2021-02-16 15:30:44

Hello folks,

For those not aware, calliope is the out of the box media player designed at being made just for you.
It's been going for a while now, but only since 3.0 has it really taken off with some serious feature additions that have made it a talking piece.
Calliope, being made for the blind, does not, it has to be said, have the prettiest of looks. There's no fancy animation, no blinking "Click me" blue buttons. What there is though is an out of the box interface that's simple, easy to navigate and most importantly, hastle free.

This is version 3.4 of the program which contains 21 documented bug fixes (key word documented as there are probably a few I fixed without thinking about it and forgot to note down), as well as an exhausting new feature list.
I have posted the full log at the end of this post for those interested, but some of the highlights include an audio converter, better tag use, settings for subtitles being read and messages being suppressed, better lyric integration, global keystrokes can be customised, a new DAISY screen, a search feature and even more.

To crack on and get downloading, hop over to this link:
https://nathantech.net/products/software/calliope.php

Calliope is the first release that has been code signed for your verification and safety, which is why this update took that much longer.

Now, for the full change log:
3.4:
Bug Fix: Fixed a bug with the tag editor's screen.
Bug Fix: Fixed a crash that could occur if you selected a device as output that was already selected.
bug Fix: Fixed the ffmpeg window popping up constantly during youtube downloads.
Bug Fix: Fixed where some playlists were unloadable due to how they handled new lines.
Bug Fix: Fixed where the program incorrectly identified whether a directory still existed after a program reboot.
bug Fix: Fixed several warnings to do with sliders in the GUI.
Bug Fix: When you try to access directories that you do not have the permission to enter, or that no longer exist, the program now warns you about it rather than getting stuck and, ultimately, crashing.
Bug Fix: Fixed where playing a stream would just crash the program.
Bug Fix: Fixed where retrieving the title of a URL could crash the program.
Bug Fix: Fixed a bug where if a title was not correctly encoded it would crash the player.
Bug Fix: Fixed a bug where backspace sometimes got stuck if you were not focused on the ".." at the top of a list.
bug Fix: Previous Youtube DL settings used now save properly.
Bug Fix: If you are in a text box, the control left and control right keystrokes disable themselves so you can navigate properly within that box.
bug Fix: Fixed so that the search results of streams focus on the first item.
Bug Fix: Fixed a bug with navigating between albums in song lookup.
Bug Fix: In song lookup, fixed a bug where the program sometimes pulled the wrong information for a track.
Bug Fix: Pressing enter on song, album or artist in song lookup now also starts the search.
bug Fix: Fixed a bug that could occur with downloading audiobooks from Librivox.
bug Fix: the context menu for playlists now works in the youtube screen.
bug Fix: Fixed a bug that would occur when downloading videos.
Bug Fix: Optimised the updator to speed up start times.
Feature Change: Removed lyricwikia in favour of a better service for getting lyrics.
Feature Change: Instead of having ".." at the top of folders, you instead have "Back to <folder name>"
Feature Change: In the video downloader, you now see which file is being downloaded, rather than just the link each time. this is useful when downloading a list of videos.
Misc: Reprinted the documentation after a bug fix to Sunrise Waterfall.
New Feature: Calliope now shows drive names where possible in the file explorer.
New Feature: Video search results now show duration.
New Feature: Added the subtitles to screen reader option, see the docs in the settings screen section for more information.
New Feature: Specify number of search results between 5 and 20 to be shown.
New Feature: The global keystrokes can now be changed.
New Feature: Added the DAISY screen.
New Feature: Added the audio converter tool.
New Feature: you can now search playlists, playing queue, library, radio streams and audiobooks with the control shift F keystroke.
New Feature: Calliope now supports the media keys.
New Feature: Added a setting called extended screen reader keystroke, allowing us to flex those accessibility muscles and add keystrokes which only a screen reader would use for quick retrieval of things, see the docs for more info.
New Feature: Added a setting to be able to suppress the messages that pop up and instead just have them spoke to you. I also went ahead and implemented a history log for this. Once again, all explained in the docs.
New Feature: You can now listen to song previews in the song lookup.
New Feature: Added a keystroke to jump to a specific time allowing for both text entry and list choices of that time.
New Feature: Where available, tag information is now shown in the info list of the file explorer screen.
New Feature: The program now attempts to use audio tags from files to name the track currently being played, so for example it may now say: "Playing song, by artist, from album."

Nathan Smith
Managing Director of Nathan Tech
It's not disability
It's ability!

2021-02-16 17:47:11 (edited by Chris 2021-02-16 17:47:39)

I can't open DAISY books from Bookshare with the latest version of the program. When I navigate to the folder containing the book after choosing the option to load a DAISY book, it doesn't show any files.

Grab my Adventure at C: stages Right here.

2021-02-16 21:04:19

um, for some reason the exit button is not working for me.

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2021-02-17 02:51:54

Hi there!

@2 Does book share use daisy format 2.02?
Do they have an ncc.html file?

@3 Does alt f4 work?

THX

Nathan Smith
Managing Director of Nathan Tech
It's not disability
It's ability!

2021-02-17 05:17:47

no, I have to kill  it from the task manager

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2021-02-17 05:20:05 (edited by Chris 2021-02-17 05:24:22)

I don't have that file, just a bunch of smil, dtd, an ncx file, and other assorted files. Bookshare books are also text only for the most part.

If you don't have a Bookshare membership, try download one of the public domain titles such as this. This should give you an idea of the file structure. https://www.bookshare.org/browse/book/2 … 3JpZXM9b24

Grab my Adventure at C: stages Right here.

2021-02-17 14:39:53

Hi there,@5 I'm looking into your issue, as it's not one others have reported. I'll get back to you on that.

@6 that's probably why they don't work. Calliope is designed with DAISY 2.02 in mind, which is audio only smile

Nathan Smith
Managing Director of Nathan Tech
It's not disability
It's ability!

2021-02-17 21:37:52

I fix it by uninstalling and installing again.

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2021-02-17 23:58:50

Nathan, you never cease to amaze me. I have been waiting for something like this for a very long time.
I do have one question, however. I suggested a while back a feature that would let you download entire YouTube channels without the need to search for individual videos to download them. Is this feature added yet, or is it something that is possible? This is the one reason I still use Ponty's Media Downloader, for the purpose of download entire channels. I know I sound crazy, but I just like having entire youTube channels downloaded on my computer, especially if I want to go back and listen to specific videos without having to deal with advertisements as I don't feel getting YouTube premium is worth it, and I like the YouTube interface better on my phone.

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2021-02-18 02:15:29

Hey there,

It's actually already possible through the fact that Youtube DL is included with calliope, though searching for channels is sadly not.

Please do read the ethics heading in the Youtube Screen section of the documentation though smile

Nathan Smith
Managing Director of Nathan Tech
It's not disability
It's ability!

2021-02-18 05:09:46

hey, that's awesome. Thanks for letting me know, and I will certainly use this feature responsibly.
I do have 1 suggestion for the media player. WOuld it be possible to add a speed control? Some people like to listen to their files or books faster or slower, especially with narrators who read extremely slowly.

proud to be a patreon of liam erven. Become a patreon today at patreon.com/liamerven

2021-02-21 10:41:50

Ok, i haven't try this out before, so I can't say anything about comparing the previous versions though, just my thoughts for trying this a first time, ok, here It goes!:
First: I really wanna thanks developers for this great program, this is a program just for us, no blue buttons, green bars, unaccessible and graphical pains and unknown focus for the screen reader users. I think we, included myself will want to hear more about the future of this gift, thanks a lot.
Second: I have some suggestions for this:
The Youtube dl is great, and multiple links in a roe is quite nice, but I think the converter to mp3 should be a bit faster though, and, I think it'll be great if you can watch the video you're searching for directly on the program itself, no need to open it on the browser. And by the way, the audio book feature should have a tool to let you search books by writers, languages and such, because if you're bored and just need something to hear, or if you want to practice english by listening books, you don't need to know the name of It Specifically, that's to say: you can browse books, filtered by catigories, writers, languages, etc etc... that's all for now though, I hope those things will come out on the next versions, and hope this great project will go along with blind comunity,
     Best regards

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2021-02-27 01:27:42

Version 3.4.1 is now available!
Important! You will need to download this update from the website. An uninstall and then reinstall of Calliope is recommended for this update, as the new update is a little smaller but the installer will not remove old files. Changes: Bug fixes to the updater, for real this time. Bug fixes to time display, the f1 key and the streamer screen. Feature addition: More stream support and more search stream capabilities, a control l keystroke to jump to the last bookmark and the youtube DL screen now supports an all subtitles option, as well as improvements to how it names playlist files to order them better. thank you to everyone who reported and suggested for this update. It's a pleasure to make a player for you.

https://nathantech.net/products/software/calliope.php

Nathan Smith
Managing Director of Nathan Tech
It's not disability
It's ability!

2021-02-27 09:27:17

Hi Nate. I don't know if it is just happening on my end, but everytime I download anything with the youtube dl, it always gives me an error message, and the file that I tried to download is not an mp3 file. Any solution to this problem? All thanks goes for your hard work on developing this media player. smile

2021-02-28 15:01:06

Important: An updated Calliope installer for version 3.4.1 has just been uploaded. If you:
1. Uninstalled 3.4 and then installed 3.4.1, you will require this uploaded installer for the audio converter and Youtube DL conversion to work.
2. Just installed 3.4.1 over the top of 3.4, no steps are necessary and you can ignore this message.
https://nathantech.net/products/software/calliope.php #a11y

Nathan Smith
Managing Director of Nathan Tech
It's not disability
It's ability!

2021-02-28 19:46:25

hi, when I tried it the first time, it was a nice little player, I played around with it for a while and went back to Foobar 2000, now here we are, wanted to give it another try, after installing it shows me an error when I run it... oops, not shows me, it tells me that it caught an error but  it'll rather share with the developer through email instead of telling someone who has no clue what does the error exactly mean... so yeah, it should be in your inbox now.

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2021-03-04 02:55:05

Hello!
]
Version 3.4.2 has been release that hopefully fixes the problem @!6 was having:

bug fixes are given to the launch process as well as the position slider. both were minor, but the more fixes the better, right?
New Feature for this release is an audio identification feature that can identify and rename tracks for you.

As always, enjoy.

Nathan Smith
Managing Director of Nathan Tech
It's not disability
It's ability!

2021-04-02 17:47:18

Hello!

I feel like I skipped a version somewhere?
Anyways!
Version 3.4.4 is now available through either the updator or of course the same link as in post 1.
https://nathantech.net/products/software/calliope.php

3.4.4:
Bug Fix: Fixed saving playlists.
Bug Fix: The starting multiple times bug has been fixed.
Bug Fix: Fixed a bug where when loading files into a library from nested directories the program was unable to retrieve file tags.
Bug Fix: times are now grammatically correct.
Feature Change: The global keystrokes screen has been integrated into the settings screen and the alt 9 keystroke temporarily disabled pending a new feature in a future update.
New Feature: You can now adjust play speed on the play screen.
New Feature: Added PLS file support.
New Feature: File duration now shows in the info list where available.
New Feature: When extended screen reader keystrokes are enabled, pressing control r will announce the state of the repeat setting through the reader when you use it to turn repeat on or off.
New Feature: You can now set your own home path, the path that is reached through control h, in the settings screen.
New Feature: You can now have file play times displayed in the files and folder list. this is is disabled by default, but can be enabled in the settings screen.

Nathan Smith
Managing Director of Nathan Tech
It's not disability
It's ability!

2021-04-07 03:39:57 (edited by JasonBlaze 2021-04-07 03:40:52)

I write you this on cosmic rage but, I'll paste it here as well just in case.
oh there is two bugs that I've found, not sure if I should write it here but, yeah, the screen selection with up and down arrows still a little bit wierd when the navigation aid is off, sometimes it would stuck on the setting screen which if you press down arrow it would sent my focus back to the setting screen. another one is, say I load a playing queue then I move back and forth  with the alt+shift+f/b keystroke, for example, track 1, to track 2, then back to track 1, next to track 2 again, the playback would stuck.
a way to quickly clear the playing queue  will be nice as well.

2021-04-19 01:12:52

Hello!

Announcing the release of Calliope version 3.4.5 (love the number sequence there).
This is for the most part a bug fix release to 3.4.4, though it does have a few minor requested features from users detailed at the bottom of the post.
As always you can update through the program, or through the link in post 1:
https://nathantech.net/products/software/calliope.php

3.4.5:
Bug Fix: Fixed a bug where if you chose to have no global keystrokes the program would be unable to close because it tried to unregister them upon exit.
Bug Fix: Fixed a bug that could some times occur with f1 and f2.
Bug Fix: Fixed an error that could occur with showing that a file no longer existed when in the file explorer.
Bug Fix: Fixed a bug that could occur with the billboard viewer relating both to artist only charts and viewing charts from certain countries.
Bug Fix: the in app sounds now respect the selected output device and volume settings.
Bug Fix: If calliope is unable to play a file it now properly updates the status and, where necessary, moves on. Rather than getting stuck.
Bug Fix: Fixed a few bugs with how the program handled going back a track.
Bug Fix: Fixed a bug with longer playing queues.
Documentation update: Updated the docs as they were missing references to the file converter.
Feature Change: Added an additional start up check to help with identifying if the program is already running. The Original method has been disabled for now, pending feedback on the new one.
New Feature: You now have start and end markers as part of keystrokes available in the program. the relevant documentation pages have been updated with further information.
New Feature: You can now save your selected output device across sessions.
New Feature: You can now hide the window and use it just through the global keystrokes. Similarly a keystroke has been added to focus the window.

Nathan Smith
Managing Director of Nathan Tech
It's not disability
It's ability!

2021-04-21 13:43:17

Sorry for the double post
Calliope version 3.4.6 is now available, fixing a minor start up bug and the GUI bug referenced above in post 18 or 17 that I missed in 3.4.5, my bad!

https://nathantech.net/products/software/calliope.php

Nathan Smith
Managing Director of Nathan Tech
It's not disability
It's ability!

2021-06-14 00:05:42

Nathan, documentation shortcut keys sometimes work, sometimes not on Calliope. Please, could You look at It and fix this bug?
Thank You.
Marco Oros

Ja volim samo kafu sa Rakijom.

2021-06-14 08:10:31

I have re-installed It and suddenly, without any problems. I don't know, what was that.
Also, could You edit playlist creation by this way, if playlist and songs of this playlist is in same folder, It won't be in playlist full path, but just name and at the beginning number sign #?
Thank You.

Ja volim samo kafu sa Rakijom.

2021-06-15 04:14:26

A small Idea:
A random play feature will be fun, I mean in a playlist, or a folder full of medias, you can play them randomly, hope I helped

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2021-06-15 17:29:46

hey. So i just came from foobar to this app, and i half to say, i onnistly love it, allot! only thing that keeps dragging me back to foobar is the EQ. I wish, that this app could have an EQ and if a EQ, not a horable one. the built in EQ of foobar is so good in that it represints thing amazingly. anyways, is it possable to add EQ support? if so, then good bye to foobar