MonkeySqueeze V3.3

[RobindaRobot]

Gingernut,

Thanks for the reply (did sign up)

Really hope for a sollution for this problem...

Thx for your time!

RobindaRobot

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=66796#p342498

[Gingernut63]

Gingernut,

Thanks for the reply (did sign up)

Really hope for a sollution for this problem...

Thx for your time!

RobindaRobot

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=66796#p342498

Well done.

Hopefully we can look into this in August.

Cheers
Gingernut63

[remi_grif]

Playlists don't synchronize:

I added MonkeySqueeze by the book (user guide) to MM on my PC (Windows XP) to use with the LMS on my ReadyNAS NV+ V2 and my 2 Squeezebox players.

However, the playlists don't seem synchronize: When I add tracks to MM Now Playing then enable MonkeySqueeze, both the Squeezebox players do power up and I see "Synchonizing playlists..." in the MM status bar, BUT the tracks don't show in the LMS Now Playing playlist and once I press Play (>) in MM the tracks will play on my PC but not on the Squeezebox players.

Has anyone any idea what I may be missing?

One thing I am not clear about is the Playlists Folder in the LMS configuration: I did enter the same location as the Media Folders location (/media/Music); But I haven't created any playlists yet, and I do not have a Playlists folder on my NAS.

Thanks in advance.
-Remi

[Gingernut63]

Playlists don't synchronize:

I added MonkeySqueeze by the book (user guide) to MM on my PC (Windows XP) to use with the LMS on my ReadyNAS NV+ V2 and my 2 Squeezebox players.

However, the playlists don't seem synchronize: When I add tracks to MM Now Playing then enable MonkeySqueeze, both the Squeezebox players do power up and I see "Synchonizing playlists..." in the MM status bar, BUT the tracks don't show in the LMS Now Playing playlist and once I press Play (>) in MM the tracks will play on my PC but not on the Squeezebox players.

Hi Remi

This is a classic case of a communication configuration error. You are connecting to LMS/Squeezebox but one setting on the Options page is incorrect stopping the transfer of the music addresses to Squeezebox. Go to the MonkeySqueeze Options page > LMS on a Linux or Windows Server/NAS section and check the settings below:

- Enable must be selected
- LMS is prior ... must be deselected
- MediaMonkey Music Folder must contain the address of your NAS music library as displayed in MediaMonkey. What is the mapped address? eg: X:\Music. Check Add/Rescan folders in MediaMonkey
- LMS Media Folder address of the same music library as displayed on the LMS Web Page > Settings > Basic Settings > Media Folder. The addressing will use forward slashes (/) due to the Linux operating system on the NAS.

Points to consider:
- The music to be played must be present in the music library. Music on a CD can be play in MediaMonkey but will not play on the Squeezebox system via MonkeySqueeze
- Did you map the network address of the NAS music library to a drive through Windows Explorer?
- Does MediaMonkey have access to music library via the above mapped drive?
- Recheck the other address settings on the options page are correct
- The windows addressing should be in uppercase

One thing I am not clear about is the Playlists Folder in the LMS configuration: I did enter the same location as the Media Folders location (/media/Music); But I haven't created any playlists yet, and I do not have a Playlists folder on my NAS.

This setting does not matter to MonkeySqueeze. You can play saved playlists in MediaMonkey and they will play on the Squeezebox system via MonkeySqueeze. If you want to create and save playlists I suggest you create a Playlist folder in the main music folder e.g. /media/Music/Playlists and store all your saved MediaMonkey playlists there so you can play them on the Squeezebox system (without MediaMonkey) if required. Playlists are so much easier to create in MediaMonkey than LMS.

Let me know how you get on

[remi_grif]

Thank you so much Gingernut63: I changed the path to the MediaMonkey Music folder to //nas_name/media/Music (with "media" being the NAS share name), and it works!

Previously, I had entered the path M:\Music as I had mapped the media share to the M: drive through Windows Explorer, per the instructions.

So it looks like the solution was to NOT map the network address of the NAS music library to a drive through Windows Explorer, CONTRARY to the instructions?! Or did I misunderstand something?

Thanks.,
-Remi

[Gingernut63]

Thank you so much Gingernut63: I changed the path to the MediaMonkey Music folder to //nas_name/media/Music (with "media" being the NAS share name), and it works!

Previously, I had entered the path M:\Music as I had mapped the media share to the M: drive through Windows Explorer, per the instructions.

So it looks like the solution was to NOT map the network address of the NAS music library to a drive through Windows Explorer, CONTRARY to the instructions?! Or did I misunderstand something?

Thanks.,
-Remi

Great that you have it working. The mapped drive must be used by MediaMonkey as well, sounds like you had the network address in MediaMonkey and placed the mapped drive address in the options page - definitely wouldn't have worked.

Yes the network addressing will work, however there is the odd issue with this approach on some systems. If you do experience problems in the future you can access the music library in MediaMonkey via a mapped drive instead of the network address and then change the address in the options page.

Happy listening
Gingernut63

[Lowlander]

Except that it isn't recommended to use mapped drives in MediaMonkey.

[Gingernut63]

Except that it isn't recommended to use mapped drives in MediaMonkey.

Maybe, but there have been issues in past when interfacing with the squeezebox software using the network address.

What is the reason behind this recommendation - the mapped drives periodically disconnecting?

[Lowlander]

No, Windows may change the driveID on mapped drives, which means MediaMonkey can no longer access your files.

[Gingernut63]

No, Windows may change the driveID on mapped drives, which means MediaMonkey can no longer access your files.

Interesting. Haven't had that issue even though my library has been linked via mapped drive for over a year. Just because it hasn't happened doesn't mean it won't of course, will monitor.

Thanks

[Lowlander]

It's a chance of happening and if it does it can be resolved: http://www.mediamonkey.com/wiki/index.p ... w_computer

[pcmoan]

Hello -

I am setting up MediaMonkey with music stored on a Vortexbox and am need of guidance. Following is is a breakdown of what’s been done and where difficulties lie.

Progress thus far:

1. MediaMonkey (MM) and MonkeySqueeze on laptop XP
2. MM points to music library on VortexBox
3. Able to play music in MM locally on laptop with music library on VortexBox
4. Able to access LMS on VortexBox and stream to SqueezeBox connected to stereo

Problem Statement:

After enabling MonkeySqueeze in MM, music is not streamed from VortexBox to SqueezeBox. It continues to play on laptop just as if I didn’t have MonkeySqueeze enabled.

Troubleshooting
1. LMS (version 7.7.2 –r33908) was started before starting MM
2. MonkeySqueeze..vbs in Auto folder (both under “Program Files” and under my own “Application Data” folder. )
3. MonkeySqueeze is enabled (i.e. button displayed in turquoise)
4. Re-validated Server IP address and HTTP port numbers are correct for LMS
5. Re-validated MAC address for Squeezebox
6. Checkbox enabled for “LMS on Linux or Windows Server/NAS”
7. MediaMonkey Music Folder set to “X:\”. Follow are step used to map the X-drive to the music folder on the VortexBox:
a. Select Map Network Drive
b. Select “X:” from dropdown labeled “Drive”
c. Click “Browse” button
d. Navigate to “Entire Network->Microsoft Windows Network->Workgroup->Vortexbox->music->flac”. After selection the “Folder” dropdown is set to “\\Vortexbox\music\flac”
8. After mapping, the X drive is listed under “My Computer” as “music on ‘VortexBox Media Server and SMB Master (Vortexbox)’(X:)"
9. LMS Media Folder set to “/storage/music/flac”. This is a direct copy/past from the LMS settings
10. The MM Music Folder must point to the same location as the LMS Media Folder. In my case both point to the same folder on the Vortexbox (i.e. X:\ on the laptop is mapped to “/storage/music/flac” on the Vortexbox.
11. Supplemental info: When I navigate to the shared drive via the MM “Add/Rescan Folders” dialog the shared drive is listed as “X:\[music]”.
12. Supplemental Info: When I navigate to the shared drive in Window File Mgr, the top level node under “My Computer” reads “flac on ‘Vortexbox\music ‘ (X:)”
13. The final recommendation in the MonkeySqueeze Troubleshooting section is to “Check the music library address (see sections 3 and 4). This recommendation appears to be redundant with the steps above. Please advise if this is not the case.
14. After enabling MonkeySqueeze, MM displays a status messages saying “Synchronizing playlists” This continues for approximately 45-60 seconds then stops.
15. I’ve tried running MonkeySqueeze after powering down the laptop, VortexBox and the SqueezeBox but the music continues to play on the laptop after enabling MonkeySqueeze
16. I’ve reviewed all forum guidance (e.g. from Gingernut63 etc) and believe I’ve covered all bases above.


At this point, I’m fresh out of ideas. Any assistance welcome.
Patrick

[Gingernut63]

Hello -

I am setting up MediaMonkey with music stored on a Vortexbox and am need of guidance. Following is is a breakdown of what’s been done and where difficulties lie.

Progress thus far: ...

At this point, I’m fresh out of ideas. Any assistance welcome.
Patrick

Wow, very extensive post, most impressed. Makes a change from no info at all. Try the following.

Play music on the Squeezebox system using your Squeezebox device. Monitor the music via LMS. Start up MediaMonkey then select and play some music. Enable MonkeySqueeze. If the music on the Squeezebox system continues to play with no interruption then there is a major problem with the comms configuration on the MonkeySqueeze options page. If the music on the Squeezebox system stops and is deleted in LMS then the comms a mostly correct with usually one parameter to be changed.

Try the above with SqueezePlay on the laptop as the main Squeezebox device and use its MAC address in MonkeySqueeze. This will confirm if it is the Squeezebox device causing the problem or a comms configuration problem.

Questions: If I'm already asking for info you have given then I'm just making sure.

1. I don't understand the comment "but the music continues to play on the laptop after enabling MonkeySqueeze". What is playing on the laptop? What program are you talking about, MediaMonkey?

2. What is the Squeezebox device are you linking to MM via MonkeySqueeze? Touch, Duet, Squeezebox Classic?

3. Do you have another program which may be using the same HTTP Port number as LMS?

Let me know how you get on.

Gingernut63

[pcmoan]

Thanks for your note -

Following is a description of testing as suggested above:

Initiate music play from SqueezeBox Touch (player). Currently, no playlists are defined. All music playing is done through album selection.

The album selected via SqueezeBox Touch is displayed when in web-based LMS client (from browser on laptop).

Using the web-based LMS client I can change albums. The SqueezeBox Touch display is updated with the album I have selected in the web-based client.

I can go back and forth between initiating music from the web-based LMS client and the SqueezeBox Touch without any difficulty.

I start up MM and initially keep MonkeySqueeze disabled. Within MM, I am able to listen to music stored on the external VortexBox using the laptop’s speakers.

I stop the music playing in MM and enable MonkeySqueeze (icon displayed in turquoise). Two separate horizontal bars appears immediately above display area in which MM writes the currently playing track. After approximately 45 seconds the string “Synchronizing Playlists” appears in the leftmost horizontal bar.

After MonkeySqueeze is enabled (as described above), and I play an album in MM, music is played locally on the laptop speakers. The web-based LMS client is not updated with the album I’ve selected in MM – which suggests it cannot access the LMS in the same way that either SqueezeBox Touch or the web-based LMS client are both able to do. No music is streamed to the stereo as it was when using the web-based LMS client or SqueezeBox Touch.

At this point, I’m quite confident that MonkeySqueeze settings in MM are set correctly. Again, the Media Monkey Music Folder is set to “X:\”. This drive is mapped directly to the music/flac folder on the VortexBox. From within windows explorer on the laptop, I access all album folders directly when I navigate to the X-drive. This is the same folder that is specified on the Basic Settings tab for the LMS (i.e. /storage/music/flac).

You asked whether there might be another program which might be using the same HTTP port number as LMS (i.e. 9000). VortexBox (from Small Green Computer) is running as it was shipped. No additional software has been installed. Related observations follow below.

After rebooting the laptop two services connect to port 9000 LMS. The first is wmpnetwk.exe, which appears to be the Windows Media Sharing Service. The second is explore.exe. I’m not aware of how either discover and connect to the LMS service, but they do. For reasons explained below, I believe this is a benign situation unrelated to the problem I’m trying to solve.

When I start the web-based client, I can see that new connections are made to port 9000 on the LMS. When I exit out of chrome, these connections are dropped as expected (i.e. connection state is TIME_WAIT). As expected, the presence of wmpnetwk.exe and explore.exe connecting to the LMS service on port 9000 does not prevent the web-based client from connecting.

When I start MM with MonkeySqueeze disabled, a number of connections to port 9000 appear listed in TIME_WAIT status. The LMS is listed as a Media Server within MM, and I assume these temporary connections have something to do with status polling.

When I toggle on (i.e. enable) MonkeySqueeze within MM, I expect to see a persistent connection from MM to Port 9000 and this is in fact exactly what I see in netstat. There is a new persistent connection from MM to Port 9000. When I toggle MonkeySqueeze off, I still see the connection to Port 9000, but this connection is dropped when I restart MM.

On a final note, I’ve installed Squeeze Play on my laptop, and have validated that I can access the music library and play music exactly as I can via the SqueezeBox Touch. The step you suggested however is not whether I can use SqueezePlay directly, but rather can MM control what SqueezePlay after updating the MAC address in MM. After updating the MAC address with the MAC address from SqueezePlay, I found I was unable to stream music to SqueezePlay. This is not surprising since I was unable to see any change in the web-based LMS client. (SqueezePlay is available via the URL below. It works fine, but cannot be controlled via MM. http://downloads.slimdevices.com/nightly/?ver=7.7

I'm certainly baffled at this point

Patrick

[Gingernut63]

Hello Patrick

In your response you did not mention what happened to the music playing on the Squeezebox system when enabling MonkeySqueeze, did it continue to play unimpeded or did it stop and the playlist disappear? This is very important. If the music continues to play unimpeded in Squeezebox then it points to the LMS IP address, port number or the device MAC address are incorrect. If the music stops and the playlist disappears in LMS then it points to the addressing of the database.

Try these:

1. If the MAC address is correct then Power Toggle should work. If the Touch is on but in standby mode and "Enable Power Toggle" selected in MonkeySqueeze, then enabling MonkeySqueeze with music in the "Now Playing" window of MM should turn it on. What happens?

2. Delete the "All users" and "Current user" installs of MonkeySqueeze via Tools > Extensions or follow the manual uninstall in the user guide. Reinstall only one, "All users" or "Current user", restart MM and reconfigure MonkeySqueeze if required.

3. As mentioned in the user guide other media programs such as Twonky media server can use the same http port causing conflicts, however your testing appears to rule this issue out. If you want to test it, change the http port number in LMS (Settings > Advanced > Network) to say, 9003 and change in MonkeySqueeze.

Still thinking
Gingernut63