Subsonic Windows Sidebar gadget

[erik]

I'm really looking forward to this. The subair player is ... somewhat less than perfect, and this looks really nice. Any hope of gapless playback on this?

[kramttocs]

Initial Release - 2.1 - Outdated 3/25/2011
See later threads for newer versions

[unamused]

badass!

nice work man.

[erik]

For some reason, I can't get this to work. I keep getting a "Connection failed"-message. I've entered the server address, the port number and my username and password, but it keeps failing to connect. I can connect using the same data trough my browser without any problems.

Any thoughts? If you need any additional data, let me know.

Also, it's a bit wider than the rest of the sidebar gadgets, and the sidebar itself. Is that intentional?

[donpearson]

For some reason, I can't get this to work. I keep getting a "Connection failed"-message. I've entered the server address, the port number and my username and password, but it keeps failing to connect. I can connect using the same data trough my browser without any problems.

Are you entering the URL as http://yourdomain.com:portnumber

Also, it's a bit wider than the rest of the sidebar gadgets, and the sidebar itself. Is that intentional?

Iv seen sidebar gadgets come in all sizes.
This is the size it is as it looks good and also there is a lot of functions.

[jeffcavicchi]

Looks and works great!

One strange problem - when I try to play one particular album, the gadget skips the first track. I can click on the track, and it seems as though it is going to play it, and then it skips ahead to track #2. This album plays fine in JWPlayer...and I have only found one album where this is a problem.

If you need any additional info, let me know.

[kramttocs]

For some reason, I can't get this to work. I keep getting a "Connection failed"-message. I've entered the server address, the port number and my username and password, but it keeps failing to connect. I can connect using the same data trough my browser without any problems.
Any thoughts? If you need any additional data, let me know.

Like donpearson said - have you verified the url? If so, can you create a test user and try to connect as that user? If that still doesnt work, if you want to send me the url and test user u/n and p/w in a PM or to my email as listed on the download site I will be glad to take a look and see what's going on.

Also, it's a bit wider than the rest of the sidebar gadgets, and the sidebar itself. Is that intentional?

Also like donpearson mentioned, it came down to finding the best fit in terms of getting all the features on the gadget while not crowding everything. Are you using this on vista or 7? On vista I realize that the size is not as visually appealing since the sidebar does have the background and it extends beyond this boundary. If it helps, you might want to play with the opacity of the gadget.

[kramttocs]

One strange problem - when I try to play one particular album, the gadget skips the first track. I can click on the track, and it seems as though it is going to play it, and then it skips ahead to track #2.

Hey Jeff,
Glad you like it!
The issue that you mention is one that I and some of the testers have also experienced. I have spent some time on trying to resolve this but the problem is that it's unpredictable - for instance (at least in those I have seen) it may not work one day but the next it works fine. What would be great is if over a period of days you could try this same album and see if that same track won't play on a regular basis. As you noticed, the player is set to go on to the next track if it can't play the current one so I hope this won't cause people too much grief but I do apologize for the inconvenience.

[jeffcavicchi]

No worries - you're giving away something very cool for free, so I'm not going to complain!

It might be related to the problem I have been having with JWPlayer - occasionally I will get a slight pause when a track first starts to play (although it does not necessarily happen on the first track of an album), after which play resumes and the remainder of the track plays fine. Not sure what is causing this, but maybe the gadget interprets this pause as a problem loading the track, and so moves on to the next track?

Just a thought...

I will keep trying with that one album and see what happens over the next few days...

Thanks for the excellent work!

[erik]

For some reason, I can't get this to work. I keep getting a "Connection failed"-message. I've entered the server address, the port number and my username and password, but it keeps failing to connect. I can connect using the same data trough my browser without any problems.

Are you entering the URL as http://yourdomain.com:portnumber

No, I'm entering it as http://mydomain.subsonic.org:portnumber. I'll try the dotcom-way.

As to the size, this is in Vista. I only run 7 on the computer I'm streaming from, so no reason to install there, I'm afraid.

edit: I tried using the mydomain.com, and I tried setting up a new user account and connecting trough that one, still no luck. It doesn't even look as if it's trying, it only takes a fraction of a second from I push "ok" until I see the gadget with the "connection failed"-message. Connecting to the server from the same computer using SubAir or browser works flawlessly, though, so the computer can connect to the server ok. I'm getting a friend to try to install the gadget at his computer to connect to my server tonight.

It just occurred to me that this might be a firewall issue. I'll check that.

edit2: Nope, turned off the firewall for a moment to test, but still no luck.

edit3: Mailed a few details to cramttocs. Keeping my fingers crossed. Thanks, guys, for doing all this to help out! =)

[jeffcavicchi]

Couple of bits of feedback so far:

Function of the player is very good - better than JWPlayer in my opinion. Buffering seems better and smoother.

Layout is very nice.

However, there are two things I would like to see changed.

First, the fact that you cannot browse your entire collection is a drawback for me. I often select the next album to play simply by scrolling through my collection and picking out whatever strikes me at the moment...I know why you did not incorporate the entire index into the gadget, but without it the gadget is of limited use to me. I hardly ever use playlists...

Also, the titles of albums get cut off in the search results box. I can bring up a whole bunch of albums by John Coltrane, but I can't tell what most of them are. If there were a way to make the results box bigger it would be a big improvement, in my opinion. Right now the usefulness of the search function is limited...

Don't take this feedback the wrong way - I think you did a great job, and I know you put a lot of work into this. Depending on how you use SS, the gadget could work very well for you (especially if most of your listening is via playlists or randomization). However, I would really like to be able to browse my entire collection - that would be a huge step in the right direction for me.

Jeff

[kramttocs]

@erik - you should have just received a reply to your email. Thanks for that information.

It is possible that this may be a common issue so I will sum it up here for anyone else.

I don't know if this will work the same with all .subsonic.org addresses but in erik's situation the url was redirecting and actually replacing itself in the browser with the IP. So even if you go to http://xxx.subsonic.org, the browser will show the url as being http://IP HERE. The latter is what is needed for the gadget since all calls to the server are actually being made through it.

[donpearson]

You IP address is in the image below, bottom left.

[kramttocs]

You ID address is in the image below, bottom left.

That's right! Thanks for that reminder - that should help a lot of people out.

[kramttocs]

First, the fact that you cannot browse your entire collection is a drawback for me. I often select the next album to play simply by scrolling through my collection and picking out whatever strikes me at the moment...I know why you did not incorporate the entire index into the gadget, but without it the gadget is of limited use to me. I hardly ever use playlists...

Also, the titles of albums get cut off in the search results box. I can bring up a whole bunch of albums by John Coltrane, but I can't tell what most of them are. If there were a way to make the results box bigger it would be a big improvement, in my opinion. Right now the usefulness of the search function is limited...

Hey Jeff,
No worries - any feedback is appreciated and it won't be taken personally - although don't expect a refund

Both of your points are valid and were considered and brought up by testers when I was creating the gadget.

1. There are some limitations that come with being a gadget that prevent this at the moment. For instance, a situation just came up where a playlist had several thousands tracks in it. Loading this up takes several minutes and puts the gadget at a standstill. Unlike regular applications, gadgets don't receive the same system resources and the ability to browse the entire collection would most likely cause more frustration than benefit.
The closest solution to this at the moment is to use the artist directory feature. This takes you one level up and doesn't give you the option to select the album (this is being looked into actually though) but it gives you a little more browsing than search does. [this is done by just entering a single character in the search box]

2. This comes back to size vs functionality and making sure a gadget doesn't overstep the line. I will run this by a few users and see if this is something the majority wants.

Thanks for the feedback!