Announce: Spotify Premium Plugin (Beta)

[Tribalinc]

Happy as a troll!!!

I have so much love for you right now...

This is what I wanted from day one of subscribing to Spotify.

Got it installed and working on a Windows 2008 R2 Server, Squeezebox Server 7.5.1 and a Squeezebox Classic.
Visual C++ 2008 x86 Redistributable and exeption in the firewall.

Sorry if this is duplicate information of any kind, but I don't care I'm just to busy listening to spotify.

[andreschumacher]

Helper App not running.

Hi,

This app worked great when I installed it, but now it just not.

It seems like the helper app is not running (Helper App: Not Running). I am sure that I probably do something wrong, the problem is that I do not know what it is.

I am using a quite old toshiba, intel 1.60 ghz prosessr lap-top and squeezebox 7.5.1. And I do have a spotify premium account.

if i try to use it via the controller it says: (Connect timed out: Transport endpoint is not connected). I guess this is a result of not having the plug in running.

Could it have an impact that I am switching between two libraris, one of them doesn't have the spotify app installed.

CAN SOMEBODY HELP ME PLEASE?

[remimikalsen]

Problem accessing certain playlists

First of all - great work with this plugin! I've been waiting for something like this for a while now!

Some background info
- Squeezeboxserver 7.5.1
- Linux Kernel 2.6.18-194.8.1.el5
- CentOS 5.5

The plugin generally works fine with some minor hiccups now and then that are sorted out by restarting the Squeezeboxserver itself. For example, I've experienced being logged out and not automatically logged in again and the plugin executable suddenly dying with no trace in the log.

The one big annoyance I'm experiencing is that some playlists simply won't load. I've tried uninstalling the plugin, deleting the cache directory and installing the plugin again and setting "Maximum Tracks" to 9999. Nothing seems to work.

I've got two example playlists that don't work for me:

 - SERVER-IP:9001/spotify:user:bogusine:playlist:3duanRHPHxK4zD6Eb4u3px/playlists.json
 - SERVER-IP:9001/spotify:user:espenpus:playlist:3mY26Oiz8ZvD7HZjw73YJO/playlists.json

This is parts of the JSON generated to list my playlists:

{
"type": "playlist",
"playlists": [
{
"name": "Vaskedag",
"uri": "spotify:user:bogusine:playlist:3duanRHPHxK4zD6Eb4u3px"
},
{
"name": "Techno / Dance \\ Trance by Espen :)",
"uri": "spotify:user:espenpus:playlist:3mY26Oiz8ZvD7HZjw73YJO"
}
]
}

An solution or workaround would be much appreciated; or even better, a patch.

Regards,
Remi Mikalsen

[whitman]

Follow the same instructions. The OSX version was added after the original post (which has now been edited to say this)

Thanks Triode, I'll give it a whirl.

[Triode]

Hi,

This app worked great when I installed it, but now it just not.

It seems like the helper app is not running (Helper App: Not Running). I am sure that I probably do something wrong, the problem is that I do not know what it is.

I am using a quite old toshiba, intel 1.60 ghz prosessr lap-top and squeezebox 7.5.1. And I do have a spotify premium account.

if i try to use it via the controller it says: (Connect timed out: Transport endpoint is not connected). I guess this is a result of not having the plug in running.

Could it have an impact that I am switching between two libraris, one of them doesn't have the spotify app installed.

CAN SOMEBODY HELP ME PLEASE?

It should not matter if you have two instances of squeezebox server with spotify only loaded on one. However it looks like the one which is is loaded on is not running the helper application correctly. Can you go the the settings page and check what the log says - does it say the helper app is running?

[Triode]

First of all - great work with this plugin! I've been waiting for something like this for a while now!

Some background info
- Squeezeboxserver 7.5.1
- Linux Kernel 2.6.18-194.8.1.el5
- CentOS 5.5

The plugin generally works fine with some minor hiccups now and then that are sorted out by restarting the Squeezeboxserver itself. For example, I've experienced being logged out and not automatically logged in again and the plugin executable suddenly dying with no trace in the log.

The one big annoyance I'm experiencing is that some playlists simply won't load. I've tried uninstalling the plugin, deleting the cache directory and installing the plugin again and setting "Maximum Tracks" to 9999. Nothing seems to work.

I've got two example playlists that don't work for me:

 - SERVER-IP:9001/spotify:user:bogusine:playlist:3duanRHPHxK4zD6Eb4u3px/playlists.json
 - SERVER-IP:9001/spotify:user:espenpus:playlist:3mY26Oiz8ZvD7HZjw73YJO/playlists.json

OK I can reproduce this. The problem is the extra code I put in to ensure a playlist was fully loaded - in these cases it is waiting for all tracks to load, but there are tracks in these playlists which don't look like they exist any more. I need to work out how to best work around this.

The first playlist contains: spotify:track:3bVTSSwbnrFKVitYcKoNfq

The second playlist contains: spotify:track:3R2y4V7N7FlZJs1w9bk2jt & spotify:track:6Y8hwbmtqYgdvTgMghQW4D

These don't look to be valid tracks to me using the PC version of spotify - can you load them? I need to work out how not keep trying to load them in the playlist part of the plugin.

[remimikalsen]

OK I can reproduce this. The problem is the extra code I put in to ensure a playlist was fully loaded - in these cases it is waiting for all tracks to load, but there are tracks in these playlists which don't look like they exist any more. I need to work out how to best work around this.

That sounds like a probable reason! Some people include local music from their own harddisks in their playlists; that's probably why those tracks aren't available for you.

I guess I'll have to create my own copy of the playlists meanwhile, and delete the tracks that aren't available. That's the only workaround I see right now!

Anyway - good thing you are on the right track! And thanks for telling me what was happening - as I can solve this on my side now

Remi

[Triode]

That sounds like a probable reason! Some people include local music from their own harddisks in their playlists; that's probably why those tracks aren't available for you.

I guess I'll have to create my own copy of the playlists meanwhile, and delete the tracks that aren't available. That's the only workaround I see right now!

Anyway - good thing you are on the right track! And thanks for telling me what was happening - as I can solve this on my side now

Remi

Hopefully now fixed in 0.2beta11

[Triode]

Announce: 0.2beta11

I've just uploaded a new beta release which is available for download as per previous instructions.

Main changes:
- add Spotify to Global Search menu
- playlist bug fix to ensure playlists with missing tracks load remaining tracks
- additional error handling for browse and playlist menus to handle timeouts more gracefully
- helper app logging fixed on windows
- additional error messages on settings page for linux installations which are not supported

There are several internal changes with this version aimed at improving stablity and handling of errors from the spotify library. I would therefore be keen on feedback on stability of this release as well as bug reports. I would like to remove the beta tag soon and make it available from the main 3rd party plugin list.

[Julius Caesar]

There are several internal changes with this version aimed at improving stablity and handling of errors from the spotify library. I would therefore be keen on feedback on stability of this release as well as bug reports. I would like to remove the beta tag soon and make it available from the main 3rd party plugin list.

The 'avoid using Track by Artist as the title for playlists and search tracks' seems to be disabled in the .11 version

[snoozer]

I've just uploaded a new beta release which is available for download as per previous instructions.

Main changes:
- add Spotify to Global Search menu
- playlist bug fix to ensure playlists with missing tracks load remaining tracks
- additional error handling for browse and playlist menus to handle timeouts more gracefully
- helper app logging fixed on windows
- additional error messages on settings page for linux installations which are not supported

There are several internal changes with this version aimed at improving stablity and handling of errors from the spotify library. I would therefore be keen on feedback on stability of this release as well as bug reports. I would like to remove the beta tag soon and make it available from the main 3rd party plugin list.

Hi Triode,

would you be so kind to repost the instructions to install manually the plugin ?. I messed around with the previous installation and right now it does not update automatically to version beta11.

best regards,
Pepe

[snoozer]

Hi Triode,

would you be so kind to repost the instructions to install manually the plugin ?. I messed around with the previous installation and right now it does not update automatically to version beta11.

best regards,
Pepe

[Triode]

The 'avoid using Track by Artist as the title for playlists and search tracks' seems to be disabled in the .11 version

Its still working for me - can you describe what you see? You should see Track by Artist in the browse menu for playlists, but when you add/play the playlist then the title in the server playlist is just the title with no artist info.

[Triode]

Hi Triode,

would you be so kind to repost the instructions to install manually the plugin ?. I messed around with the previous installation and right now it does not update automatically to version beta11.

best regards,
Pepe

If you really want to manually install, then you can open the repository file in your browser to find the individual download urls. I don't really want people to be doing it this way though as I won't be posting the download urls separately. I would suggest you look at why your server is not automatically downloading (you may need to restart the server to make it refetch the list of plugins).

The repository url is on the first post.

[snoozer]

Thank you Triode,

I did find the url of the repository, and I even managed to download several versions of the plugin (compressed in zip format, right).

What I do not know right now, is where to copy the unzipped Spotify folder that I get ... trust me that I tried to restart the server several times, re-check the plugins secction...and nothing happens, that is why I am trying to install the new version manually.

The beta9 was working quite well in my Mac as I posted before, but it stopped working once the server automatically updated to version beta10...and from there I messed around with files here and there, that is why probably now the automatic updated does not work.

What do you suggest me to do ? ...anything from a complete fresh reinstall to modifying files is welcomed.

best
Pepe