How to make Android and iPhone client support for kPlaylist

[zorro]

Many has tried and discoussed how to run sessions in Androids and iPhones of the music in a kPlaylist.

We don't need a complicated explanation to the m3u issue to be able to make it run.

There is no general need of retyping config files and other bits and bytes work, rather having the right apps (and if there are download fuzz the firewall setup and be handled right).

kPlayList downloads a m3u-file to the client (PC/mobile phone or whatever) and it should have an application able to handle m3u-files, and use it.

The m3u-file is a playlist see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M3u and can contain any multimedia items, like video, photo and music, most common is music playlists. It is also the way of addressing pod-radio stations (normally with only the webradiostation connect data as the only item in the file).

In Windows there is usually no problems, the Windows mediaplayer is capable of handling m3us and playing its content, it just runs.

In the mobile phone (like my HTC Wildfire and it is about the same for all) the problem is:
- There could be a firewall in the mobile phone that blocks the download (my Friends Android Samsung has that and he is digging into finding a solution there), He gets nothing when pushing the playbutton in kPlaylist in the webbrowser of the mobile phone

- The m3u download has to be confirmed, it is not automatic like in Windows 7 or XP, so you have to OK it.
- There must be an app in the mobile phone able to handle m3us, and the Android mediaplayer don't by default (why??). So you have to find another app that do. There are some programs that do handle m3us, but they do not connect to the file format (don't open if a m3u file is launched, m3us must be opened from the program). However there are some that do this right. One of the is for instance Streamfurious free version and installing and selecting it to run the m3u-file, the music starts to flow.

Flow after pushing play button in kPlaylist, confirming the download to the SD-card and selecting the Streamfurious app to run it. It is possible in my HTC to say the Streamfurious is the standard player of m3u-files and the last step dissapears and it starts to play as soon as the download location is confirmed. How to make the download of m3us unprompted I havent found yet.

Well the problem with stream furious is that it is a radio streaming app and believes every album selected in kPlayList is a radio station. Not quite what the m3u files from kPlaylist contains, it contains an album, its tracks and picture (that are internet addresses and the mp3 the trackdata). However the albums are stored as m3us like a radio station in the stream furious and you only see the first track complete information, but it is able to play the entire list. Though not showing the track information and it does not have the capability of forward or rewind the playlist, just able to play the entire content. Note however there are possibilities to make playlists of mixed music in the kPlayList and download them as well, with the same result.

So the task is rather today to find an application, Streamfuriuos http://www.androidtapp.com/streamfurious/ do work in most environments also in iPhones, however it is a radio streamer and not a custom streamer.

What we need is a custom streaming application:
- Show the right track on the screen
- Show the album picture
- Able to select track from list and wind/rewind in the list?
Then the kPlaylist support would be perfect. I have not actually tested the Streamfurious pro pay application, but I don't think so. So we have to look for something and try.

What we need is a custom streaming application. Anyone tried any that do work better?

Z
// Some do think that there should be a special kPlayList app but kPlaylist is a web-application and would hardly be an easy job to make a dedicated phone app, the selection of music must start at the web-site. However after the downloaded m3us can be played (by Streamfurious) not being logged into the kPlayList web-site, (i think it requires that Allow unauthorized streams is set).

[zorro]

Sorry to say, the Opera web-browser is also necessary to download from market and use. The native web-browser do not download m3us.