Re: xAP-Media Schema

[Kevin Hawkins <yahoogroupskh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Glenn,

I'll have a peruse and send you some thoughts - this type of schema
is always one that can grow to encompass all sorts of areas which can
make it really difficult to define.  There are a few things that
immediately spring to mind (eg cover art, record, source / zone control
, zone linking/synching, streaming source selection etc ) but I'll have
a think before I respond.

Lots of people will have a different take on this as they have
different devices .  I mainly use Sonos for my music nowadays that I
have kludged xAP control onto using the older schema but it mainly
suffices for transport and status reporting  . I have nice touchscreen
designs that control this and link in with the general AV switching.  I
have ignored playlist management to date as I use it surprisingly little
although I do use some simple 'queue' management which is much the
same.   I hope that the people using SlimServer and other systems input
their thoughts. Since Sonos I do use SlimServer a little but not as much
as I used to...  the new Jive remote may change that though, especially
if it had some HA integration.

One feature I use extensively though is searching for music either
within my existing library or on one of the 'on demand'  services (
Rhapsody, Napster etc) and also selection of 'themed' streaming sources
like Pandora, LastFM.  I suppose playing by 'genre' from a library is a
similar idea - with things like MusicMatch making this even tighter -
the 'more music like this' type of thing..

When playing from a streaming  type source like internet radio I
have a button on the touchscreen (or IR remote) to store details of the
current playing track for later use.  I often hear something I like and
then use Napster or Rhapsody to explore more from that artist and
augment my library, or buy a CD.   I am finding increasingly that these
on demand type services are much more useful than my own libaries and I
can see them becoming the norm for people.  I would like the xAP schema
to fully embrace these external music sources.

One last thing - this schema by definition is quite wide in terms of
media .  Audio, video, images...etc.   As such maybe it should  take in
recording aspects and even envelop the video recorder ?   I have long
wanted to integrate xAP TV with my Tivo or Topfield and being able to
pass record requests to a PVR in a formal way would be ideal (as well as
manage the playback of existing material).    This gets into the record
by time/program name/channel  scenario ...and overlap with internet
radio too for the recording of broadcasts and the BBC type listen again
services.    .

This whole area possibly isn't of interest to you within what
you're trying to do with MediaNet and I think would likely be best
addressed as a separate but co-ordinated  proposal - but ensuring it
dovetails within the existing schema.   Many a schema has floundered
because to be complete is just too much work to get it right. I would
far rather see small aspects addressed - and features augmented later.
What we do need to consider from the start though is making the general
approach flexible and inkeeping to allow these features to be dropped in
seamlessly later.   What do people think about this ?

cheers Kevin


Sullivan, Glenn wrote:
> Attached please find a proposed schema for generic Media Devices,
> designed to supplement/replace the existing xAP-Audio schema.
>
> I am open to comments... This will be a living document for a while,
so
> if you have suggestions for additions/subtractions/changes, please let
> me know.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Glenn
>
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> Yahoo! Groups Links
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