PlayerPal

PlayerPal 4.2 Service Release 7 Out Now

bt@playerpal.com (Ben) — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 15:26:07 GMT

PlayerPal 4.2 Service Release 7 has just been released. You can download it here as usual. Note! The new release only supports Windows Media Player 11+ and iTunes 8+. If you are not running these versions this release will not work for you!

The reason for another service release, was to add support for Vista and to fix a search bug (enter key not working) that was introduced by a change in the .NET framework. You can see the full list of changes here.

This release contains significant changes so please let me know if you have any issues!

Can you change PlayerPal so it is a Windows Service?

bt@playerpal.com (Ben) — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 17:22:53 GMT

I could do, but I wont. Here is why...

The first version of PlayerPal was actually a Windows Service. This meant it would start up, even when you were not logged in (this is cool if you have PlayerPal on a music server). However, I decided to change it from a service for the following reasons:

1. To access your WMP media library, the service had to be installed under your user account. This meant, you had to tell the PlayerPal installer what your password was, when the service was installed. This freaked a lot of people out, and slowed PlayerPal adoption. Also, it just plain confused the less technical PlayerPal users (of which there are a few!).

2. iTunes does not play well when being controlled from a service. It does things like startup, but not show a GUI. This is confusing for users, as when they tried to start iTunes, nothing would happen. Thus, when I added iTunes support, another nail was put in the service coffin :(

So, what can you do to make PlayerPal auto start after a reboot?

You can set your XP box to auto-logon. After logon PlayerPal will start up. No hands! See this Microsoft page Auto Logon to Windows XP.

I can't see all my music in PlayerPal. Where is it?

bt@playerpal.com (Ben) — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 16:37:28 GMT

Problem

You have less music in PlayerPal than you do in your music player (iTunes or WMP).

Causes

You are using the free trial version of PlayerPal. It will only show ~50% of your music. For the exact details, see the the "Limitations of the trial version" section on the PlayerPal download page.
You have a license, but you have not re-synced PlayerPal since installing the license. See "Re-sync your music library" below.
Some of your music files are missing album title or artist information. You need to make sure all is good. See the section "Update the track information" below.

Solutions

Update the track information

PlayerPal uses the track information stored in your player library to build its own PlayerPal library. You need to make sure that all of the album and artist information is correct in your player before you sync with PlayerPal. Make sure:

Each track has an album title (important)
Each track has an artist (important)
Each track has a year (not-so-important)
Each track has a genre (not-so-important)
That the case of this information does not vary between tracks (e.g. one is "The White Stripes" and the next is "The wHite Stripes"

Important note: If two albums have the same name all the tracks will appear under one album title.

Re-sync your music library

Make sure your PlayerPal license is correctly installed by opening the PlayerPal license manager and checking it says all is OK.
Start PlayerPal.
Right click the PlayerPal icon in the system tray.
Click "Sync with WMP/iTunes Music Library"
Wait for PlayerPal to finish the sync and check your music again.

PlayerPal 4.2 SR2 Released - Playlists on all skins!

bt@playerpal.com (Ben) — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 15:16:26 GMT

I have just posted up PlayerPal 4.2 SR2. This release gives you the ability to select and play your playlists from ALL of the skins. This has been a long requested feature and it is finally in. I hope you all enjoy it! You can download it now from the PlayerPal download page.

PDAClassic has always add the playlists page. Now SonyPSP and BigBrowser have it too. Next to the Playlist link in the header of each skin is now a link made up of 3 dots. You can see this in the image below. If you click on this it will show you your playlist list. You can then click on a playlist to play it.

This release also fixes an issue that some Firefox users (such as myself) may have seen. When you select "Open in default browser" from the PlayerPal menu PlayerPal could crash. This was not a PlayerPal bug and many applications have been bitten by this problem.

Please note. My test PSP is dead right now, so I have not been able to confirm that the change works OK on it. However, it is a very isolated change so fingers crossed. Let me know if it causes any issues.

Favourite album today? Attack Decay Sustain Release by Siminan Mobile Disco.

Another update on PlayerPal 4.3

bt@playerpal.com (Ben) — Sat, 10 Mar 2007 15:59:40 GMT

One of my customers is "absolutely thrilled" with PlayerPal. However, he is also "impatiently waiting for for 4.3" which is the next version. As he accurately observes, I last wrote about the delay to 4.3 seven months ago! Man, how time flies.

So here is the update. I spent too long on 4.3 and I ran out of time. Currently I am working on another project that will last (probably) until the end of July, at which point I can crack on with PlayerPal again.

I'm sorry for any disappointment the delay has caused. Rest assured it is not abandoned. PlayerPal support is still at full strength. I love working on PlayerPal but it's just not a living, so sometimes I have to do other projects.

In hindsight I should have done a smaller release with localised changes. Everyone wants playlist support in all the skins. That would not take long to do.

So what about now? Well, I will try and come up with an elegant way of getting playlist support to you (time permitting). Plus if you want to hack at it yourself you can check the PlayerPal SDK (which is very alpha right now, but fine for you ASP.NET-ers).

Actually, if you want to get playlists in the PSP, this worked for one guy I emailed....

"Just copy the PlaylistsView.ascx file from the PDAClassic skin into the PSP skin folder. When you have done that try http://localhost:9999/default.aspx?view=PlaylistsView (from the PSP skin). You might want to add a link to this from the header of footer panel."

You can do something similar for BigBrowser. Obviously, I would like to do it in a nicer way for you.

BTW - If you are interested, you can see some early shots of the Shape Shifter skin.

User created iPronto skin available for download

bt@playerpal.com (Ben) — Sat, 10 Feb 2007 17:54:34 GMT

The first ever user submitted skin for PlayerPal, is now available for you to download. The skin is called iProntoCE. It is a version of the PSP skin that has been optimised for use on a Phillips iPronto. The CE bit stands for "Community Edition".

Thanks to PlayerPal user Mike for creating it, and sending us some pictures of it in use. If you want to make your own skin too, check out the PlayerPal Skin Development Kit.

Download it using one of the links below:

iProntoCE.exe (270.5 KB) (self extracting version)

iProntoCE.zip (242.65 KB) (regular zipped version)

Skin Installation Instructions

You need to extract the skin into the PlayerPal skins folder. If you installed PlayerPal in the default location, that folder is here:

C:\Program Files\PlayerPal\PlayerPal 4.2\WebSite\Skins

If you download the iPronotCE.exe it will extract to this location by default. If you download the zip, you will need to navigate to this location.

Once you unzip it, it should then appear in the skin selection lists inside PlayerPal. Any probs drop a comment here, or email.

Please note, this skin is not officially supported!