Mobbler Demo on Nokia N85 – Stream Music Based on Tags or Keywords

A reader commented about Mobbler on my top 10 apps to install, so I tried it. You should do the same if you haven’t done so. Mobbler is Last.fm for your phone. In other words, you can stream music based on keywords or tags without the hassle of transferring music from your computer.

Note: head straight to the blog if the video does not appear in your RSS reader.

If I feel like listening to upbeat music, I’ll just type in “upbeat” and press play. You can skip to the next song and even let the player know if you like or don’t like the song. It can generate a recommended playlist for you based on the songs you rated.

I really like that Mobbler shows the album art with the artist name and song title.

The best thing about Mobbler is that I don’t need to download music before listening to it. The songs are streamed. The experience is excellent if you have fast 3G or wifi connection.

Mobbler is free to download but you also need to sign up for a free account at Last.fm. The phone I used for this demo was the Nokia N85, but the app should work with all Nokia S60 3rd edition mobile phones.

  • brian

    i heard that the n gage games are lagging of the n85 because it doesn,t have a grafic accelerator like the n95-8gb. Is that true ?

  • brian

    i heard that the n gage games are lagging of the n85 because it doesn,t have a grafic accelerator like the n95-8gb. Is that true ?

  • caliboy99

    Installed mobbler, but when try to go online using my home wifi it says the http is not compatible. Anyone have this problem or know how to correct it?

  • caliboy99

    Installed mobbler, but when try to go online using my home wifi it says the http is not compatible. Anyone have this problem or know how to correct it?

  • jack

    well ngage games don’t really make use of the 3d hardware accelerator so that phones that don’t have this hardware still can have the ngage app such as n73 and n81.
    i don’t know if i’m right but that’s what i’ve read in several places

  • jack

    well ngage games don’t really make use of the 3d hardware accelerator so that phones that don’t have this hardware still can have the ngage app such as n73 and n81.
    i don’t know if i’m right but that’s what i’ve read in several places

  • http://mickyfin.vox.com/ Micky

    Been running Mobbler without any problems on an N95-1, N95-2, an N96-1, and an N81 8GB.

    Mobbler rocks!

    I did however, has some initial start up problems with connection, however, retried, a few times, and eventually it worked.

  • http://mickyfin.vox.com/ Micky

    Been running Mobbler without any problems on an N95-1, N95-2, an N96-1, and an N81 8GB.

    Mobbler rocks!

    I did however, has some initial start up problems with connection, however, retried, a few times, and eventually it worked.

  • Knowledge

    Whenever I try to use Mobbler, it skips and stutters too bad. So much, that it is un-useable. I’ve tried WiFi, and my provider’s EDGE. Both just skip too much. Is there some way to make it buffer more?

  • Knowledge

    Whenever I try to use Mobbler, it skips and stutters too bad. So much, that it is un-useable. I’ve tried WiFi, and my provider’s EDGE. Both just skip too much. Is there some way to make it buffer more?

  • http://stylish-stuff.net pink phones

    mobbler seems to be a good application, but what kind of phone is perfect for that kind of application? I love adding options and styles to my phones and those stuffs makes my phones more prettier and cool, well I just want to share that to all of you. try it out its fun.

  • http://stylish-stuff.net pink phones

    mobbler seems to be a good application, but what kind of phone is perfect for that kind of application? I love adding options and styles to my phones and those stuffs makes my phones more prettier and cool, well I just want to share that to all of you. try it out its fun.

  • http://incidentflux.blogspot.com/ IncidentFlux

    This is an app that other developers should learn from, so well designed. works great on my new Nokia E71, both phone and app rock!

  • http://incidentflux.blogspot.com/ IncidentFlux

    This is an app that other developers should learn from, so well designed. works great on my new Nokia E71, both phone and app rock!

  • http://www.arcx.com/sites Steve Punter

    Mobbler is open source, and so I created a modified version of it that addresses a number of issues I’ve had with it. This isn’t to say I’m displeased with the excellent work done by Michael Coffey on what is perhaps one the best S60 applets out there. I’m guessing that Michael doesn’t work on Mobbler full-time, and I’m equally sure his priorities are different from mine.

    The key changes I made to Mobbler are:

    - User-definable buffer size to help with poor connections.
    - Automatic increase in the buffer size by 2 seconds whenever a song must be paused for re-buffering.
    - Support for the graphic equalizer available on many S60 models, including the N95.
    - Database of user-created volume corrections for overly loud or overly soft tracks.
    - Big reduction in processor usage during the playing of songs (Michael was repainting too much of the screen to update the progress bar). This results in much smoother and stable audio playback.
    - User-defined scrobble point. This was previous fixed at 50%.
    - I re-arranged the screen slightly to allow for separate lines show song title, artist, and album (the latter is missing from the most recent iteration of Mobbler).
    - Album release date is displayed (if available).

    For non-English-speaking users however, my version only supports English for the new settings elements and menu items.

    If you’re interesting in trying it out, you can download a copy from:

    http://www.arcx.com/sites/Mobbler (Mod 4).zip

  • http://www.arcx.com/sites Steve Punter

    Mobbler is open source, and so I created a modified version of it that addresses a number of issues I’ve had with it. This isn’t to say I’m displeased with the excellent work done by Michael Coffey on what is perhaps one the best S60 applets out there. I’m guessing that Michael doesn’t work on Mobbler full-time, and I’m equally sure his priorities are different from mine.

    The key changes I made to Mobbler are:

    - User-definable buffer size to help with poor connections.
    - Automatic increase in the buffer size by 2 seconds whenever a song must be paused for re-buffering.
    - Support for the graphic equalizer available on many S60 models, including the N95.
    - Database of user-created volume corrections for overly loud or overly soft tracks.
    - Big reduction in processor usage during the playing of songs (Michael was repainting too much of the screen to update the progress bar). This results in much smoother and stable audio playback.
    - User-defined scrobble point. This was previous fixed at 50%.
    - I re-arranged the screen slightly to allow for separate lines show song title, artist, and album (the latter is missing from the most recent iteration of Mobbler).
    - Album release date is displayed (if available).

    For non-English-speaking users however, my version only supports English for the new settings elements and menu items.

    If you’re interesting in trying it out, you can download a copy from:

    http://www.arcx.com/sites/Mobbler (Mod 4).zip

  • http://www.arcx.com/sites Steve Punter

    In that last message, the “(Mod 4).zip” should have been part of the link, but the message parser didn’t include it. If you click on the link as shown, it won’t work. Try this one instead:

    http://www.arcx.com/sites/Mobbler%20(Mod%204).zip

  • http://www.arcx.com/sites Steve Punter

    In that last message, the “(Mod 4).zip” should have been part of the link, but the message parser didn’t include it. If you click on the link as shown, it won’t work. Try this one instead:

    http://www.arcx.com/sites/Mobbler%20(Mod%204).zip

  • http://www.arcx.com/sites Steve Punter

    Sorry, but I can’t seem to make the link work and there appears to be no way to edit it. You can hand-enter the link in your browser.

  • http://www.arcx.com/sites Steve Punter

    Sorry, but I can’t seem to make the link work and there appears to be no way to edit it. You can hand-enter the link in your browser.

  • ppp2992

    tried on nokia N85. Flawlessly! Great app!
    PS: games run great on N85.

  • ppp2992

    tried on nokia N85. Flawlessly! Great app!
    PS: games run great on N85.

  • John Forde

    Working flawlessly on E51 (RM-244, 200.34.36).. a very big thanks!! If only there was a way to get it to launch when I start to listen to the default music player but I’m just being too demanding!

  • John Forde

    Working flawlessly on E51 (RM-244, 200.34.36).. a very big thanks!! If only there was a way to get it to launch when I start to listen to the default music player but I’m just being too demanding!

  • John Forde

    I meant to state that I’m using Steve Punter’s Mod4 version of Mobbler (MCoffey’s original also worked flawlessly but the SP’s mod has a few more setting options)

  • John Forde

    I meant to state that I’m using Steve Punter’s Mod4 version of Mobbler (MCoffey’s original also worked flawlessly but the SP’s mod has a few more setting options)

  • John Forde

    I meant to state that I’m using Steve Punter’s Mod4 version of Mobbler (MCoffey’s original also worked flawlessly but the SP’s mod has a few more setting options)

  • Steve Punter

    I just wanted to let everyone know I’ve released MOD 5 of my version of Mobbler. The big change in this one is that I’d moved the sound rendering engine to its own real-time priority thread. The upshot of this change is that the music now plays UNINTERRUPTED by anything you do on the phone.

    Until now, the sound on Mobbler would pause whenever the processor was busy, like loading an application, doing graphics-intensive jobs, etc. Essentially, Mobbler only worked well if you didn’t do anything else on your phone.

    MOD 5 puts an end to that. The music is now as solid as the built-in MP3 player. You can surf the web, use Google Maps, etc without affecting the sound in any way. This really solidifies Mobbler as the music player to have on S60 phones.

    Here’s the link to the file.

  • Steve Punter

    I just wanted to let everyone know I’ve released MOD 5 of my version of Mobbler. The big change in this one is that I’d moved the sound rendering engine to its own real-time priority thread. The upshot of this change is that the music now plays UNINTERRUPTED by anything you do on the phone.

    Until now, the sound on Mobbler would pause whenever the processor was busy, like loading an application, doing graphics-intensive jobs, etc. Essentially, Mobbler only worked well if you didn’t do anything else on your phone.

    MOD 5 puts an end to that. The music is now as solid as the built-in MP3 player. You can surf the web, use Google Maps, etc without affecting the sound in any way. This really solidifies Mobbler as the music player to have on S60 phones.

    Here’s the link to the file.

  • Steve Punter

    I just wanted to let everyone know I’ve released MOD 5 of my version of Mobbler. The big change in this one is that I’d moved the sound rendering engine to its own real-time priority thread. The upshot of this change is that the music now plays UNINTERRUPTED by anything you do on the phone.

    Until now, the sound on Mobbler would pause whenever the processor was busy, like loading an application, doing graphics-intensive jobs, etc. Essentially, Mobbler only worked well if you didn’t do anything else on your phone.

    MOD 5 puts an end to that. The music is now as solid as the built-in MP3 player. You can surf the web, use Google Maps, etc without affecting the sound in any way. This really solidifies Mobbler as the music player to have on S60 phones.

    Here’s the link to the file.

  • Steve Punter

    I just wanted to let everyone know I’ve released MOD 5 of my version of Mobbler. The big change in this one is that I’d moved the sound rendering engine to its own real-time priority thread. The upshot of this change is that the music now plays UNINTERRUPTED by anything you do on the phone.

    Until now, the sound on Mobbler would pause whenever the processor was busy, like loading an application, doing graphics-intensive jobs, etc. Essentially, Mobbler only worked well if you didn’t do anything else on your phone.

    MOD 5 puts an end to that. The music is now as solid as the built-in MP3 player. You can surf the web, use Google Maps, etc without affecting the sound in any way. This really solidifies Mobbler as the music player to have on S60 phones.

    Here’s the link to the file.

  • http://thenokiablog.com Mark Guim

    @Steve Punter, Just tried it. Works great! No more interruptions while browsing web.

  • http://thenokiablog.com Mark Guim

    @Steve Punter, Just tried it. Works great! No more interruptions while browsing web.

  • Steve Punter

    @Mark Guim, Glad to hear it works well for you. But also don’t forget to thank Michael Coffey for not only writing the bulk of the code for this application, but also for making it open source so that people like me could add terrific new features to it.

    P.S. I’ve submitted the source code to this most recent modification so that it can be incorporated into future official releases of Mobbler.

  • Steve Punter

    @Mark Guim, Glad to hear it works well for you. But also don’t forget to thank Michael Coffey for not only writing the bulk of the code for this application, but also for making it open source so that people like me could add terrific new features to it.

    P.S. I’ve submitted the source code to this most recent modification so that it can be incorporated into future official releases of Mobbler.

  • http://mickyfin.vox.com/ Micky

    Cheers for MOD 5, will give it ago later today, and report back!

  • http://mickyfin.vox.com/ Micky

    Cheers for MOD 5, will give it ago later today, and report back!

  • http://mickyfin.vox.com/ Micky

    Cheers for MOD 5, will give it ago later today, and report back!

  • http://incidentflux.blogspot.com/ IncidentFlux

    Thank you so much Steve Punter. Mod adds much needed updates.

    Also noted, long Albums names don’t scroll and just cut off.

    Thanks again.

  • http://incidentflux.blogspot.com/ IncidentFlux

    Thank you so much Steve Punter. Mod adds much needed updates.

    Also noted, long Albums names don’t scroll and just cut off.

    Thanks again.

  • IncidentFlux

    MOD 5 possible bug…

    Station keeps playing but I start geting alerts every few seconds…

    FAILED plugin bug: Not all request variables are set – no POST parameters

  • IncidentFlux

    MOD 5 possible bug…

    Station keeps playing but I start geting alerts every few seconds…

    FAILED plugin bug: Not all request variables are set – no POST parameters

  • IncidentFlux

    MOD 5 possible bug…

    Station keeps playing but I start geting alerts every few seconds…

    FAILED plugin bug: Not all request variables are set – no POST parameters

  • http://incidentflux.blogspot.com/ IncidentFlux

    Secondly, long albums names get cut off and don’t scroll on my E71.

  • http://incidentflux.blogspot.com/ IncidentFlux

    Secondly, long albums names get cut off and don’t scroll on my E71.

  • Steve Punter

    All of those issues are TCP/IP-related and I made NO MODIFICATIONS to that part of the code. Also, I’ve NEVER seen errors like that when using the program extensively on both WiFi and 3G.

    I have no idea what PLUG-IN your error refers to, because Mobbler doesn’t use plug-ins of any sort.

    As for the scrolling, yes I didn’t include that. I’ve been giving some thought to a new type of marquee to handle long names.

  • Steve Punter

    All of those issues are TCP/IP-related and I made NO MODIFICATIONS to that part of the code. Also, I’ve NEVER seen errors like that when using the program extensively on both WiFi and 3G.

    I have no idea what PLUG-IN your error refers to, because Mobbler doesn’t use plug-ins of any sort.

    As for the scrolling, yes I didn’t include that. I’ve been giving some thought to a new type of marquee to handle long names.

  • http://incidentflux.blogspot.com/ IncidentFlux

    Sorry for the double post, net’s pretty bad in the UAE after the recent cable cuts. That buffer leangth feature is really helping now more than ever. Perhapes a user changeble buffer under-run option would also help.

    I was listening over WiFi, maybe it’s some other app causing the alerts. Even though I wasn’t running anything else.

    Also posted your mod info over at SymbianFreak Forums

  • http://incidentflux.blogspot.com/ IncidentFlux

    Sorry for the double post, net’s pretty bad in the UAE after the recent cable cuts. That buffer leangth feature is really helping now more than ever. Perhapes a user changeble buffer under-run option would also help.

    I was listening over WiFi, maybe it’s some other app causing the alerts. Even though I wasn’t running anything else.

    Also posted your mod info over at SymbianFreak Forums

  • http://incidentflux.blogspot.com/ IncidentFlux

    Sorry for the double post, net’s pretty bad in the UAE after the recent cable cuts. That buffer leangth feature is really helping now more than ever. Perhapes a user changeble buffer under-run option would also help.

    I was listening over WiFi, maybe it’s some other app causing the alerts. Even though I wasn’t running anything else.

    Also posted your mod info over at SymbianFreak Forums

  • Steve Punter

    What’s a “user changeable buffer under-run option”?

  • Steve Punter

    What’s a “user changeable buffer under-run option”?

  • http://incidentflux.blogspot.com/ IncidentFlux

    For example in Winamp, MPEG Audio Decoder plugin, Streaming options. There’s an option “How much to prebuffer after a buffer overrun”. You’ve already added a user changble ‘Streaming Prebuffer’ option. However if that initial value is still not maybe the user wants to set qnother fallback value to double that buffer, after a buffer underrun occurs.

    Screenshot:
    http://i42.tinypic.com/73jvqw.png

  • http://incidentflux.blogspot.com/ IncidentFlux

    For example in Winamp, MPEG Audio Decoder plugin, Streaming options. There’s an option “How much to prebuffer after a buffer overrun”. You’ve already added a user changble ‘Streaming Prebuffer’ option. However if that initial value is still not maybe the user wants to set qnother fallback value to double that buffer, after a buffer underrun occurs.

    Screenshot:
    http://i42.tinypic.com/73jvqw.png

  • Steve Punter

    @IncidentFlux, I guess the best reason NOT to have seperate pre-buffer and post-under-run buffer sizes is that it serves little purpose. Prebuffer in this case is probably a misnomer, in that is should have been called “buffer ahead”.

    The Last.fm server transmits the first few seconds of a song at full speed, but then cuts back to sending data at an average rate of 128 kilobits (the same rate the stream is consumed). Rebuffering therefore tends to take longer than the initial buffering and we don’t want to wait an eternity for the song to restart. Once the stream starts playing again we’ll still only have as much buffer ahead as we started with anyway.

  • Steve Punter

    @IncidentFlux, I guess the best reason NOT to have seperate pre-buffer and post-under-run buffer sizes is that it serves little purpose. Prebuffer in this case is probably a misnomer, in that is should have been called “buffer ahead”.

    The Last.fm server transmits the first few seconds of a song at full speed, but then cuts back to sending data at an average rate of 128 kilobits (the same rate the stream is consumed). Rebuffering therefore tends to take longer than the initial buffering and we don’t want to wait an eternity for the song to restart. Once the stream starts playing again we’ll still only have as much buffer ahead as we started with anyway.

  • http://incidentflux.blogspot.com/ IncidentFlux

    @Steve Punter,

    Well I’m still very grateful for your good work. The more back end tweaks you make the better for us!

    Maybe you’d like to make some backend enhancements to Nokia’s Open Source Internet Radio app?

    Nokia S60 Internet Radio
    http://opensource.nokia.com/projects/s60internetradio/ClientPage.html

    http://opensource.nokia.com/projects/s60internetradio/index.html

    http://wiki.opensource.nokia.com/projects/Internet_Radio_for_S60

  • http://incidentflux.blogspot.com/ IncidentFlux

    @Steve Punter,

    Well I’m still very grateful for your good work. The more back end tweaks you make the better for us!

    Maybe you’d like to make some backend enhancements to Nokia’s Open Source Internet Radio app?

    Nokia S60 Internet Radio
    http://opensource.nokia.com/projects/s60internetradio/ClientPage.html

    http://opensource.nokia.com/projects/s60internetradio/index.html

    http://wiki.opensource.nokia.com/projects/Internet_Radio_for_S60

  • Steve Punter

    @IncidentFlux, I didn’t realize that Nokia Internet Radio was open source. I’ve downloaded a copy of it and after Christmas is over I’ll see how easy it is to add the thread-based audio engine to this program. Hopefully it won’t be all that difficult and I can get it to work flawlessly while you do other things on your phone (like I did with Mobbler).

  • Steve Punter

    @IncidentFlux, I didn’t realize that Nokia Internet Radio was open source. I’ve downloaded a copy of it and after Christmas is over I’ll see how easy it is to add the thread-based audio engine to this program. Hopefully it won’t be all that difficult and I can get it to work flawlessly while you do other things on your phone (like I did with Mobbler).

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