Z-Subsonic - iPhone Client for Subsonic Released

[sola]

I've set my max bitrate to 320 kbps, but in z-Subsonic the rate always shows as 800-900 kb/s...

The effective bitrate you get is what you have set. You can confirm this especially on 3g because when you lower your bitrate to, say 160kbps, playback is smoother without breaks. The information displayed by Z-Subsonic is what the server sent.

[airjrdn]

I've been watching the app store price and noticed it just went on sale. The tough part is, there needs to be a free version, not a subsonic server to test with AFTER you buy it, but a free version that lets you only play a few songs or something, try some searches, etc. One of the reviews for example states that the searching doesn't work at all.

Also, is it true that you not only have to pay for the app, but also donate (some amount?) for Subsonic to be able to be used by it?

Is it a known at this point how long you're going to leave it on sale?

[sola]

It's kind of unfair that one cannot respond to comments posted on iTunes. Search works perfectly and has never had a bug from day one. The person that posted that comment most definitely did something wrong, like not tagging their songs properly and then blamed it on z-subsonic.

Yes, in order to use any of the phone clients (iPhone or Android) beyond 30 days, you need to make a donation to subsonic server.

The guys that left one star ratings are most definitely the ones that got to know about z-subsonic thorough my adverts. They had no idea how to install the server and directed their frustration at z-subsonic. It's sad they took it out on z-subsonic but it is what it is.

[Sporkman]

Yes, in order to use any of the phone clients (iPhone or Android) beyond 30 days, you need to make a donation to subsonic server.

Will the app stop working & require the license code to be entered, or will it know that it's connected to a licensed server?

[sola]

Will the app stop working & require the license code to be entered, or will it know that it's connected to a licensed server?

The server sends a message that it's trial period is over which z-subsonic displays verbatim like other errors from the server.

[adolgov]

I noticed that if I play a cached song, it prevents the subsonic server from sending a last.fm update, so that song is "lost" for last.fm reporting. Since the last.fm transmission happens server-side and cached songs don't stream from the server, I'm wondering if there's a good way around this limitation.

[HiSpeed]

I wish it were possible to download songs directly to my iPhone

[wraithdu]

v1.5 is a great update! No skips at all on my drive to work today, so the new caching scheme is working very well.

1) I have an idea for possible improvement. I understand that Apple restricts the amount of data you can stream over 3G over a given time which is why you can only cache one song at a time. Would it be possible to include an option to cache up to two songs at a time over WiFi (the current and next songs)? Then at least Jailbroken users could take advantage over 3G as well. This would make transitions between songs more seamless, as well as mitigate a situation where you happen to change songs right in a bad service area.

2) It would also be nice to have a visual representation of the caching status of a song. Maybe a simple updating numerical percentage or a small progress bar for each song as it is being cached.

3) Allow manual downloading (caching) of songs for playing at a later time, possibly while offline. This would probably have to be a WiFi only feature, but again Jailbroken users could take advantage over 3G as well.

4) Lastly, song seeking during playback.

Keep up the great work, your app is making great strides!

[sola]

wraithdu,
Thanks for the feedback.

Most of the features you suggested will make it in within the next few releases.

As for a visual representation of caching progress, it is impossible to know ahead of time the final size of files that are being transcoded.

Don't forget to rate and possibly write a review for v1.5 on iTunes!

[wraithdu]

As for a visual representation of caching progress, it is impossible to know ahead of time the final size of files that are being transcoded.

Ah. What about a simple file size counter then, probably in KB. It should give users a rough estimate based on the length of the song.

[bombjack]

v1.5 is a great update! No skips at all on my drive to work today, so the new caching scheme is working very well.

1) I have an idea for possible improvement. I understand that Apple restricts the amount of data you can stream over 3G over a given time which is why you can only cache one song at a time. Would it be possible to include an option to cache up to two songs at a time over WiFi (the current and next songs)? Then at least Jailbroken users could take advantage over 3G as well. This would make transitions between songs more seamless, as well as mitigate a situation where you happen to change songs right in a bad service area.

2) It would also be nice to have a visual representation of the caching status of a song. Maybe a simple updating numerical percentage or a small progress bar for each song as it is being cached.

3) Allow manual downloading (caching) of songs for playing at a later time, possibly while offline. This would probably have to be a WiFi only feature, but again Jailbroken users could take advantage over 3G as well.

4) Lastly, song seeking during playback.

Keep up the great work, your app is making great strides!

I agree it's going in the right direction, but for me 1.5 has been sluggish. I dont know if its due caching of db?

Two questionst to the author:
1) 1.5 is supposed to cache my music library so that I can browse it when I am off-line? I cant see that happening on my phone. I have tried it by first browse a few albums and then turn off internet connectivity. It's possible to browse the same album as I looked at when I had connectivity, but nothing else. Am I doing something wrong?

2) How am I supposed to play my cached songs when I am off-line? The only way seems to be to set some songs as favorites while you are connected and then use that playlist. But that is really an awkward solution. Or again, am I misunderstanding something?


Therefore, a feature request: It should be possible to browse cached songs without connectivity to the subsonic server.

[adolgov]

I'm experiencing a weird problem:

Z-subsonic has stopped retrieving the artists list. Nothing has changed in the configuration or the client, as far as I know, but while it used to fetch the artist list correctly, at some point, it stopped. Now, it just does the spinning ring for a few seconds, but then produces an empty page.

It used to correctly fetch the artist list before (same version).

I tried clearing all of the caches in the settings page.

What could be going wrong?

The web interface and other client apps can still fetch the artist list correctly, so I think that the server is ok.

[dsnhdiv]

I am having the same trouble as adolgov, mine stopped working when I upgraded to 4.0 beta 1 on the server side.

[sola]

Two questionst to the author:
1) 1.5 is supposed to cache my music library so that I can browse it when I am off-line? I cant see that happening on my phone. I have tried it by first browse a few albums and then turn off internet connectivity. It's possible to browse the same album as I looked at when I had connectivity, but nothing else. Am I doing something wrong?

2) How am I supposed to play my cached songs when I am off-line? The only way seems to be to set some songs as favorites while you are connected and then use that playlist. But that is really an awkward solution. Or again, am I misunderstanding something?


Therefore, a feature request: It should be possible to browse cached songs without connectivity to the subsonic server.

First, it will help me get to the questions quicker if you posted them on the Z-Subsonic forum (http://z-subsonic.com/z-subsonic-forum). Even though I try to monitor as many topics as possible here that are related to Z-Subsonic, I still miss some, especially new topics.

To the answers; the caching intention was not to download the server database and duplicate it on the iPhone but rather to cache every directory browsed so that those same directories can be browsed while offline. The idea is that if you once played a song, you must have browsed to it. Since that song is now cached, you should be able to browse to it and play it "normally" even while offline.

The caching feature is new and will eventually evolve and have more capabilities with time.

[sola]

I am having the same trouble as adolgov, mine stopped working when I upgraded to 4.0 beta 1 on the server side.

This issue has to do with a bug in Subsonic server (a typo) and the way Z-Subsonic processed the returned XML.

It has been corrected in both Subsonic and Z-Subsonic (v2.0).

Please see this thread for more info http://z-subsonic.com/z-subsonic-forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=36&sid=3550a7b1d7f50bb271354957e7f75df7

v2.0 of Z-Subsonic should be live in the app store anytime now. It has been submitted to Apple days ago.