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View Full Version : Control Winamp remotely with RemoteAmp


Jason Dunn
08-12-2002, 08:10 PM
<a href="http://www.smashcasi.com/">http://www.smashcasi.com/</a><br /><br />Ever wanted to control Winamp running on your desktop PC using a wireless Pocket PC? Now you can! It currently doesn't work with Winamp 3, but they're working on adding support. Maybe they can add support for my Microsoft Natural keyboard while they're at it - I'm ticked Winamp 3 lacks the support that Winamp 2.x had for the media buttons on this keyboard. But back to this app...<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/remoteamp.gif" /><br /><br />"RemoteAmp is a Pocket PC remote control client for Nullsoft's Winamp audio player. It operates over any TCP/IP connection and allows you to control playback, edit and build your own playlists, adjust the volume, and so forth."<br /><br />• Free Upgrades for Registered Users <br />• Dynamic, Drag and Drop Playlist Editing <br />• Automated Media Library Generation <br />• Support for all Winamp-playable File Types <br />• Support for ID3V1 and ID3V2 Tags <br />• Fully Skinnable Interface

Mr. Anonymous
08-12-2002, 08:31 PM
Oh, but Winamp 3 CAN support the media buttons on most keyboards. Just install the Winamp 2.x plugin manager:

http://members.telocity.com/~schweitn/wa3/wa2mgr/main.html

Work like a charm on my box with Winamp 3 and a Microsoft Internet Pro keyboard.

kagayaki1
08-12-2002, 08:38 PM
Mark Majeres' iRemote has been doing Winamp control via TCP/IP for a long time. Almost every detail of RemoteAmp mirrors iRemote, including the free upgrades for life. It would be interesting to see which perfoms better, especially with Mark's attention to immediate consumer feedback, and his critical goal of continuous large playlist loading improvement.

www.mcmajeres.com

-Jason

yellow1
08-12-2002, 08:42 PM
...but there are already free html based solutions out there to control winamp.
Snowcrash - http://www.mp3pirate.com/snowcrash/
Webamp - http://www.ulfco.com/webamp/

I prefer Snowcrash because it lets you change the volume, but bot hwork equally well.

kagayaki1
08-12-2002, 08:52 PM
I like the ideas for the HTML based versions, but here's the counter: how do they render on Pocket Internet Explorer........... :roll:

That's what purchasing this software provides you: a dedicated Windows CE piece of software, that's properly formated for the screen size, and will continue to be updated for the platform, even if MS decides to release a new version of CE.

-Jason

Jason Dunn
08-12-2002, 09:06 PM
Oh, but Winamp 3 CAN support the media buttons on most keyboards. Just install the Winamp 2.x plugin manager:
http://members.telocity.com/~schweitn/wa3/wa2mgr/main.html
Work like a charm on my box with Winamp 3 and a Microsoft Internet Pro keyboard.

Ok, so now I can use Winamp 2.x plugins - now what? I went to winamp.com to look for a plugin that would allow me use the keyboard buttons:

http://www.winamp.com/components3/

And their entire database seems to be broken...what plugin do you have that I should be looking for? :-D

JonnoB
08-12-2002, 09:44 PM
http://www.winamp.com/components3/

And their entire database seems to be broken...what plugin do you have that I should be looking for? :-D

There aren't many WinAmp3 plug-ins... to see the v2 plugins, you have to click on the WinAmp2 logo at the top right first.

Foo Fighter
08-12-2002, 09:46 PM
This looks really cool. There used to be a program for PalmOS called PalmAmp that allowed you to control WinAmp via the cradle. It was a flop (for obvious reasons). This app is something I might actually want to use.

By the way, WinAmp 3.0 rocks! But what's up with the skin section to Nullsoft's site? I keep getting null search results under every category. :cry:

JonnoB
08-12-2002, 09:51 PM
By the way, WinAmp 3.0 rocks! But what's up with the skin section to Nullsoft's site? I keep getting null search results under every category. :cry:

I think it is so new that there just isn't much in terms of skins, plug-ins, etc... I hope that people jump on the WA3 as they did with earlier WinAmp versions. It is the third party plug-in community that made WA so popular... that - and being one of the first of the free MP3 players.

[Cruzer]
08-12-2002, 10:42 PM
forget all this remote control stuff.... where's winamp for the pocktpc. Thats what I want to see... I know this has been discussed before....

Mr. Anonymous
08-12-2002, 11:27 PM
All I had to do was install the Winamp 2.x plugin manager to get Winamp 3 to recognize keyboard signals from my keyboard's multimedia buttons. There are no plugins to install, just the manager itself which in addition to handling plugins allows Winamp 3 to receive keyboard events in Winamp 2 format.

smashcasi
08-13-2002, 12:29 AM
Wow, I sure wasn't expecting this kind of response! My thanks to Jason and Pocket PC Thoughts for the publicity and to all for the kind words.

Given that a few of you have had the opportunity to try the app now, does anyone have any comments on things they'd like to see added and/or changed? More importantly, has anyone run into any immediate issues that I need to address? I know that for many Winamp3 support will be a big issue. Unfortunately the 2.x Plugin Manager component doesn't yet provide all of the functionality that RemoteAmp needs for playlist editing, though it does allow basic control. Time permitting, I hope to have my own solution out within the next week.

In any case, my thanks again and enjoy the app!

JonnoB
08-13-2002, 12:38 AM
Smashcasi -
Here are a couple suggestions:

1) Zones support... allow multiple connections to multiple WinAmps on different hosts or multiple WinAmp instances on a single host managing output to different rooms (different sound cards, etc)
2) Visualization control... Start/Stop visualization or change visualization to another module. This is handy when using Pocket PC at a party and monitor output is on a big screen!

Foo Fighter
08-13-2002, 12:43 AM
How about a skinnable UI?

JonnoB
08-13-2002, 12:50 AM
How about a skinnable UI?

Take a look at the site http://www.smashcasi.com/... the last link in the highlights section reads: Fully Skinnable Interface

Foo Fighter
08-13-2002, 12:55 AM
How about a skinnable UI?

Take a look at the site http://www.smashcasi.com/... the last link in the highlights section reads: Fully Skinnable Interface

Doh! :drinking:

smashcasi
08-13-2002, 02:21 AM
Foo Fighter: Yes, the interface is fully skinnable. I'm working on an additional skin and some documentation now to illustrate exactly how this works. If you want to start playing around right away you can take a look at the \skins\default directory on your Pocket PC under wherever you happen to have installed the program. The default.skin file controls everything and I included a few comments to explain how the unique items work. To make a new skin show up in the skin list just create a folder and a x.skin file with a new name. So if you wanted to create a skin called "newskin" you'd need to have a \skins\newskin folder and inside a file called newskin.skin.

JonnoB: Control of multiple instances is definitely on the list. Winamp3 compatibility comes first, but that will probably be the next thing to include.

Vis control would be a very good idea, I'll look into how this might be done.

Thanks for the suggestions!

Jason Dunn
08-13-2002, 04:21 AM
All I had to do was install the Winamp 2.x plugin manager to get Winamp 3 to recognize keyboard signals from my keyboard's multimedia buttons. There are no plugins to install, just the manager itself which in addition to handling plugins allows Winamp 3 to receive keyboard events in Winamp 2 format.

Well I'll be damned!! It worked like a charm - it didn't even occur to me to try the buttons again. ;-)