[mythtv-users] Alternatives to MythMusic in 0.25, has anyone already found one?

[Gabe Rubin]

On Tue, Apr 17, 2012 at 1:36 PM, Gordon McCrae <gordon.mccrae at gmail.com> wrote:
> On 17 April 2012 21:20, Gabe Rubin <gaberubin at gmail.com> wrote:
>> On Tue, Apr 17, 2012 at 1:12 PM, Gordon McCrae <gordon.mccrae at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> I've just installed MythTV 0.25 on my test rig, and while I'm
>>> generally incredibly impressed by it I'm afraid I have to agree with
>>> the various people who've already bemoaned the move away from
>>> directory tree structure for music selection.
>>>
>>> Having said that, I'm happy to accept that at the end of the day, I
>>> can't write the code so I have to take what's available and get on
>>> with it.
>>>
>>> My kids however find it impossible to get their little minds around
>>> the new system (and dad isn't much better off to be honest), so I'll
>>> need to find an alternative.
>>>
>>> Not wanting to reinvent the wheel, and conscious that compiling the
>>> old 0.24.x MythMusic to work with 0.25 is a very temporary solution at
>>> best, I'd like to know if anyone else out there uses alternative music
>>> players that implement the same sort of ARTIST/ALBUM/SONG structure
>>> that the old MythMusic used and can be controlled simply with a remote
>>> control (no keyboards on any of my eight MythTV systems).
>>>
>>> I recall briefly seeing the likes of Banshee and Amarok, and if memory
>>> serves, they follow the same sort of concept of the 0.25 MythMusic, so
>>> they're out (I believe).
>>>
>>> Cheers
>>> Gordon
>>
>> I have never been a fan of MythMusic (and have not looked at .25's
>> implementation yet).  What I did in the past is make my mythbox a
>> squeezebox server and put on a squeezebox frontend on the frontend I
>> use (it happens to be the same machine as I only have a combined
>> FE/BE).  Then you can use any web browser as a remote or get iPeng for
>> the iPhone/iPod/iPad to use as a remote.  Nothing visual is displayed
>> on the tv so this might not be what you want and there are a couple
>> extra tricks you need to do to run it.
>>
>> Now, with .25 supporting AirPlay, I suspect I will just stream
>> whatever music is on my iPhone to my mythbox.  Again, this uses the
>> iPhone sort of as a remote and you are limited to just what is on your
>> iDevice, but this is another solution.
>> _______________________________________________
> I was actually perfectly happy with the old MythMusic, but let's not
> go into that, at the end of the day some people are working hard to
> produce new software for MythTV, and most people probably prefer the
> "everything is a playlist" approach, so who am I to complain? The 0.25
> version certainly looks prettier, and has many options, it's just the
> playlist thing that totally confuses my wife and kids, and even I
> struggle to use it without wishing the old method was still around.
>
I definitely am not trying to be critical of the development of
mythmusic or any other aspect.  I personally don't know a good system
to manage my over 120 gigs of music using a remote.  When I do use
mythmusic (pre .25), I just choose random and keep clicking next until
I find something I like.  This amount of music requires a different
way to interface with than a remote IMO.

> No Apple devices in house, besides I wouldn't want to give a
> smartphone to a small child to use as a remote anyway even if I did
> have them, but the squeezebox angle sounds interesting I'm sure I
> configured that once back before MythTV when I used Hauppauge MVPs,
> I'll have a look at the Linux solutions for on-screen players for
> that, thanks for the tip!
>

If you want to use the squeezebox route, look for posts that I wrote
up about a year or two ago describing what I did to get the system
working.  I can probably find the link if you can't.  As long as you
have a computer with web access in the room, you can use that as the
remote (as opposed to a smart phone).  There are a ton of other cool
features as well including tuning into to virtually any radio station
in the world, podcasts, and other online music services.  Plus, if you
like it, you can get small squeezebox frontends in other rooms, either
pre-manufactured ones or just turn any computer into a frontend.