New user, quick question - how to load/play all songs.

[Weidbrewer]

Hey, all - Just started using this slick app, and I have a question that I haven't been able to figure out from the forums: I installed the Android app on my phone, and I am able to connect and play music...but I don't seem to be able to actually stream it. What I mean is, I can only play songs that I manually pick from the list and (I assume) download to my phone. Obviously this isn't what I was expecting and kind of defeats the purpose of streaming. Is there a way I can just play the stuff from my server without having to manually select it all? (For example, just hitting "shuffle" on the music list and not get errors?)

Thanks in advance!

[martyscholes]

Sort of. I don't know about the whole shuffle thing (because I never use it -- too much stuff on my server), but for everyday listening, Subsonic behaves (mostly) as if all of the music / video is housed on the phone.

[Weidbrewer]

Sorry for not being clear: I know it's supposed to - I just can't get it to work. I can play music when I manually select it, but that's only song-by-song, album by album. Otherwise, it says that there is no music there.

Thanks for the fast response!

[martyscholes]

I apologize. I'm probably misunderstanding. When I want to play, say, Whiskey in the Jar by Metallica, I just go to the album, select it, then click "Play last." I do that for any combination of things I want to hear and they magically appear in my list-of-stuff-to-play. Does it behave differently for you?

[Weidbrewer]

Hmmm...this doesn't sound promising...

Okay, just to be clear, and make sure we're all on the same page, I'm going to totally go to basics (please bear with me.)

When I open the app, there are five options at the bottom:
Home, Media Library, Search, Playlists, player menu.

Under home, "recently added," "random," and "top rated" have "no media found." "Recently played" and "most played" have things that I've played from the server.

The media library section has "refresh" and "shuffle" at the top. If I hit "shuffle," it starts going through all the files and errors on every one. If I go into the folders, I can manually select stuff and play it...but that's it. Do I have to go through every, single folder selecting everything to stream my whole library? (because that would take for-freakin'-ever.)

If I mount my phone and look at the subsonic folder, I see the songs that I've played. Now, I know it is supposed to cache up to 500 meg, and that might be all this is - or is it downloading every song I play? Also, what happens when I hit 500mb - is that all I can stream?

With Google music for example, I open it, hit shuffle (or play album, or play artist, etc) and go about my day. Nothing manual - all my music is there by default.

Hopefully, this helps explain my confusion.

[martyscholes]

Yeah, still don't know that I am following you. It sounds like maybe you are looking for a feature that I don't understand.

[Weidbrewer]

lol...just looking for a feature that plays my music without having to manually download it to my phone. I mean, I can do that by plugging it in to my computer.

Okay, how 'bout this - if you open the app on your phone, go to the home tab - what do you see under the first three options (recent, random, top rated.) If anything is there, where did it com from?

[martyscholes]

Ok, so I'm in the mood for some tunes. I go to the home tab and see:
* Select Server
* Recently Added
* Random
* Top Rated
* Recently Played
* Most played

At the bottom I have buttons:
* A house
* A treble clef
* A magnifying glass
* Three horizontal bars
* A CD

I touch the treble clef, touch "Select folder" then choose Music.

I see my artists. I scroll to "Alice in Chains" and touch the name. I touch the "Dirt" album and click "Select all" then "Play last"

Now I touch the CD button and press the green play button and listen to music.

Does that not work for you?

[Weidbrewer]

Again - could you check the options on the home tab for me? (or the house, as you call it?)

Yes, what you said works - but that's not "streaming" as this app advertises. That's manually selecting files and downloading them to my phone - no different than loading them up from home and limited by the storage on my phone. I don't want to have to manually select individual albums every time I want to play music.

Also, in the Media Library - the "treble clef" to you" - you can see at the top, just to the right of the tile "Media Library" there is a shuffle icon (two crossed arrows.) What happens when you press this? All I get is errors and it skips to the next song. (both on this screen and the player screen, or the "CD.")

Does this help?

[martyscholes]

Again - could you check the options on the home tab for me? (or the house, as you call it?)

The home screen has exactly what I said, plus the shuffle and search at the top right.

Yes, what you said works - but that's not "streaming" as this app advertises.

Yeah, ok. Maybe. Not sure that's worth debating.

Also, in the Media Library - the "treble clef" to you" - you can see at the top, just to the right of the tile "Media Library" there is a shuffle icon (two crossed arrows.) What happens when you press this? All I get is errors and it skips to the next song. (both on this screen and the player screen, or the "CD.")

Never tried that before now. I got this horrible mishmash of random audio books, podcasts, music and old time radio recordings playing. No errors, just random tracks.

There's also some weirdo playlist thingy on the app that only lectures me that I have no playlists on the server, whatever that means.

[Weidbrewer]

What I asked on the home screen was to let me know if there is anything there when you click "Recent," "Random" or "Top Rated." I understand that you have the same screen as me.


The streaming thing - I'm not debating. I'm saying that it's advertised, it's theoretically there, I can see the options that are supposed to be using it - but I can't get it to work.


What I think this comes down to is that you aren't using the features that I'm trying to use and what brought me to the application in the first place. Thank you for your time - I really do appreciate it. Hopefully someone else will see this and be able to help us both out.

[alphawave7]

I suppose one would need to think of SS as a cached streamer. Indeed, most all streamers cache playback, but SS allows for storage and control of the cached music ('pinning') so it can remain on the phone, and not risk being overwritten. Some use that feature as a way to drop tunes to their phones without a computer. Otherwise, the cache gets overwritten as more tunes are selected. Audiogalaxy is an example of a streamer that 'streams' and caches the stream, but dumps the cache almost immediately, as least when I tried it last.
Edit: while I haven't tried it, set cache on the phone to 5-10MB, and you'd pretty much have Audiogalaxy, I'd guess.

[martyscholes]

I see what you are saying now. I send you a PM with the address and credentials for my server. Try that and let's see if we can rule out a server config issue.

I have stuff in all/most of the tabs you mention.

[Weidbrewer]

I see what you are saying now. I send you a PM with the address and credentials for my server. Try that and let's see if we can rule out a server config issue.

I have stuff in all/most of the tabs you mention.

Yours works perfectly. There's stuff in Recently added and Random (nothing in top rated, but meh, who cares.) When I go to the media library and hit the shuffle button, it goes right to town.

[martyscholes]

Ok, well that at least answers what features are missing vs. what is misconfigured.