleted the new players to leave only the main Jukebox player, and things seemed to be OK. I don't really understand the reason why Subsonic manages players in the way that it does so it seems confusing at the moment, but I'm sure there's a sound underlying logic

More confusing at the moment though is the need our creative director feels for sabotaging our beautifully-crafted playlists with Bee Gees tracks, which crop up with surprising regularity between unrelated songs while he sits sniggering in the corner of the office. A segué from Guns 'n Roses' Welcome to the jungle to How Deep is Your Love left me feeling quite nauseous just before home time.

Thanks for all your help in this thread, BKKKPewsey. I appreciate it.