AH.fm iPhone App

[eLement]

Hey guys,

I know by posting this thread you will have thought I am the one creating this. Sadly, no. If I had the access to a Mac laptop on a daily basis I would work on learning Cocoa and providing this app to you.

Pandora internet radio has created an app for their streaming audio, but Pandora leaves much to be desired.

I was wondering if there is a developer out there willing to undertake such an awesome task.

This would put AH.fm and electronic dance music on a whole new level.

If someone is willing, I have some ideas that could make this a pretty awesome app.

Thanks,
Tim

(I just want AH on the go!)

[Exhale]

Hi

There's at least one application that you can use to tune iPhone to AH.fm
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/M...284205617&mt=8

There might be more and more of them ;) So if you just want to have AH on your phone, a solution already exists. Personally I would prefer this solution, because I don't like to install a new application for each and every site and service.

However, if you still feel that a new program is worth creating, and AH staff has nothing against it, I believe I can take part in it and do some programming
Anyway, I'll monitor the thread to see what happens

[Dan]

Originally Posted by Exhale

Hi

There's at least one application that you can use to tune iPhone to AH.fm
http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/M...284205617&mt=8

There might be more and more of them ;) So if you just want to have AH on your phone, a solution already exists. Personally I would prefer this solution, because I don't like to install a new application for each and every site and service.

However, if you still feel that a new program is worth creating, and AH staff has nothing against it, I believe I can take part in it and do some programming
Anyway, I'll monitor the thread to see what happens

I have actually downloaded the apple SDK... but have been soo busy had no time to start coding custom player for iphone AH.FM.

I know there is other players that could tune into AH.FM, however I was more looking into something custom, we have alot of custom scripts such as next5 last5, even links to the actual set playing. If you guys are interested in taking part in this, PM me we could discuss more things.

Thank you with these ideas mates, much appreciated.

[djabstraction]

I'm asking about at the moment, but incase anyone else needed any more resources,

FMOD music & sound effects system

This library might do the trick and supports Shoutcast streaming. Unfortunately I can't even look into it too far as I don't have the Mac hardware ;) But by my estimation, if that library works a simple Play/Stop application could be made < 50 lines of code...

[Exhale]

Originally Posted by djabstraction

This library might do the trick and supports Shoutcast streaming.

It is not necessary, Apple's SDK includes wide support for audio streaming.
There's no need to drag heavyweight library to a mobile device even if the library does have support for the platform, as far as I undersood it does not.

[eLement]

Originally Posted by Dan

I have actually downloaded the apple SDK... but have been soo busy had no time to start coding custom player for iphone AH.FM.

I know there is other players that could tune into AH.FM, however I was more looking into something custom, we have alot of custom scripts such as next5 last5, even links to the actual set playing. If you guys are interested in taking part in this, PM me we could discuss more things.

Thank you with these ideas mates, much appreciated.

Yes, that was my main reason for wanting a custom app. The next, current, and last. Although, for an iPhone application I think it should be tripped down to 5 items:

2 - Next Up
1 - Current
2 - Last Played

Maybe we can implement a way in the site, maybe an xml document, to have the app download the current tracklisting. And display it on screen. Who knows.

I will add on, I don't want to pay for a tuner app that can tune in anywhere when I just want one station. AH.fm. People are too happy to make a buck, for iPhone apps, what happened to sharing is caring?

I will also recommend the Last.fm iPhone app. It's pretty decent! There are some minor bugs which cause the app to shutdown. Other than that, it works great!

Edit: I think you should also utilize the aac+ stream. Higher quality and less bandwith = good idea. Then again Dan, it's upto you.

Edit2: Forget the aac+ stream...quality is way too low!

[-=Med=-]

How much would it cost for the user to listen to internet radio on an iPhone?
Would it just use the WiFi application, also would it work in cars etc.?

[Dan]

Originally Posted by -=Med=-

How much would it cost for the user to listen to internet radio on an iPhone?
Would it just use the WiFi application, also would it work in cars etc.?

its just wifi access in your house or where ever you are.
If you dont have wifi then you use you data plan, price varies depending on your carrier.

[Dan]

Originally Posted by eLement

Yes, that was my main reason for wanting a custom app. The next, current, and last. Although, for an iPhone application I think it should be tripped down to 5 items:

2 - Next Up
1 - Current
2 - Last Played

Maybe we can implement a way in the site, maybe an xml document, to have the app download the current tracklisting. And display it on screen. Who knows.

I will add on, I don't want to pay for a tuner app that can tune in anywhere when I just want one station. AH.fm. People are too happy to make a buck, for iPhone apps, what happened to sharing is caring?

I will also recommend the Last.fm iPhone app. It's pretty decent! There are some minor bugs which cause the app to shutdown. Other than that, it works great!

Edit: I think you should also utilize the aac+ stream. Higher quality and less bandwith = good idea. Then again Dan, it's upto you.

Edit2: Forget the aac+ stream...quality is way too low!

Yeah i was thinking to support 192k and 96k for the iphone. Next5 last5, aswell link to the current thread. First I need to get the iphone :| its kinda expensive if you want it without a plan unlocked.

[djabstraction]

Originally Posted by Exhale

It is not necessary, Apple's SDK includes wide support for audio streaming.
There's no need to drag heavyweight library to a mobile device even if the library does have support for the platform, as far as I undersood it does not.

"heavyweight library" it's hardly heavyweight. And I'm not sure you are correct there, streaming and shoutcast are 2 completely different aspects entirely. FMOD was written to fill a void for shoutcast streaming support on all platforms, including mac osx.

[Exhale]

Well... spent some time and now I have an application capable of connecting to AH.fm stream, parsing it and playing.
Yet it's pretty dumb, the only UI it has are 2 buttons, start and stop, but it's only a start to put any UI on And of course it requires much more testing and and (must be) fixing.
There's much to do of course, first of all UI is required, I'm very bad at graphical design so it would be great if anyone can take this part. Next, we'll need to negotiate where (and how) the application can obtain data (for example Next 2, Current and Previous 2). And there's another problem that can arise - iPhone developer program is not easily available in Russia as far as I know, but I'm working on it

Originally Posted by -=Med=-

How much would it cost for the user to listen to internet radio on an iPhone?
Would it just use the WiFi application, also would it work in cars etc.?

Audio stream most likely will be available only on WiFi.
Even if you have a 3G iPhone capable of high speed data transmission, "traffic eater" apps are against AppStore policy, VoIP and other traffic-consuming applications should only use WiFi.
Still, some limited functionality might be available without WiFi, it can include "previous-current-next", playlist, charts and anything like that.

[Exhale]

Originally Posted by djabstraction

"heavyweight library" it's hardly heavyweight. And I'm not sure you are correct there, streaming and shoutcast are 2 completely different aspects entirely. FMOD was written to fill a void for shoutcast streaming support on all platforms, including mac osx.

'heavyweight' is very relative... 10mb is nothing for a modern desktop, but it should be taken into account for mobile application. Memory management is different too, and dont forget that someone might want to download your application from AppStore over EDGE or GPRS - will 10mb still be good enough comparing to 100kb of Nullriver application that I mentioned earlier?
iPhone runs OS X, but it's not Mac OS X. Is FMOD ported for iPhone?
And' of course, I don't think that support for any platform will be useful for this app... Are we still talking about iPhone application?

[Robbie]

before I updated to OS 2.0.1 I had a free app that I downloaded from Installer that was able to stream ah, but only from wifi, sucked on edge network. Currently there is an app in the appstore for like 4.99 or soemthing and lets you connect to online radio, dont have it tho. Hurry up and make an app Dan, geez

[Dan]

Originally Posted by Robbie

before I updated to OS 2.0.1 I had a free app that I downloaded from Installer that was able to stream ah, but only from wifi, sucked on edge network. Currently there is an app in the appstore for like 4.99 or soemthing and lets you connect to online radio, dont have it tho. Hurry up and make an app Dan, geez

I need to get a hold of the phone first to work on it
Anyone wanna sponsor one ?

[piccoli]

Originally Posted by Dan

I need to get a hold of the phone first to work on it
Anyone wanna sponsor one ?

LOL about 499 € here in Portugal the 8 GB and 599 € the 16 GB, yeah a bit expansive

but i'll buy one when the prices will drop