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Using yaMPC

yaMPC 1.8/ Last Update: June 11, 2024


Forewords


yaMPC is a client (or remote) app for Music Player Daemon (MPD). You need MPD running before using yaMPC. If you are not familiar with MPD and you have a Raspberry Pi,  installing a pre-configured distribution,  Volumio or MoOde, is the easiest way to run MPD. If you are new to yaMPC, please go through the tutorial first.

Link to yaMPC Tutorial


Player Settings

When you launch yaMPC first time, Player Settings scene is displayed. Enter MPD connection information here. Once you have entered these information, press Save button. Because Name and Server are mandatory fields, you cannot tap Save button until you enter these MPD sever information.

 

MPD Server

Name : any name to distinguish MPD connections 

Server : IP address or hostname of a MPD Server. Using IP address is faster than using hostname to connect with an MPD Server. However, you have to use static IP address for the MPD Server if you use IP address here. (see this blog for Static IP address settings)

 

Example 1 : 192.168.0.9

Example 2 : volumio.local

 

Scan button : Scan your MPD servers and display hostnames and IP addresses. It takes about 10 seconds to detect all of your MPDs. If your MPD is not displayed, cancel "Connection Settings" scene and reopen, wait for about 10 seconds then tap the Scan button again. If still yaMPC cannot detect your MPD, your MPD may not support auto-detection by Zeroconf.

 

Port : Port number. Use the default value 6600 if you did not change MPD setting.

 

Password: MPD password (Optional)

Fast open mode : 

OFF : Get all albums data when connecting to MPD. It takes longer time to launch yaMPC, however, scrolling in Albums scene is faster. It also supports sorting and filtering by artist in Albums scene. Best mode if you have 200 or less albums.

 

ON : Get each album data when its song or the album is actually displayed in yaMPC scenes. Launching yaMPC become much faster, however, scrolling in Albums scene become slower. This mode does NOT support sorting and filtering by artist in Albums scene. Best mode if you have 500 or more albums.

 

If you have 200 to 500 albums, try both ON and OFF and find your preference. 

 

Test button : Tries to connect with MPD using Server and Port entries.

 

If the connection test succeeded and ;

- if you have 500 or less albums, set Fast open mode OFF.

- if you have 501 or more albums, set Fast open mode ON.

- You can change setting of Fast open mode anytime.


If URL field is blank, this menu is displayed by tapping the URL field.
If URL field is blank, this menu is displayed by tapping the URL field.

Cover Art (MPD or HTTP)

If URL field is blank, the menu left is displayed by tapping the URL field. If you use MPD 0.21 or later versions, Volumio 2 or MoOde audio player, URL field is automatically filled by tapping either one.

 

If you use other distribution, tap Other (manual setting) and refer to the Cover-art page.

 

You do not need this step if you do not have to display cover-arts. If this menu is displayed, tap Cancel (no cover-art).

 

MPD/URL : URL for getting album cover art images using HTTP.  Or, "MPD" for getting album cover art images using the albumart command of the MPD Protocol. (MPD 0.21 or later version is required). Using HTTP is recommended over the albumart command because the albumart command will overload MPD. If you do not need to display cover-arts, this field can be blank.

See Cover-art page for more detail.

 

File Name : file name of cover art image files. Default is 'Folder.jpg'.
Note:
File name must be 'cover.jpg' for "MPD 0.21 or later" (the albumart command)

 

Test button : Tries to download a cove-art image using URL and File Name entries.. If it successfully downloads the image file, the cover-art image is displayed just below the button.

 

Note :

Volumio's Queue is not compatible with MPD's queue. Therefore, you cannot use Volumio Web UI and yaMPC simultaneously. Make sure to clear Volumio's Queue (click trash icon at upper right in the Volumio Queue screen) before launching yaMPC. The volume control function in Volumio is detached from MPD too. yaMPC cannot control volume of Volumio.

 

You can display this Player Settings scene anytime by :

Queue

 -> Players button (top left icon)

 -> Player Settings button (cogs icon).



Initial Connection to MPD

Once you tap Save button at the Player Settings scene, the Players scene is displayed. If it is the first time you saved a connection settings, the left message "Connecting to MPD" is displayed.

 

Tap "Continue..." and wait until you will see a checkmark (☑️).

 

If the connection succeeded (and if you entered URL and File Name in the Connections Settings scene), then it asks you whether you want to create album thumbnail cache. Tap "Yes" if you want. (This message is displayed only when Fast open mode is OFF.)

 

Then, yaMPC downloads cover-art images and create thumbnail cache for cover-arts. The left example says yaMPC successfully downloaded 20 cover-arts.

 

 

Then, tap "< Queue..." at top left of the screen and Queue scene will be displayed.

 

You can create or update thumbnail cache any time by Settings(⚙) button -> Update Thumbnail Cache.

 

 

 

To display cover-art, yaMPC needs a cover-art file (default filename is Folder.jpg) in each album folder. See Cover-art page for more detail.



Players

Tap + button to add an MPD player connection setting. If you have saved multiple player settings, Players scene lists all the player settings. Tap one of the player settings to connect with the MPD Server. If yaMPC successfully connect to the MPD, a checkmark (☑️) is displayed..

 

Tap any Settings button (cogs icon) to display its Player Settings scene.

 

To remove a connection setting, tap Edit button to enter edit mode.

 

You can display this scene anytime by :

 Queue

 -> Players (top left icon) button



iPad UI


On an iPad, Queue scene is always displayed in the right view by default (Default iPad UI mode). You can switch PlayAlbumsBrowse and Search scenes in the left view to choose albums and songs. Besides the default, yaMPC has three UI modes for the iPad. (see Settings - iPad UI mode below.)

 

Before using yaMPC with Slide Over or Split View, please once close yaMPC in full screen mode (if it is running), then re-launch yaMPC with Slide Over or Split View.


Loading...

yaMPC loads list of album names, album details like genre, album artists, etc. (only when Fast open mode is OFF) and Queue from MPD. During the period, "Loading..." message is displayed. Once the loading completes, "Queue" is displayed at the scene title. If you feel this step takes too long time, please turn the "Fast open mode" ON.



Queue

Queue scene displays MPD's Queue or Current Playlist and allows you to control music play. Icons on the title bar are:

 

Players button : displays Players scene for selecting MPD Server to connect with.

Settings (⚙) button : displays Settings scene for setting MPD Server and options of yaMPC.

 

Following three icons are below the title bar.

 

Add Playlist button : Save Queue to a playlist.

 

Edit button : Edit Queue. You can delete or move songs in Queue. Press Done button once you finish editing. Hint: This function is mainly for creating a playlist.

 

Clear button : Clear (remove all songs in) Queue.

 

Song list : Tap a song to play the song.

 

Slide bar : Fast Forward or Rewind by moving slide bar.

 

Play control icons : From lower left to right, icons are:

 

Repeat button : toggles repeat play mode. Repeat playing songs in Queue

Random button : toggles random play mode. Play songs in Queue randomly.

Stop button : stops playing song

Previous button : plays the previous song in Queue.

Play/Pause button : toggles Play and Pause.

Next button : plays the next song in Queue.

Volume button : If your MPD Server supports volume setting, displays 'Volume Setting' pop-up. If your MPD Server does not support volume setting, the icon is colored gray.



Playing

Playing scene displays a large album cover-art image of the currently paying song. Play control icons are same as the Queue scene's. 

 

Repeat button : toggles repeat play mode. Repeat playing songs in Queue

Random button : toggles random play mode. Play songs in Queue randomly.

Stop button : stops playing song

Previous button : plays the previous song in Queue.

Play/Pause button : toggles Play and Pause.

Next button : plays the next song in Queue.

Volume button : If your MPD Server supports volume setting, display 'Volume Setting' pop-up. If your MPD Server does not support volume setting, the icon is colored gray.

Info button (' i ' icon right of song title)  : displays song details.

If yaMPC cannot find a cover art file in the MPD's “music directory”, it searches for cover arts in MusicBrainz. (yaMPC 1.6.5 or later version) If it finds a cover art, display it. The following menu is displayed by tapping the cover art.

Next cover art (swipe left)

 

Prev. cover art (swipe right)
Save this cover art

Clear local cache

 

Refer to this blog for details.



Albums

Albums scene displays list of all albums with cover-art image, album title and album artist. yaMPC distinguishes albums by ALBUM tag. If songs have same ALBUM tag, yaMPC considers that they are belong to same album.

 

You can filter albums by album title and/or album artists. Enter text in the search bar and tap Search button to filter albums.

 

Tap any album to list all songs in the album.

 

Play Album button (triangle icon) : default action of tap is clear (remove) all songs in Queue, then add all songs in the album to the Queue, then play the first song in the album . Pop-up menu is displayed by long pressing the Play Album button or tapping the menu button ("..." icon located right of the Play Album button).

 

Pop-up menu of Play Album :

 

Add : adds all songs in the album to Queue.

Play : adds all songs in the album to Queue, then plays the first song in the album .

Clear / Play:  clears (removes) all songs in Queue, then adds all songs in the album to Queue, then plays the first song in the album (default action of single tapping Play Album button)

Cancel : does nothing.

 

Default action of single tapping a song is add the song to the end of Queue. Pop-up menu is displayed by long pressing a song or tapping the menu button ("..." icon).

 

Add : adds the song to the end of Queue. (default action of single tapping a song)

Play Next : adds the song to the next position of current playing song in Queue. If no song is currently played, the song is added to the first position in Queue.

Clear / Play : clears (removes) all songs in Queue, then adds the song to Queue, then plays the song.

Add Album / Play : Adds all songs in the album to Queue, then plays the tapped song.

Clear / Add Album / Play : clears (removes) all songs in Queue, then adds all songs in the album to Queue, then plays the tapped song.

Cancel : does nothing

 

You can change the default actions of single tap by :

Queue -> Settings (⚙ icon)

-> Default Album Play Mode

-> Default Song Play Mode



Settings

Queue -> Settings (⚙) button displays Settings scene. You can control MPD and set default behavior of yaMPC here.

 

yaMPC General

About yaMPC

Online Manual

Support: displays our support page

 

Outputs

Enable or disable each audio output of MPD. If you defined multiple "audio_output" in the mpd.conf file, all output names are displayed in this section.

 

MPD Server

Consume mode: Enable or disalbe consume mode.

 

Update MPD database : find new files, remove deleted files, update modified files.

 

Rescan all music files : like Update MPD database, but also rescans unmodified files.

 

Update thumbnail cache : download album cover-art images then add album thumbnail cache. If you have changed existing cover-art files, tap Clear thumbnail cache before tapping this command.

 

Clear all local cache : remove all the thumbnail cache, cover art cache and URL Session cache

 

Statistical info : display MPD statistical information

 

Albums Sort Order

Title: Sort albums in Albums scene by album title. (Default)

 

Artist: Sort albums in Albums scene by artist. (Available only when Fast open mode is OFF) Priority of tags used for sorting are:

 

1. ALBUM_ARTIST_SORT

2. ARTIST_SORT

3. ALBUM_ARTIST (ignore "The" in album artist names for sorting)

4. ARTIST (ignore "The" in artist names for sorting)

 

Cover Art in Row (Portrait)

2 : Display two album cover-arts in row in Album scene.

    (Good for iPhone)

3 : Display three album cover-arts in row in Album scene.

    (Default. Best for iPhone and iPad)

4 : Display four album cover-arts in row in Album scene.

    (Good for iPad master-detail UI)

5 : Display five album cover-arts in row in Album scene.

    (Good for iPad single view UI)

 

Thumbnail Resolution

Low : Use thumbnail size in Queue scene for thumbnail cache resolution. 

          (Default)

Hight (for iPad) : Use thumbnail size in Albums scene for thumbnail cache resolution.

 

Album Tap: specify default behavior of single tap the Play Album button.

Add : add all songs in the album to Queue.

 

Play : add all songs in the album to Queue, then play the first song in the album .

 

Clear / Play : clear (remove) all songs in Queue, then add all songs in the album to Queue, then play the first song in the album. (Default)

 

Song Tap : specify default behavior of single tap a song

Add : add the song to the end of Queue. (Default)

 

Play Next : add the song to the next position of current playing song in Queue. If no song is currently played, the song song is added to the first position in Queue.

 

Clear / Play : clear (remove) all songs in Queue, then add the song to Queue, then play the song.

 

Add Album / Play : Add all songs in the album to Queue, then play the tapped song.

 

Clear / Add Album / Play : clear (remove) all songs in Queue, then add all songs in the album to Queue, then play the tapped song.

 

Artist Browse Mode :

Album Artist: uses ALBUM_ARTIST tag to browse artist in the Browse scene

Artistuses ARTIST tag to browse artist in the Browse scene


MusicBrainz API: Enable or disable using MusicBrainz API to search for cover arts. (see: this blog)

 

iPad UI mode : (iPad only)

Default iPad View: always displays Queue scene. (Default)

iPhone View: single view as iPhone UI

Album Cover View: alwasy displays album cover.

see this blog for more detail.

 

Auto-return: (Default iPad View mode only)

Playing: Play a song and automatically return to the Playing scene after the specified time.

AlbumsPlay a song and automatically return to the Albums scene after the specified time.

None: Do not return automatically (Default)

 

Song Info Bar (Album Cover View mode only)

Hidden in 5 sec.: Song Info Bar will be hidden in 5 sec. (Default)

Hidden in 10 sec.: Song Info Bar will be hidden in 10 sec.

Always Visible: continue to be displayed unless you tap it.



In-App-Purchase

All the above features of yaMPC are FREE.

 

When you try to play songs in Browse scene or Search scene, the In-App-Purchase scene is displayed like left picture. To purchase a license, tap the "Full Function License xxxx" button. Where xxxx is price of the yaMPC license in your local currency.

 

If you purchased the license before and re-installed yaMPC, tap the "Restore License" button to activate your license again.

 

You can fully control MPD with the FREE features only, however, by purchasing the Full Function license, you can use the Advanced Browse and Search features below.

 



Browse (In-App-Purchase is required)

The Browse scene lists Genre, Artists, Composer, Playlist or Folder by tapping an icon. You can filter the lists by entering text in the search bar. For example, if you tap the Composer icon, composer names are listed. Then, if you type "Ba", the list is filtered by "ba" (case insensitive), hence, Bach, Bartók, Sebastian, etc. match and are displayed.

 

Tapping an item in Genre, Artist or Composer list displays related albums. Tapping an album displays songs in the album.

Long pressing an item in Genre, Artist or Composer list (or tapping its menu button) displays a pop-up menu.

 

Add : Add all matched songs to Queue.

Play : Add all matched songs to Queue, then start playing.

Clear / Play : Clear Queue, add all matched songs to Queue, then start playing.

Cancel : Cancel adding songs.

 

If number of matched songs is larger 100, a warning message (It will take long time.) is displayed. Adding too many (thousands of) songs to Queue not only takes long time but impacts on performance of yaMPC because yaMPC gets all songs in Queue to display them in Queue scene. Tapping Cancel is recommended if matched songs exceeds 1000.

 

Tapping an item in Playlist list, the playlist is loaded to Queue. Edit button is displayed only when Playlist list is displayed. You can remove a playlist in Edit mode. Long pressing a playlist item (or tapping its menu button) displays a pop-up menu.

 

Tapping Folder icon displays folders or files under music folder in MPD. If you tap a folder, items under the folder is displayed. If you tap a song, the song is added to Queue. Long pressing a song (or tapping its menu button) displays a pop-up menu. Long pressing a folder (or tapping its menu button) displays a pop-up menu as well.

 

Settings scene Artist Browse Mode: 

 

Album Artist : Display list of ALBUM_ARTIST tags when the Artist icons is tapped.

Artist : Display list of ARTIST tags when the Artist icons is tapped. 



Search (In-App-Purchase is required)

Search scene allows you to search songs by TITLE tag, ARTIST tag or any tag. To search, choose search scope (Title, Artist or Any), then enter search text in the search bar, then press Search button. Matched songs are listed.

 

If you tap a song, the song is played. Pop-up menu is displayed by long pressing a song or tapping its menu button ("..." icon).