iLiad Contentlister Based Music Player w/ Playlist support

[Adam B.]

Yokos has greatly improved upon the original script. Here are the current features:

• Playlist Control: You can load external .m3u playlists created with your favourite software music player, & generate playlists by searching for metadata in mpd database (artist, album, genre, date).
• crossfading
• seeking
• Jukebox is now path independent. You can install it anywhere you want.
• Installation script copies mpc to /usr/bin/mpc. If you use mrxvt, you can control jukebox in any path e.g. mpc next for play next song.
• "Terminate mpd" button - this kills the mpd process.
• Contentlister Link to "iLiad Settings" under "Other Con-trols"
• mpd saves status when it terminates, therefore scripts can load status of last playback.
• volume control
• single track repeat mode
• shuffle playlist
• repeat playlist

I've setup a series of scripts to allow you to play music through the contentlister. It uses a program called MPD. MPD is a music player daemon, the same one used in the ipodlinux project. It's small, lightweight, and easy to use.

I've compiled it with the following Format Support:

File Format Support:
ID3 tag support ...............enabled
mp3 support ...................enabled
Ogg Vorbis support ............enabled
using tremor.................no
Wave file support .............enabled
MOD support ...................enabled

It's controlled via a series of shell scripts. But, this allows it to play music in the background while you do other things (read, play chess, etc). I've tested it a bit, and as long as the bitrate is pretty low, you won't see any skipping. Otherwise, it may skip for a split second when you turn the page.


See the most recent update to this script by Yokos here: https://www.mobileread.com/forums/sho...5&postcount=34

[nekokami]

How much faster does it seem to drain the battery?

[Adam B.]

I'm not sure, I haven't tested it for that long yet. It will only consume resources after you start the player. I assume the drain will be very minimal when the music is stopped or paused. Right now the only way to kill the daemon is to restart the iLiad.

[henkvdg]

Originally Posted by Adam B.

I've setup a series of scripts to allow you to play music through the contentlister. It uses a program called MPD. MPD is a music player daemon, the same one used in the ipodlinux project. It's small, lightweight, and easy to use.

I've compiled it with the following Format Support:



It's controlled via a series of shell scripts. But, this allows it to play music in the background while you do other things (read, play chess, etc). I've tested it a bit, and as long as the bitrate is pretty low, you won't see any skipping. Otherwise, it may skip for a split second when you turn the page.

To Install
There are 2 versions, one for SD/MMC and one for Compact Flash.

1. Extract the 3 folders to the root of your memory card.
2. Place all your music in the mp3 directory
3. Browse to the Music folder on your iLiad
4. Select "Start MPD and update Playlist"

From here, you can start playing. Basic controls are on the main screen, Fast forward and volume controls are in the "Player Controls" directory. You can choose any song in the Playlist directory to play.

I'm aware that the volume controls may not work correctly. It is set correctly in the MPD program, but the iLiad doesn't seem to care about that. Also, when you add or delete songs to your mp3 directory and need to update the playlist, you will need to select "Start MPD and update Playlist" twice.

I've included two royalty free songs http://incompetech.com/. Also, the icons are from the Tango Icon Library.

For SD/MMC Cards: http://projects.mobileread.com/iliad.../mpd/mpdcf.zip

For Compact Flash (CF) Cards: http://projects.mobileread.com/iliad.../mpd/mpdcf.zip

The first link should be :
For SD/MMC Cards: http://projects.mobileread.com/iliad...mpd/mpdmmc.zip

But both applications do not work for me.

(Do you have your iLiad back now?)

[Adam B.]

Fixed.

If you normally have your sound turned off, you will need to reboot your iLiad after you turn it back on through the settings.

[kapoira]

i have tested the CF aplication and it doesn't work for me too, sorry...

if you wanna know something about the process running in the iliad tell and if i have time, i will post the info ;-)

[narve]

I didn't get it to work (from MMC card) either. Tried to use a shell to make it work, but it wasn't that easy. I will give it a new try another day. Perhaps this log will help somebody spot the problem:

root@ereader:/media/card/music# /mnt/card/mpd/bin/mpc add "Daytime TV Theme.mp3"
adding: Daytime TV Theme.mp3
root@ereader:/media/card/music# /mnt/card/mpd/bin/mpc add "Morning Snowflake.mp3"
adding: Morning Snowflake.mp3
root@ereader:/media/card/music# /mnt/card/mpd/bin/mpc playlist
>1) Kevin MacLeod - Daytime TV Theme
 2) Morning Snowflake.mp3
root@ereader:/media/card/music# /mnt/card/mpd/bin/mpc play
error: connection closed
root@ereader:/media/card/music# /mnt/card/mpd/bin/mpc play
MPD_HOST and/or MPD_PORT environment variables are not set
error: problems getting a response from "localhost" on port 6600 : Connection refused
root@ereader:/media/card/music#

But if this works, it looks just like what I need! Background music while reading...

[yokos]

Adam B.; your scripts can't work, because all your .sh files have windows encoding "CR LF". iLiad's contentlister needs Unix encoding "Line Feed only".

After changing CR LF to LF, scripts are working now for me.
[Edit I] Maybe somebody should update the .sh files. ;-)
[Edit II] files got an update.

[Adam B.]

Odd....I wonder why I never have a problem running my scripts.

I'll make the change.

Edit: Done.

[yokos]

I just checked the download of post #1. Both zip files got an update. Line Feed bug is history.
[Edit:] As a positive proof I attached a screenshot; greetings to all fans of Tori Amos out there.

[vranghel]

Originally Posted by yokos

I just checked the download of post #1. Both zip files got an update. Line Feed bug is history.
[Edit:] As a positive proof I attached a screenshot; greetings to all fans of Tori Amos out there.

Good taste in music Yokos!

[The GreatGonzo]

Very nifty - thanks for the hard work, Adam. While mp3 capability is certainly not something I bought the Iliad for, it is very nice to have it now.

One question though, regarding the "listening to music while reading" bit -
right now, the music briefly stops during any kind of page refresh. Is it reasonable to expect that to go away in future mp3 players or will the Iliad hardware always do that? Anybody care to hazard a guess?

[kapoira]

the CF is working, ;-)

[Adam B.]

Originally Posted by The GreatGonzo

One question though, regarding the "listening to music while reading" bit - right now, the music briefly stops during any kind of page refresh. Is it reasonable to expect that to go away in future mp3 players or will the Iliad hardware always do that? Anybody care to hazard a guess?

I think this may be softare related. Near as I can figure, the 'click' sound when you turn a page is interfering with the music playing. If iRex would give us the option to disable the click, without disabling sound, it might fix the problem.

Either that, or it's a hardware issue. Perhaps the iLiad's cpu is spiking when flipping pages, and momentarily slowing down the mp3 player. I can't be 100% sure what it is.

I'd also like to know why the iLiad doesn't seem to care what the sound is set at in mpd. Perhaps this isn't supported by the internal sound system (since by default, it only handles the click).

Maybe an iRex dev can help us out...

[yokos]

I attached a little add-on for Adam B.'s mpd post.

content of Readme file:

--------------
--------------
||MDP ADD-ON||
--------------
--------------

Thanks Adam B. for mdp & scripts
Thanks Bert for java program ILiadManifestCreator

********************
**Why this add-on?**
********************
Some tiny mods made my life more easier. ;-)
Maybe you like it, too.

****************
**Installation**
****************
[Sticky] Adam B.'s mpd folders are copied to root of CF. This is a add-
on.
[1] Delete the old directory "Music" in root of CF.
[2] Copy dir "Music" from zip file to root of CF.
[3*] Copy without removing files on memory card the dirs "mp3" & "mpd" from
zip file to root of CF.
[4**] Copy dir "000_mpd" from zip file to root of CF.

* [A NOT NEEDED STEP]: just a visual gimmick [icon, title, & description for
Contentlister]
** [A NOT NEEDED STEP]: I added this, because dir "music" is not on page 1 on
MY CF card in Contentlister - maybe useful, if you don't want to link
hardware buttons to Music Box folder. I have never used iLiad's sorting
feature. ;-)
This creates a top entry "Music Box"-"Click on me to jump to MPD directory" in
Contentlister.

*********
**Usage**
*********
[1] Copy music files to folder "mp3" on your CF,SD,MMC.
[2] Search for "Music Box"-"MPD Playlist Script" in Contentlister.
[3] Click on "Update Playlist, Start MPD & Playback" to start playback.
[4] All other buttons are self-explaining. ;-)

other entries:
"Link to Button Scripts" -> e.g. link news button to Music Box
"Contentlister Playlist" -> choose a song to skip to

*******************************
**What I have changed & added**
*******************************
[1] Reorded script entries in Contentlister
[2] new covers, manifest.xml
[3] "Update Playlist" script starts playback
[6] now 2 "Update Playlist" Scripts: w/ & w/o Contentlister Playlist
[4] Combined pause/play button
[5] "Update Playlist", "Previous Song", "Next Song", "Pause/Resume" update the
Status message
[6] Contentlister Playlist:
# removed no-cover bug [manifest.xml likes only relative cover image path]
# removed mudlle [#1,#10,#11,...,#2]
[5] added scripts "Symbolic Link to the 4 Hardware Buttons"

Have fun with your little iLiad,
yokos

[very OT]: on screenshot pagebar is above toolbar.