Symfonium: Music player and cast with Emby support

[okurokonfire 2]

@Tolriq
I rarely buy apps on play store, so decision to buy Symfonium was a hard for me, but i never regretted it since. I love to see the app improving with each update.

unfortunately, it looks like i'll have to move to an iPhone for work soon-ish, and there's definitely no clear alternative for this wonderful app on ios.

[Tolriq 108]

Thanks, you can keep an Android phone for your music  

[vincen 12]

Fantastic app, my only regret is I can't use it on my device I would need it (iBasso DX320) as it doesn't have play store 

[Tolriq 108]

You can install APK there and I have a solution for licenses outside of Play Store. There's details on the Symfonium forum.

[Tolriq 108]

Version 7.1.0

• Notes:
  Happy holidays if you have some and happy new year when it will be time https://support.symfonium.app/images/emoji/twitter/slight_smile.png?v=12 Let’s be ready for a new year full of new features. Thanks for the support.

• Added:
  WebDAV and Samba providers now also support multiple folders as different libraries for easier filtering.
  Added new option to switch thumbnail and buttons position in expanded now playing landscape view.
  M3u/pls playlists can now be imported as read only to allow automatic update on provider sync or offer a sync button for manual update. (Requires that you import the playlists again)
  Add reset playback history option for providers who support this in songs 3 dots menu.
  Added Slovenian translations (Thanks Blaž)
  Enabled support for cue files and external lrc files to SMB, WebDAV, OneDrive, DropBox and Box providers. (You need to clear tag cache then sync again)
  Added new providers icons as possible selection for home page icon.
  Added secure upload of logs files to support for simplification and greater privacy. (Still manual action when you have issues that you want to report).
  Added a few more smart filters to artists.

• Changed:
  Compose finally fixed a major bug allowing me to update again. Should fix some memory leaks and bring huge performance gains but can bring new issues so please report any issues with details.
  When importing an m3u/pls playlist, Symfonium auto generate a thumbnail by default. (You can still remove it)
  When clicking a song in the global song list and default song action is “Play”, automatically queue a part of the remaining songs.
  Android Auto album clicks now shows the song list and a shuffle button.
  Android Auto genre view now have a personal mix button.
  Updated custom tag parser to better handle MB Picard tags with both artist and artists tags. (You need to clear tag cache and sync again)
  Custom tag parser now ignore MB ids if the number of MB ids does not match the number of artists instead of using the first one. (You need to clear tag cache and sync again)
  Enabled AAC in internal decoder to workaround some devices issues.
  Major update to internal HTTP library, please report any issues.
  Pressing back when in multi selection mode now stops multi selection.

• Fixed:
  Properly leave the playlist view when removing the active one.
  Fix rediscover songs row missing images.
  Fix some cases where transcoding values where applied as kib and not kb. (Note: This might invalidate your playback cache).
  Fix some cases where High image quality setting was not fully applied and add support for future HDR covers in Android 13+. (You need to clear image cache to update the images)
  Fix default smart playlists most played / last played to properly show songs only played once. (Delete them, then import again)
  Fix DropBox provider configuration possibly not showing all root folders.

https://support.symfonium.app/t/support-me-and-symfonium/760

 

[vincen 12]

On 12/21/2023 at 9:00 AM, Tolriq said:

You can install APK there and I have a solution for licenses outside of Play Store. There's details on the Symfonium forum.

Can you please share link where it is ? as I can't find it in forum neither in FAQ  Thanks

[Tolriq 108]

https://support.symfonium.app/t/how-can-i-pay-for-symfonium-without-google-play/1290

[Tolriq 108]

Version 7.2.0

• Notes:
  Please do not forget to leave a textual review on Play Store. Your feedback plays a crucial role in determining the app’s ranking, ensuring a longer future for the application.

• Added:
  Added a new setting page for Android Auto:
  - Configurable tabs.
- Configurable home rows.
- Option genre to artist navigation.
- Configurable display style for albums, artists and genres lists.
  Add favourite playlist node to Android Auto.
  Added album mood and label to song smart filters.
  Added a new Random (Stable) sort order for smart playlists. (Random is stable until you update the seed by pressing the asc/dec arrow to generate a new one)
  Added Library and Search as possible Home shortcuts.
  Added Search as possible Library shortcut.
  Added support for OpenSubsonic getLyricsBySongId.
  Added Extend Deca as possible font.

• Changed:
  Android Auto voice commands without media type now also search in playlists.
  Ton of tweaks to Android Auto for better design.
  Complete rewrite of some Android Auto internal for major speed gain. (Please report any issues).
  Rewrite of the search page engine to handle multiple tokens in any order and in multiple fields.
  Also expose the now playing queue when connected to bluetooth compatible devices.
  Try to better handle some edge cases of low network connectivity to reduce playback issues with playback cache enabled.

• Fixed:
  Items counts (when enabled) are properly shown in search page.
  Fix possible timeout of the webserver when casting long low bitrate files.
  Fix horizontal progress bar with dynamic background issue in compact player.
  Fix shuffling some content always starting with the same artists order.
  Fix wrong change user rating menu entry for album smart playlists.
  Fix album sort order possibly stuck after selecting Display artist, Year.
  Fix genre filtering per library with Symfonium custom tag parser. (You need to sync your provider again)
  Fix OneDrive provider limits to 200 items per folder.
  Fix missing genre and playlists thumbnail in Android Auto.
  Fix favorite playlist overview row not taking in account hidden providers.
  Fix possible IME issue (Japanese,…) in quick list filtering.
  Fix missing codec, bitrate and channel count data for smart filters for Plex provider. (You need to sync again)

 

https://support.symfonium.app/t/version-7-2-0-released/3222

[HeroHabit 4]

I love this app. It definitely made moving to Emby from the other guys much easier in terms of my music library. There's one issue I'm having which may be a setting I'm missing but if I "favorite" a track on the app or on Android Auto, it doesn't sync up as a favorited track on Emby and, in fact, when I run a sync it removes the favorite from Symfonium. Is it possible now or in the future to sync favorites across devices like we can with playlists?

Thanks again for the great app, one of the very few times I've happily paid for an app for the phone!

[Tolriq 108]

It should work, but the API was broken a couple of times inside Emby.

 

Open an issue with logs on the forum.

[Tolriq 108]

Version 8.0.0

Notes:

• Please do not forget to leave an up to date textual review on Play Store. Your feedback plays a crucial role in building the app’s ranking, ensuring a future for Symfonium.

Added:

• Added tons of configurations for the home page, giving you full control on everything and then more. (Unfortunately this means that your current configuration have to be done again, but everything can be set as before if wanted)
• You can now add playlists as custom home sections.
• Added new navigation settings to skip genre or artist detail pages directly to related artists, albums or songs list.
• Added many new settings for the Album, Artist, Genre and Library pages.
• Added new setting for now playing overlay icons visibility. (You need to reconfigure again if you used the extra transparency option)
• Artist view can now group albums by release type and have “Appears on” section. (On by default, not all providers expose this data)
• Add Favorite Internet radio entry to Android Auto favorite tabs.
• You can now select and reorder library and favorite rows in Android Auto.
• Added new API endpoint to trigger automatic provider playlist import.
• Added new setting to proxy via Symfonium, allowing to workaround connectivity or certificate issues. (Configurable per renderer)
• Added sort by original release date for albums (Your provider must support it)
• Added Recently added songs as possible home section.

Changed:

• Complete new settings organisation. Most settings have moved but everything should be easier and more logical to find.
• A few interface settings for the home page and other pages have new default values but you can configure everything to be as before. (Remember that you can export/import your settings to easily test all the new features!)
• Grid column count in media lists is now configured independently in portrait and landscape mode.
• When enabling the option Bluetooth or Headphone autoplay, Symfonium now automatically stop casting if necessary to ensure the audio resume on the local device.
• Improved support for album release type sync for Plex. Enable Full sync option on Plex provider and sync again to enable the new album release type grouping feature.
• The settings: Volume steps, UPnP Gapless, UPnP alternative flags are now set per renderer! You will need to reconfigure them on chosen providers!
• Improved Playback cache usage for the vast majority of use cases.

Fixed:

• Fixed some cases where wrong songs were started from a mixed list of connected and not connected providers.
• Try to extract bitrate from IcyData for Internet radio and do not cache media info for Internet radio.
• Add workaround to support genre filtering per libraries for Subsonic servers. (You need to sync again)
• Fix again possible missing play count increase with repeat modes.
• Added a workaround for some Subsonic providers not supporting track playcount to keep Symfonium data.
• Pressing play on an artist without any songs will play it’s albums.
• Fix some overlay positions when bottom navigation is hidden.

https://support.symfonium.app/t/support-me-and-symfonium/760

[lightsout 144]

49 minutes ago, Tolriq said:

Version 8.0.0

Notes:

• Please do not forget to leave an up to date textual review on Play Store. Your feedback plays a crucial role in building the app’s ranking, ensuring a future for Symfonium.

Added:

• Added tons of configurations for the home page, giving you full control on everything and then more. (Unfortunately this means that your current configuration have to be done again, but everything can be set as before if wanted)
• You can now add playlists as custom home sections.
• Added new navigation settings to skip genre or artist detail pages directly to related artists, albums or songs list.
• Added many new settings for the Album, Artist, Genre and Library pages.
• Added new setting for now playing overlay icons visibility. (You need to reconfigure again if you used the extra transparency option)
• Artist view can now group albums by release type and have “Appears on” section. (On by default, not all providers expose this data)
• Add Favorite Internet radio entry to Android Auto favorite tabs.
• You can now select and reorder library and favorite rows in Android Auto.
• Added new API endpoint to trigger automatic provider playlist import.
• Added new setting to proxy via Symfonium, allowing to workaround connectivity or certificate issues. (Configurable per renderer)
• Added sort by original release date for albums (Your provider must support it)
• Added Recently added songs as possible home section.

Changed:

• Complete new settings organisation. Most settings have moved but everything should be easier and more logical to find.
• A few interface settings for the home page and other pages have new default values but you can configure everything to be as before. (Remember that you can export/import your settings to easily test all the new features!)
• Grid column count in media lists is now configured independently in portrait and landscape mode.
• When enabling the option Bluetooth or Headphone autoplay, Symfonium now automatically stop casting if necessary to ensure the audio resume on the local device.
• Improved support for album release type sync for Plex. Enable Full sync option on Plex provider and sync again to enable the new album release type grouping feature.
• The settings: Volume steps, UPnP Gapless, UPnP alternative flags are now set per renderer! You will need to reconfigure them on chosen providers!
• Improved Playback cache usage for the vast majority of use cases.

Fixed:

• Fixed some cases where wrong songs were started from a mixed list of connected and not connected providers.
• Try to extract bitrate from IcyData for Internet radio and do not cache media info for Internet radio.
• Add workaround to support genre filtering per libraries for Subsonic servers. (You need to sync again)
• Fix again possible missing play count increase with repeat modes.
• Added a workaround for some Subsonic providers not supporting track playcount to keep Symfonium data.
• Pressing play on an artist without any songs will play it’s albums.
• Fix some overlay positions when bottom navigation is hidden.

https://support.symfonium.app/t/support-me-and-symfonium/760

Thanks for all the work you are putting into this!

[wordlover 103]

Despite @Tolriq's claim that alpha-pickers are ill-advised for navigating through large music libraries, the new Emby 4.8 incorporates them at multiple, nested levels in the Music library and they work great.

[Tolriq 108]

Still here ?

Let's try again:

1) Alpha picker by definition only works for alpha characters so not all languages by far

2) Alpha picker by definition only works when the sort order is title (Emby now hide the picker in other modes) so a very small percentage of the used sorts...

3) The issue is not large library it's very large lists. To jump to letters you need to know the position, to know the position you need all the data or have the cached values stored, but storing the value does not work as soon as you introduce smart filters. Try to display a filtered list of 300 000 song and see how long it takes if even possible ...

On the other hand, fast scroll as implemented in Symfonium support all the cases ...

So we all get it, you only need title sort and you want the solution that you like, then Symfonium is not for you. If Emby works great for you then just use it  

[Luke 37066]

Hi, in regards to this issue here:

When you use the /playbackInfo api, it sends back a PlaySessionId. So make sure this value is added to your stream urls as PlaySessionId=xxx and is also included in all of your playback start, progress and stop reports.

Also since it appears you are constructing your direct stream urls client-side, I would suggest using MediaSource.DirectStreamUrl instead. The media sources that you get back from the /playbackInfo call will have this value filled in.

[mattl1979 2]

46 minutes ago, Luke said:

Hi, in regards to this issue here:

When you use the /playbackInfo api, it sends back a PlaySessionId. So make sure this value is added to your stream urls as PlaySessionId=xxx and is also included in all of your playback start, progress and stop reports.

Also since it appears you are constructing your direct stream urls client-side, I would suggest using MediaSource.DirectStreamUrl instead. The media sources that you get back from the /playbackInfo call will have this value filled in.

This is beyond my control as Symfonium is the Android App accessing the Emby server. Regardless, unless the API changed, this feature worked 100% in v4.7.

[Happy2Play 8282]

7 minutes ago, mattl1979 said:

This is beyond my control as Symfonium is the Android App accessing the Emby server. Regardless, unless the API changed, this feature worked 100% in v4.7.

That is why Luke let the dev know in this topic as this cannot be fixed by the Emby Devs.

 

[Tolriq 108]

@LukeThe PlaySessionId was previously only needed for transcoding and used as a differentiator to handle seek by stream restart. Furthermore, when playing offline and wanting to push a playback count at a given date we do not have a PlaySessionId. This sounds like a major change with side effects here.

Same when playing a file that is stored locally on Android, I do not start a session to avoid unnecessary work on Emby side as it won't use Emby, just show data in the dashboard and increase playcount at the end.

 

 

[Luke 37066]

41 minutes ago, Tolriq said:

@LukeThe PlaySessionId was previously only needed for transcoding and used as a differentiator to handle seek by stream restart. Furthermore, when playing offline and wanting to push a playback count at a given date we do not have a PlaySessionId. This sounds like a major change with side effects here.

Same when playing a file that is stored locally on Android, I do not start a session to avoid unnecessary work on Emby side as it won't use Emby, just show data in the dashboard and increase playcount at the end.

 

 

Right, so none of this is new, in fact it goes back several years, it's just that the 4.8 server is a little more dependent on them now.

To report playback that occurred while offline, we have 

/Sync/OfflineActions

 

[Tolriq 108]

7 minutes ago, Luke said:

Right, so none of this is new, in fact it goes back several years, it's just that the 4.8 server is a little more dependent on them now.

To report playback that occurred while offline, we have 

/Sync/OfflineActions

 

Hum I missed that one too, I guess a single API change thread would help.

Do you know at what version OfflineActions was added so I can version check it's usage? And what is the difference between PlayedItem and MarkPlayed for marking a media played at a certain date?

[Luke 37066]

Quote

Do you know at what version OfflineActions was added so I can version check it's usage?

It's been around forever, so nothing to worry about there. It accepts a list of multiple in the post body, so when you come back online you can send them all at once. Here's the difference between the three different things:

• report playback stopped - designed to end a playback session. the reason for playsessionId becoming increasingly mandatory over time is to allow matching up the progress reports to the sessions on the server. When there's only ever one thing playing on a device at a time, it's not much of a concern, but when a device could play more than one thing at a time, or transition out and in to something else simultaneously, then the server needs to be able to juggle multiple at once, hence playsessionid becoming important so that it knows what the report belongs to. Previously in 4.7 and 4.6 it wasn't explicitly mandatory, however you'd run into all sorts of quirks without it, so really it's better this way.
• mark item played api - this is equivalent to the user clicking the checkmark in the UI. Out of convenience, it optionally accepts a date in the event that it happened. If all you ever report is this sort of thing, then I suppose you might be fine with this. But I'm guessing that sometimes they'll stop halfway through, which means you'd have find a different way of reporting that.
• reporting offline actions - a generalized method to report to the server things that happened while offline, although PlayedItem is the only one implemented right now. This can handle playback reports that happened in the past no matter how the user stop, e.g. halfway through, fully played, etc.

[Tolriq 108]

Ok thanks.

Symfonium also handles resume points that I need to sync back when online. But Symfonium also have a configurable played percentage to set a media played so I need to still have control over a media playcount increasing or not.

I'll made some tests to see what I can do with 4.8.

 

@Luke Another last quick question about 4.8 

"ImageTags": {},
      "BackdropImageTags": [],
      "ParentLogoImageTag": "c35755887e519b922a6b62be16fee7a4",
      "PrimaryImageItemId": "1612",
      "PrimaryImageTag": "0a25f43ab57251278aceb40956d755d9"

Got an user that report that albums no more report ImageTags but still a PrimaryImageTag. But I can't reproduce on my library (I only get ImageTags and no PrimaryImageTag)

Any idea what changed to reproduce? Or is it now hidden under a new field to request in some cases but not the others?

[mattl1979 2]

I'm going to download and try Version 9.0.0 Beta 2 once available in the Play Store. I will be able to confirm whether this fixes the authentication log (since v4.8, Emby doesn't see a connection from Symfonium) and obviously the progress while playing a song.

Edited February 16 by mattl1979

[mattl1979 2]

Performed a few tests with the latest beta. I can now see successful authentications and the logs show the song being played, but the majority of the time it shows user started and user stopped playing within the same second. I sometimes see the progress indicator show up and work; but mostly it just shows up for a second and then disappears. This is progress over the production Symfonium, but unfortunately there are still some lagging issues with the new API calls. Per Tolriq, he is getting OK from the call, but clearly something is not working properly. Any idea Luke?

Fresh log attached.

embyserver.txt

[Tolriq 108]

Version 9.0.0

Notes:

• Please do not forget to leave an up to date textual review on Play Store. Your feedback plays a crucial role in building the app’s ranking, ensuring a future for Symfonium.

Added:

• After a very very very long Google validation process, Google Drive support is now enabled!
• Last 15 searches in search page are now saved and can be easily restored.
• Added new option for Symfonium tag parser (Local device, Cloud servers) to use the Encoding time tag as date added instead of the actual file dates.
• Added setting for Symfonium tag parser providers (Local device, Cloud servers) to automatically import found playlists during provider sync (m3u/pls).
• Added a new global filter “Playable media only” to easily filter out non playable media (Offline provider and not offline cached)
• You can now also set songs thumbnails (Locally, not pushed back to files or provider).
• The number of pre cached songs is now configurable and independent for Wifi and Mobile. (Previously was tied to the selected playback cache size, still require playback cache to be enabled)
• Added an optional Offline rolling cache with configurable size, to allow caching of media but with automatic eviction of oldest cached media to avoid filling the phone storage.
• Added a new option to automatically add playback cached media to the rolling offline cache to ensure proper full offline playback. (Require both playback cache and rolling cache to be enabled!)
• Added support for codec, … song additional info in playlists. For normal playlist it requires a sync from server or to recreate them to fill the data.
• Added “Original release date” and “Release date” sort for artist details albums lists and album more from.
• Added support for secondary connection settings to Subsonic and Jellyfin/Emby servers for users who can’t connect with same configuration at home and outside home.
• Added support for custom HTTP headers for Subsonic and Jellyfin/Emby servers.
• Added new option “Show composer in song list” to album page.

Changed:

• Album and artist detail pages now shows a fastscroll bar when there’s a lot of data.
• Each auto offline rule can now override the global transcoding value and cache at original quality.
• The option Automatic cache of favorites now support overriding the global transcoding value too. You need to reconfigure the option as it reverted to disabled!
• Offline, Cache and download setting menu settings are now split in sub pages.
• Improve download queue management to properly pause and cancel queue even when automatic offline rules are still queueing media.
• “Auto offline rules” and “Offline cache and download” actions now each open a dedicated bottom sheet with all actions in them.
• M3U/PLS playlist import now support some cases of absolute paths. As always contact me with details if you still have playlists not importing.
• Cached media from auto offline cache rules are now automatically removed from cache when they no more belong to any rule.
  • This only works for media that are cached after this update!
  • You can select “Move to permanent cache” option on media at any time to ensure that the media stays!
• Skip silence option now use an updated algorithm from ExoPlayer. Should be better but report any issues as usual.
• Whole line in lyrics view is now clickable to jump in song position.
• ICY data from Internet radio is now properly shown in now playing (Title and thumbnails when provided)
• Shortcut widgets now display playlist image if present and have a new “No image margin” setting on Android S+.
• Improved artists genre emulation for Subsonic servers by taking in account both songs and albums genres.
• The replay gain processor option is now properly only applied for casting as the internal audio engine properly support all cases since a long time.

Fixed:

• Improve error recovery for Cloud providers, pressing Sync again should try again to scan the files with network issues.
• Fix home button not leaving library view when using the library shortcut in home page.
• Fix sometimes wrong bitrate detection for Icy internet radios.
• Fix long press in playlists not starting multi selection.
• Fix Jellyfin resume point update as they no more support data in body.
  Added workaround to support more webdav servers like Swisscom myCloud.
• Fix a Chromecast renderer issue that could have triggered image refresh on Nest hubs. (Huge thanks to Thomas for the help).
• Symfonium tag parser now use all songs data to generate album genre, language and mood values.
• Fix possible wrong song started with retain player state and shuffled enabled.
• Try to better detect relay connections to Plex servers and attempt more often to find a better direct connection.
• Necessary fixes to support Emby 4.8 API changes.
• Added workaround for Next cloud music plugin returning 2 identical fake libraries.
• Fix possible race with queue saving and multiple queues enabled.
• Fix possible track replay gain being applied in auto mode when it should be the album one.

https://support.symfonium.app/t/version-9-0-0-released/3593