Listeners

What are the modes?

• LFM mode is where AlbumPlays imports all of your track plays from Last.fm
• SPY mode is for Sonos owners only, and is where AlbumPlays imports your non-Sonos plays from Last.fm, but gets your Sonos plays directly from the Sonos zones themselves
• more details here

Listener Index:

• Adding and enrolling new Listeners
• Modifying Listeners; Google Play Music, LFM account, and scrobble-related settings
• Mostly listens to? – (whole albums or mixed-tracks)
• Scrobbling
  • Set-up considerations
  • Listener scrobble modes
  • Assign Sonos zones to a Listener
  • Authorise AlbumPlays to scrobble to the Listener’s Last.fm account
  • Revoke authorisation to scrobble to the Listener’s Last.fm account
• Publishing playlists to a Listener’s Google Play library
  • Authorise AlbumPlays to update the Listener’s Google Play Music library
  • If you use Google’s two-factor authentication

Adding and enrolling new Listeners

# Adding Listeners for LFM mode, or for the “Play count processing” component of Spy mode:

The install wizard (described here), will have created and enrolled an initial Listener into your database.

The simplest way to enrol a new Listener is to use the Edit|Listeners menu option, then press the New button as shown below.

Then supply an ID for the new Listener. A Listener ID can be anything (first name, initials, LFM account name, etc). It must not have any embedded blanks.

This action will enrol the Listener into the database, and create a shell for new Listener, which you need to flesh out as described in the modifying Listeners section

There is an alternative option, for people using SPY mode, which may help ensure that identical Listener IDs are used across both modules.

[general section]
_database = C:/Users/XXXXXX
_user = BJM
_nas_path = \\MyNAS\MyShare\
_lfm_id_list=BJM AKM HMP others
[get]
[massage]
[crunch]
[gui]

# Adding Listeners to Spy mode’s “Observe & Detect” component:

The install wizard (described here) will have configured your initial listener.

You can add more via the “Configuration (MySpy.ini shortcut). To do so, add the new Listener ID(s) to the _lfm_id_list option as described here. Also review the other listener related options which are discussed there.

Then stop and restart the “Observe & Detect” component, as described here

.. return to Listener index

Modifying Listeners

Use the Edit|Listeners menu option.

This will take you to the list of enrolled Listeners, where the following data is shown:

You can modify the last two columns (“To MM” and global Suppression) directly in the above list, and then press F3 to apply.

For other updates press the Listener’s “?” button to access the main Listener Update facility.

Here is where you can change the Listener’s Last.fm account name. If you make a change, then screen validates your entry to ensure that you have supplied the name of an active Last.fm account. You don’t need to supply the account password.

You may also configure the other Listener-related scrobble items here:

• global SUPPRESSION of the Listener – all plays ignored, no scrobbles to LFM, no upload to MediaMonkey – overrides all other settings for the Listener
• whether to upload the Listener’s plays to MediaMonkey
• whether AlbumPlays should scrobble to the Listener’s Last.fm account – see further scrobbling settings in a following section
• whether the Listener typically plays whole albums or mixed track playlists – see the next section

.. return to Listener index

Mostly listens to: whole albums or mixed tracks?

Use this control to indicate what you usually listen to.

• whole albums
• or mixed-track playlists?

It has the following impacts:

.. return to Listener index

Scrobbling

By default AlbumPlays does not scrobble. It imports scrobbles, but by default does not generate scrobbles.

Scrobbling is an option, but the option needs to be turned on.

See here for an overview of the benefits of my scrobbler.

See here for a Quick Start guide showing how to configure AlbumPlays for scrobbling. You should read the Quick Start guide now.

Scrobbling set-up considerations

You will need to enrol each person wanting to scrobble Sonos plays to their own Last.fm account

• a Listener can be either an individual, or a group of people who want their plays grouped together
• if you only need total household play counts, all grouped together, you only need to have a single Listener for the whole household
• if you want to accumulate play count data from some household members individually, or for some members but not for others, you should:
  • enrol a separate Listener for each person, or group, for whom you want separated play count data
  • and enrol one extra Listener, which will be assigned plays made by any untracked household members or guests
  • you can automate the assignment of plays to the appropriate Listener, if you assign Sonos zones to Listeners
• A Listener ID can be anything (first name, initials, LFM account name, etc). It must not have any embedded blanks, and it must be referred to identically (including upper or lower case characters) in the both the “Observe & Detect” and the “Play Count Processing” modules.

See here for a discussion of the limitations of the multi-listener facilities in this application.

Spy mode is implemented as two separate components. Your new Listener needs to be added into both halves.

You need to make sure that your new Listener(s) are identified by exactly the same Listener ID, in both halves of the application, including identical usage of upper or lower case characters.

Listener scrobble modes

In order to turn on scrobbling, you need to decide which scrobble mode to use:

Assigning Sonos zones to a Listener

See here for an overview of the multi-user capabilities of AlbumPlays

You may want to assign a Sonos zone, or zones, to a Listener if:

• you have configured AlbumPlays to track separate play histories for various independent household members
• or you have multiple household members using the Sonos, but you only want to track your own plays

Zones assignments are done via the configuration file of the Observe & Detect component.

• an overview of how zone assignment works
• documentation of the relevant configuration options

Authorise to scrobble to a Listener’s LFM account

This application does not need your Last.fm password, but it does need you to advise Last.fm that you agree to allow this application to scrobble to your Last.fm account.

You do this by accessing the Listeners’ maintenance list as described in the “Modifying Listeners” section above (menu item Edit|Listeners).

Press the “?” button for the Listener whose Last.fm account that you want to scrobble to.

Select the “Authorise” tab, as shown below.

Revoke authorisation to scrobble to a Listener’s LFM account

.. return to Listener index

Publishing playlists to a Listener’s Google Play Music library

AlbumPlays offers some integration with a Google Play Music library.

If you wish to use these facilities you will need to authorise AlbumPlays to your Google Play Music library:

• enrol a AlbumPlays Listener, into the AlbumPlays database, for each Google library that you wish to publish playlists to
• provide credentials to their Google account

Authorise AlbumPlays to update the Listener’s Google Play Music library

You do this by accessing the Listeners’ maintenance list as described in the “Modifying Listeners” section above (menu item Edit|Listeners).

Press the “?” button for the Listener who owns the Google Play library.

Select the “Google Play” tab, as shown below, and the follow the instructions.

Google two-factor authentication

If you are using Google’s two-factor authentication, you do not provide AlbumPlays with your main Google password. You need to ask Google to generate an application password for AlbumPlays.

next step: LFM mode:…Missed tracks playlist
next step: SPY mode:…Controlling the Observe & Detect component

back to top: LFM mode:…LFM mode index
back to top: SPY mode:…Spy mode index