Subsonic Forum

Closed source, check.

Not responding or even acknowledging criticisms in the announcement threads, check.

Plenty of feature requests going un-acknowledged or responded to... ever (years), check.

Yeah, Sindre just doesn't care any more.

I guess it is time for you to move on...

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That's a shame, I really like Subsonic and there's no decent/stable alternative atm.

Have you tried Madsonic ([url]madsonic.org[/url])? It's a port of Subsonic, with a bunch of other features added. Given the lack of updates to Subsonic since 6.0 was released, as well as the change in license and seeming absence of Sindre from the forums for a few weeks, I grew concerned about the future of Subsonic, so I started looking for an alternative.

I had used Ampache, before finding Subsonic, but I found it lacking. There were a number of other options, but they all seemed to pale in comparison, or were more video centric (e.g. Plex, Emby, etc.). That's when I stumbled upon Madsonic, after having seen it mentioned here a few times.

IMHO, interface wise, it does not seem as polished as Subsonic 6, but it has a bunch of other features. Right now, I'm running them side by side, until I decide whether or not to move away from Subsonic.

I've been using Subsonic for a few years (and paid the very reasonable license fee). On the one hand I feel like I can't complain, because it's mostly just worked for me, and the price he asks is trivial.

But it would be nice if there were any kind of continued development, and closing the source makes this less likely. I use Subsonic primarily for Sonos support. It works, but is incomplete and sometimes problematic (e.g. MP3 tag support is buggy, it depends on physical folder structure for some information) and genre searches are not supported.

I looked at MadSonic and at this point, it's not a viable alternative. It supports sonos exactly the same way (same missing features) so it doesn't appear that any enhancemenets have been made from Sindre's code, with the exception of easier registration with Sonos. It's also got a much higher license fee.

Plex has since announced Sonos support, and I also have a Plex server, but their commitment to this seems dubious at best, since in the 4 months since they announced a beta, nothing has been changed, no new releases.

It's frustrating that in 2016 there still isn't a good solution for playing your own music library with Sonos. Subsonic comes so close, and I had high hopes that the gaps would be filled in over time once it was initially supported, but that just hasn't happened. I would gladly pay more for it.

I totally support Sindre in his decision, but I can understand that people are having questions about the further development of Subsonic.
It would be nice if Sindre published something to give us a clue on what he's working on now.
Some users just want to know if the next version of Subsonic is going to resolve their problems.

Why not asking for a new "lifetime" licence fee, even higher than the previous one to boost the development of this great tool.
Giving the option to earlier owner of a licence to stay on version 6.0 should be provided too.

Hope to get some news from Sindre soon.

Sindre's last visit to the forums was Sun Oct 02, 2016 11:40 am - 16 days ago. The current version was released April 30, 2016 - 6 months ago. How is any of this "turning his back"? I for one am happy that he continues this project, does what he can to gain compensation for his hard work, long development hours invested, and large user base - those that are direct via the web interface and those via the 3rd party apps. That he doesn't haunt the forums and release a beta weekly is a good thing - for all of us that want to see a happy developer and a long-lived product. Keep up the great work Sindre!

To be realistic, that isn't that long of an absence. Perhaps a pressing issue came up in his lie, and he is simply tending to those issues at the moment. I wouldn't give up hope yet.

Just look at the changelog on http://www.subsonic.org/pages/changelog.jsp and you'll realize the amount of work and time Sindre has put into this project.
It might give you an idea of when the next release can be expected.

I think you're exaggerating a bit. The closed-source angle was needed due to the video transcoding. In the beta Sindre required all files to be pre-converted to work on Subsonic. Now that function is 'on the fly' and from my understanding he needed to purchase some specific keys to get that to work. So to make some people happy (I personally was NOT willing to convert my entire video library) - he pissed off a lot more.

I'm sure Sindre has a real job and real things to do. 6.0 could use some improvements - sure. Chromecast, difficult to seek, and no longer having an option to select vid quality are my biggest peeves.

But it's still working. I'm still able to listen to my entire library from pretty much anywhere from just about every device. I'm paying 12 dollars a YEAR for this. The other alternatives (ampache) quite honestly suck in my opinion. I'm still with Sindre, I trust he will address our concerns.

kayzlot1 wrote:The closed-source angle was needed due to the video transcoding.

No. It's possible to distribute closed-source separately. It did not force the whole project to be closed. He certainly has a right to change to closed source, but the way he did it was dishonest - producing a series of open source beta code, then going closed source with the release.

mikes wrote:

kayzlot1 wrote:The closed-source angle was needed due to the video transcoding.

No. It's possible to distribute closed-source separately. It did not force the whole project to be closed. He certainly has a right to change to closed source, but the way he did it was dishonest - producing a series of open source beta code, then going closed source with the release.

Everyone can start on developing a fork of Subsonic starting from version Subsonic 6.0.beta2 - Mar 20, 2016. Yet I haven't seen anyone go that way.
I guess it doesn't matter since which release Subsonic became closed-source, Sindre's decision would have started a turmoil anyway.
And I wonder for what reason. It's not that a lot of people have contributed to Subsonic or now are releasing open source forks based on one of the subsonic versions.
The ony fork worth mentioning is madsonic. But the licensingprices for madsonic are a lot higher than for Subsonic.
Sindre neither hasn't decided to set up an ridiculous licensing plan which would cost you hundreds of dollars. He didn't even revoke all previous licenses.
So it al comes down to a just some people bashing a developer for deciding to go closed source on a project he has been working on since plus 12 years.
If you don't like it than just move on. I like Subsonic, it works for me on everything I want and need so I'll be supporting Subsonic. Be it open or closed source.

I have a lifetime license. It was sold for a product advertised as open source. It included all future updates. The current version is not open source. That's called "bait and switch" around here.

mikes wrote:I have a lifetime license. It was sold for a product advertised as open source. It included all future updates. The current version is not open source. That's called "bait and switch" around here.

If the product keeps on improving in it's functionality you have no grounds for complaint in my view. It just means that your lifetime license gives you acces to a product which improves over time.
Could you explain to me why the closed-source thing is such an issue for you?
Are you a developer who needs Subsonic to be open source so you can build your own fork on the work and effort Sindre has put in to this project?
Just asking...