First of all, hello to everybody. I have just joined xdaDevelopers.
To business now..
I recently bought my first Windows Phone (Nokia Lumia 520). One of the reasons for getting it was for developing my own WP8 apps.
I would like to start with a music player app - one that can play mp3 files from phone memory and SD card; arrange songs according to name, albums and artists; create playlists; have capabilties of fast foward and rewind (seeking); and recognise album arts.
What do I need to know before I can start building it?
I have zero experience in app development; I am a web designer.
I noticed that there are very few "polished" music players (which function properly as well as have a nice UI) in the WP store. Any particular reason for that (other than the platform being relatively new)?
I created this post mainly because the lack of quality music players appeared a bit strange to me. I have heard that a particular file type can be accessed by only one app (please correct me if I am wrong). So does it mean that one has to somehow uninstall the default music player in order to use the newly downloaded one?
For instance, I have "Adobe Reader" which can read PDFs from my MicroSD card. But the "PDF Reader" app (which I installed just yesterday) cannot even find them! So I had to uninstall the latter.
So I wanted to know if there was something about WP8 that doesn't allow such things - if these "security measures", which render apps like file managers less useful, are also responsible for the lack of music players in this otherwise very fantastic platform.
Please note that I come from Android, and am very new to Windows Phone platform. So kindly point out if there's something incorrect about my assumptions.
Thanks and regards.
Hi,
Welcome to Windows Phone. The Lumia 520 is a great choice in my humble opinion. In regards to why there are so few music apps, there are probably several reasons. One such is the fact, that the easiest way to make one is to integrate with the built-in music features, which however limits you in several ways, like not being able to add more file types, not being able to customize the experience too much, playlisting is limit as far as I know, which basically puts you in the position, that the only actual improvement you can do upon that is implementing a new streaming service. The other route is to implement your own music player, but then you're going to have issues making it work in the background (not to mention, that implementing a music player isn't entirely simple).
gdebojyoti said:
What do I need to know before I can start building it?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. Make sure you have hardware for it. I recommend a minimum of Windows 8 Pro 64bit, but you can find instructions for Windows 7 on this forum as well. You'll need VT-x support on your CPU, plenty of RAM.
2. Download and install the WP8 SDK.
3. Once you open Visual Studio, you can start by creating a new project, you'll need a UI project (I recommend Windows Phone App or HTML5 App templates) and a music playback project (WP Audio Playback Agent -OR- WP Audio Streaming Agent).
4. For tutorials on how to get started I usually go to Pluralsight.com, because I have a subscription there, and they're plain awesome, but I'm sure there are a bunch of other sources as well, which are for free.
gdebojyoti said:
For instance, I have "Adobe Reader" which can read PDFs from my MicroSD card. But the "PDF Reader" app (which I installed just yesterday) cannot even find them! So I had to uninstall the latter.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
If you have both Adobe Reader and PDF Reader installed, once you tap on a PDF file (say after downloading one in IE) an option should appear for you to select which app you wanna open it with.
gdebojyoti said:
So I wanted to know if there was something about WP8 that doesn't allow such things - if these "security measures", which render apps like file managers less useful, are also responsible for the lack of music players in this otherwise very fantastic platform.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can install and use as many audio/music apps you like, but obviously only one can have the background music feature used at one time. (You can only have one music playing in the background).
Also:
"Developers must pay an annual subscription fee of $99, (this, according to Todd Brix, the General Manager for Windows Phone Apps and Store team, is currently on an ongoing promotion at $19) to become an App Hub member and submit apps to the Windows Phone Store. There's no limit on the number of free submissions for paid apps. There's a limit of 100 free submissions for free apps; thereafter, there's a fee of $19.99 per submission for free apps." - Wikipedia
Hope I helped, and happy coding!
:fingers-crossed:
@TheGoldrocker: Thank you for your reply. It did clear up quite a few things.
As of now, I am okay with "integrating with the built-in music features" as you said.
What I want to do is modify the UI and UX a bit. Some of the features can be as follows -
1. Introducing a scroll bar;
2. Option to get rid of the grouping system by name;
3. Control over the font size;
4. Allowing the currently playing song to continue if I select the song (currently it starts playing from the beginning);
5. Enabling the seeking feature (tapping the timeline of the song so as to play from that point of time);
6. Having a tile feature in the start screen with options to pause, change song, etc (number of options would depend upon the length of the song);
7. Showing the album art of the currently playing song in the tile;
8. Having an animated background in the app (just a wide photo which slowly slides from left to right).
Am I allowed to do the above?
You're welcome.
"Integrating with the built-in music features" doesn't mean you get to rewrite the UI/functionality of the current Music+Videos app. What it means is, you get to use the built-in classes for simplifying music playback in your new app. You'll still have to build up a new UI around your classes, you'll also have to write quite a few lines of code for the playback functionality (but obviously way less than if you tried to write your own music player from scratch).
Now sadly I cannot answer all of your questions with absolute certainty, because I haven't tried writing a music player yet, but I'll give them a shot.
I numbered your list:
gdebojyoti said:
1. Introducing a scroll bar;
2. Option to get rid of the grouping system by name;
3. Control over the font size;
4. Allowing the currently playing song to continue if I select the song (currently it starts playing from the beginning);
5. Enabling the seeking feature (tapping the timeline of the song so as to play from that point of time);
6. Having a tile feature in the start screen with options to pause, change song, etc (number of options would depend upon the length of the song);
7. Showing the album art of the currently playing song in the tile;
8. Having an animated background in the app (just a wide photo which slowly slides from left to right).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
1. Yes, since you'll have to make a new UI from scratch, and you'll have the ability to include any logic behind it you want.
2. Yes, the grouping can be avoided AFAIK.
3. Same as 1.
4. Same as 1.
5. Don't think so. Someone else with more knowledge will have to answer this to be sure, though.
6. If you mean a tile on the start screen, which, when tapped will play/stop/next/prev/whatever and STAY on the start screen? No. Tiles (sadly) always open a program (even if for only a millisecond). You can use this for deeplinking to favorite songs/playlists/streaming services though, which is cool.
7. Same as 1.
8. Same as 1.
Hope I helped.
Thank you for your reply.
TheGoldrocker said:
6. If you mean a tile on the start screen, which, when tapped will play/stop/next/prev/whatever and STAY on the start screen? No. Tiles (sadly) always open a program (even if for only a millisecond). You can use this for deeplinking to favorite songs/playlists/streaming services though, which is cool.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
By "deeplinking", do you mean pinning songs to the start screen by 'long pressing' on them?
I do hope that Microsoft introduces interactive tiles in some future update. Sort of start screen widgets.
gdebojyoti said:
By "deeplinking", do you mean pinning songs to the start screen by 'long pressing' on them?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Deeplinking is launching an app with a link toward a specific page with parameters. Imagine it as a URL to a specific page on a website. If your app and pages support it, you could tap on a tile (say on the start screen), which opens your app, and instantly navigates to a playlist, album, song, whatever you made that tile link to.
Pinning items to the start screen can be triggered by anything you want. You, the coder, decides how you're gonna allow the user to pin their songs/albums/playlists/artists/whatever.
Here's a little tutorial on this topic:
http://wp.qmatteoq.com/first-steps-...-links/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter
Okay, thanks. I'll have a look at that.
To make a media player for windows phone is to know insanity.
Why we no join forces?
There are a couple fo things the guys here forgot to tell you:
You can not read Mp3 files from SD card.
You can not read mp3 files from the user music folder.
You only have access to web resources or your app's isolated storage.
You basically have to engineer a way to get them to the app storage.
mcosmin222 said:
To make a media player for windows phone is to know insanity.
Why we no join forces?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think I have enough knowledge to be able to help you. I am just a beginner.
mcosmin222 said:
You can not read Mp3 files from SD card.
You can not read mp3 files from the user music folder.
You only have access to web resources or your app's isolated storage.
You basically have to engineer a way to get them to the app storage.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well, that's why I will try to "integrate with the built-in music features". Hopefully it will be okay then.
I am not trying to make the next best thing in the music player app category.
I am just trying to make one which has a slightly different UI and is able to play mp3s.
Sort of a project of mine.
By the way, can someone please tell me if I can use technologies like HTML5 to create this app? Actually I don't know C#.
Or should I learn C# before attempting this app?
gdebojyoti said:
I don't think I have enough knowledge to be able to help you. I am just a beginner.
Well, that's why I will try to "integrate with the built-in music features". Hopefully it will be okay then.
I am not trying to make the next best thing in the music player app category.
I am just trying to make one which has a slightly different UI and is able to play mp3s.
Sort of a project of mine.
By the way, can someone please tell me if I can use technologies like HTML5 to create this app? Actually I don't know C#.
Or should I learn C# before attempting this app?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You can not integrate with the built-in player.
There are too many limitations to explain. You will see.
Yes, learn C#
Okay.
Related
Astro Player is a media player with audiobooks and podcasts support. AP has advanced bookmarking functionality. It introduces several unique features like fast playback, equalizer, and non-unicode tags support. Moreover, it shows lyrics, supports scrobbling, album art, has convenient file browser with play folder option. It's still in beta and could be unstable. Any suggestions or opinions are welcomed!
New thread in "Android Apps and Games": http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?p=7268951
Download: http://www.astroplayer.com/download/Astro Player Beta.apk
2010-07-16 1.40
Playlists: add several files or folders
Fixes in the music browser
New actions: fforward/rewind 1min, 2min, 3min, 15sec, custom
New skin TestSkin.xml has been created
2010-06-25 1.39
Album/artist browser
Stability fixes
2010-06-25 1.38
Stability fixes
2010-06-20 1.37
Lock screen widget with gestures and album art
WVGA screen and quit button fixes
Stability fixes
2010-06-04 1.35
Overall speed improvements
Audio stuttering fix
Background mode fix
Multiple covers per track
Stability fixes
2010-05-15 1.34
Stability fixes
2010-05-08 1.33
Hotkeys, buttons, actions organizer
Fetches missing album art
Podcasts improvements
New landscape design
Stability fixes
2010-04-10 1.32
Menu organizer fixes
Stability fixes
2010-04-03 1.31
Menu items configuration
Fixed long delay between tracks
Tags instead file names in the playlist
Adapted new design for Droid
2010-03-23 1.30
Widget fix
Loading screen fix
Initially it looks good. I'm still going through it and will edit this post i'm sure. The first thing I noticed was your directions on how to add files. Anyone with common sense would be able to figure it out, however, for those that can't figure it out- you need to darken the text. White instruction text on a light background is hard to read. Other than that, so far so good!
Thanks, Ok it will be addressed in the coming build. We have no such issues in other skins: e.g. menu > more > select view > main view.
Just installed. Initial impressions are good.
The UI when the screen is rotated 90 degrees is a bit off-putting (ran that way for five minutes before re-orienting and getting the WAY pretty interface).
EDIT: Just read your reply about other skins. Fixed my issue. I'm retarded.
I dig it. More to come and I use and abuse it.
I'm been looking for an audio player that displays lrc lyrics. Otherwise some basic tag editing out be a nice touch as well.
There's a lot potential in this player and what it can do when it is fully developed, I love the equalizer, I think, one of the first, if not the first music player that offer eq that works! but some presets are always welcomed to be more user-friendly.. just my 2-cents
Christopher3712 said:
Initially it looks good. I'm still going through it and will edit this post i'm sure. The first thing I noticed was your directions on how to add files. Anyone with common sense would be able to figure it out, however, for those that can't figure it out- you need to darken the text. White instruction text on a light background is hard to read. Other than that, so far so good!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's fixed in #31
Why does it need location and phone state permissions? I think I'll stick to the stock, non stalker player.
Phone state (READ_PHONE_STATE) is used for handling the headset button (we don't handle it while incoming phone call)
Location (ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION) is used for ads
xaueious said:
I'm been looking for an audio player that displays lrc lyrics. Otherwise some basic tag editing out be a nice touch as well.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
lrc lyrics and tag editings are on the way.
Andrew Terekhine said:
Phone state (READ_PHONE_STATE) is used for handling the headset button (we don't handle it while incoming phone call)
Location (ACCESS_COARSE_LOCATION) is used for ads
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for the clarification. I wish every dev listed out the exact use for each permission request.
Tried out the player and it's great. I tried "Music Folder Player" many times but it never worked properly with CM (wouldn't populate the playlist). This app creates a playlist from my default music folder and play them as designed...
Astro Player's new version 1.33 is now available.
Changes:
Hotkeys, buttons, actions organizer
Fetches missing album art
Podcasts improvements
New landscape design
Stability fixes
Does it still cut out and/or stop playing when you switch to another process such as gmail?
Hi,
I can't seem to search my music via Artists or Album, am i being stupid ? Most likely i am.
It just lists all songs in Alphabetical order according to Artist name.
I do like it though, works well on my HTC Desire, no bugs so far, screen works well, landscape and Potrait. Artwork is correct. HTC Headphones controls work. Will play more with it later tonight.
I can't seem to get m3u playlists to work.
When I added my music folder, I noticed that it lists all the invisible Mac-related metadata files that start with ._ If you could hide those files, it will keep folks from trying to play them - it looks like it might be locking up the player if I try to open one of them.
The fetch album art function does not always fetch the correct art if there is more than one .jpg present. I have some folders with both front and back album art and it has been selecting the back album art. All the other music players I have tried have selected the correct .jpg or have an option to change the art. Is the program looking for a certain filename such as "folder.jpg" or "albumart.jpg"? Also, is the program able to fetch art from the internet? I have not been able to do so. I have only had art show up in folders that already have it present.
Other than that the player is excellent and I love the EQ! However, I second that presets would be very nice to include and get people started, as would giving frequencies for the EQ bands instead of just "High" and "Low" if this is possible to achieve.
Hope these suggestions are useful to you to improve what is one of the best media players I have tried (and I have tried every one that I can find!)
Thx great app !
Also be cool if you made reset to dafault button in equalizer settings.
Very nice. Two thumbs up, friend.
As for the lyrics option, is there a way we can have them to be possibly read from a txt file on sdcard? I'm just assuming you're going to use it with a website, of course. However, a lot of music, heavy metal for example, commonly lacks lyrics online.
Just a suggestion, and should be easily enough implemented.
Still, very nice application. =]
iHaos said:
Thx great app !
Also be cool if you made reset to dafault button in equalizer settings.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It's already there: Eq screen > menu > Reset
Hello All!
It seems line not so long ago I was joining XDA to get help with my HTC Mogul. Seems so long ago. We have all come a long way since then, and I’m here today to announce my new Android application.
simplePLAY is a media player that adds some unique functionality for browsing tracks, as well as simplifying the play screen functionality. See below for detailed information, as well as links to purchase for a measly 99 cents on the Android market.
If anyone has any questions or comments I will try to address them here.
Thank you all for the support throughout my years here!
Josh McKinney
Twisted Pixels Multimedia
simplePLAY
Enjoy your music and podcasts with ease using simplePlay, the new media player from Twisted Pixels Multimedia.
simplePLAY allows you to browse your music files with ease, using unique features like Quick Letter to jump to a specific letter while browsing.
Pressing the playing tab in the bottom of the corner takes you the "No Look" playing screen, where you can swipe left or right to navigate tracks, tap the screen to play and pause, or swipe down return to the library. No wrong buttons to press, no fumbling for the right function. Simple. Safe. Great for attention free shuffling while driving.
Other features include:
• Theme Support (Light, Dark, more to come)
• High Resolution Album Art Downloading
• Fullscreen functionality
• Optional screen lock while powered
• Podcast support includes bookmarking functionality.
Market Link:
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.twistedpixels.simple_play
Purchased right away, as I really like the idea of this player.
I've only been playing with it for a short while, but here's a few thoughts...
I like:
Lovely clean & minimalistic look.
The "quick-jump by letters" feature makes the library a pleasure to use!
Gestures.
Podcast playback with resume.
Responsive and fast.
What I'd like to see implemented or improved:
Lockscreen widget!
Being able to override the functionality of volume buttons while locked. PlayerPro allows me to use these buttons to change/skip songs (long press) as well as adjust volume (short press), while on the lockscreen. This makes the player easy to operate while still in my pocket.
The buttonless interface is great, but a (optional) position slider would be very useful in the podcast mode.
Perhaps a equalizer?
Keep up the great work!
Thank you for the feedback!
I continue to try and improve the app, and will add all of your suggestions to my to-do list. Lockscreen and volume button controls are not included natively, but do work with some custom ROMs. I will look into adding these in the future.
I have also received numerous requests for a time slider, and I will be adding that and a volume slider soon. The playing screen will keep it's simplistic design, but additional controls will be brought up with a double tap.
Thanks again for supporting!
Josh
What are the widgets like, if there are any? I couldn't see any in the video.
Thanks for considering my previous requests I would also like to add another one:
Please stop invoking the media scanner every time the player is launched.
wow man, i like the simplicity!!! kudos
ppcmaster1 said:
wow man, i like the simplicity!!! kudos
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
goood job!!! thx
Thank you all for the kind comments. Update went out last night with some interface tweaks and a new theme.
Next update should be a big one with time and volume sliders and a homescreen widget.
If you would like to help spread the word you can follow the official Twisted Pixels twitter account or my personal twitter here.
Thank You Guys!
Josh
Purchased. Like a lot. Needs a few improvements.
Ability to easily play all songs in an album without having to menu -> play all.
When a song is selected from within an album, only that song plays. It would be nice if the other songs in the album were added to the "playlist" so that once again I didnt have to select menu -> play all
ummmm im alittle scared....i went to the developers website (twisted pixels) and it says hacked by arab something O_O
Hi All.
Sorry about the website. It did get hacked, as did other sites on the same server farm. I have my webhost working on it and it should be back up later today. Just keep in mind that simplePLAY was developed entirely separate from the site, and there is no risk involved in purchasing.
The app has really taken off since being featured on AndroidCentral yesterday, and I want to keep the momentum by adding some features being requested.
In response to jhotmann:
If you want to play or queue an entire album you can do so by holding down the selection from the album menu. This works from the Artist menu as well.
Any other questions or requests?
Purchased this app, so far I'm loving it. Despite some missing features, it's a really good player. As people have said, a nice widget and some extra controls would be nice for the next update. Keep up the good work!
Is there a way to go directly to an album list.
Currently it seems I have to go into artist, then select the album they're in, it seems a bit backwards.
i purshased the app and it did not download...it stays stuck on downloading...i have the email to prove the i brought the app but i havent been able to download it....any way i can contact you so you can help me fix this problem =/
MMontanez347 said:
i purshased the app and it did not download...it stays stuck on downloading...i have the email to prove the i brought the app but i havent been able to download it....any way i can contact you so you can help me fix this problem =/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'm sorry you are having trouble downloading, but there is nothing I can do from the developer side to fix a stuck download. I believe this is either a problem with the market, your device or a combination of both.
If there are any other developers who can suggest how to fix this please let me know and i would be happy to help.
Josh McKinney
Twisted Pixels Multimedia
i happy you finally responded....and i have the email to prove that i brought it legally from the android market....i doubt its my device because i have a tmobile G2 unrooted.....do u have a email address so i can fowward you the bill from google that shows i dowloaded it so u can maybe send me the apk so i can manually download or something....or maybe update the apk in the marketplace so i can try downloading it again?
MMontanez347,
There will be an update posted soon. Please try downloading again from the market when the new version is posted.
Sorry for the trouble,
Josh
Looks awesome, looks like the Zune HD interface
Purchased
alright please let me know when the update is avaible...thanks
Two simple questions
Hi! This app is really awesome, and i want to buy it , but first i need to know two things.
1) The app has a lastfm support?
2) If i disconnect the headphones the music stops?
If the app can make this two things then i buy it
Good job!
Edit: Nevermind... I buy the app and do all the things that i need! I really want to participate translating the app... There is a way to help in the translation to spanish? Cheers!
Hello all,
I have recently created a new XBMC Remote App because well I like programming
It's cheaper than the ones available and works with XBMC 10.0+. I have created some extra featurs that I thought would be useful which weren't present in the other apps.
Pictures:
The app has full support for pictures, you can download them from XBMC right to your phone, watch a slideshow on your phone and have extensive controls when playing them on the Media Center, like zooming and scrolling ....
Library updates: With one click of the button you can update your music / video library
Subtitles: A button is available to open the subtitles window and select the subtitle you'd like (very handy for us non-native english speakers)
Furthermore, all the basics are available: browsing libraries, remote control, ...
Please let me know iwhat you think of it and if you have any good ideas about new features, requests. I'd be glad to work out something.
Here's the deep link to the application in Zune: windowsphone.com/s?appid=9a2f8f94-5dae-e011-a53c-78e7d1fa76f8
Looks good, lots of nice features, would really like to trial it first though, it's quite important for apps like this.
Can you view the most recent movies, tv episodes? Can you pull up info on the currently playing media?
Thanks for the hard work!
Hello,
I have just submitted an update with trial mode enabled. It should be available in a few days. There's a now playing feature and in the next release I have some extensions planned on that.
Currently there are no recent items collections, but I'll add it to the feature requests and I think I'll be able to add it to the next version as well.
If you can, please check out the trial version and let me know what you think.
(The trial version has complete functionality but it only shows you a few items)
Many thanks in advance.
Does this app have the gesture-mode for the arrow-keys?
Used the android-one before, never got used to the normal key-mode.. you always have to look at your phone...
because of that i still use my android-device for remoting my XBMC Notebook...
Hello,
Gesture mode is not included in this version. I'll take a look whether I can fit it in the next release though.
In a few days an update should appear with a trial-mode so you can try out the remote. I have focussed a lot on the usability of the remote and made large buttons which have audio and/or haptic feedback so you still might like it.
Sorry, we don't allow paid apps here.
Based on what I've seen today it still has no:
- system dictionary for definition lookup(only for predictive text). The Kindle App does nothing when I press & hold on a word, unlike on my iOS device.
- hi-speed media scrubber for music. you know the little round knob on the progress bar that allows you to move the time index to any point in a song or video.
- unified search aka Local Search(apps, music, videos, contacts, emails)
The music app is pretty bad. I had several attempts to build a proper one, but the developer can not interact with the music library, other than playing existing playlists or songs.
You can't make custom playlists(actually you can, but it very, very, VERY complicated and prone to error and simply does not worth the shot), change the order of music inside the list and stuff like that for a third party app, and that sucks.
There are no new APIs for XNA (which is used to access the songs in the phone) so there is no way of making one.
If there is something I can say it is not right on WP, that's the music app.
mcosmin222 said:
The music app is pretty bad. I had several attempts to build a proper one, but the developer can not interact with the music library, other than playing existing playlists or songs.
You can't make custom playlists(actually you can, but it very, very, VERY complicated and prone to error and simply does not worth the shot), change the order of music inside the list and stuff like that for a third party app, and that sucks.
There are no new APIs for XNA (which is used to access the songs in the phone) so there is no way of making one.
If there is something I can say it is not right on WP, that's the music app.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Does that imply that there´s the same limitation for video? ...and ...as a result of that a videoplayer with support for more codecs is very unlikely to ever happen?
TarKin said:
Does that imply that there´s the same limitation for video? ...and ...as a result of that a videoplayer with support for more codecs is very unlikely to ever happen?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The File-Assosciation feature in WP8 works like this. Your App can define certain file endings (e.g. .mkv) which it can handle. If those are found on a SD-Card or downloaded the according registered App is then started for those files. The App can then do whatever it is it does as long as it keeps to reading the file (the original can't be manipulated although the app could copy it into it's isolated storage and manipulate it their). But there is one Caveat - there are several file extensions that are reserved for the OS which means that 3rd party Apps can't register for them. One of them is .mp3. Avi is another one of those (you can look them up in MSDN).
.mkv on the other hand is an extension that Windows Phone itself does not know so people could build Apps that would be able to consume them. Given that we now have Native Code capabilities writing a decoder or recompiling one written for another platform is possible, though it remains to be seen wether anyone will put the effort into it.
StevieBallz said:
The File-Assosciation feature in WP8 works like this. Your App can define certain file endings (e.g. .mkv) which it can handle. If those are found on a SD-Card or downloaded the according registered App is then started for those files. The App can then do whatever it is it does as long as it keeps to reading the file (the original can't be manipulated although the app could copy it into it's isolated storage and manipulate it their). But there is one Caveat - there are several file extensions that are reserved for the OS which means that 3rd party Apps can't register for them. One of them is .mp3. Avi is another one of those (you can look them up in MSDN).
.mkv on the other hand is an extension that Windows Phone itself does not know so people could build Apps that would be able to consume them. Given that we now have Native Code capabilities writing a decoder or recompiling one written for another platform is possible, though it remains to be seen wether anyone will put the effort into it.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
ok. i was mainly into psp dev. before, and never had a winphone in my hands so far.
but if you say that´s possible, then i´ll go for the lumia920, reg. for a dev account and see what i can do
StevieBallz said:
The File-Assosciation feature in WP8 works like this. Your App can define certain file endings (e.g. .mkv) which it can handle. If those are found on a SD-Card or downloaded the according registered App is then started for those files. The App can then do whatever it is it does as long as it keeps to reading the file (the original can't be manipulated although the app could copy it into it's isolated storage and manipulate it their). But there is one Caveat - there are several file extensions that are reserved for the OS which means that 3rd party Apps can't register for them. One of them is .mp3. Avi is another one of those (you can look them up in MSDN).
.mkv on the other hand is an extension that Windows Phone itself does not know so people could build Apps that would be able to consume them. Given that we now have Native Code capabilities writing a decoder or recompiling one written for another platform is possible, though it remains to be seen wether anyone will put the effort into it.
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I haven't had the chance to look over what the native code can do and what it can't do, but it is to be expected that it will have limitations, just like C# has.
You can render images (obviously) and output them using Direct3D which is pretty much what e.g. VLC does on the Desktop. You have complete read access to files on the SD-Card for your registered filetypes. MKV could be registered, MP3 or AVI could not (because they are in use by the system already).
But of course you would not be able to offload processing to the dedicated decoding units like with the built-in Codecs, which will mean more processor utilization and worse battery life. Still as a programmer I don't see too many actual road blocks (but it's a bumpy road to do this to be sure).
@TarKin: before you drop the money perhaps it would be best to start looking into the SDK. I'm not an expert in Multimedia-programming by any measure so you might be able to spot problems in there beforehand.
If you're still going for a L920 with these uncertainties for your use-case: welcome to the family, I'm anxiously awaiting mine.
I have 1,000 CDs that I've ripped to my PC as WAV. They are basically all of the rock genre (Classic, hard rock, heavy metal, nu metal, 90s grunge, etc.), and because of that, I prefer lossless. I've tagged all of them to the Discogs database, using Foobar2000.
I use this same collection on my PC and also copied to the MicroSD of my Note 9, which I connect to my Kenwood DMX907S head unit through Wireless Android Auto.
The objective is to create several playlists based on tags. Also, I want to be able to normalize the sound, so that regardless of the quality of the recording, all tracks are equally as loud at their highest points within the tracks. For playing on PC, this can be easily done, using Foobar2000. From what I understand, there is an Android App for Foobar2000, but it was not nearly as developed as the PC version and therefore cannot create playlists based on the type of tags I'm looking to utilize.
Tags include:
Genre
Artist
Album
Date Added to Library
Possibly other custom tags (for instance, Live or Studio / Original or Cover)
Are there any Android Auto compatible music apps out there that can create these types of playlists using local files, such that they're compatible with Android Auto? ...AND can manage the sound levels as needed?
I use Bubble upnp as I also use it to cast. Give it a look to see if it does everything you are interested in.
Note10.1Dude said:
I use Bubble upnp as I also use it to cast. Give it a look to see if it does everything you are interested in.
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I added that app and am currently trying it. I'm noticing that all artists are listed as <Unknown>. Is this because when tagging, I used the %artist% tag instead of %album artist% ? Is there a way to adjust this in the app?
I had some rips that didn't read correctly and ended up using MP3TAG on my PC to fix their metadata. I rip all my CDs to FLAC with EAC, and generally it just works, so I can't be of much help.
Although BubbleUPNP is an excellent DLNA media player, it doesn't support Android Auto and there are no plans to include it anytime soon (I requested the dev for this feature to be added and was told it was basically impossible unless the whole app was rewritten from scratch. That was a couple of years ago now, and unfortunately nothing's changed since).
For local music playback, I'm using 'Oto Music' from the Play Store. It's a very well designed music player with Replay Gain and full AA support, although I'm not too sure if regarding your playlists it could be what you're looking for... In any event, it's a free app and constantly gets upgrades and new features.
Now you got me wondering. I use BubbleUPNP in the car all the time, but possibly only from my tablet via bluetooth. I thought it also worked from my phone via AA... I'll have to re-check that.
Note10.1Dude said:
Now you got me wondering. I use BubbleUPNP in the car all the time, but possibly only from my tablet via bluetooth. I thought it also worked from my phone via AA... I'll have to re-check that.
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Use anyaudio app to get any music app in AA. And you need root and AA AIO TWEAKER to enable it.
[App][5.1+][Alpha] AnyAutoAudio - Use any audio app in Auto
AnyAutoAudio So I was tired of not being able to use the audio apps I normally use in Auto and decided to try and do something about it. This app is the result :fingers-crossed: How does it work? By using the notification listener permission...
forum.xda-developers.com
[ROOT ONLY] AA AIO TWEAKER - The ultimate Android Auto Utility
Meet AA AIO TWEAKER, the new Swiss Army Knife for a less restrictive and more feature-ful Android Auto! How do I use it? Allow root access, choose what you want, reboot, and then forget about it :) How does it work? This app uses SQLite...
forum.xda-developers.com