mu
Project home

WebStart links:
Mu Rich Client (fullscreen version)
Mu Rich Client (windowed version) - use this if you're having trouble with the fullscreen version
Mu Lite Client (experimental) - skimpy on all the graphical features, but may be good in quickie remote situations



August 9, 2003: It's been a while since the last update. I've been kept busy with summer activities and getting my features into JDK 1.5... Now I'm starting to find a little more free time, so hopefully we can make some more progress on Mu. And in that category, Rob Ross has made significant progress on adding JMF video playback to Mu... It's pretty cool! (It's not in CVS yet, but you can find his early source code in the File Sharing area.) Also in the works is embedding Reed Esau's Gas engine (the successor to JReceiver) in Mu, for more features, simplicity, robustness, and so on. These features are slated for the 0.2.0 release, sometime in the next couple months.


June 17, 2003: It's great to see folks signing up for "Observer" status. There are plenty of ways to contribute, including documentation, web content, artwork, etc. in addition to general code development. For those of you who requested a "Developer" role, I've given you "Observer" status for now instead. Once we start discussing what changes and additions you'd like to see for the project (and as I get to know your interests), I'll give you a "Developer" role, which will allow you to commit changes into CVS.

If you're interested in contributing, please subscribe to the dev@mu.dev.java.net mailing list (click the "Mailing lists" link for subscription information). That way everyone can discuss ideas and suggest changes in an open forum. If you're just "observing" the project, feel free to subscribe to the "users" or "announce" mailing lists, so you can stay informed of new releases, and so on.


June 10, 2003: The WebStart link for Mu is now live! Click here to give it a whirl... If you're having trouble with the fullscreen version, try this version and you may have better luck. And finally, there's an experimental "lite" client that is skimpy on all the graphical features, but may be good in quickie remote situations.

Known issues:

• Keyboard navigation is a little strange... Use the left/right arrow keys to navigate the menus. There's no "Quit" key currently, so on Windows you'll have to use alt-f4 to quit (sorry).
• Mouse navigation is also a little funky. Double click the left mouse button to go "forward". Right click (or use alt + left click on Mac OS X) to go "back".
• In order to use the photo browser, you'll need to create a folder called "images" in your home directory, containing some image files (JPEG for now). I'll be making this much more user friendly soon (image sources should be treated like the other media sources).
• To get started listening to local music files, go into "Modify Settings", then "Add Local Source", and enter a local directory pathname that contains MP3, OGG, or WAV files. Then click "OK", and in the parent menu you'll see an option called "Scan All Sources". Double click on this item, and your local media files will be scanned in that directory to pick up their metadata. When the process is finished, go back to the main menu, and click "Listen To Music"... And you should be hearing your music!
• There are a few outstanding bugs in Apple's JRE 1.4.1, so the rich client may not look quite right on that platform. I've filed bug reports and hopefully they'll be fixed in their next release.
• MP3 playback may be flaky. I'll try to look into those issues eventually.

If you see other problems, please get involved and contribute your fixes. I'd like to make this a community effort (not a project ruled and developed by one person!).

If you're at JavaOne, stop by booth #1006 to see it in action...


June 9, 2003: Come visit Sun's Java Client team at JavaOne 2003 (June 10-13), booth #1006. Also, be sure to attend the "Get Rich Quick" session, presented by Jim, Shannon, and Chris. We'll be teaching you how to create cool rich user interfaces (like Mu!) using Swing and Java 2D.


June 8, 2003: Interested in contributing to Mu? Fantastic! Sign up as a developer. Here are some possible mini-projects to explore:

• browse by genre; repeat modes; playlist support
• JMF-based video playback module
• ShoutCast/IceCast station support
• Bluetooth module (control Mu with your cell phone!)
• pure Java FLAC decoder for JMF/JavaSound
• JXTA and Rendezvous integration for ad hoc listening groups
• ... or anything else you can think of!

Mu is an all-encompassing, networked audio player and image browser. With Mu, you can access your music and photos anytime, anywhere. It doesn't matter whether they're stored remotely via your JReceiver web service or locally on your hard drive. Your collection is presented to you in one well-organized, hierarchical list. You can currently browse by artist and album, and future versions will allow for more complex queries.

Mu contains a rich graphical client (written entirely in Java 2D and Swing) for use at home, perhaps even on the TV screen in your home theater. There is also a barebones Swing-based lite version of Mu for quick access to your music collection when you're on the go... Supported audio formats include OGG, MP3, WAV, and AIFF (FLAC forthcoming). Supported image formats include JPEG, PNG, and GIF.

Contributors:

• Chris Campbell - original concept and design, audio playback module, content backend
• Shannon Hickey - rich animated widgets and other Swing enhancements
• Jim Graham - transition and animation manager
• Dmitri Trembovetski - image browser
• Jeff Dinkins - artwork

Special thanks to:

• Reed Esau - for help with JReceiver integration, and for the use of the excellent Ptarmigan metadata scanning package
• Paul Noffke - for suggestions on audio sequencer and content backend (check out his Java-based tRio software for the Rio Receiver)