Android MusicLife beta programme

Software
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1

Hi folks

We’ve setup a beta track for Android, that is open for anyone feeling adventurous to join. I believe you join the programme through the Play Store, by following the instructions below:

Get beta versions of apps

Important: To get the beta version of an app, the app must already be installed on your device.

  1. Open the Play Store Google Play.
  2. Search for MusicLife
  3. Under ‘Join the beta’, tap Join

Screenshot_20210505-141026_Google Play Store
Screenshot_20210505-141026_Google Play Store420×1000 101 KB

Please do let me know if the above information works for you, as I’m an iOS user and not very familiar with Android! Alternatively, you should be able to join from the Play Store link on your phone:

https://play.google.com/apps/testing/com.harman.musiclife

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Hi Paul,

Thank you. That’s great news :slight_smile:
It doesn’t work for me yet (i see no beta option under ML app), but maybe it needs some time to replicate or something?
I’ll update you if/when will be able to join beta.

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I don’t see this option either.

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Yes, that was my fault. I hadn’t published the beta release. It should be available now, if not check the updated original post with a link to click on.

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Beta installed here :slight_smile:
Let the testing begin :slight_smile:

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First impression is that its way more responsive. I like it so far.

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I agree, much more responsive.
One minor usability glitch i’ve seen - on start-up in my case SA30 was pre-selected, however it’s not entirely intuitive, as than one need to tap on back button in upper left corner, to use the app. Tapping on pre-selected SA30 does nothing, so user might not know what to do, to start using the app.

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MusicLife will only show a few hundred tracks. I have over 20,000 and it only lists tracks/artists to the letter G.

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I think i found something you can improve pretty easily.

If you select a playlist and look at the Remote Play Queue, it doesn’t display the M for MQA quality in Tidal.

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I’m not sure I understand. Once you’ve selected the SA30 the first time, any subsequent launches should put you directly on the home screen. Have I misunderstood?

When you go to all tracks, the app has to fetch all items in batches of 30. For 20,000 tracks thats going to take a long time (2-3 minutes?) depending on your NAS/UPnP server, which is probably why you only have down to the letter G. I’d recommend using a service which supports UPnP search, for example MinimServer as this would help you find the track you’re looking for almost instantly.

That seems reasonable.

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Yes, you’re right. That’s just on first run after upgrade.
That behavior was caused by direct upgrade from old version to beta. Yesterday i had reset my phone (due to other reasons :slight_smile: ) and installed ML from scratch. This time i was presented with device selection screen that worked as it should - chose UPNP SA30 and was taken directly to home screen.
But users can be puzzled on what to do, when running that app for the first time after upgrade, if they see what i had.

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Got it, thanks. I’ll pass that on to the team!

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“Play Queue Edit” does not work.

  1. I put “Frozen” second in queue
    image
    image1080×2220 321 KB
  2. But nothing has changed. Track “swim” is played instead of “frozen”.
    P.S. Sorry for my English :upside_down_face:
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Your English is fine, don’t apologise :slight_smile:

This issue sounds familiar actually. I think it is an issue on the Network module rather than the app, as it affects both iOS and Android. I believe this has already been fixed in the net code, but not publically released yet.

15

I’ve waited all day and MusicLife will not display more tracks. MinimServer costs and I’m not sure it works on Android. Do you know?

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OK thanks for the update, we can try look into this.

There is a paid version of MinimServer, but it does have a free component, which frankly would be suitable for most users (including myself). I’m not sure what you mean about running on Android. You’d typically run MinimServer on a NAS drive or computer with all your music. What UPnP software are you currently using?

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I noticed something again today that has been a problem for the last version aswell: it drains a LOT of battery. Had it on in the background for 5 hours and it drained 76% of the battery :smiley: i have no idea how to change this but you might

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Yes, I have noticed this. Not as drastically as you, but it’s definitely come to my attention. Performance/battery usage is the next high priority issue in the issue tracker.

I’d expect some battery drain for legacy UPnP products, where the app is the ‘brain’ for the playback engine, but for the SA30 and other products using our new networking platform the app shouldn’t be doing anything in the background. We can essentially shut the app down and just fetch the current state on startup.

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Thanks Paul. I’ll be running MinimServer on a NAS. Player Arcam ST60 and I need to control it from my Android phone using mconnect. Do you recommend for that something else?

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You can use mconnect, but you do miss out on gapless playback (UPnP doesn’t have the mechanism to support this). If you use MusicLife you get gapless playback, as well as streaming services etc.

If you don’t mind that you’re free to choose whatever app suits your needs.