KinskyAndroidPhoneDavaarManual

Supported versions

Kinsky is supported on an Android device running v2.2(Froyo) and above.

Operation

Kinsky for Android consists of three main pages, in left to right order as follows: room / source lists, now playing and browser.

Navigation between these three pages is performed by using a sideways 'swipe' gesture, and the current page is always indicated by the page indicator at the bottom of the screen: The room / source lists page allows you to select music sources and bring these in and out of standby.

The now playing page consists of a fixed controls area at the bottom, a central section and a metadata area at the top which provides information about the currently playing track. The central section of the now playing area will either contain the currently playing track's artwork or the playlist in the centre depending on which of these modes is currently selected. The view playlist button in the top right hand corner of the page toggles between these two modes.

The Browser page provides management and access to your media collection. You use the browser to locate media to play within the current room. It also contains a button to show the settings dialog, which allows you to configure more advanced options in Kinsky.

The room / source lists page

A typical modern home contains multiple HI-FIs, each of which are typically located in different rooms. You can configure a Linn device to appear in a particular room within Kinsky, either using its web configuration interface or using Linn Konfig.

The room list (on the left in the above screenshots) provides a way for a user to move between the different rooms he or she has configured on their system.

When moving between rooms the music will continue to play.

The room list can be refreshed by tapping the (refresh) button.

When a room is selected all preamps and sources in the room are brought out of standby, and the page then switches to the source list (on the right in the above screenshots) to allow source selection. To move from the source list back to the room list, tap the button.

The source list provides a way for a user to change the current music source in the selected room. The number and types of sources available in each room depends on the HI-FI components installed in the room (see sources).

Only one source can be selected at a time within a room - the currently selected source is indicated by a image.

Tap a source to change to that source. Kinsky will now move to the now playing page.

Putting a room into standby

To put a room into standby, first select the room within the room list, and then tap the button.

Automatic Room Selection

Kinsky can be configured to automatically select a room at start up.

The start up room can be configured in the 'Startup Room' setting in the settings dialog.

The default behaviour is for the last selected room to be selected.

The now playing page

The now playing page shows information about what is playing or ready to play in the currently selected room.

Artwork

The central section of the now playing page displays the artwork for the currently playing track. This may not be visible if the playlist is shown. The button in the top right hand corner of the page toggles between artwork and playlist views.

Metadata

The area at the top left of the now playing page displays the metadata for the currently playing track. For example, the title, artist and album information for a music track, or radio preset name and metatext for a radio station.

Controls

The controls area, which is located at the bottom of the now playing page, groups together all of the commonly used controls to skip track, resume/pause a track, seek within a track and - if the room has a preamp - control the volume.

Seek Control

If the currently playing track allows seeking (e.g. it is not a radio station), then the seek control will be enabled and display the current track time (either elapsed or remaining).

Tapping the seek control brings up an enlarged rotating control that can be used to adjust the track position. Rotate the outer ring to seek to a different location within the track.

To dismiss the enlarged control, tap the seek control at the bottom of the page for a second time.

(Note: if the button controls setting is selected, then this will change to an up/down button instead, which can be pressed and held to seek within the track.)

Tap the center of the enlarged seek control to toggle the current track location between time remaining and time elapsed (the toggle time remaining/elapsed displays as a separate button if the button controls setting is enabled).

Volume Control

If volume of the currently selected room can be controlled by Kinsky, then the volume control will be enabled and display the current volume.

Tapping the volume control brings up an enlarged rotating control that can be used to adjust the volume. Rotate the outer ring to turn the volume up or down.

To dismiss the enlarged control, tap the volume control at the bottom of the page for a second time.

(Note: if the button controls setting is selected, then this will change to an up/down button instead which can be pressed and held to change the volume.)

To mute or un-mute the volume tap in the inner circle of the enlarged control (the toggle mute button displays as a separate button if the button controls setting is enabled). The volume control dims when the volume has been muted. If the volume is muted and you rotate the outer ring, this will also unmute the volume.

Transport Control

If the currently selected source is able to be controlled by Kinsky, then the transport controls will become enabled. These control starting/stopping playback and moving backwards and forwards between playlist tracks or radio presets.

The transport control shows the controls that are appropriate for the currently selected source, e.g. for the Playlist source the transport controls are skip backward, play/pause, and skip forward.

Sources

Playlist

The Playlist source allows a user to create a list of tracks that are played through in sequential order. A play indicator shows the currently playing track, which moves sequentially through the playlist as the list is played. When adding tracks (or a selection of tracks) to the playlist, you can choose to Play Now (inserts the track(s) at the end of the playlist and starts immediate playback of the added track(s)), Play Next (inserts the track(s) after the currently playing track) or Play Later (inserts the track(s) at the end of the playlist).

The Playlist source allows for gapless playback of tracks.

The Playlist source can hold a maximum of 1000 tracks.

Browse media servers

To browse a media server, first select the Library location from the browser's homepage, then select the media server you wish to browse for music.

To insert tracks into a media renderer's playlist, press and hold the item in the browser and choose Play Now, Play Next or Play Later. Alternatively, if the item is a music track (or an album header if you are browsing an album container), the button (within the browser) toggles the default mode for inserting a single track or album header when the item is touched.

Saving the playlist

To save the entire playlist tap on the button and enter the name you wish to give the playlist.

Editing the playlist

Tapping the button toggles a mode which allows tracks to be reordered or deleted (see above screenshot). Tapping the button leaves edit mode.

Deleting the playlist

To clear the current playlist, first tap edit to enter edit mode, then tap on the button which appears.

Deleting a track

First tap edit to enter edit mode, then tap the button next to the track to remove it from the playlist. A red delete button will then appear. Press this to remove the track from the playlist.

Reordering the playlist

You can re-order the tracks in the playlist by tapping the up and down arrows that appear next to each track (or album if the playlist is grouped by album) when in edit mode.

Grouping tracks by album

The Group playlist tracks option toggles a mode whereby consecutive items in a playlist with the same album name in their metadata are grouped under a subheading of the album details. This feature allows more items to be presented on screen at once and prevents duplicate artwork being shown in the playlist.

Repeat And Shuffle Modes

If the currently selected source supports repeat or shuffle modes, these can be toggled on and off by tapping (repeat) and (shuffle) mode buttons respectively.

Radio

The Radio source allows a user to listen to internet radio stations, as well as podcasts and 'play again' shows. The Radio source allows a user to preset their favourite stations for quick access. A play indicator show the currently playing preset.

The Radio source can hold a maximum of 100 presets. These are configurable by setting the appropriate !TuneIn username under the !TuneIn Radio section in your device's configuration page (or via Linn Konfig).

UpnpAv

The !UpnpAv source allows a user to create a list of tracks that are played through in sequential order. A play indicator shows the currently playing track, which moves sequentially through the playlist as the list is played. When adding tracks (or a selection of tracks) to the playlist, you can choose to Play Now (inserts the track(s) at the end of the playlist and starts immediate playback of the added track(s)), Play Next (inserts the track(s) after the currently playing track) or Play Later (inserts the track(s) at the end of the playlist).

The UpnpAv source provides support for standard UPnP Media Renderers. If a Playlist source is available in a room it should be used in preference to the !UpnpAv source as it offers the following benefits,

1. Gapless playback of tracks.
1. Retains the created playlist between Kinsky sessions.
1. Allows predicable playback in the presence of multiple control points.

Operation of the !UpnpAv source is similar to that of the playlist source.

External

The External source allows a user to play external sources such as CD/DVD player, games console or portable music player.

The types of external sources are,

1. Aux
2. SPDIF
3. TOS
4. Analogue

Songcast

The Songcast source allows a user to listen to a remote Songcast source such as another DS on the network.

A list of all available Songcast senders which have been discovered on the network will be discovered and displayed in the playlist area when the Songcast source is selected. Tap a sender to connect and start listening to it. When playing a sender, a room icon appears next to it, which provides a short-cut button to open the sender's room.

The browser page

The browser page presents a unified view of all the music sources on your local network. The home page of the browser consists of a list of currently enabled locations.

Each of these locations provides a view of media files that can be browsed and selected for playback in the playlist source.

In addition to the main area of the browser, which displays the current location's contents, the up button , located in the top left of the browser, takes the browser back up to the parent folder. (Note: the up button is shown blank here, but it contains the title of the parent folder).

Locations

Library

The Library location provides a way to browse the UPnP media servers on your home network. A UPnP media server indexes your digital music collection and provides a mechanism for control points to browse your music collection.

Local Playlists

The Local Playlists location provides a way to browse, manage and insert saved playlists into a media renderer's playlist.

To reorder or delete local playlists or tracks within a local playlist, tap the Edit button (which will only appear when the location you are in can be edited) to enter a mode similar to the playlist's edit mode. From there, you can move or delete items in the same manner as editing within the playlist's edit mode.

Settings

To obtain the settings dialog, tap the button.

* About: This provides information about the current version number of Kinsky.
* Extended track info: Shows or hides the Technical Information in the now playing page.
* Button controls: Toggles between rotary and button controls for volume and seek within the controls area.
* Group playlist tracks: Toggles grouping of tracks by album in the playlist.
* Prevent auto-lock: Prevents screen lock during inactivity.
* Auto send crash log: this setting will send a crash log to Linn automatically when something goes wrong.  This allows us to continuously improve the product.
* Startup room: Allows choosing of which room is shown on startup.   Either a specific room, last selected or none can be chosen.
* Cloud Servers: This feature allows a UPnP media server which is behind a firewall or is otherwise undiscoverable to be manually configured to appear in Kinsky.
* Plugins: Individual browser locations can be enabled or disable using the options in this section.
* View Manual: Links to this manual page.

Troubleshooting

Known Issues

Kinsky does not find any DS, but find Media Servers

There is a known bug with release 4.3.12. Check Google Play Store and Amazon apps for a newer release of Kinsky

Artwork does not appear

Some Media Servers such as Fruppes no not support coverart. Other media servers do not like the size of the coverart, this should be resizesd to 600x600 pixels.

Check that the folder with the Music files have a coverart picture called "folder.jpg" with a size of 600x600, this will allow generally allow the album view to show the coverart. (Some coverart maybe in the PNG format, this should be opened and resiezed to 600x600, then resaved as folder.jpg)

Some UPnP Media Servers also require the coverart to be embedded within each Music file. This can be done with software such as MediaMonkey], Foobar2000], Tag& Rename] etc., after which, rebuild your database to ensure that the UPnP Media server has updated its database

If you have changed any artwork recently, the UPnP Media server may still be looking for the older original version that no longer exists. We would recommend that you rebuild the Media Database then recheck.

If there was some error with downloading the artwork, there will be an entry in the Android system log associated with that bit of artwork and it will give some reason for not being able to download the artwork and the URI to the artwork, hopefully this should help you fix the issue and at the very least try and download the artwork in your browser to see if you media server is providing a valid image!

To view the System Log, either install and run the aLogcat app from the Google Play Store or download and install the Google android SDK and use the command line tool "adb logcat".