Spotify & Squeezebox

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The Stratmangler
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#1 Spotify & Squeezebox

Post by The Stratmangler »

It seems that Spotify are changing the method of delivery of their service, and one of the casualties is Squeezebox support.
As of 20th July Spotify will not play on Squeezeboxes.
I have just cancelled my subscription - there's no point in paying for a service that won't integrate with my server.

www.mysqueezebox.com/byeByeSpotify

Bastards!
Chris :happy3:
Lee S
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#2 Re: Spotify & Squeezebox

Post by Lee S »

I gave up on Squeezebox due to lack of support and development. I use TIDAL and although the SB plug in sort of worked OK it was sporadic to say the least, so I have binned all of my SB products and moved to a Bluesound Node 2. What a difference. So very quick, slick and powerful and the built in DAC is superb so I ditched my old DAC too.Just point it at ANY source (NAS, USB, server, laptop and even BT) and it catalogs and just works.. in a couple of minutes too. TIDAL is awesome and they support MQA and FLAC and I'm sure it does Spotify too. I control it from my Android phone or tablet or even a laptop. Seamless. I'm afraid SB is dead in the water going into the future... Not sure why as they were a decent product at a decent price and they could have had the market sewn up, but it seems they're not interested any more.. :?
©2020 Lee
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The Stratmangler
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#3 Re: Spotify & Squeezebox

Post by The Stratmangler »

Lee S wrote: Wed Jul 12, 2017 10:18 pm I gave up on Squeezebox due to lack of support and development. I use TIDAL and although the SB plug in sort of worked OK it was sporadic to say the least, so I have binned all of my SB products and moved to a Bluesound Node 2. What a difference. So very quick, slick and powerful and the built in DAC is superb so I ditched my old DAC too.Just point it at ANY source (NAS, USB, server, laptop and even BT) and it catalogs and just works.. in a couple of minutes too. TIDAL is awesome and they support MQA and FLAC and I'm sure it does Spotify too. I control it from my Android phone or tablet or even a laptop. Seamless. I'm afraid SB is dead in the water going into the future... Not sure why as they were a decent product at a decent price and they could have had the market sewn up, but it seems they're not interested any more.. :?
The LMS server is very ably supported by an excellent and very capable team, and they by and large have nothing to do with Logitech.
There is ongoing server development because Logitech don't own it. Never have.

The reason why Logitech dumped the product is because of the degree of tech support it generates.
Logitech are box shifters, and like simple tick box support.
Squeezebox Touch drew far too many complete IT numpties, and Logitech didn't like the cost of supporting the product, so pulled it.

From where I'm sitting Squeezebox is not dead in the water.

On the Tidal problems you had - I had it running utilising the LMS Ickstream plugin, and it became flaky at the back end of last year. This is the HiFi service I'm on about.
I found that I could still access the MP3 streams using the Tidal app on the mysq server.
My assumption is that the problems lay with Ickstream's interfacing with Tidal.
Chris :happy3:
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The Stratmangler
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#4 Re: Spotify & Squeezebox

Post by The Stratmangler »

They're top people over on the Slim Devices forum.
The approaching Spotify non support issue is well in hand, and a fix exists.
I have it running right now.
It's the Spotty app, and it uses different script to the Spotify app.
Chris :happy3:
Lee S
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#5 Re: Spotify & Squeezebox

Post by Lee S »

That's great Chris. I'm glad you've found a solution to your Spotify woes. That's certainly a sterling effort by the developers in quick time. Personally, I just found the whole SB/LMS thing clunky, slow, dated and prone to hanging, buffering and crashing. I was using it on a Netgear NAS (Sparc) to be fair, so maybe I didn't give it a chance to 'breathe' properly and it would have worked better on a server solution, but I didn't really want all that faff. If it works for you and the Spotify is fixed, then happy days... Onwards and upwards.. :D
©2020 Lee
Les Reed
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#6 Re: Spotify & Squeezebox

Post by Les Reed »

My squeezeboxes are currently playing Spotify perfectly at premium bit rate. The device is most certainly not dead. Logitech media server will run perfectly on a RasperryPi2/3 system at virtually no cost. I was very annoyed when I received a notification from Spotify that suggested alternative devices with a link to buy them at prices up to £1000.

Tidal is OK but too expensive for their premium version.

I was sick of Windows 10 running LMS, so I resurrected an old laptop: Windows XP with Intel Celeron.
Installed Linux Xubuntu 12.04 that will run on old processors and removed the Windows partition.
Install so that a password is not required to log in.
Download the appropriate LMS build, in this case: Debian Installer Package (i386) and Install on Xubuntu
Access the Web control screen by entering the address: 127.0.0.1:9000 in browser (Firefox is included).
Click on settings and adjust desired features.
On Plugins tab, untick the official Spotify plugin and any other associated plugins like Spotify Protocol handler.
Then tick the new Spotty plugin (under 3rd party plugins) - press Apply and OK to make changes after restart.
To stop the server open a Terminal window and type: sudo service logitechmediaserver stop it will stop instantly unlike a Windows system.
To start type: sudo service logitechmediaserver start Your password will be requested - just remember on Linux the cursor won't move as you type the password.

The new Spotty implmentation is faster and smoother than the old Spotify, although Xubuntu helps this a lot. There is further information on the slimdevices forum. Please ignore the text next to the plugin that states (not quite connect ready).

So now my small old Laptop sits under my equipment unit with a cable connection to a Squeezebox. Because there is no password to log in, I can power it up without access to the keyboard and it will have LMS running in about 1 min. I then use the Squeezebox app on my iPad to control the players.
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