Upcoming Speed Alteration Library

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.

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