[mythtv-users] mythmusic alternatives

[Mike LaPlante]

Gianpaolo Racca wrote:
> First of all, I do not want to be polemic. I appreciate the efforts any 
> software requires to be written and tested, so don't tell me "build our own 
> tool and be happy".
> Now the question:
> Any of you is using some alternative to mythmusic to play music from tv?
> I mean, there is some software which can:
> - play music
> - manage (dynamic) playlists
> - support podcasts
> - support internet radio
> and which can be used on a normal PAL TV screen, in conjunction with mythtv 
> and controlled via remote?
> On my laptop I use amarok, which does well all these things, but is unusable 
> via TV screen. Maybe someone will write a TV frontend for amarok?
>
> and BTW, can I setup a remote button to switch between applications (like 
> ALT+TAB) and set focus on a specific one?
>
> Thanks for any hint,
>
> 	gianpaolo
>
>
>   
I love Amarok and have been wanting to figure this out but haven't had 
the time. I did google around and I have added amarok events to my 
lircrc using irxevent as the prog. The problem is, like you said, being 
able to get back and forth between myth and amarok. Could probably write 
a script to killall mythfrontend and start amarok (or vice versa if 
amarok is already running) then map it to some button on my remote. You 
wouldn't be able to do serious file management via remote but you can do 
the simple stuff like skips songs and pause.

Mythmusic does need some work, I'd like to see a way to background music 
playing via mythmusic, so that I could start some music, then swap over 
to mythgame and play emulators.

If you come up with an easy way to switch back and forth to amarok via 
remote let me know, I may get some chance to tinker with it after the 
holiday.

Mike