MonkeySqueeze V3.0.1

[mccstumble]

@namb

Thanks for the extremely positive feedback and I'm delighted you got it all sorted to your satisfaction.

Sounds like you have a similiar setup to my own. Well, in so far as having Squeezebox Server/Logitech Media Server installed on local PC and a couple of USB drives attached. I have a NAS drive also but it simply does real-time backups of my media files (plus a whole load of other stuff) and is handy for accessing media when the PC is off.

Like gingernut63 was saying there hasn't been a lot of feedback and my assumption is that the nearly 1000 people who have downloaded MonkeySqueeze have either got it to work easily enough or just walked away form it. I suspect though that people who had problems with MonkeySqueeze are more likely to leave some sort of feedback than those who got it working on their particular setup. On that basis I reckon (rightly or wrongly) that most people are probably sitting enjoying the MonkeySqueeze and Squeezebox solution.

It really is a powerful combination and I recall when I first got Squeezebox Server and the utter confusion caused by poor tagging (unknowingly caused by myself) and the frustration of trying to get things fixed so that Sqeezebox would be something pleasant to use - so many albums used to be displayed with one or two tracks instead of teh 7 or 8 on the actual album). Then MediaMonkey arrived and fufilled its purpose of library management very quickly but It was irritating to have to always be switching between MediamMonkey and Squeezebox. At that stage, back in 2009, there were simply bits of code "floating" around the MM forum and with a bit of cutting and pasting I managed to get some sort of script cobbled together that finally allowed MediaMonkey to "talk" to Squeezebox.

So here we are in Aug 2011 and MonkeySqueeze is an official addon (mosty thanks to gingernut63's determination) and nearly 100 (assumed) happy customers.

Hopefully some of the happy customers will leave feedback soon enough or perhaps some guilt-trip might inspire users to pop by and leave a comment or two. That said though - I think I ran the original cobbled-together script for about 2 years before popping back to re-post it and leave comments so I am not really in a position to be finger-pointing. All in good time I reckon and it was a pleasure to hear of your experience.

Again, thanks for the comments and hope you keep enjoying MonkeySqueeze

Cheers

Mccstumble

[Sherington]

What a really beautifully simple add-on - it just works.

Just a couple of observations: -

(a) there appears to be no need to sync Squeezeplay with my Touch anymore - in fact there is no option to even be able to synchronize the players (Touch/Squeezeplay)

(b) this is odd in a way, although not particularly objectionable - the Touch screen is permanently set to "large" - as if I was using the remote which, of course, I am not!

Also, as a result of the Monkeysqueeze announcement on the Squeezebox forum, I downloaded MediaMonkey and have used it for the first time - quite impressive, although I still use both ID3TAG and MP3tag to make sure my tags are right - but I suspect I'm just suffering from the old-fashioned user resistance to change!! I mostly use MP3s rather than FLAC because, although I have both, I really cannot tell the difference on listening through my system! In principle, I would rather just have FLACs but the thought of re-ripping my 1,000+ albums (CDs plus Tapes plus Vinyl) is simply too much!!

I really like the abilty to just create a playlist from MediaMonkey and immediately play it through my Touch box - fantastic!

Thank you very much indeed for this add-on - no sync lag, no install problems, no hassle - just works. Brilliant!!!!


Andrew

[Gingernut63]

@Andrew

You have made my week! The aim for MonkeySqueeze is a script that installs with the minimum of fuss and does the intended job. Quite a bit of time has gone into fixing bugs, install issues and writing the user guide to help make the process as painless as possible. I'm not suggesting its perfect but it is nice that MonkeySqueeze is doing what you want, as you say:

no sync lag, no install problems, no hassle - just works. Brilliant!!!!

I'm also glad that you find MediaMonkey impressive. It is fantastic as a music/media management system and when you combine it with Squeezebox the package is near unbeatable.

I too have a combination of mp3 and FLAC files. Initially I made do with mp3s due to size limitations but as storage sizes have increased I am gradually changing over to FLAC as I would like the best quality when playing music on my HiFi. However as you say you cannot tell the difference when playing both formats on computer speakers or the like.

Are you getting any lag in the music between MediaMonkey and your Squeezebox devices when playing FLAC files? I find there is a lag of about 6-7 seconds on my system which means the occasional track is cut off at the end when the next track starts to play. That is the next major issue to address in MonkeySqueeze and I'm finding the feedback on the matter to be very helpful in making future decisions to rectifying the issue.

Regarding your two issues, I'm at a loss to understand how MonkeySqueeze can cause those problems, however I've burnt myself previously by making rash statements only to be proven wrong at a later date, so I'll play this one low key. Is the synchronize issue related to the synchronize function in Squeezebox Server,or is it the one in SqueezePlay? Have you recently upgraded the server or SqueezePlay that might cause this issue? Might need a little more info to take this further. I don't have a Touch so I can't try and replicate the text issue but it maybe related to SqueezePlay if you are syncing direct from it. SqueezePlay is more than a music player and it can control a lot of other things beside music. Let me know what you find.

Thanks again for your much appreciated comments and I'm stoked you found the MonkeySqueeze experience to be fantastic.

[mccstumble]

@sherington

Great to have your feedback and delighted it's all working for you. Like gingernut63 said before; MediaMonkey, MonkeySqueeze and LMS is a powerful comination.

I now use MM for the management of Music, Video, PodCast and AudioBooks. I just hope they decide to include photo management at some stage so I can get all the tags fixed with the same ease MM afforded when doing my music and video files.

cheers

mccstumble

[Katteman2011]

I recently discovered MonkeySqueeze. I own a Squeezebox Duet with SqueezeCenter and the music files on a Synology NAS. Because I am not very happy with the controller to select out of 65000 files I have been looking for better solutions, including PC-based solutions. I am using OrangeCD but the music searching and filtering is not very easy to use. I have tried the old MediaMonkey script some years ago, but it seemed outdated and unsupported, so from time to time I was looking for other solutions. To my surprise I found out that the old script is now dusted off and some people are enthusiastically working on further development.

I immediately downloaded the script installer and it installed it without problems. I like the integration with the MediaMonkey program. After installing the squeezeserver I managed to get the system working. So up to now I am grateful and pleased with the script. I stil have however a few questions:
1. What is the use of SqueezePlay in this setup?
2. What do you mean with "not useable with a cut down version of SqueezeServer on a NAS"?

I will explain why I put these questions. On my Synology 207+ I use SqueezeCenter version 7.3.3 instead of the newer SqueezeboxServer to reduce the load and the memory use. I use this version also on the PC, otherwise the firmware of the Squeezebox is changed very time I change the Squeezebox from NAS to PC and vise versa. And for this version there is no SqueezePlay available. But I found out that the script works well without Squeezeplay installed.
Because I want to be able to play my music without changing the server - you know that the Squeezebox is always connected to the wrong server if you want use it - I modified the script to change the filename as used by MediaMonkey into the filename needed for the SqueezeCenter on the NAS. And it worked!

I am now using the JSON version of the script and still works on the NAS SqueezeCenter.

The most important issue to solve now is the time lag between MediaMonkey and SqueezeCenter. About half of my music files is in flac and with these large files it can take up to 15 seconds before the music starts playing on the Squeezebox, so 15 seconds before the end the music stops to start with the next file.
I suppose the developers forum is the right place to discuss the ways to tackle this annoying behaviour.

But for now I am already very happy with this new way to select the music to play.
Thanks and respect,

Katteman

[Gingernut63]

@ Katteman

I have responded to your posting on the MonkeySqueeze Development forum which includes some of your comments here before I read this post.

MonkeySqueeze Development forum: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=59907&p=310252#p310252

You do not require SqueezePlay if there is no music sync issue between MediaMonkey and the Squeezebox system. For example, if you do not play music on your computer but only Squeezebox hardware devices. I use SqueezePlay because I play music on my computer through MediaMonkey and the Squeezebox Boom in the kitchen. When they are playing at the same music I can hear them playing out of sync by up to 7seconds, which is very annoying. To get around this issue I mute the sound on MediaMonkey and then sync SqueezePlay and the Boom through Squeezebox Server so the music now plays in sync between the computer and the boom. Works for me, but as stated you do not need to install SqueezePlay to get MonkeySqueeze to work. I updated the draft user guide for V2 last week to better explain the use of SqueezePlay or SoftSqueeze.

Glad you are very happy with MonkeySqueeze and thank you for posting your comments.

[bullett]

Hi,

Installed MS and it's working well sending songs to my Radio and Boom. However, sometimes I work in my office and use MM to play tracks locally. The touch is unaffected but the Radio keeps switching itself on an playing the tracks from MM. Not a problem when I'm home alone but when my Wife is trying to listen to something different on the Radio it keeps getting taken over.

Any solution to stop MS sending tracks to SB in this situation?

[Gingernut63]

@bullet

Have you deselected MonkeySqueeze in the Play menu of MediaMonkey? This should stop the comms between MediaMonkey while you are in your office. With version 1.5 every time you start MediaMonkey you must deselect MonkeySqueeze in the Play menu.

Just a thought, are you running version 1.5 or 1.0? If running 1.0 you need to upgrade to V1.5 to do the above.

[bullett]

Ah ha! found it as you suggest in the play menu.

Easy when you know where to look, and I thought it would be a simple solution...

Thanks.

[Gingernut63]

@bullet

Personally I think it is.

There are instructions in the user guide and instructions on the settings page. You must have missed them.

[Eldorage]

Hi,

Although this is indeed a great add-on, it is not a good fit for me. I would like to uninstall it but now I can't find it in Tools -> Extensions. I have tried running MediaMonkey with and without Windows admin privs.

MonkeySqueeze shows up under the Play menu (and is always selected when I start MediaMonkey!).

[Gingernut63]

@Eldorage

Go to the folder where the MonkeySqueeze script is, usually C:\Program Files\MediaMonkey\Scripts\Auto. The best way to get there is to click on the User Guide button in the MonkeySqueeze options page, then shutdown MediaMonkey. In the auto folder find and delete MonkeySqueeze.vbs and MonkeySqueeze_UserGuide.pdf. With MediaMonkey shutdown delete the C:\w3Sockets folder. That is it, restart MediaMonkey.

Yes as stated in the user guide, MonkeySqueeze v1.5 will re-enable when MediaMonkey is restarted. The next release will fix this issue.

[Eldorage]

@Eldorage ... delete ... delete ... etc.

That worked, thanks!

[Gingernut63]

Just letting you know that there is a beta version of MonkeySqueeze which now communicates with Squeezebox Server (LMS) on NAS devices running linux.

If you wish to try it, visit the MonkeySqueeze Development forum and look for Beta 110912. If you do try it could you provide feedback on the same forum please.

Link: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=59907

[stevens_pete]

Hi,

I am having an issue trying to install the Addon - Product Installation Error.

Windows 7 64bit
Squeezebox 7.6.1 - r33110
MM 3.2.5.1306

Does anyone know if this works on 64bit machines?

Cheers