The simple music player is a music player which automatically downloads music from spotify playlists/albums and plays it. It was created as an alternative to spotifyd.
In order to get tracks from spotify it makes use of smp-backend. The backend is what actually fetches data about the tracks, albums and playlists from spotify. It acts as a kind of proxy between the client and spotify, which results in the client never having direct contact with spotify.
It is also fully implements the MPRIS DBUS standards, meaning it can be controlled using utilities like playerctl or mpris-control.
- Open spotify playlist/album URIs
- Continue playing after the playlist/album has ended using spotify's recommendations API
- Full MPRIS implementation
- Control daemon through a CLI
First, clone the git repository to obtain the source code and cd into the cloned repository:
git clone --recursive https://github.com/Quartzy0/smp && cd smpThen create a directory for the build files and cd into it:
mkdir build && cd buildIn this directory execute the following commands to build the project:
cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release .. && makeOnce the compilation is finished, the executable, named smp will be in the build directory.
When compiling smp will automatically check if PipeWire is installed and use it as opposed to the default PortAudio backend. If you want to you the PortAudio backend regardless, you can use the following command:
cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release -DNO_PIPEWIRE=ON .. && makesmp daemonThis will start the daemon and will not detach. This could be used in a systemd service. The daemon has to be running for any of the other CLI commands to work.
smp playbackThis will print information about the current state of the player in the following format:
Track info:
▶ <Track title>
by <Artist>
(<Track URI>)
(art:<Track cover art URL>)
Player info:
Looping: <Loop status>
Shuffle: <Shuffle status>
Volume: <Volume %>
smp playback --toggleToggles playback. If playback is paused, it will start playing and if is paused, it will start playing.
smp playback --playContinue playing the current track. Does nothing if no track is playing
smp playback --pausePause the current track. Does nothing if no track is playing
smp playback --nextWill play the next track in the playlist. The behaviour of this command varies based on the loop/shuffle modes. If shuffle is enabled, it will not play the next track in the playlist but will play a random one. It will also not play recommendations from spotify but will endlessly play songs from the current playlist. If loop mode is set to track, it will still play the next track. If loop mode is set to playlist, it will start playing the first track once the end is reached.
smp playback --previousThis option behaves the same way as the --next option, except it plays the previous track.
smp playback --volume 0.5Set the volume. The volume level goes from 1 to 0. In this example it is set to 0.5, meaning 50% of the original volume.
smp playback --shuffleToggles whether shuffle is enabled or disabled.
smp playback --loopCycles through the available loop modes. These are: None, Playlist or Track.
smp playback --stopStops the player. The current playing playlist/album is freed and the audio steam is closed. The play/pause/next/previous commands will do nothing. The player can be started again by opening another playlist/album/track.
smp track --listList the tracks in the track list. This can mean the tracks in the current playlist/album, the recommendations from a track/playlist/album or just a single track that is playing.
If the track subcommand is launched without any options, the output will be the same as the
playback subcommand's.
smp search -t Never Gonna Give You UpThis example would search for the track "Never Gonna Give You Up" using spotify's api. It is also possible to search for playlists or albums using the -p or -a flags respectively. If no flag is enabled, it is assumed that you wish to search for tracks, albums and playlists. The results of the search are presented in an interactive manner, allowing you to play any of the results.
smp open https://open.spotify.com/track/4cOdK2wGLETKBW3PvgPWqTThis command will start playing the track, album or playlist pointed to by the URL.
smp playlist --listList the saved playlists in an interactive menu. If a playlists is ever played it is automatically saved and will appear here. This list is paginated. The page number can be controlled using the --page option or in the interactive menu.
smp quitThis command will cause the daemon to stop.
The configuration file should be located at XDG_CONFIG_HOME/smp/smp.json. If the
XDG_CONFIG_HOME environment variable is not set, smp will look for the configuration
file at $HOME/.config/smp/smp.json
{
//Number of tracks to download ahead of the current track
"preload_amount": 3,
//The volume the player should start with. Even if this option
//is set, the volume can still be changed using the CLI
"initial_volume": 1.0,
//The location where the downloaded tracks should be stored.
//Defaults to $XDG_CACHE_HOME/smp/tracks or $HOME/.cache/smp/tracks
"track_save_path": "/home/user/.cache/smp/tracks",
//The location where the saved playlist data should be stored.
//Defaults to $XDG_CACHE_HOME/smp/playlist_info or $HOME/.cache/smp/playlist_info
"playlist_info_path": "/home/user/.cache/smp/playlist_info",
//The location where the saved album data should be stored.
//Defaults to $XDG_CACHE_HOME/smp/album_info or $HOME/.cache/smp/album_info
"album_info_path": "/home/user/.cache/smp/album_info",
//The location where the saved track data should be stored.
//Defaults to $XDG_CACHE_HOME/smp/track_info or $HOME/.cache/smp/track_info
"track_info_path": "/home/user/.cache/smp/track_info",
//A string array of backend instances to use. These are what
//is actually used for all communication with spotify.
"backend_instances": ["nodes.quartzy.me"],
}