Hi.

First of all: I really like the MySQL integration in Amarok. This gives a lot of new possibilities. I would really like if I could set up a database on my server, and connect to this database from my computers. I already have this kind of setup, using a browser to pick music instead of the collection browser. Integration directly in Amarok would be awesome.

This is what I would like.

1. Files are served by a webserver, so all mp3s and images have an http-url (http://www.example.com:80/getfile.pl?fi ... bc4779d675,
http://www.example.com:80/getfile.pl?fi ... 34dcf30012)
2. I have a script that adds music to the MySQL database.
3. I just need to connect to the database in amarok to play the music.

The problem I\'ve encountered is that the url become something like this:
file:http%3A//www.example.com%3A80/getfile.pl%3Ffilename%3Dmy_best_mp3.mp3%26checksim%3Dcb0c2000ddbed851e97360bc4779d675

Wouldn\'t it be better if the protocol is explicitly put in the database, and special character is handled correctly?

The latter is possibly my own fault, but as long as file: is put in front of the url, it\'s hard to do this..

(I can share my scripts if you want to give it a shot.)

Regards,
Frank

I understand that this request is not a popular request...

But I want to give it another shot, since I believe it\'s rather easy to implement.. And making the collection browser aware of different protocols will make it way more flexible..

If I make a .pls-file with the http url to the file I want to play, everything works as expected. But if I add the same url to the collection (manually), amarok adds \'file:\' in front of the url and refuses to play it.

I guess checking for protocol when adding files from the collection would solve the problem..

And another thing: It would be great if it was possible to add several mysql databases. (But I can survive without it..

Regards,
Frank

I suggest using NFS. Playing files over http has some disadvantages, like no tags -> no Collection, and not being able to seek.

Not at all.

Playing over http can be done with seeking (I do it in xmms and winamp).

NFS is not suited when you ie. want to play music from your home server at work. NFS is not suitable outside your firewall.

If you scan music music locally (where the files are located), with a script, you don\'t need the tags to make a collection.

The reason I request this is that all my music is located on my server. When I travel around I always bring my laptop, which has limited storage. All I want to do is stream music from my server over internet, with my favourite player.

Amarok is very close to being able to do this today, there are just some changes needed.
- Collection handle other protocols than file://
- Being able to use a read-only mysql database. (This might work...)

If this dont get implanted, maybe you should take a look at tunneling nfs through ssh. That way it is both possible and reasonble secure to export it outside your firewall.