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Sonica - A music player application compatible with the Roku PhotoBridge (HD1000/HD1500)

Sonica is currently at version 0.5.02 Beta. It is almost feature complete and likely contains minor bugs. Known bugs are listed and detailed in the TODO. More detailed information about Sonica and this release can be found in the README file included in the zip file. The TODO file also list the features still missing from this release.

Sonica now has a FAQ. It is not complete at this time and new questions (and answers!) are being accepted.

Sonica now supports all audio codecs installed on the system. More information on audio codec support for the PhotoBridge is available here.

Version 0.5.02 adds a "Save" button to the main screen. This button saves the current "dynamic" playlist. By default, the file is called "sonica_playlist.m3u" and is saved in the directory where Sonica was started. This file/location can be changed by modifing Sonica's settings file.

Version 0.5.00 fixes a couple of bugs that effect file scanning. Reading ID3 tags should be more stable in this release. For information about previous releases, see the changelog.

Obligatory screen shots.

View the README file for details and usage information.

Download version 0.5.02 Beta binary package for firmware 2.0.34 and above.

Download source code for version 0.5.02. This package containes the Sonica source code and makefile. In addition you will need the Roku PhotoBridge SDK installed and a copy of ID3Lib include files. ID3Lib is available at id3lib.sourceforge.net.

Download version 0.3.0 Alpha binary package for firmware 2.0.17 - 2.0.21. At this point I don't plan to provide updated versions for the older firmware.

Download defaults, a copy of the default settings that get saved in /etc/rokucascade/settings/ on the PhotoBridge. You can edit this file in this zip archive (using an editor that understands Unix line endings) and copy it to /etc/rokucascade/settings/ to set Sonica's defaults without having to learn 'VI' on the PhotoBridge.

Sonica works well with SongInfo by Andrew Oliver.

I had some pretty specific goals in mind when I started this application.

  1. Support for a dynamic playlist that can be edited while songs are playing.
  2. Easy to use browse interface that scales fairly well.
  3. Fast start up time.
  4. Display cover art.
Here's my original design goals for the music player software that provides more details on what I want to accomplish.

Here's the current status of the code.

Contact: sonica@bobsplace.com