Overview

Ampacheberry is an Ampache client for the BlackBerry. Ampache must be version 3.5 or higher. Ampacheberry has been developed for a BB Tour 9630 running OS 5.0. Hopefully the project will work on other devices and bug fixes will be submitted in order to run on devices that might not initially work. This application was originally developed as a playlist generator. It allows a user to create a playlist, which will be saved in the BlackBerry's music directory. The user then plays the generated playlist using the BlackBerry media player. This was a great idea, in theory, but it seems as if only devices running OS 5.0 can play an Ampache playlist on the BlackBerry Media Player. For that reason, an integrated player has been added to Ampacheberry. This integrated player is new, and as a result, will inevitabbly have a few bugs. Please see the 'Known Bugs' below. Though I've spent a little time on this project now, I'm still not a Java expert by any means. For those of you who are Java pros, I welcome any and all suggestions. My code is rough, so please be kind. Be sure to check out the credits below. I couldn't have created this without these great resources. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to email me. The address is my project owner name (look over to the right) [at] gmail.com. Thanks for looking.

Please Note

When a new version of Ampacheberry is uploaded to Google Code, it seems to take a while for the caching server to be updated with the latest downloads. Because of this, the latest version might not download properly. If you get the wrong version downloading, or worse yet, the wrong cod file downloading, which will cause an error on the BlackBerry, be patient and try downloading again in a half-hour or so. I don't have a good grasp on versioning and file naming for BlackBerry. If someone with experience in this arena would like to offer up some tips, please let me know.

Updates

12/16/10 - NEW VERSION 0.2.0 - This version is now available for download and has many great new features. Of course this comes with a price, as the new version is much larger in size. The new version includes an integrated media player that has been tested on most device simulators between OS 4.5 and 6.0 inclusive. Please let me know of any issues you face. Of course, check the 'Known Bugs' and 'Issues' before posting any problems, please :)

9/7/10 - Notice, Ampacheberry only seems to work on devices with OS4.6 and higher. Devices with 4.5 will connect to the server, but none of the objects on the device will populate. I'm not sure why 4.5 doesn't work. That's my next bug fix.

9/7/10 - Version 0.1.3 has been uploaded and includes some new features. The connection method can be set in the Options screen, including WiFi. A help screen has also been added. Consult the help screen for information regarding the various connection methods.

8/19/10 - The keys have arrived! Ampacheberry is available for download in the downloads section. I hope to write up a brief installation instruction soon.

8/16/10 - I'm sorry there's no code or app posted yet. I'm waiting on code signing keys from RIM. As soon as I get those, the source and app will be uploaded.

Screenshots

Installation

OTA installation

Known Bugs

• If songs are rapidly skipped, the app will crash, or even worse, become overloaded and unresponsive. Do not rapidly skip songs. Instead, find the song on the playlist and play using the menu option.
• Player will pause on incoming call, but the song most be stopped and restarted after call is complete.
• Player will crash if the internet connection is lost
• Sometimes on the simulator, the player will crash when seeking past the loaded buffer. Results may vary on actual devices.
• Sometimes on the simulator, the player buffer will not update when the current song position is nearing the end of the buffer. Results may vary on actual device.
• App will play MP3s. Some MP4s (M4A/AAC) play, depending on bitrate, CBR, VBR, etc.

Future Plans

As this project is in its infancy, there are several future plans.

• Dress up UI with a consistent theme, nice icon-set, and a finalized, professional look (checked into trunk - 8/21/2010 - not in compiled version yet)
• Cache albums and artists on phone so the complete catalog is not retrieved OTA each time (complete - 8/19/2010)
• Multi-language support
• Handle "not in coverage" better at startup of app
• Built-in media player (added to version 0.2.0)
• With a built-in media player, the opportunity to cache/save songs locally
• Add font size selection for album, artist, and song screens (checked into trunk - 8/20/10 - not in compiled version yet)
• Allow alpha keypresses to jump to the first item of that letter in an album or artist list (I'm certain this was working at some point and is the default. Something in my code must have disabled it.)
• Add option to download song. Will need to setup download path in options screen.
• Add option to Home Screen to go directly to the BlackBerry Media Player playlists (checked into trunk - 8/20/2010 - not in compiled version yet)
• Fix for OS4.5 (added to version 0.2.0)
• Allow touchscreen devices to seek song by touching timeline.
• Allow bluetooth connections and controls.
• Add player menu item to switch between speaker and handset. (Is this needed?)
• Add option settings for buffer size and related options.

Credits

• Karl Vollmer: Creator of Ampache
• Globex Designs: Design of App Icon
• bjgeiser: Creator of Ampache Mobile, a wonderful app to aspire to be someday! Bjgeiser also gave permission to use the App Icon.
• purdyk: Creator of Amdroid. Purdyk volunteered the Amdroid codebase when Ampacheberry was first started. Ambacheberry now uses several of the Java objects written by purdyk.
• Jorge Ramon: Author of MiamiCoder. Jorge's tutorials were a great start for me, as I had no Java or Blackberry development experience. Ampacheberry includes code examples that are shown on Jorge's blog.
• BlackBerry Streaming Media