Aocate, Inc.

Three new high-priority bugs were filed on the speedup library yesterday. There are now four bugs I need to fix before going to a broader release and the three filed yesterday all seem to have very subtle causes. Given the turnaround time I’ve seen on evaluating test APKs, I don’t think I will feel secure enough to release on March 14.

There was some discussion on Android Issue 1961 about how good Osplay is, which is awesome, but it means I need to reveal something I’ve been keeping under wraps. Here’s a copy of a message I posted in response to Issue 1961:

I’m the developer of Osplay. I was keeping this under wraps, but in the interest of saving people money…

I have completed the majority of the work on a (nearly) drop-in replacement for MediaPlayer that adds this functionality for MP3 and Ogg Vorbis files by connecting to an upcoming Service app. If that Service app is installed, that (nearly) drop-in MediaPlayer connects to it and uses the same methods that Osplay and Practice Makes Perfect do to provide speed and pitch adjustment. What this means is that any application can have this functionality if a) the developer uses the (nearly) drop-in MediaPlayer, and b) the end user has this Service app installed.

I’m hoping to backport the Service to Osplay itself, but I cannot guarantee that I will do so. The major issue is Osplay’s startup overhead is significant, which would lead to apparently degraded performance in other applications. This is unacceptable.

This Service is officially in closed beta, but I suppose with this post, the cat’s out of the bag now.

If you are a developer with an application on the Android Market that could make use of this functionality, please e-mail me and I’ll get you included, unless making this post leads to overwhelming interest.

If you are a user that already has an audio player you like, contact the developer and have them get in touch with me so that their application may be included in the development process. When the Service app is available on the Android Market, I will make a follow-up post here.

I am hoping to release an open beta to the Android Market no later than March 14, 2011, but this depends on what bugs are found as others try the Service. I would rather release late than release with show-stopping bugs. I also cannot yet say what the price will be.

After much thought, I have decided to cease work on Osplay and Practice Makes Perfect due to poor revenues. I will fix critical bugs, but there will be no new features.

New in 1.0.13:

Bug fixes
Add “Audio Directory (from file system)” and “Audio File (from file system)” which bypass the MediaStore. Audio Directory is the best way to load AmblingBooks files.
Files now analyzed for MIME-Type if they’re not in the MediaStore (meaning files that don’t have the right extension can still be opened with speed control if they are in the right format)
Scan media when Select Media Activity started
Support for editing playlists from the Select Media (long-click) or Play Media (press Menu) screens

I released Osplay 1.0.6 1.0.7 today. 1.0.6 had a problem on some systems with upgrading the database which was fixed by 1.0.7. This most notably can accept the VIEW Intent, so audiobooks/podcasts can be opened from other applications in Osplay. I threw in album art as well as a bunch of miscellaneous bugfixes. Still $5 on the Android Market.

Aocate, Inc released Osplay for Android today. This is an audiobook/podcast player that supports speeding up or slowing down MP3s or Oggs.

I just released Practice Makes Perfect version 1.3.0 which adds a reference section containing chords and the circle of fifths. I’m looking forward to adding to it.

Practice Makes Perfect v1.2.0 has been released. This radically changes the UI for the better, adds a metronome, and supports changing track speed without altering the pitch.

Practice Makes Perfect 1.1.0 was released today for Android devices.  This adds the ability to change the sample rate of an MP3 file (no other formats are currently supported), changing both the speed and the pitch.  Get the latest version of Practice Makes Perfect.

I released a minor update today for Practice Makes Perfect.  This should be easier on the battery life.  Select Track must now be manually selected on first load, in order to avoid breaking the back button’s functionality.  Download the latest version of Practice Makes Perfect.