Naim app update

Tidal was a bit stubborn to get going for few minutes (log on screen kept appearing). But seems fine now.  App v5.5

It's good to see they've finally sorted the artwork problem...after a fashion. It's no longer being pushed up off the top of the screen if the album concerned has fewer than six tracks. However, WHY does the artwork of a playing album have to be so small and crammed into the top left hand corner of the iPod screen? It's actually smaller than when I'm browsing composers with the artwork thumbnails at their largest size. Why is the playing album thumbnail not at least the same size as that? It looks like an afterthought with the track listing now below the artwork instead of at the side. I've spent countless hours getting my artwork just so at 600 x 600 pixels to now have it reduced to a barely readable afterthought when the album is selected.

On the whole I'm less than impressed. Also the changed positioning of the playing album's track listing looks like change for its own sake.

I've also discovered that if an album has more tracks than can be accommodated and you have to scroll down to see the rest, you lose the artwork which stays at the top of the track list and is scrolled out of sight. This is dismal programming and has all the hallmarks of having been designed by someone who doesn't use the app. In the previous version the track list scrolled and the artwork stayed where it was. Why did that have to change???

I'm guessing the reason is they need the room for the new "play now" and booklet icons. I suppose the former is an enhancement over the 3 dots menu.

The "play now" button is an improvement but does it have to push the artwork into a corner? They could have kept the artwork the size it was previously, centered it at the top of the screen and put the new button underneath it. It's not that big that everything else has to move to accommodate it. They could also have arranged for the tracklisting to scroll if necessary without having the artwork disappear when it does.

I do agree that the artwork should be centered on the screen. It does look odd placed over to one side when there is no need to do so.

Not sure why the track list doesn't scroll unless this is not compatible with having the new control icons positioned where they are.

I am also not very happy with the updated app. As I mentioned in an earlier post I am using Squeezepad to control my pi. This shows, in my opinion, how the control app should be done - nice large album cover, lots of "external" info if you need it and very clear and easy to use.

I've found that, when playing music, if you tap the 'book' symbol you are taken to a screen which offers 'More'. Tapping this offers, eg a Google search on the artist. Once you have made this search the 'Cancel' button (bottom right) does not work and you are stuck on the search screen. The app has to be rebooted to restore functionality.

Since the update my uPnP servers are messing about somewhat. I have a mac mini running a copy of Asset with wav files and an Ubuntu server running a copy of Asset for mp3 files. The Ubuntu box shows up right away, but the mac-mini is hit and miss. Both pcs are connected to the same switch albeit the mac-mini goes via a bridged Airport time capsule. However prior to the update it was working fine with this setup.

Richard Morris posted:

I've found that, when playing music, if you tap the 'book' symbol you are taken to a screen which offers 'More'. Tapping this offers, eg a Google search on the artist. Once you have made this search the 'Cancel' button (bottom right) does not work and you are stuck on the search screen. The app has to be rebooted to restore functionality.

If you open the booklet and select the "Find on Amazon" option you cannot close the Amazon link by tapping the "done" button to return to the booklet and you have to close and reopen the app.

The app is back to its glitchy days of yore for me, freezing almost every time I use it until I kill the screen and start again. Great.

sjbabbey posted:

Richard Morris posted:

I've found that, when playing music, if you tap the 'book' symbol you are taken to a screen which offers 'More'. Tapping this offers, eg a Google search on the artist. Once you have made this search the 'Cancel' button (bottom right) does not work and you are stuck on the search screen. The app has to be rebooted to restore functionality.

If you open the booklet and select the "Find on Amazon" option you cannot close the Amazon link by tapping the "done" button to return to the booklet and you have to close and reopen the app.

You are right! We didn't find that in the beta test.

Closing the app & reopening didn't work for me,  I've also closed the app & closed the iPad cover,  the Amazon screen seems to have superglued to the Naim app.    I found that only power cycling the iPad gets it back to normal.    

Hungryhalibut posted:

sjbabbey posted:

Richard Morris posted:

I've found that, when playing music, if you tap the 'book' symbol you are taken to a screen which offers 'More'. Tapping this offers, eg a Google search on the artist. Once you have made this search the 'Cancel' button (bottom right) does not work and you are stuck on the search screen. The app has to be rebooted to restore functionality.

If you open the booklet and select the "Find on Amazon" option you cannot close the Amazon link by tapping the "done" button to return to the booklet and you have to close and reopen the app.

You are right! We didn't find that in the beta test.

HH, how could beta testing not reveal the Amazon glitch? Am I the only one old fashioned enough to see what people say about the CD?

Because most of us didn't see it. I never had this problem personally.

best

David

David,

are you able to confirm whether there is a testing script you follow to check all the functionality of the app?

David Hendon posted:

Because most of us didn't see it. I never had this problem personally.

Ditto  .............  I tried the Rovi function a few times, & as usual amused & frustrated that many times it fails to show the correct album (its a bit of a chocolate ash tray these days) .  But that aside I have never actually used the Amazon link,  I don't buy CD's & so have no interest in Amazon as such  -  but I admit to not checking the Amazon link

Mike-B posted:

David Hendon posted:

Because most of us didn't see it. I never had this problem personally.

Ditto  .............  I tried the Rovi function a few times, & as usual amused & frustrated that many times it fails to show the correct album (its a bit of a chocolate ash tray these days) .  But that aside I have never actually used the Amazon link,  I don't buy CD's & have no interest in Amazon as such  -  but I admit to not checking the Amazon link

My interest in the Amazon link is that it is a gateway to user reviews of the specific recording, particularly useful e.g. If I am trying to decide to to buy a 24 bit download, and Rovi has no information other than the general artist information.

I realise that David O',  & to be fair to Amazon I do use them to read up on album reviews.  But when I do that I'm on either my 15inch laptop or 21inch PC screen & have one of the HiRes download vendors & PayPal lined up.     Plus reading Amazon on a 7inch iPad screen is a PITA 

Mike-B posted:

I realise that David O',  & to be fair to Amazon I do use them to read up on album reviews.  But when I do that I'm on either my 15inch laptop or 21inch PC screen & have one of the HiRes download vendors & PayPal lined up.     Plus reading Amazon on a 7inch iPad screen is a PITA 

Mike, my IPad Air is my window to my music, and the 9.7" screen (and zoomable) is the perfect companion, except when a trusty App suddenly turns on me! 

David

David O'Higgins posted:

Mike-B posted:

I realise that David O',  & to be fair to Amazon I do use them to read up on album reviews.  But when I do that I'm on either my 15inch laptop or 21inch PC screen & have one of the HiRes download vendors & PayPal lined up.     Plus reading Amazon on a 7inch iPad screen is a PITA 

Mike, my IPad Air is my window to my music, and the 9.7" screen (and zoomable) is the perfect companion, except when a trusty App suddenly turns on me! 

David

David - what can we say.... I too missed it during the testing. Thank you for pointing this one out - will certainly be on the 'to check' list.

Adam

Mike, may I also add that the Roon approach has much to recommend it, in that it allows you a second chance before executing your request. It is invaluable when you have visitors, but also gets over those 'tired and emotional' moments which come to most of us occasionally!

Hungryhalibut posted:

sjbabbey posted:

Richard Morris posted:

I've found that, when playing music, if you tap the 'book' symbol you are taken to a screen which offers 'More'. Tapping this offers, eg a Google search on the artist. Once you have made this search the 'Cancel' button (bottom right) does not work and you are stuck on the search screen. The app has to be rebooted to restore functionality.

If you open the booklet and select the "Find on Amazon" option you cannot close the Amazon link by tapping the "done" button to return to the booklet and you have to close and reopen the app.

You are right! We didn't find that in the beta test.

I've confirmed this and logged it for the software guys to attend to...

Best

Phil

Something else to add to the list of stuff to fix...

The Android app was updated to version 2, and on my Sony Xperia Z3 compact, I encounter behaviour (at variance with the previous version) which I find rather annoying.

If I select UPnP as source and select some songs to play and then 'swipe' the app i.e. close it, when I return and re-open the app, I can see that the UPnP icon is 'selected', but when I click on it, I am returned not to the last item I selected, but to the UPnP servers at root level, and I then have a five-, six- or seven- step to re-navigate back to the actual music!!

Is this intentional, because it makes the app so much less user-friendly!!  BAHHH!!

blag posted:

Something else to add to the list of stuff to fix...

The Android app was updated to version 2, and on my Sony Xperia Z3 compact, I encounter behaviour (at variance with the previous version) which I find rather annoying.

If I select UPnP as source and select some songs to play and then 'swipe' the app i.e. close it, when I return and re-open the app, I can see that the UPnP icon is 'selected', but when I click on it, I am returned not to the last item I selected, but to the UPnP servers at root level, and I then have a five-, six- or seven- step to re-navigate back to the actual music!!

Is this intentional, because it makes the app so much less user-friendly!!  BAHHH!!

This is quite logical - if the app is closed completely, when it re-opens it has 'no memory' to remember where you were browsing. So it starts from scratch.