Subsonic for Android - annoying issue

[yarbo]

Before I used to use iPhone clients for Subsonic, and they worked relatively well. They had their own issues, but overall the experience was good. I recently switched from an iPhone 4 to a Galaxy Note running Gingerbread, and have been using the Subsonic app for Android.

I've noticed a rather annoying issue, I don't know that it is a bug per se - but annoying none-the-less. I find that the first time I play a song, it will often play a third into the song, cut out and restart. I assume this is because not downloading fast enough, and when it gets to the end of what it has downloaded, it goes back to the beginning. This keeps happening, without fail at the beginning of an album, the next songs in the album will be fine (as the second song is usually done caching before the first one finishes, after the initial hiccup.

Is any sort of buffering going on, I mean I've looked in the settings and not found any settings dealing with that. It seems strange to me that the app wouldn't buffer the song at all, considering mobile networks aren't always the fastest.

Is there anyway to avoid this issue?

[Alsaya]

I had this problem with 4.6, it's gone now with the 4.7beta2 - and after cleaning the caches of the devices

[yarbo]

Hrm, I had restored my phone and did a full wipe via clockworkrecovery mod - and I still had the problem. I am also using the latest beta version, but alas I continue to experience this issue.

[GJ51]

What is your mobil bandwidth?

What happens if you connect to the demo site?

Does the same thing happen when connected over wifi?

[yarbo]

My bandwidth is pretty good, the server hosting my files is on a 50mbps up and down connection, and my phone is using LTE, and when I do a speed test on the mobile network, I get 50mpbs down, and 10mbps up.

I have not tried the demo server however, I'll test that out and see what happens.

[GJ51]

Those are great specs on the bandwidth, so that's probably not an issue. I have a user that just put ICS on his Sammy SII and is using my site without any problems.

If you get good tests of your phone on other sites then we know we need to focus on your server setup.

You're welcome to test on my sites as well if you like. Just send me a PM and I'll send you the creds to log in.

[mr_nobody]

I consistently experience this issue also...running 4.6. I'm using my home wifi and my server is also at home so bandwidth is not an issue. I seem to recall a previous thread discussing this which suggested it was an issue in 4.5 which was fixed in 4.6. But clearly some of us still get it in 4.6 while 4.7 resolves it for some but not all. Tricky...

[edit]: I've wondered if this could be an issue of the bandwidth being better than expected rather than inadequate which is usually the first thing someone suggests. Does that make any kind of sense?

[yarbo]

This seems like an issue that could easily be resolved by introducing some sort of pre-buffering functionality to the Android app...

[GJ51]

I consistently experience this issue also...running 4.6. I'm using my home wifi and my server is also at home so bandwidth is not an issue. I seem to recall a previous thread discussing this which suggested it was an issue in 4.5 which was fixed in 4.6. But clearly some of us still get it in 4.6 while 4.7 resolves it for some but not all. Tricky...

[edit]: I've wondered if this could be an issue of the bandwidth being better than expected rather than inadequate which is usually the first thing someone suggests. Does that make any kind of sense?

This is most often an issue on 4.6 as the track length estimation method in 4.6 was changed from previous versions. 4.5 usually didn't have issues unless there were bandwidth problems or transcoding settins were incorrect.

I'm running 4.7 beta 2 now on 3 sites without any major problems with mobile connections, other than iSub users are reporting problems if I set their transcoding to ogg. I use ogg for Android users with no problems, but the iSub users are reporting that the tracks are not finishing when using the ogg transcoding. They are fine using mp3. I don't know yet if this is a server issue or a problem with the iSub app.

[mr_nobody]

This is most often an issue on 4.6 as the track length estimation method in 4.6 was changed from previous versions. 4.5 usually didn't have issues unless there were bandwidth problems or transcoding settins were incorrect.

Ah, I misremembered the previous thread I referenced. That being said, I did experience this problem on both 4.5 and 4.6 both using local wifi (ie: adequate bandwidth).

[GJ51]

This is most often an issue on 4.6 as the track length estimation method in 4.6 was changed from previous versions. 4.5 usually didn't have issues unless there were bandwidth problems or transcoding settins were incorrect.

Ah, I misremembered the previous thread I referenced. That being said, I did experience this problem on both 4.5 and 4.6 both using local wifi (ie: adequate bandwidth).

In which case, we need to go back to asking if you see the same issue if you connect to the demo site or another known good site?

The first step to resolving any issue like this is to determine if it's the phone or the server.

[yarbo]

I don't have headphones with me today, so I wont be able to test this until this evening. I'll play around with it when I get home and will report back.

[mr_nobody]

Just tested this on the demo server and it immediately did it. I have three different devices (all low end Androids) that all behave this way. Two are Android 2.3 and the other is 2.2.

[sciurius]

I experience the same problem. Track starts playing, and after a couple of seconds (3 .. 10 or so) it stops and start playing from the beginning. Sometimes this happens one more time, later in the song.

It happens with my local server via LAN (http, https), via external internet (https), and when using the demo site.

I'm running Subsonic Android client 3.3 on Archos 101IT. Connection is WiFi only, and configured to be unlimited.

[yarbo]

As per GJ51's request I tested it with both the demo server, and his own and found the same problem occurs on both. I tried it on both mobile and wifi, and the issue always happens about 3 to 10 seconds in.

I suspect what is happening is that the Subsonic app starts to play the song right away, which causes it to run out of data to play before the whole thing is downloaded, and it just loops back to the beginning. Seems like it would a good idea to implement some sort of pre-buffering, where it downloads a certain amount either algorithmically based on how fast the connection vs the size of the file, or allow users to determine how much to pre-buffer in the settings.

It can't be a bandwidth issue, as it happens both on Wifi & Mobile.

I am not a software engineer, so maybe my buffering theory is incorrect, just trying to make suggestions as to what may be causing this.