How can I integrate a program like Rhapsody?

pauld

Hi All,
I have a client how wants to have access to his Rhapsody or Musicmatch on a PC.
He would like the abilty to change songs and Radio stations from a TouchPanel ( his project has both G3 and G4 panels ). Right Now The only way I know how to do this is to use the computer control from the PC to a G4 panel. I would prefer to stay away from the computer control and go with a standard TP pages. So if anybody out there has a Idea, I would be greatfull.

Paul

jeffaco

Not totally clear on what you're after?

Hi Paul,

I'm not 100% sure on what you're after. You say:

Hi All,
I have a client how wants to have access to his Rhapsody or Musicmatch on a PC.
He would like the abilty to change songs and Radio stations from a TouchPanel ( his project has both G3 and G4 panels ).

So is a stream playing on the PC, and he wants to control that? If that's what you want, then you need some way to control whatever software is playing the stream on the PC to do what you want (and you didn't say exactly what's playing the stream, at least not directly). If you're actually using Rhapsody or Musicmatch to stream the music itself, I know of no way to do that today. You'd have to contact Rhapsody and ask if their player has any automation mechanisms. I *think* that MusicMatch has some sort of I/R capabilities, but I'm unsure, as I don't use that software anymore for a variety of reasons.

If you're trying to get music from the PC to play at a stereo, there are lots of products to do this sort of thing. One such product is the Squeezebox from Slim Devices (http://www.slimdevices.com). It's driven by the SlimServer software (open source software that drives the Squeezebox). As open source software, I'm working with someone (Fred Thomas) to extend the SlimServer (the wonders of open source) while I write a NetLinx module to control it.

You could even use SoftSqueeze (software that installs as part of SlimServer) to play on the local computer (which the NetLinx system would then control with Fred's extensions and my module). But this avoids the hardware completely (which is where Slim Devices makes it's money from), so I don't think that's a totally 'cool' mechanism (although I do it regularly for testing all the time when working on my module - but then I also have multiple players).

Hope this helps somewhat,

-- Jeff

pauld

Well, I would like to give the customer the ability to view the Rhaposdy song database from the touchpanel and then be able to select a song. Much like the Amx Max, But i guess there is nothing like that out there.

jeffaco

I don't know much about Rhapsody, so you'd need to contact them for support and ask if their Rhapsody software has any sort of automation interface (i.e. a TCP/IP port or something). That's exactly how we're extended the SlimServer software.

I don't believe Rhapsody is open source, so you can't change it. Unless they have some sort of automation interface, or unless they have some sort of extension interface, then your only choice is to ask them to add something for you.

Sometimes companies are open to this. Sometimes they're not. It depends on the company, their goals, and perhaps most importantly, if they believe such work would sell more hardware or software (i.e. would make the company more money given the investment).

-- Jeff

SendString

You can use the i!-PCLINKPLUS ActiveX object to control any PC-Program via AMX.

Here's what the PCLINK Helpfile says:

"i!-PCLinkPlus is an ActiveX object that allows a PC program to become a NetLinx device. You can simply add the i!-PCLinkPlus object to your project and send ICSP commands like channels, levels, strings, commands and receive events for incoming channels, levels, strings and commands.
i!-PCLinkPlus can be used to allow any PC program to act as a device connected to a NetLinx master over TCP/IP. To the master and NetLinx program, the i!-PCLinkPlus object will simply be another device. To your PC program, the i!-PCLinkPlus object will provide a way to send control ICSP messages and receive events when the NetLinx program sends ICSP messages to the i!-PCLinkPlus object. You can use multiple i!-PCLinkPlus objects in a single PC program, connecting to one or more masters; a single master can accept connections from one or more i!-PCLinkPlus objects.

Any programming language compatible with ActiveX technology can use the i!-PCLinkPlus object. Compatible languages include:

? Visual C++

? Visual Basic

? VB Script

? Jscript

? Borland?s Delphi

i!-PCLinkPlus has no visual component (i.e. user interface) and can be used for server type applications."



I tried this with Winamp 2.8 (long time ago) and with Koolplaya wich is a small and fast Videoplayer. With Winamp i have the possibility to browse through the mediafiles on the PC with a Touchpanel, to select songs or playlists and to control every function of winamp that i need.
I think it's no problem to do this with rhapsody or musicmatch, but you need to know one or more of the PC-languages (VB, C++...) to write the i!-module wich is running in the background of the PC. This is the Interface between AMX and your application.

Hope that helps,

SendString

DHawthorne

I know this is a very old thread, but I necro-posted it because the subject has come up with one of my clients. They have a Sonos system with a Rhapsody account, and want to be able to access the Rhapsody server with the NetLinx system we are proposing.

Rhapsody uses a standard uPnP media server protocol. I know this because I activated the software on a PC, and put it in server mode, and my Sony TV on the sales floor was able to pick it up and browse its media with its internal media player. It also picked up the two Escient Fireballs I have running.

So then - if this media server standard is so popular, surely there ought to be a way to integrate it with a NetLinx system. It's not a full-blown interface, by any means; more of a jazzed up iPod interface. But something as universal as this would be really nice to be able to plug into a system.

pauld

Well, you can get some info on UPnP at:

http://www.upnp.org/default.asp


Paul

DHawthorne

pauld wrote:

Well, you can get some info on UPnP at:

http://www.upnp.org/default.asp


Paul

Thanks, that may be helpful. I am, however, not at the point where I am ready to develop such a thing myself. I need to be able to justify the time against some real billable work; I can't develop something of such complexity on the basis of a "possible" job, or even a definite one that's only going to happen once. If it gets to the point where I know for sure it's something I'll use again and again, then I'll jump right in. But I will look at that, just in case .

vining

I believe SlimServer can do this and I know Roku SoundBridge can. http://www.rokulabs.com/products_servernotes.php

The Roku connects to your audio equipment and interfaces w/ netlinxs via simple a TCP/IP socket connection using simple acsii commands.

I have a module for Roku (not polished) w/ nice gui and SourceForge has a Slimserver module. They both also do iTunes, FireFly, MediaConnect, TwonkyVision...........

DHawthorne

Probably the Slimserver solution is going to work best for this application, thanks, I'll look into it.

DHawthorne

OK, I've looked into. I ad the module installed and running at my desk, with Slimserver running on my PC and the SoftSqueeze virtual device as a player (since I have no hardware player at the moment).

It looks good except for one thing - the virtual player can access the Rhapsody application, and even the Escient Fireballs I have in the shop. But the module cannot browse these, even though the SoftSqueeze application can. Is this a limitation of the module, or the Slimserver itself? I can see all the music files that physically reside on my PC, but I cannot access the UPnP players with the module.

vining

Contact Vincen as he is the forums SlimServer advocate.

I've only used the SoundBridge which allows advanced searching. So you can search for an artist, then search for albums for that artist and then search for songs in that album. You can also find all songs from an artist which was a request from another post for Escient. You can't do that with Escient.

vincen wrote:

I advice you to use the original product: Slimboxes and not the copy (Roku Soundbrige).

If the SoundBridge is the copy then you should be able to do the same with SlimServer and I believe you can.

Sensiva

Protocol

DHawthorne wrote:

Probably the Slimserver solution is going to work best for this application, thanks, I'll look into it.

So where can you get the Slimserver TCP/IP commands??..

vining

Here's a link to the Netlinx module. The module itself is in TKO form w/o the .AXS file. I didn't see the API any where in Source Forge or on the SlimServer site.

http://sourceforge.net/project/downloading.php?group_id=62827&use_mirror=umn&filename=SlimServer-1.1.B1.zip&91373223

The Roku SoundBridge API is available on their site if you want to play with that.

sonny

DHawthorne wrote:

So then - if this media server standard is so popular, surely there ought to be a way to integrate it with a NetLinx system. It's not a full-blown interface, by any means; more of a jazzed up iPod interface. But something as universal as this would be really nice to be able to plug into a system.

I may try to play around with this over the next couple of weeks. I have developed an iTunes Duet Module (beta testing now), and would like to support other players as well. I've tested Windows Media Player through an API but uPnP may be a better method. The only downside is XML is real bulky when it comes to large playlists.

DHawthorne

The Slimserver solutions does not allow access to Rhapsody. Squeezeboxes access your Rhapsody account via Squeezenet, and connecting to Squeeznet disconnects from Slimserver. So, what I need is a way to directly control a Squeezebox. Anyone have the protocol? Or, better yet, an already built module? Slimserver isn't going to work for what I need to do.

vining

Notes on capatable servers:
http://www.rokulabs.com/products_servernotes.php

From Soundbridge specs:

Protocols Supported:
Roku Control Protocol
Bonjour?
UPnP AV and Windows Media DRM 10
WEP, WPA*, AutoIP, DHCP,TCP,TELNET, HTTP
Rhapsody? DRM

I have a SoundBridge Module but I've never actually tried Rhapsody just iTunes, WMC and FireFly. It also does internet radio very well.

DHawthorne

I found some documentation on the Squeezebox, and it's looking like what I want can't be done. All control seems to be via the server, and in this case, I need Squeezenet to be the server in order to access Rhapsody. I continue to research it though ...