the only sane option would be to have the 2.x DNAS accept the artwork in a way that would work with 1.x sources (which would make most sense to be done as a PUT request - sort of like how 1.x title updates are done via the admin.cgi?mode=updinfo... request) which then allows things to be done irrespective of the source and source protocol (as the 2.x protocol is never going to see widespread adoption - that ship was long since missed from when that could possibly have worked and it's generally better the DNAS fits in with the protocols actually being used for playback - hence the dropping of the ICY protocol with the 2.4x releases).

Roger, as I said in previous posts, extracting images from Shoutcast server is simply downloading an image from URL: http://server:port/playingart?sid=1 (change server, port, sid values of course).

It's nothing major, and, most important, people do expect artwork to work on live streams too, not for AutoDJ only. We've received countless support requests about it and I'm about to start redirecting all those people to Centova support.

the point you're missing is that for it to be implemented, it needs to work consistently irrespective of the source, etc being used. yes you've got things setup correctly and all that, but for the vast majority it is not and would not work and would just be called out as a buggy feature.

hence why for Centova to realistically consider implementing this (as Roger has alluded to), it needs things on the DNAS side to allow it to work irrespective of the source so that it could then reliably be known to "work". and that's not even taking into account that I'm pretty certain there is no such functionality on the Icecast side...

but as is still being ignored, most listener software cannot / will not recognise such artwork unless you've got a specific player or it's also coded to leverage the methods the DNAS provides (and with the HTML5 world we're now in, most players don't want to do anything that involves format specific 'hacks'). so I'm sure you're getting loads of requests but from the SHOUTcast side of the fence, there have been no formal requests for anything about this either due to people not telling us or in all brutal honesty, they just don't care about it.

the only sane option would be to have the 2.x DNAS accept the artwork in a way that would work with 1.x sources (which would make most sense to be done as a PUT request - sort of like how 1.x title updates are done via the admin.cgi?mode=updinfo... request) which then allows things to be done irrespective of the source and source protocol (as the 2.x protocol is never going to see widespread adoption - that ship was long since missed from when that could possibly have worked and it's generally better the DNAS fits in with the protocols actually being used for playback - hence the dropping of the ICY protocol with the 2.4x releases).

That makes a lot of sense, if this feature can make its way into DNAS v2.x and the DSP plugin, other sources (and Centova Cast) will likely follow.

Roger, as I said in previous posts, extracting images from Shoutcast server is simply downloading an image from URL: http://server:port/playingart?sid=1 (change server, port, sid values of course).

Yes, we are past that point 3 posts ago thanks to Dro's clarification, and as I've said in my last message this feature is now in our internal tracker for consideration, but it will likely remain low priority until we find a way to make it work with autoDJ (and other v1 protocol sources) too.

It's nothing major,

That's where you're wrong, there are many considerations  to implementing such a feature and not all of them are under Centova Cast's control.

and, most important, people do expect artwork to work on live streams too, not for AutoDJ only.

I agree, however (as Dro has also pointed out), supporting v2 protocol compatible sources only will leave us in the same place, since people will also expect this feature to work with any source and with the multiple DJ accounts feature, which requires the remote source to connect to a middle man (Liquidsoap) that doesn't support v2 protocol.

I'm not sure if you're aware of this or not, but Dro has been the lead developer of Shoutcast for many years, so maybe he has an idea or two on how to go about solving this problem .

We've received countless support requests about it and I'm about to start redirecting all those people to Centova support.

Absolutely, despite the obvious (and terrifying  ) threat of spam, this is exactly what you should do, getting your "countless" clients to register and vote for this feature here in the forum will certainly help our developers see the importance of investing in its development.

Same goes for the Shoutcast forums, getting a lot of interested people to request this feature on their side will greatly help speed development along.

What I'm trying to say, is that limited support is better than no support at all.

Currently Centova does not support artwork for live streams, while customers expect and need it.

I ask to add at least Shoutcast v2 artwork support. It's not much work to do, but at least, the feature will work for people who use Shoutcast v2 protocol. This looks like a good start to me...

Currently we simply tell them to include artwork using simple HTML code like
<img src="http://server:port/playingart?sid=1" />

It works if they need to simply show the currently playing track artwork, but no Centova widgets work (e.g. song history shows empty artwork).

I'd love to see if this is being worked on yet. Even something simple like using one of many APIs available to look up album art. iTunes would work for example, just search by the song and track title. This would at least be better than the nothing we have now!

Perhaps another option would be to create a centova player that you guys could roll out rather than levy solutions such as muses or the other one you guys have.  Here is one by abovecast which will fetch song images from amazon based on the title data pulled from the dnas: http://abovecast.com/solutions/configure-player/ not sure if that helps.

Dunno if it's of any use on the matter or not now, (i'd forgotten about this at the time) but the older 1.x protocol could also have a 'streamurl' provided as part of the in-stream metadata which I've seen a few stations use to include a link to artwork (either hosted themselves or from a look-up service).

So as long as the source being used (1.x or 2.x) can somehow provide it either as a link then at least with recent(ish) 2.x DNAS it's then possible to query the DNAS for that information and in-turn use it with an external player, etc. Also I cannot remember which 2.x DNAS version it's in but the updinfo action can accept an 'url' parameter which is the equivalent of the 1.x in-stream option.

But it still all comes down to lack of consistency between what people are using, how the data can be obtained, how it can be sent in the first place and just what the end player being used is as to whether it can even leverage any of this (with so much being done via HTML5 players.

But really the best thing is a time machine & knowing what was needed from the start instead of trying to patch it in later when it's basically too late to do such things (to gain the level of traction needed) due to how the general playback formats adopted work however much it's annoying / not helpful for those using the software that can allow them to more easily achieve the desired result *shrugs*

-dro

But really the best thing is a time machine & knowing what was needed from the start instead of trying to patch it in later when it's basically too late to do such things (to gain the level of traction needed) due to how the general playback formats adopted work however much it's annoying / not helpful for those using the software that can allow them to more easily achieve the desired result *shrugs*

-dro

+1 for a time machine :d

But seriously this is not hard to, both Centova Cast and Muses have plugin functionality that can be used to address this issue, it's just that nobody cares enough to vote for this feature, which sadly remains with 2 votes.

Is always hard to know what the silent majority want or if it's just simpler to just implement x, y & z and provide the feature whether or not it's going to see widespread usage or not.

As I see it pointless to implement anything from a business view point (due to time & dev expenses) if there's not the clear demand but then the coder in me goes with what the heck just add it and see how people end up using it as they might not know that's what they wanted / needed until they then see it there and working.

So a bit of a catch-22 imho. Is just a shame I never got the time to sort out a way for the DNAS to just accept artwork from whatever source so that the option heisenberg mentioned could have been more effective (but that's thinking in the wider environment of anything being able to connect to the DNAS to get the information wanted). So yeah, a time machine or a clone (or few) would be my solution for all of this un-helpful ramblings

-dro

Hello,

I just wanted to give my two cents to this discussion as i have been following this topic for a few months now. I currently run a internet radio station using Centova for quite some time now but i too would like to see a way to incorporate album artwork for live streaming. Obviously i have been told much like you have that right now its not possible or at least feasible at this time to do that.

Currently while using the AutoDJ to which i update new music to the Centova server weekly in order to show the artwork it either has to be in the metadata or i have to search online, copy the link location of the artwork and add it to the file manually (which is fine as its rare when i have to do that). But if the artwork isnt previously attached to the mp3 file than how does the Centova server know to grab it from the link i provided? Im not a coder or anything so please excuse my ignorance in this case but wouldnt or couldnt there be a way to use the same system that we currently use for linking artwork to files on the AutoDJ server and utilizing it for live streaming?

Also, i know in past builds for the Centova Cast platform they used to have an option for where to pull artwork from (I.E. Folder/Last FM/Amazon/ Etc). Why did Centova do away with that option for pulling artwork? I know that for myself the type and style of music i play on my station that Last FM would probably be quite helpful in that regard outside of the things that are working currently.

Anyway, i just wanted to see what you all thought about this as im still hoping for a way to get the artwork to show up for live streaming.

Thanks for your time!

I would also like to see the album art feature work with live streaming. I stream from StationPlaylist, and the integrated streamer software includes artwork with the metadata so the necessary information should be available to the Centova server. At the very least please provide an option to remove the question mark image next to the song information. I understand that album art display capability can be coded if there is sufficient reason to do so. I registered on the forum, voted and posted just to support the addition of this feature. I urge all who would like to see live stream album art display on Centova to do the same. Ten minutes well spent to weigh in on the topic. Thanks.

I would also like to see the album art feature work with live streaming. I stream from StationPlaylist, and the integrated streamer software includes artwork with the metadata so the necessary information should be available to the Centova server. At the very least please provide an option to remove the question mark image next to the song information. I understand that album art display capability can be coded if there is sufficient reason to do so. I registered on the forum, voted and posted just to support the addition of this feature. I urge all who would like to see live stream album art display on Centova to do the same. Ten minutes well spent to weigh in on the topic. Thanks.

Hello WJIM,

Sadly this feature request only has 6 votes, which makes it unlikely to be considered on a popularity basis at this time.

As for your other suggestion(s), you may want to make a separate feature request for those.


Regards.