Pre-Announcement: ickStream Music Platform

[Mnyb]

Kind of in-between. Currently, for the Squeezeboxes, it's an Applet.
Custom firmware is difficult, lots of proprietary stuff in there that's actually needed so adding to the standard firmware is easier as long as that one still works.

No, it's in the API/on the client side. It might be possible to simulate that, similar to LMS exposing the Squeezeboxes as UPnP devices but me thinks at least syncing will be difficult with such a scenario (but who knows... if the latency is known).


Well, not anyone. We can't make dumb devices more intelligent. But our system is simple enough to fit into a lot of devices.



Well, our "server protocol" is very different from what the Squeezeboxes do. We do NOT have the intelligence in the server. That's the one fundamental decision we have made, we believe that embedded devices these days are powerful enough to be able to have the controller in a controller and to be able to give the player some kind of autonomy.
This gets us around the problem that the server always needs to be present and reachable, at all times. A problem haunting the Squeezeboxes when you don't run the server 24/7.

It's pretty much what Logitech _should_ have done for the Smart Radio but it involves a much bigger change in architecture.

It's actualy promising looking forward to see whatever you got , My curiosity is mostly about what use I would have of my current players . But that's transient what really matters is the almost 40000 tracks music collection and associated apps and services
If I can load an app on my touches I'm happy . What about a boom ? You may answer that later when your ready to release something tangible .

Regarding playlist , I do like the smart mix plugin especially the feature to "never stop the music" much better than mip and sugarcube in my book .And one of the more apriciated plugins in my use is the simple bandcamp plugin that mherger put together sometimes it does not have to be very sofisticated to get a good result , that probably the really hard part to make things apparently " obvius " when it's not .

[epoch1970]

We do NOT have the intelligence in the server. That's the one fundamental decision we have made, we believe that embedded devices these days are powerful enough to be able to have the controller in a controller and to be able to give the player some kind of autonomy.

Sure. But that's not the issue.
A server-centric architecture advantage lies in end-device lifecycle. I know iPeng still runs on "old" iOS4 devices. That's a laudable rarity, but how old is that exactly ? I was stunned when, by SBS v6.0, the text UI on the almost decade-old ip3k devices was improved (smoother scrolling). I also remember the addition of alarm capability to the SB3 when the Boom was introduced.
There is a discrepancy between hi-fi gear evolution and cpu evolution. Prices do not halve or performance double at the same rate in each domain. And this creates planned obsolescence, which leads to balkanization (?) when users stop following the trend.

I am not exactly a Luddite. I am simply stating that I wouldn't see the point in buying new hifi gear at the same rate I buy computing gear; and that a stroke of genius like the SB3 is doesn't come by every year. Nor even shall.

Anyways. A powerful, well documented (ahem…) API will probably come to the rescue.

[garym]

Excellent news. I've subscribed to the site and I'm happy to beta test when the time comes. If the project needs starter funds, happy to invest via something like kickstarter, etc.

[pippin]

Sure. But that's not the issue.<br />
A server-centric architecture advantage lies in end-device lifecycle. I know iPeng still runs on "old" iOS4 devices. That's a laudable rarity, but how old is that exactly ? I was stunned when, by SBS v6.0, the text UI on the almost decade-old ip3k devices was improved (smoother scrolling). I also remember the addition of alarm capability to the SB3 when the Boom was introduced.<br />
There is a discrepancy between hi-fi gear evolution and cpu evolution. Prices do not halve or performance double at the same rate in each domain. And this creates planned obsolescence, which leads to balkanization (?) when users stop following the trend.

Oh, I still believe we do cover a lot of that.
You can still add content without touching the actual devices. You will not see new software functionality but here the old SBs have been very limited, too. There is a reason why they have no support for AAC, ALAC or Spotify built into them and the reason is that their hardware was too limited for this. All compensation was on the server side and that kind of content conversion would work for us, too.

Your font example probably won't, that's true, but I'm pretty sure that's more or less the ONLY example you will find where there really was a firmware upgrade adding real device functionality late in the process and nobody will hinder a device manufacturer using ickStream to still provide software updates for his devices after 10 years. And yes, the SBs required SB updates for new functionality, too. Actually I'm almost sure the old SBs will actually be the FIRST devices no longer supported because other than the new ones with their open architecture the community will not be able to provide updates for them. Next time Rhapsody changes their encryption it will stop working on the old devices, I'm sure....

[jo-wie]

Not sure about the ickstream name though. Maybe it sounds better to German ears?!

I would say it sounds like the idiom for I stream when you live in Berlin.

[Corelli45]

Will the new software enable similar functionality to the current Ipeng+Squeezebox Touch set up? And will we be able to continue to use current add ons such as Triode's Spotify and Enhanced Digital Output plug ins?
Steve

[ModelCitizen]

Good news! I shall follow developments with great interest.
Not sure about the ickstream name though. Maybe it sounds better to German ears?!

It is great news. However, it is a real shame the name was not tried out on a native English speaker before being decided upon.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/icky

[bpa]

It is great news. However, it is a real shame the name was not tried out on a native English speaker before being decided upon.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/icky

Names are very hard to get right and be across many countries and I don't want to be negative but incorrect name can kill a service. I also think the name may be a poor choice for UK & Ireland as the word "icky" is quite common and so when I heard the site first - it did not appeal to me to even read the post except that pippin was the author.

There is also another possible bad connotation probably only for UK listeners who have heard about infamous David Icke as it sounds like his web site.

[ajkidle]

Next time Rhapsody changes their encryption it will stop working on the old devices, I'm sure....

Naive of me to think otherwise, but you've made me nervous again...

Does the ickStream development possibly provide a solution for such an event, or is your focus on the Radio/Touch architecture?

[pippin]

I would say it sounds like the idiom for I stream when you live in Berlin.

That was the idea. Plus maybe an "extreme" sound-alike.

[QUOTE=ModelCitizen;743724]It is great news. However, it is a real shame the name was not tried out on a native English speaker before being decided upon.

Well, it was obviously tried out on at least one. How bad is it?

[Julf]

Well, it was obviously tried out on at least one. How bad is it?

Well, you *could* have called it "ickypoo"...

[erland]

Will the new software enable similar functionality to the current Ipeng+Squeezebox Touch set up?

Yes

And will we be able to continue to use current add ons such as Triode's Spotify and Enhanced Digital Output plug ins?

It's too early to say at the moment, we have mainly experimented a bit with Squeezebox hardware to ensure it works with our platform but the implementation for Squeezebox is still an early prototype. However, it will definitely be possible for a third party developer to provide an integration where these add-ons can be used.

[pippin]

Will the new software enable similar functionality to the current Ipeng+Squeezebox Touch set up? And will we be able to continue to use current add ons such as Triode's Spotify and Enhanced Digital Output plug ins?

With current add-ons we will have to see. There might be a simple but inconvenient (from a UI perspective) way to just use what is currently there (the current Squeezebox UI is not at all content aware so can't support some of the cooler features we are doing).
Generally, the idea is that everybody can easily create own content providers for this and I'm pretty sure it will be possible to develop a generalized way to do this from LMS. In this case it would make a lot of sense to directly go through the ickStream interface instead of creating a Squeezebox menu first because, well, it would then support the cool features mentioned above
One thing that is different is that long term we envision that 3rd party support for streaming services could be hosted on a web server so that you don't have to run something on an own server to make it work. We don't have a concrete implementation for this today, though.

Naive of me to think otherwise, but you've made me nervous again...

Does the ickStream development possibly provide a solution for such an event, or is your focus on the Radio/Touch architecture?

Currently the focus is on the Radio/Touch architecture for the reasons mentioned above. There has been an idea on how older players could be supported, too, but we haven't done work on this, yet, and I'm almost sure the very first incarnation will not support it, we might have to rely on 3rd party support here and we have to make a particular change (although we already know we will need that one anyhow).

In a more general sense: there is no way to ever be safe against things like that with any system as long as your service provider uses DRM and keeps his hands on it. This explicitly includes Spotify, too, who are, strictly speaking, prohibiting all of this. The 3rd party plugin probably goes as far as you can bend their rules.
So the general rule is: prefer services who are more open and use standard streaming formats like AAC and mp3 so that you only need access to their content lookup because that's what they will always provide.

[Mnyb]

Actually quite weird name , does not work that well and i'm getting used to all share/free ware that goes with linux , that can be named just about anything and usually have nothing to do with it's function.

Well Sony got away with "walkman"

[pippin]

Well, you *could* have called it "ickypoo"...

"icky the poo" sounds cute to me

Well Sony got away with "walkman"

And Apple with "iPad"