Squeezeplay or Softsqueeze?

[noelma]

Bit confused! Softsqueeze comes bundled with Squeezecentre.
But looking at some posts, it would appear that Softsqueeze is frozen,
getting no further development, and being replaced by Squeezeplay.
Is this true? Should I go for Squeezeplay instead?

[tcutting]

Not exactly true, an I'm no real expert, but here's my understanding.
There are at least 3 "software" players.
Softsqueeze, which "emulates" the hardware players, and is available
through the Squeezecenter application. I believe it's written in Java,
and is no longer "officially" supported by Logitech. However, as there
is an active user community, there is still active development on this
application - I believe if you search the forums you should find recent
threads about ongoing Softsqueeze developments, and I believe if you use
the extension downloader in the current version of Squeezecenter, you
can access current versions of Softsqueeze.
Squeezeplay is really an implementation of the software which runs on
the Controller ("remote control" portion of the Duet) which includes an
audio player (still in "beta" (not complete, probably buggy, a work in
progress). However, this application is being developed by Logitech
(Slimdevices). It also promises more compatibility with a wider range
of audio formats than Softsqueeze and Squeezeslave. It is not just a
player - it is the "control" user interface (like the controller).
The third option I'm aware of is squeezeslave. It is also a "third
party" application (although I believe the original developer is Richard
Titmus, who, at least recently, is now employed at Logitech/Slim Devices
as a developer (on the Squeezeplay). Squeezeslave is strictly a player,
and has no user interface at all. The advantage of this, is it doesn't
use much in the way of system resources. It is somewhat limited in the
formats it can play - I believe it's limited to 44.1kHz sample rates
(which is probably >90% of what people listen to). There is still some
development going on for this application as well (again, look for
squeezeslave threads on the forum).

I guess this doesn't really answer your question, because I would
answer "it depends"... it depends on what you're trying to do, and
what's important to you.

[noelma]

I guess this doesn't really answer your question, because I would answer
"it depends"... it depends on what you're trying to do, and what's
important to you.

Thanks! At least it is a bit clearer!!
I'm really looking for an app which will allow me to play my music on
other pcs in my home network. I have my Boom running, and have
Softsqueeze (SS) running no problem on my main pc.
I now want to stream the music that I have on the Boom and my pc/SS, to
another PC on my home network.
I installed Squeezecentre and Softsqueeze on that PC, and I registered
the new SS on my Squeezenetwork.
But I do not see the new SS on my main PC.

[tcutting]

You don't need to install squeezecenter on your second PC. Try
accessing squeezcenter from your second PC by using the web browser. In
the address field type the IP address of your Squeezecenter PC (and port
9000)...
It should look like xxx.yyy.zzz.aaa:9000 where xxx.yyy.zzz.aaa is the
IP address of the PC running squeezecenter (you should be able to find
that from your squeezecenter PC... I think if you connect to
squeezecenter from the PC running squeezecenter from the web interface,
and go to squeezecenter settings, and then the information tab, I
believe that shows the IP address. Otherwise (assuming you're in
windows) start a command prompt (go to Start, select Run... and where it
says "Open..." type in cmd and return.

From that window, type ipconfig

That should display your IP address.

From your remote pc, using the browser connecting to your squeezecenter

PC, I believe you can fire up softsqueeze through the web browser. You
should also be able to install a stand-alone version of softsqueeze...
again, you'll have to "point" it to your PC running squeezecenter.
Hope that helps!

[HighLife420]

i was wondering, i use softsqueeze to stream music to my PC. If you use
the web base interface, its controls the Squeezebox, so the audio will
be coming from there.

Can you use the web based interface to stream music to that computer
and not the SB itself?

[tcutting]

When softsqueeze is running, you should be able to see it as a player
from the web interface for Squeezecenter. You should be able to select
it, and control it the same as you would your hardware player. You can
even "synchronize" softsqueeze and your squeezebox, but good
synchronization is not currently possible with the software players, so
your results will vary.
Just to be clear - squeezecenter itself is just the server application,
and it doesn't have audio playback capabilities. Softsqueeze is a
separate application (which can be launched from the web interface for
squeezecenter) which then provides a software player application for
your pc - it emulates a hardware squeezebox player.

[noelma]

From your remote pc, using the browser connecting to your squeezecenter
PC, I believe you can fire up softsqueeze through the web browser. You
should also be able to install a stand-alone version of softsqueeze...
again, you'll have to "point" it to your PC running squeezecenter.
Hope that helps!

I was with you until this last bit!!
Can you re-phrase or be a bit more specific? Sorry for being so dense!

[tcutting]

On the remote PC with Softsqueeze...
First, make sure the Squeezecenter is ONLY running on the main PC (not
on this remote PC).
Run softsqueeze. You should be able to navigate to the "music source"
(sorry, going from memory right now, so bear with me!). Maybe under
"settings"? Also, it may ask you if it's not connected to a server.
Softsqueeze should look for a squeezecenter server - so it will
probably show the name or IP address of the PC running squeezecenter.
If it doesn't, there should be a way of entering the IP address of the
squeezecenter server.
One other thing I don't remember is if you have to open up any ports on
firewall(s) on either the server PC or the remote PC. If your server PC
is working with hardware squeezeboxes ok, then your firewalls should be
OK, at least on that machine.

[noelma]

Post by tcutting
On the remote PC with Softsqueeze...
First, make sure the Squeezecenter is ONLY running on the main PC (not
on this remote PC).
Run softsqueeze. You should be able to navigate to the "music source"
(sorry, going from memory right now, so bear with me!). Maybe under
"settings"? Also, it may ask you if it's not connected to a server.
Softsqueeze should look for a squeezecenter server - so it will
probably show the name or IP address of the PC running squeezecenter.
If it doesn't, there should be a way of entering the IP address of the
squeezecenter server.
One other thing I don't remember is if you have to open up any ports on
firewall(s) on either the server PC or the remote PC. If your server PC
is working with hardware squeezeboxes ok, then your firewalls should be
OK, at least on that machine.

When I try that, and go to change Music Source, I am offered 3
alternatives.
1) Squeezenetwork
2) PC2 (the name of the remote pc on the network.
3) PC1 (the name of the main pc which is running Squeezecentre.
When I select option 3, I get the message - Please Wait, Connecting to
Slim Server - then it hangs.

[jrbzzz]

As a new user of a Squeezebox Boom (portable) and classic (hooked to HT
setup) I am looking for a way to pipe music from my NAS running
Squeezebox Server to a basement PC. I've tried both SoftSqueeze 3.8 and
the current nightly version of SqueezePlay. I do not need to control
anything from this PC, just want to play my MP3s and occasionally listen
to internet radio.

So far I found SqueezePlay to be so buggy as to be unusable (locks up
frequently, most internet radio streams either unsupported format or
play at wrong speed). SoftSqueeze also fails to play many internet
streams, but otherwise seems to work OK for my uses.

What I'd like to know is if there is a benefit to moving to the beta
3.9 version of SoftSqueeze, and/or is there something i can fix with
SqueezePlay that will make it better for what I want to do? Thanks for
the info.

[bpa]

Use Softsqueeze 3.9b1 - it is only beta because there are a few more
minor bugs (that are also in 3.8) that I hoped to fix but haven't had
time.

Softsqueeze and Squeezeplay cannot play WMA natively (only MP3 and
Flac) and so you will often get "unsupported format". If you are using
a non Windows based SBS (wehic is typical for a NAS) then you need to
install WMA support although this is not possible on all NAS.

More detailed info about problem and your whole SBS system (i.e. what
is the exact type of NAS) will enable more specific advice to be
offered.

[bpa]

I think I have reproduced some of the problem using a 1.8Mhz laptop
running XP.

[jrbzzz]

Thanks, i will try 3.9b when I get a chance.

The only issues I have with the current SoftSqueeze are (1) inability
to play some radio stations (assuming WMA), (2) cannot login to
mysqueezebox.com. (3) cannot use some services such as Live365. None of
these is a huge impact as I don't use this computer that often. I also
understand that I may be able to fix #1 and #2 with info on this forum.

FYI, I am using a Synology DS209 with their tweaked version of
Squeezebox Server 7.4.1. This works great with my Boom and Classic.

[bpa]

To play WMA on Softsqueeze you need WMA support to transcode - for DS209
this usually means using a special version of mplayer which is provided
with SSODS ( http://oinkzwurgl.org/ssods ). I don't know if the DS209
has rhe processing power to transcode WMA streams.

Softsqueeze effectively emulates an SB1 which means it must run
connected to a local SBS - it can never connect to mysb.com. To use
mysb.com services such as Pandora - you will need to enable "proxied
streaming" in the SBS Settings for the Softsqueeze player. This may
also enable Live365 but I'm not sure.

[jrbzzz]

Thanks for the info. I'll check on the Synology boards to see if it is
worth installing mplayer for WMA - but I'll probably live with the
limitation for now, since I will use this computer mainly to listen to
my own library.

[ColH]

I'm looking for the simplest way to get a 'headless' Linux box (one that
I've already got running some other stuff) operating as a player,
preferably controlled using my Duet Controller.
Would SoftSqueeze be the route to look into?

[alfista]

Post by ColH
I'm looking for the simplest way to get a 'headless' Linux box (one that
I've already got running some other stuff) operating as a player,
preferably controlled using my Duet Controller.
Would SoftSqueeze be the route to look into?

In that case I think Squeezeslave might be a better option.
http://wiki.slimdevices.com/index.php/SqueezeSlave

[bpa]

Although Softsqueeze has a headless mode - it will not work without an
X-client running for settings etc. so on a truly headless box I think
Squeezeslave is your only choice.