From v2.0.8 onward, AJ Audio comes with a new Discover page, where you can play music outside of your Jellyfin library via Deezer.

Discover page

Searching for music

This page comes with its own search bar, where you easily can search through the entire Deezer catalogue. By default, this page will display chart music, trending albums, and popular artists right now. You can quickly access search by pressing CTRL + F while on this page.

Playing music

Playing a song from Deezer will give you a 30 second sample. During this time, functions such as viewing lyrics, your upcoming tracks, etc. will be disabled.

Accessing albums & artists

Clicking on any album or artist will take you to the corresponding page in-app, as normal.

Events / upcoming concerts

The Discover page will also show you live events happening in your area using Ticketmaster. By default, this is turned off. Live events can also be found at the bottom of your homepage, which will display events from artists in your library only.

Enabling events

Events / upcoming concert data can be enabled under the "External Resources" section on the settings page:

Hello!

It currently does not have m3u support, however I will certainly look into this, once this is implemented I’ll let you know!

Cheers

Alex

I believe this has been resolved for you. I'm happy to send you the latest build on Discord (@alexcjw) or if you could email me (aj-studio@mail.com) so I can get a link sent over for you to test this. You will need to uninstall the existing app if so.

Alternatively, these fixes will be applied for the next version (2.07) if you would rather wait :)

Thanks!

Alex

Thank you, I'll look into this for you now, I'll let you know as soon as possible when I've found something :)

Good afternoon,

Interesting, thank you. If you keep the server IP and username pre-filled in, but simply delete and re-enter your password, does it authenticate successfully? Or do you have to re-enter all details including IP & username?

Thanks

Alex

Thank you, I've just DM'd you :)

Issue resolved as of 2.0.5 with the new Data chunk option in the settings menu

Thank you, I'm looking into this for you now. Are you able to add me on Discord @alexcjw or something similar please?

Hi,

Thank you, I'm sorry you're having this issue. Please can you tell me the total number of songs you have on your Jellyfin server.

May I also ask, is this issue happening when you first log / open AJ Audio?

Furthermore, when you connected to your server, did you use the server IP or hostname?

Thanks

Alex

Hope you are well,

Just letting you know that this issue is fixed as of v2.0.4 which will be released later this week. The IP box will now detect hostnames and resolve them for you, allowing you to connect as normal

Thanks

Alex

Ah no problem thank you for letting me know. I'll look into this for you and should hopefully have a fix implemented in the upcoming v2.0.4, please let me know if there's any more issues :)

Very interesting thanks for that. When you first started the app, was the Server IP box autofilled for you using a broadcast message?

Good afternoon,

I'll look into this for you now, I won't be a moment

Playing music

Shuffle or repeat songs

In a playlist or album, you can shuffle songs (play them in a random order) and repeat individual songs.

For shuffling full albums or playlists:

• Click "Shuffle" on the page header to shuffle the current selection

For shuffling the current play queue:

• Click the "Shuffle" button on the Playback panel

Fade between songs

You can set AJ Audio to fade in each song (gradually increase its volume) while the previous song is fading out. This feature, called crossfading, prevents gaps of silence between songs.

• Click Options > Settings
• Ensure "Crossfade Songs" is enabled
• Use the slider to change the amount of time it takes for the current song to fade out at the end and the new song to fade in (5 - 10s)

Prevent a song from playing

You can set AJ Audio to ignore certain songs from your Library and never play them.

• Right click on the offending track > Dislike

Removing a song from your queue

To remove a song from your play queue:

• Open the "Up Next" panel via the Playback panel
• Right click on one or multiple tracks > Remove from queue

Changing play queue order

You can simply click and drag any number of tracks in the Up Next panel to reorder them. The first track in the list is the next track that will play.

Create, delete and use Smart Playlists in AJ Audio

You can create a Smart Playlist that automatically organises songs and other media into playlists based on criteria you specify. Whenever you start AJ Audio, the Smart Playlist is automatically updated.

For example, you could create a Smart Playlist that includes your favourite artist and album, but only if songs within this album are disliked.

Smart Playlists are automatically synchronised to your Jellyfin server.

To create a Smart Playlist

• Click the Create (+) button in your Library > New Smart Playlist
• Add or remove filters as appropriate
• Click confirm to update your Playlist

To delete a Smart Playlist

• Right click the Smart Playlist > Delete

Available limits

Smart Playlists can be limited by items, minutes, hours, MB, or GB worth of music, sorted by:

• Random
• Album
• Artist
• Genre
• Title
• Most recently played
• Least recently played
• Most often played
• Least often played
• Most recently added
• Least recently added

There is an absolute limit of 999 tracks per Smart Playlist.

Haha no problem, i’ve just replied to your email now, cheers!

Good morning,

Is this via Microsoft Store or Itch.io?

Please email me on aj-studio@mail.com and we’ll get this sorted out for you

Thanks

Alex

Sorry, I've just seen the screenshot again,

Can you please try putting this in the Server IP box:

http://127.20.11.40:8096

That is assuming you're using the default Jellyfin port (8096)

I believe the issue is to do with the missing "http://" or "https://" at the start of your server address, as well as the missing port at the end

Thank you, the update is live on the Microsoft store now, let me know how you get on

Cheers!

Hi SparkyOndo, hope you are well,

Can I ask the following please:

- Is your Jellyfin server on the same network as your PC?

- Do you use a proxy at all?

- When you play a song and it fails, giving you the popup, is there a delay between playing the track and receiving the error message?

Cheers!

No problem thanks for that :) 

I'm working on this as we speak, once I have and update I will let you know. I anticipate this should be resolved with the new version uploaded by this weekend.

Ah perfect, yes the exclamation mark indicates the track isn't supported - normally the song will play anyway as AJ Audio instructs your Jellyfin server to transcode to a playable format (with some features unavailable such as seeking). However, this mechanism currently isn't implemented for the Automatic Downloads feature. I'll ensure this is configured for version 1.6.

What audio format is most of your music in?

From the top of my head I believe this may be an issue with the buffer size but I will review and confirm

Thanks

Alex

Hi, 

Thank you, can you try turning on Automatic Downloads and try streaming a song again?

You can do this by going to your account picture > settings > ensure Automatic Downloads is ticked

This will instead download the track to disk first before playing, which will help me narrow down what the issue might be

Thanks!

Alex

Hi, version 1.4 is currently out now, let me know how you get on :)

Hi,

I've started working on these feature requests and bug fixes

As for the Radio station, I'll get back to you soon on that - for now, I've added this for you, just perform a refresh and you should see Radio Paradise at the end of "For You"

I'll update you shortly, thanks!

Hi, hope you're well,

Version 1.3 is out as of a moment ago, this includes a significant source-code re-write for improved loading speeds. There's a lot of changes so I recommend looking at the changelog

There's a "Export Log" option in the Settings, may I please ask you to export this and paste it into your next reply. This log contains information such as JSON parse speeds, startup time, processing time and more. Any personal user/server data is omitted from this log. I'm confident you'll notice a significant improvement in performance but there's always room for improvements!

I look forward to your reply

Thank you

Thank you @floetenmaul

I'm glad you were able to get past the crashes. As for the slowness in parsing, yes that's going to require a pretty significant re-write of code which is no problem, I believe I have found a solution however I'll get back to you soon :)

Thanks for that, may I ask you to try v1.2b,

It's possible this may happen again in another area however if it does then I can get this sorted quickly,

Thank you so much! :)

Interesting. I'll have an update for you within the hour

Ahh thanks for this,

Could you try the updated v1.2a download and let me know how you get on. I've just uploaded this and corrected the above issue but its possible another may arise just let me know, thanks for your patience :)

How does it work?

By default, AJ Audio streams your audio natively from your Jellyfin Server on the fly. This is called "Direct Streaming" mode, which can be changed in the settings. Alternatively, you can choose the "Download & Play" mode, which stores a copy of the song on your local disk. This cached track is then deleted automatically by default. 

How do I login?

Here is what the login window looks like. The server IP should be written as (http://SERVER_IP:PORT or https://SERVER_IP:PORT)

By default, the Jellyfin port is 8096. If the app detects the port is missing, it will warn and amend it for you if you choose to. Some Jellyfin setups do not explicitly require a port. The app will auto-insert "http://" at the start of your address if no protocol was input by yourself. From v2.0.4+, you can also use host names instead of IP addresses.

How do I add my own Internet Streams?

Select the Create button in your Library

Give your station a new name and the URL to stream from and you're good to go. You can customise the tile colour and even upload a logo.

How do I customise my Library?

Simply right-click on a free space in your Library pane to bring up the context menu, where you can add or remove page links.

You can also pin songs, artists, albums, and internet streams to your Library by dragging the relevant item, or right-clicking and selecting "Pin to Library"

How much disk space does this use?

Only mere mb more than the download itself (which sits at 20mb). AJ Audio is streamlined to only save necessary data. If you are making tracks available offline, this will increase. You can see how much additional storage the app is using through the "Clear cache" section on the settings menu.

How does it load my tracks?

Data including Track data, Artists, Album, and Playlist data are requested from your Jellyfin Server and are then processed. These details are then stored to your local disk for a quicker load time in future. (this is called the Database. You can see more about this in the Settings)

Is there a limit on tracks?

AJ Audio officially supports up to 1,000,000 tracks. 

Which formats are supported?

AJ Audio is natively capable of playing the following formats: mp3, .flac, .wma, .wav, .ogg, .aiff. 

The following formats are supported via transcoding: .m4a, .aac, .opus

How does crossfade/gapless playback work?

Below is an illustration of the track scrubber. The next track in your queue is loaded as your current track ends.

The next track in your play queue is loaded as your current track ends (around 30 seconds beforehand). If the queue is interrupted and you choose to play another track next instead, AJ audio will load your new track instead. The new track will then slowly fade in to 100% volume 5-10 seconds before the current track ends (depending on your setting).

What happens when I right click a song?

Here are the context menu options for right clicking a track:

Options may vary on the current page, album/artist availability, etc.

Is this resource heavy?

Nope! This app is specifically designed to lower its resource use when minimized, not focused, or when the mouse is not in the Window. 

This Task Manager screenshot demonstrates the low resource usage of AJ Audio. In this scenario, all apps are in the background, playing the same song (Spotify being a lower quality version (mp3 320) of the same song (flac)). 

Can I change the Output Device?

Yes, you can change this in the settings page, allowing you to play music through your non-default Windows device.

How do the shortcuts work?

Shortcuts for each track can be created so that you can search for them in the Start Menu. A meager 0.1kb .gmAudio file is created in your UserProfile\AJ Audio folder with the song title. You will need to associate this file with the AJ Audio 'player.exe' manually on Windows. By default, this option is disabled

How does AJ Audio determine explicit ratings?

Items are marked as explicit if their metadata contains "ITUNESADVISORY" in the Tags. There is an option to automatically scan all songs in you library.

Song lyrics are scoured for profanity in order to determine explicit ratings. A song must contain lyrics for this to work as expected. Offending tracks & their corresponding album will be updated on your Jellyfin server to include the "ITUNESADVISORY" tag. This option is disabled by default

Where do Time Synchronised lyrics come from?

All time synced lyrics are fetched through LRCLIB.net and are matched via the Song Title, Artist, and Duration.

Where does Album Art come from?

MusicBrainz & AudioDB provide the Album Art when you choose the "Find Album Art" through the context menu by right clicking on a track/album. If this option is greyed out, that means Jellyfin hasn't assigned your album with a Musicbrainz ID nor an AudioDB ID. This is resolved through changing the metadata on the file through the Jellyfin browser.

Can I manually import Album Art?

Yes. You can import .jpg/.jpeg, .png, and .bmp files manually. This is especially handy if the above option is greyed out

How do Imports work?

Here is an illustration of how imports work

* If "Organise Imports" is enabled, imports will be structured as: Import Directory/Artist/Album/XX - Title.mp3

* If "Organise Imports" is disabled, imports will be structured as: Import Directory/XX - Title.mp3

There is a setting to omit the track number from the filename.

You should point this Import Path to a matching folder in your Jellyfin library via a Windows UNC path. Once songs are successfully imported, your media library will be automatically scanned.

Does this automatically sign me in?

Yes. 

How do I sign out?

Click the Options button > Log out.

What do I need to run this?

A Windows 10 or newer PC with speakers, and a Jellyfin server to connect to. This software was developed on Jellyfin v10.10.7. For the integrated coloured Windows border, you will need Windows 11 Build 22000+

How should my Library be structured within Jellyfin?

Jellyfin works best with your songs structured like this:

MUSIC FOLDER > ARTIST > ALBUM > SONG.MP3

If you experience a window popup that appears after a database build, it's likely that some of your tracks aren't structured like the above

Why is my track greyed out?

This means the track has previously failed to play, and will be avoided from playback in the future. The likeliness of this happening is slim - it can occur when your Jellyfin server fails to transcode an incompatible song for playback. Your Jellyfin logs will give you an idea of what's happened in this scenario.

In the Settings page, you can clear the invalid tracks list which will make tracks accessible again.

Unable to play certain songs

If you are struggling to play songs whose formats are supported by AJ Audio, you can try changing your Streaming Mode in the settings page from "Direct Streaming" to "Download & Play". This will instruct the app to use the same method for playing audio as it does for unsupported tracks.

Unable to build my database

AJ Audio will chunk the data requests from your server to avoid overloading. By default, a maximum of 1000 entries are requested at once.  You can change this value in the Settings page, titled "Chunk data amount"

If you are receiving timeout errors, or if your server is simply not responding to a data request when rebuilding your Database, try decreasing this value before rebuilding your database again to resolve this. This is useful for those running Jellyfin on a Raspberry Pi for example.

Additional links

Playing Live TV/Internet Radio (.m3u, .m3u8) from Jellyfin on AJ Audio

Using Discord RPC with AJ Audio

Using folders with AJ Audio

Remote controlling your Jellyfin devices

Using the Metadata Editor

About the Discover page

I've got an error, a feature request, or a general query

Please post a topic or contact me directly. I will normally be with you on the same day.

Email: aj-studio@mail.com

Discord: @alexcjw

Hi,

Thank you :)

I noticed this issue myself with a new audio file I imported since the last update, this was resolved - I'm hoping it'll be OK for you too but if it isn't please let me know. The version 1.2 preview update is available now