The Final Sound

Zer0 · 04-17-2013, 04:37 PM

Tech Corner
My Forays Into Android Development

Firstly a bit of background. I have a BEng in Software Engineering and have been programming in Java for about seven and a half years (although it took me about three years to really get my head around it). One of the most exciting and most challenging aspects of software engineering is new technologies emerging and trying to keep up with them. My first dive into Android development was in the final year of my degree. I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to do for my final year project but wanted to do something that was interesting and cutting-edge, which is what app development was a couple of years ago. I decided to try my hand at Android app development and implement a music streaming app. Although I got a good grade for my final year project, mainly due to writing a good thesis, my app wasn't particularly impressive. Come to think of it, it was quite shit in retrospect.

After playing around with Android development on and off I decided to give it a real shot a few months back and see what I could do, before the boat leaves and I get left behind. One thing I'm useless at is coming up with app ideas of my own. However one night my friend gave me a great idea that seemed doable. He is an avid film buff and DVD collector and must have hundreds and hundreds of DVDs. He was telling me that sometimes he ends up buying duplicates because he couldn't remember whether he had a particular film or not. He also told me that he could not find an Android app that could tell him if he already had a particular DVD or not. This gave me the idea of a camera barcode scanning application that could save what products you already had, such as DVDs or CDs and when you go to scan them again the app will tell you that you already have it.

Of course when we formulated that idea we were actually out drinking, so I didn't quite think it through. I designed and built the app and begun testing it by scanning some CDs with my Samsung smartphone and entering the information about them manually. When I got to the tenth CD I had a sudden realisation. If a person has hundreds of CDs or DVDs or whatever, they are going to hate entering all this information manually and they are going to hate this app with a passion. Then I got the idea of automatically downloading the details about the products by getting the app to do a Google search for the barcode and retrieve back whatever information is found. You can even go to web pages to view more information about a particular product. At the moment this solution is not perfect but it will do until I find a better solution. I also realised that the app could be used for scanning QR codes as well as barcodes so that was an added bonus.

I built the app on top of an open-source barcode scanning library called Zxing (pronounced "Zebra Crossing") and implemented all the necessary functionality. At the moment the app doesn't look visually impressive, mainly because I don't have a degree in graphic design or anything like that, but that's another area I want to improve on. I like to think that the appearance is 'minimal' like a barcode itself. Not quite sure if I could get this into the Google Play store as there's probably still plenty of glitches and stuff but I could always dream. Also, one guy with his laptop creating apps for fun competing for downloads against apps made by established companies is a bit of an uneven match.

Here's a few screenshots. 'BChecker' is only a working title by the way. Also I was testing it with a can of Lynx deodorant here just in case you were wondering what the hell.

Home screen

Scanny scanny scan scan

Google results! Plus some URL addresses

Zer0 · 05-09-2013, 06:28 PM

Ethereal Wave Special

I like dipping my toes into little niche genres like this. Finding that perfect mix of otherworldly ambience, intense darkness, and a huge wash of sound is not to easy to find, but here's three bands that hit the spot just nicely. Don't know what it is with boy-girl duos in this genre but it seems to be a requirement.

Lycia

I have fallen in love with this band over the past few months. Their music is dark and despairing yet incredibly beautiful and makes use of acres of space. Their album Cold and particularly the song 'Drifting' are underrated darkwave classics. Think The Sisters of Mercy jamming with Cocteau Twins in a vast warehouse.

Spoiler for Tunes:

Autumn's Grey Solace

A band I've been listening to for a couple of years now. Often accused as being a Cocteau Twins knock-off but for me they possess qualities that Cocteau Twins don't. They have a knack for sounding completely up in the air and grounded at the same time. They reside at the more dream-pop end of darkwave and their first two albums, Within The Depths of a Darkened Forest and Over The Ocean, are essential listening.

Spoiler for Tunes:

Trance To The Sun

Don't know much about this band or where to find their albums, but I listened to a compilation of theirs called Spiders, Aether & Rain on Spotify a couple of times and I love what I heard. Their music has a very interesting vibe to it, very psychedelic and out there despite being dark and menacing.

Spoiler for Tunes:

Zer0 · 05-28-2013, 03:55 PM

Three Albums For...
Walking The Streets In The Rain

The Cure – Disintegration (1989)

To start this is actually one of my favourite albums of all time if not my favourite album of all time. There are of course a lot of references to rain and water on this album which give the feeling of somewhat damp and murky surroundings, e.g. 'Prayers for Rain' and 'The Same Deep Water as You'. But to me this album as a whole reminds me of walking the streets during a wet and miserable afternoon, alone of course and my clothes, shoes and socks getting progressively more soaked. The slightly murky sound of the album, dense washes of reverb and downbeats moods mirror your view of the streets being distorted by falling rain, a grey and darkened sky and those puddles of water on the footpath that you are trying to avoid stepping into.

The music invokes a sense of longing for something and while you are walking the streets in the miserable rain you can't wait to get to the coffee shop to dry off and drink a nice hot latte.

Spoiler for Prayers For Rain & The Same Deep Water As You:

Burial – Untrue (2007)

I've always felt that Untrue has a very unique atmosphere. It's an unmistakably urban album and invokes images of various city centre locations. In a similar way to Disintegration it has that feeling of loneliness but here that feeling seems even more intense and downbeat. It's that moment where the afternoon turns into evening, the streets are getting emptier and emptier and all the while the rain is continuing to pour down. You feel like you should be going home as you sit drinking your latte and staring out the window at the ever darkening and emptying street, a bit darker than normal due to the persistent rain. On your way home you try to avoid making eye-contact with people that might be about and you have that lingering dread of the increased possibility of being mugged.

The interesting use of manipulated vocal samples on this album suggest the faint sound of music leaking out onto the street from a nearby shop as you walk closer to it and then further away from it, as you continue on your lonely trudge through the city centre to catch your bus home.

Spoiler for Near Dark & Etched Headplate:

Ulver – Perdition City (2000)

While Ulver's previous albums Bergtatt and Nattens Madrigal conjured images of being lost in a freezing Norwegian forest with wolves and the wind howling around you, Perdition City is something completely different. Here they have traded black metal for electronica and the wilderness for city streets. You have missed the last bus and have to make do with walking through the city centre to get home. This album makes me imagine rain-soaked city streets and dark alleyways at night and an element of danger as you walk through them. It makes me imagine the sound of cars flying past you and distant police sirens, the reflections of lights on the falling rain and on the rain-drenched roads.

The feeling of fear and paranoia throughout the album is hard to put my finger on. It's like you have a feeling that you're being followed but in reality you're not. Maybe those shady-looking people standing in the doorway back there are following me and going to jump me. They were definitely looking at me. Suddenly the rain doesn't seem that much of a problem anymore and it's best to just shuffle home as quickly as possible before you are stabbed to death.

Spoiler for Lost In Moments & Dead City Centres:

Zer0 · 06-21-2013, 04:08 PM

The Real Strawberry Switchblade

If you only know Strawberry Switchblade as a pop act who had a one-hit wonder in 1984 with 'Since Yesterday' and for their completely out-there dress sense there's a bit more to them than that. 'Since Yesterday' was a typical slice of cheesy mid-80's post-Madonna synth pop that undoubtedly shows it's age today (although it is a bit of a guilty pleasure). Their subsequent self-titled album varied somewhat from good to almost unbearable.

Rewind back to 1982 and you're met with a post-punk indie-pop band who would sound more at home on the Postcard label than as a pop band on Warners. Here's a song from a BBC session which also features James Kirk from Orange Juice on bass.

From their aborted 1984 album sessions:

It's unclear whether their label forced them into making super-commercial pop music or whether they were just tempted by the prospects of it. It's certainly one of those 'what if' moments, rather than having a short career as one-hit wonders they could have had a completely different career as a cult indie band.

There's loads of rare recordings you can download here.

Zer0 · 06-23-2013, 11:59 AM

AFI - Sing The Sorrow (2003)

Track Listing:
1. Miseria Cantare: The Beginning
2. The Leaving Song pt. II
3. Bleed Black
4. Silver and Cold
5. Dancing Through Sunday
6. Girl's Not Grey
7. Death of Seasons
8. The Great Disappointment
9. Paper Airplanes (Makeshift Wings)
10. This Celluloid Dream
11. The Leaving Song
12. ...but home is nowhere

It recently dawned on me that this album is already a decade old. It was one of those important albums in my musical growth and changed the course of what I would listen to over the following decade. Although I didn’t pick up a copy of this until summer 2003 when the album had already been released a few months, but it quickly became the main soundtrack for that summer and the following autumn. Up to that point I was still being exposed to a seemingly endless string of pop-punk bands and nu-metal bands by various music channels and magazines. Seeing the rather strange promo video for ‘Girl’s Not Grey’ offered something a bit different for me, something I could relate to better than the juvenile content of pop-punk and the machoness of nu-metal. AFI was the first modern band that I became genuinely obsessed with. I got as much as their back catalogue as I could, I had the t-shirts and I had the posters on my wall.

The last time I listened to this album was three years ago at my mate’s flat in a drunken nostalgia session. Listening to it now feels even more nostalgic and reminds me of who I was and where I was ten years ago. It’s also quite strange listening to it now through a better pair of headphones and noticing far more detail in the sound than I remember hearing. I can probably say that this would not be something I’d listen to if this was my first time to ever listen to it. Some of the lyrics which I thought sounded so different and so mature when I was sixteen now sound a little bit too angsty for my liking although still very well written. This album was probably the first time I genuinely paid close attention to lyrics. My CD booklet is well-thumbed from reading through the pages of lyrics trying to decipher their meaning and trying to get inside the mind of Davey Havok. I try not to let my view of this album be tainted by the hordes of bands which followed in its wake sporting eye-liner and distorted guitars as this album is still a cut above them.

While songs like ‘Girl’s Not Grey’, ‘The Leaving Song pt. II’ and ‘Silver and Cold’ don’t seem to pack the punch they once used to there are still some songs on this album that I genuinely enjoy. ‘This Celluloid Dream’ was one of my favourite songs on the album and it still sounds great and wonderfully uplifting today. ‘The Great Disappointment’ was not one of my favourite songs on the album not now it seems to have taken on a different light, perhaps changed by my years exploring the wonders of alternative rock and other music and constantly developing in life. Now it seems like the standout song of the album. ‘Paper Airplanes (Makeshift Wings)’ is another clever song with a catchy shout-along chorus and mysterious imagery. It sounds just as good as it did ten years ago. Back then I felt that ‘Death of Seasons’ was ruined somewhat by a weak and unimaginative chorus and even now I feel that it ruined what could have been a potentially interesting song. The mash-up of post-hardcore and electronic music that it touched on could have been so much more interesting had they executed it better. It seems to me now that the second half of the album sounds better despite the three singles being included in the first.

The wait for Decemberunderground three years later was agonising. In those three years I had also moved on to bands like The Cure and The Smashing Pumpkins among others. I was also expecting AFI to grow as a band and take a more mature direction, so you can only imagine my reaction when Decemberunderground dropped. It just didn’t feel right.

Zer0 · 07-01-2013, 05:31 PM

Tech Corner

So as a little project in my spare time I decided to start creating my own Java-based music player. The inspiration for the current version are Linux music players like Audacious and DeaDBeaF with their simple lightweight layout and use of a file browser rather than built-in media filter like what you get with foobar2000 and WinAmp. It's a bit short on features at the moment but it plays mp3 files pretty well, reads ID3v1 and ID3v2 tags with no problems and displays the album artwork. There's still a few bugs to iron out and features like volume control, seekbar and maybe an user interface redesign to implement. After that my big challenge is to implement Last.fm scrobbling which would awesome if I could get working. I might create a download for it when I create a proper stable version.

YorkeDaddy · 07-01-2013, 07:31 PM

That seems like a pretty cool little program. I'm curious as to how last.fm scrobbling can be implemented...does it involve you actually getting into contact with the people at last.fm or something so they can approve your program?

Zer0 · 07-02-2013, 04:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by YorkeDaddy

That seems like a pretty cool little program. I'm curious as to how last.fm scrobbling can be implemented...does it involve you actually getting into contact with the people at last.fm or something so they can approve your program?

You have to register for a special API account in order to use the Last.fm web services, which includes scrobbling and using Last.fm data for apps etc. Then there's a guide on how to send Last.fm scrobbles from your application: Scrobbling 2.0 Documentation. There's also some security issues such as Last.fm username and password to deal with as well.

Astronomer · 07-02-2013, 06:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Zer0

Autumn's Grey Solace

A band I've been listening to for a couple of years now. Often accused as being a Cocteau Twins knock-off but for me they possess qualities that Cocteau Twins don't. They have a knack for sounding completely up in the air and grounded at the same time. They reside at the more dream-pop end of darkwave and their first two albums, Within The Depths of a Darkened Forest and Over The Ocean, are essential listening.

Spoiler for Tunes:

Wow, I adore this, right up my alley. Erin Welton has such a beautiful voice. I would love to get into more ethereal wave/dream pop artists - would you have any suggestions on where to start?

Thank you for the great post, Zer0.

Zer0 · 07-02-2013, 07:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lateralus

Wow, I adore this, right up my alley. Erin Welton has such a beautiful voice. I would love to get into more ethereal wave/dream pop artists - would you have any suggestions on where to start?

Thank you for the great post, Zer0.

Well hello I haven't seen you around in a while

Thanks for the compliment. I suppose Cocteau Twins and Dead Can Dance would be the best place to start with ethereal wave as they're both seen as the cornerstones and their influence stretches across multiple genres. I'd recommend Treasure by Cocteau Twins and Within The Realm of a Dying Sun by Dead Can Dance to start with.

04-17-2013, 04:37 PM	#81 (permalink)
Zer0 ∞ Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Ireland Posts: 3,792	Tech Corner My Forays Into Android Development Firstly a bit of background. I have a BEng in Software Engineering and have been programming in Java for about seven and a half years (although it took me about three years to really get my head around it). One of the most exciting and most challenging aspects of software engineering is new technologies emerging and trying to keep up with them. My first dive into Android development was in the final year of my degree. I wasn't quite sure what I wanted to do for my final year project but wanted to do something that was interesting and cutting-edge, which is what app development was a couple of years ago. I decided to try my hand at Android app development and implement a music streaming app. Although I got a good grade for my final year project, mainly due to writing a good thesis, my app wasn't particularly impressive. Come to think of it, it was quite shit in retrospect. After playing around with Android development on and off I decided to give it a real shot a few months back and see what I could do, before the boat leaves and I get left behind. One thing I'm useless at is coming up with app ideas of my own. However one night my friend gave me a great idea that seemed doable. He is an avid film buff and DVD collector and must have hundreds and hundreds of DVDs. He was telling me that sometimes he ends up buying duplicates because he couldn't remember whether he had a particular film or not. He also told me that he could not find an Android app that could tell him if he already had a particular DVD or not. This gave me the idea of a camera barcode scanning application that could save what products you already had, such as DVDs or CDs and when you go to scan them again the app will tell you that you already have it. Of course when we formulated that idea we were actually out drinking, so I didn't quite think it through. I designed and built the app and begun testing it by scanning some CDs with my Samsung smartphone and entering the information about them manually. When I got to the tenth CD I had a sudden realisation. If a person has hundreds of CDs or DVDs or whatever, they are going to hate entering all this information manually and they are going to hate this app with a passion. Then I got the idea of automatically downloading the details about the products by getting the app to do a Google search for the barcode and retrieve back whatever information is found. You can even go to web pages to view more information about a particular product. At the moment this solution is not perfect but it will do until I find a better solution. I also realised that the app could be used for scanning QR codes as well as barcodes so that was an added bonus. I built the app on top of an open-source barcode scanning library called Zxing (pronounced "Zebra Crossing") and implemented all the necessary functionality. At the moment the app doesn't look visually impressive, mainly because I don't have a degree in graphic design or anything like that, but that's another area I want to improve on. I like to think that the appearance is 'minimal' like a barcode itself. Not quite sure if I could get this into the Google Play store as there's probably still plenty of glitches and stuff but I could always dream. Also, one guy with his laptop creating apps for fun competing for downloads against apps made by established companies is a bit of an uneven match. Here's a few screenshots. 'BChecker' is only a working title by the way. Also I was testing it with a can of Lynx deodorant here just in case you were wondering what the hell. Home screen Scanny scanny scan scan Google results! Plus some URL addresses __________________ Last FM \| RYM \| The Final Sound

05-09-2013, 06:28 PM	#82 (permalink)
Zer0 ∞ Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Ireland Posts: 3,792	Ethereal Wave Special I like dipping my toes into little niche genres like this. Finding that perfect mix of otherworldly ambience, intense darkness, and a huge wash of sound is not to easy to find, but here's three bands that hit the spot just nicely. Don't know what it is with boy-girl duos in this genre but it seems to be a requirement. Lycia I have fallen in love with this band over the past few months. Their music is dark and despairing yet incredibly beautiful and makes use of acres of space. Their album Cold and particularly the song 'Drifting' are underrated darkwave classics. Think The Sisters of Mercy jamming with Cocteau Twins in a vast warehouse. Spoiler for Tunes: Autumn's Grey Solace A band I've been listening to for a couple of years now. Often accused as being a Cocteau Twins knock-off but for me they possess qualities that Cocteau Twins don't. They have a knack for sounding completely up in the air and grounded at the same time. They reside at the more dream-pop end of darkwave and their first two albums, Within The Depths of a Darkened Forest and Over The Ocean, are essential listening. Spoiler for Tunes: Trance To The Sun Don't know much about this band or where to find their albums, but I listened to a compilation of theirs called Spiders, Aether & Rain on Spotify a couple of times and I love what I heard. Their music has a very interesting vibe to it, very psychedelic and out there despite being dark and menacing. Spoiler for Tunes: __________________ Last FM \| RYM \| The Final Sound

05-28-2013, 03:55 PM	#83 (permalink)
Zer0 ∞ Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Ireland Posts: 3,792	Three Albums For... Walking The Streets In The Rain The Cure – Disintegration (1989) To start this is actually one of my favourite albums of all time if not my favourite album of all time. There are of course a lot of references to rain and water on this album which give the feeling of somewhat damp and murky surroundings, e.g. 'Prayers for Rain' and 'The Same Deep Water as You'. But to me this album as a whole reminds me of walking the streets during a wet and miserable afternoon, alone of course and my clothes, shoes and socks getting progressively more soaked. The slightly murky sound of the album, dense washes of reverb and downbeats moods mirror your view of the streets being distorted by falling rain, a grey and darkened sky and those puddles of water on the footpath that you are trying to avoid stepping into. The music invokes a sense of longing for something and while you are walking the streets in the miserable rain you can't wait to get to the coffee shop to dry off and drink a nice hot latte. Spoiler for Prayers For Rain & The Same Deep Water As You: Burial – Untrue (2007) I've always felt that Untrue has a very unique atmosphere. It's an unmistakably urban album and invokes images of various city centre locations. In a similar way to Disintegration it has that feeling of loneliness but here that feeling seems even more intense and downbeat. It's that moment where the afternoon turns into evening, the streets are getting emptier and emptier and all the while the rain is continuing to pour down. You feel like you should be going home as you sit drinking your latte and staring out the window at the ever darkening and emptying street, a bit darker than normal due to the persistent rain. On your way home you try to avoid making eye-contact with people that might be about and you have that lingering dread of the increased possibility of being mugged. The interesting use of manipulated vocal samples on this album suggest the faint sound of music leaking out onto the street from a nearby shop as you walk closer to it and then further away from it, as you continue on your lonely trudge through the city centre to catch your bus home. Spoiler for Near Dark & Etched Headplate: Ulver – Perdition City (2000) While Ulver's previous albums Bergtatt and Nattens Madrigal conjured images of being lost in a freezing Norwegian forest with wolves and the wind howling around you, Perdition City is something completely different. Here they have traded black metal for electronica and the wilderness for city streets. You have missed the last bus and have to make do with walking through the city centre to get home. This album makes me imagine rain-soaked city streets and dark alleyways at night and an element of danger as you walk through them. It makes me imagine the sound of cars flying past you and distant police sirens, the reflections of lights on the falling rain and on the rain-drenched roads. The feeling of fear and paranoia throughout the album is hard to put my finger on. It's like you have a feeling that you're being followed but in reality you're not. Maybe those shady-looking people standing in the doorway back there are following me and going to jump me. They were definitely looking at me. Suddenly the rain doesn't seem that much of a problem anymore and it's best to just shuffle home as quickly as possible before you are stabbed to death. Spoiler for Lost In Moments & Dead City Centres: __________________ Last FM \| RYM \| The Final Sound

06-21-2013, 04:08 PM	#84 (permalink)
Zer0 ∞ Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Ireland Posts: 3,792	The Real Strawberry Switchblade If you only know Strawberry Switchblade as a pop act who had a one-hit wonder in 1984 with 'Since Yesterday' and for their completely out-there dress sense there's a bit more to them than that. 'Since Yesterday' was a typical slice of cheesy mid-80's post-Madonna synth pop that undoubtedly shows it's age today (although it is a bit of a guilty pleasure). Their subsequent self-titled album varied somewhat from good to almost unbearable. Rewind back to 1982 and you're met with a post-punk indie-pop band who would sound more at home on the Postcard label than as a pop band on Warners. Here's a song from a BBC session which also features James Kirk from Orange Juice on bass. From their aborted 1984 album sessions: It's unclear whether their label forced them into making super-commercial pop music or whether they were just tempted by the prospects of it. It's certainly one of those 'what if' moments, rather than having a short career as one-hit wonders they could have had a completely different career as a cult indie band. There's loads of rare recordings you can download here. __________________ Last FM \| RYM \| The Final Sound

06-23-2013, 11:59 AM	#85 (permalink)
Zer0 ∞ Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Ireland Posts: 3,792	AFI - Sing The Sorrow (2003) Track Listing: 1. Miseria Cantare: The Beginning 2. The Leaving Song pt. II 3. Bleed Black 4. Silver and Cold 5. Dancing Through Sunday 6. Girl's Not Grey 7. Death of Seasons 8. The Great Disappointment 9. Paper Airplanes (Makeshift Wings) 10. This Celluloid Dream 11. The Leaving Song 12. ...but home is nowhere It recently dawned on me that this album is already a decade old. It was one of those important albums in my musical growth and changed the course of what I would listen to over the following decade. Although I didn’t pick up a copy of this until summer 2003 when the album had already been released a few months, but it quickly became the main soundtrack for that summer and the following autumn. Up to that point I was still being exposed to a seemingly endless string of pop-punk bands and nu-metal bands by various music channels and magazines. Seeing the rather strange promo video for ‘Girl’s Not Grey’ offered something a bit different for me, something I could relate to better than the juvenile content of pop-punk and the machoness of nu-metal. AFI was the first modern band that I became genuinely obsessed with. I got as much as their back catalogue as I could, I had the t-shirts and I had the posters on my wall. The last time I listened to this album was three years ago at my mate’s flat in a drunken nostalgia session. Listening to it now feels even more nostalgic and reminds me of who I was and where I was ten years ago. It’s also quite strange listening to it now through a better pair of headphones and noticing far more detail in the sound than I remember hearing. I can probably say that this would not be something I’d listen to if this was my first time to ever listen to it. Some of the lyrics which I thought sounded so different and so mature when I was sixteen now sound a little bit too angsty for my liking although still very well written. This album was probably the first time I genuinely paid close attention to lyrics. My CD booklet is well-thumbed from reading through the pages of lyrics trying to decipher their meaning and trying to get inside the mind of Davey Havok. I try not to let my view of this album be tainted by the hordes of bands which followed in its wake sporting eye-liner and distorted guitars as this album is still a cut above them. While songs like ‘Girl’s Not Grey’, ‘The Leaving Song pt. II’ and ‘Silver and Cold’ don’t seem to pack the punch they once used to there are still some songs on this album that I genuinely enjoy. ‘This Celluloid Dream’ was one of my favourite songs on the album and it still sounds great and wonderfully uplifting today. ‘The Great Disappointment’ was not one of my favourite songs on the album not now it seems to have taken on a different light, perhaps changed by my years exploring the wonders of alternative rock and other music and constantly developing in life. Now it seems like the standout song of the album. ‘Paper Airplanes (Makeshift Wings)’ is another clever song with a catchy shout-along chorus and mysterious imagery. It sounds just as good as it did ten years ago. Back then I felt that ‘Death of Seasons’ was ruined somewhat by a weak and unimaginative chorus and even now I feel that it ruined what could have been a potentially interesting song. The mash-up of post-hardcore and electronic music that it touched on could have been so much more interesting had they executed it better. It seems to me now that the second half of the album sounds better despite the three singles being included in the first. The wait for Decemberunderground three years later was agonising. In those three years I had also moved on to bands like The Cure and The Smashing Pumpkins among others. I was also expecting AFI to grow as a band and take a more mature direction, so you can only imagine my reaction when Decemberunderground dropped. It just didn’t feel right. __________________ Last FM \| RYM \| The Final Sound

07-01-2013, 05:31 PM	#86 (permalink)
Zer0 ∞ Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Ireland Posts: 3,792	Tech Corner So as a little project in my spare time I decided to start creating my own Java-based music player. The inspiration for the current version are Linux music players like Audacious and DeaDBeaF with their simple lightweight layout and use of a file browser rather than built-in media filter like what you get with foobar2000 and WinAmp. It's a bit short on features at the moment but it plays mp3 files pretty well, reads ID3v1 and ID3v2 tags with no problems and displays the album artwork. There's still a few bugs to iron out and features like volume control, seekbar and maybe an user interface redesign to implement. After that my big challenge is to implement Last.fm scrobbling which would awesome if I could get working. I might create a download for it when I create a proper stable version. __________________ Last FM \| RYM \| The Final Sound

07-01-2013, 07:31 PM	#87 (permalink)
YorkeDaddy silky smooth Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Pangaea Posts: 4,079	That seems like a pretty cool little program. I'm curious as to how last.fm scrobbling can be implemented...does it involve you actually getting into contact with the people at last.fm or something so they can approve your program?