Blog Entry
Mar 12

XM Online Radio 1.6

Posted in Gadgets, XM Online Radio

We just finished up a set of upgrades for the XM Online Radio gadget.  After all was said and done, we’ve added a few more upgrades than initially planned, so here’s a rundown of the various fixes and additions to the newest version.

Fixes

  • Fixed Non-Working Music Searches.
    - “&” Now fixed, “(” and “)”, we added ‘ back into the search.
  • Volume Controls Smoothed Out.
    - Now if you rapidly click, it flashes less.
  • Search Flyout Optimized.
    - Graphics optimized, transition removed from initial load should make it smoother.
  • Search Links Corrected For Amazon And eBay.
    - Getting things to work is always an improvement.
  • Reset Settings Fixed.
    - Stream quality now resets properly as do option controls.
  • Various Stealth Fixes From 1.5
    - It’s good to make sure that people get these along with the new stuff.

 Upgrades / Changes

  • Channel + And – Overhauled.
    - Improved channel display, single click moves one channel, double click moves 5 channels.
  • Channel Flipping Now Loops.
    - If you get to channel 309, it will loop back to channel 2 and vice-versa.
  • Artist Name, Track, And Album Now Clickable, Artist Name Has Tooltip.
    - Hopefully we can draw more attention to this awesome feature, but wait, there’s more…
  • Search Targeting Based On What Was Clicked.
    - If you click the song name, the flyout will do a song based search where applicable. 
    Also applies to artist and album.
  • Channel Collapse And Expand Buttons.
    - In the channel flyout these can collapse or expand the genre groups. 
    Handy if you hate lots of scrolling.
  • YouTube Video Playback Mute / Un-Mute Button Now Buttonized.
    - Should make this easier to see and work with.
  • New Default Link On Start.
    - Now says “Click Here To Start”, it still pops the channels out.  This was to help clarify.
  • Button Moving In Channel Flyout.
    - “Song List” button now called “Refresh” and moved to the other side, “Close” button added.
  • Help Links Added To Login Flyout.
    - For people with password and account issues, please use these links.
  • Changed The Bottom Button Order.
    - The order should be a bit more intuitive now.

That should be about it for now.  We’re already making plans for additional future upgrades to the gadget and search services.

As always, feedback is generously appreciated, if you have any bugs, let us know with as much detail as you can so we can get fixes up as fast as we can.

Download @ BuildAGadget.com

Download @ Widgipedia.org

Download @ Live.com Gallery

Enjoy!  :)


This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 12th, 2008 at 12:28 pm
and is filed under Gadgets, XM Online Radio.



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38 Responses to “XM Online Radio 1.6”

  1. Aaron Says:
    March 15th, 2008 at 11:03 pm

    Hi, I just upgraded to 1.6 and I really like your gadget. I was wondering if you would consider adding the ability for the gadget to grow (in physical size) when the gadget is dragged out of the sidebar.

    I always use your gadget to listen to XM but I almost always have my sidebar closed but would like to move the gadget to the desktop and see the full title of the song displayed. I mainly listen to the Classical and Jazz stations that have long titles.

    Thank you.

  2. The Staff Says:
    March 17th, 2008 at 8:35 am

    Aaron, we’ll look into it, not sure how the result will end up. Also, the sidebar doesn’t have an auto-hide, if you close it the gadget will close as well. If you have multiple monitors, you can push it way to the side.

    We’ll add your suggestion to the list. :)

  3. Carlos Says:
    March 17th, 2008 at 7:17 pm

    I does not work!!!…. when I click anywhere, nothing happens… it just stays there…

  4. The Staff Says:
    March 18th, 2008 at 7:22 am

    Carlos, The login isn’t working at all either? Hmmm… Try a reboot and re-add the gadget to the sidebar, maybe that will help. Are you having this issue with any other gadgets?

  5. Dave Says:
    March 19th, 2008 at 10:38 am

    I think that 1.5 worked better. All of my favorites are gone and I can’t add any favorites. I also no longer see what is playing when I look at the channel list. It still plays my XM so it has that going for it! Hopefully 1.7 will be better! Thank you for a great XM player!

  6. michael Says:
    March 21st, 2008 at 7:16 pm

    just upgraded to 1.6 running on vista 64, service pack 1. AStill no sound though.
    iTunes and wmp all work fine.
    Not sure what else to try. Reset all settings, uninstall, re-installed.
    Still nothin

  7. Eric P. Says:
    March 22nd, 2008 at 1:11 am

    Fantastic upgrades. The latest version works great and doesn’t seem to have any compatibility issues with Vista SP1 whatsoever.

    This is the best gadget that I have used since I began using Vista, and it has been absolutely awesome watching it grow and improve over the past several months. You guys have done a fantastic job designing this thing. XM should pay you a commission for each installation of this thing.

    On second thought, scratch that. If XM touched this, they’d screw it up like they did for the normal XMRO application that TIMES OUT!!! BLEAHHH!!!

    :-)

  8. Mike Murray Says:
    March 22nd, 2008 at 10:47 am

    First THANK YOU for this GREAT Gadget. I’m having the same problem with Favorites. Can’t ad a Favorite, it’s not highlight

    I will continue to support you guys. But, if you could fix Favorites, that would rock.

    Thanks guys!!

  9. David Says:
    March 24th, 2008 at 12:18 am

    Great job!! I was wondering if there was a way that I could add Family Talk 170 to the list of channels or favorites. Thanks again for the awesome job!

  10. The Staff Says:
    March 24th, 2008 at 1:32 am

    David, Thanks, though unfortunately, channel 170 doesn’t seem to be a part of the online channel lineup.

    Mike Murray, we’re working through the code in the next day or so to weed out this and a few other bugs.

    Eric, thanks!

    Michael, sounds like an Ajax issue. Maybe try the persistent settings fix from the support page and reboot, maybe that’ll help.

    Dave, Working on it. Thanks for the feedback.

  11. chris Says:
    March 25th, 2008 at 11:37 am

    Having an issue with “popping” in the sound feed, mostly from Ethel (ch 47). Not sure if this is xstreamxm related or not, because I have the same problem with the xstreamxm link on my Roku. Did not notice this prior to 1.6, and sometimes stopping/starting fixes it. Also happens on low quality. Does not happen on XMRO. My internet speed is 10mb/s down, so I don’t think that’s the problem.

  12. michael Says:
    March 25th, 2008 at 5:48 pm

    Hi there, thanks for the advice. Tried it all. support site info, codec, restart, uninstallre-install, delet stuff, etc.
    Nothing still does not work, no sound.

    Any additional advice, or more info you need to diagnose?

    Michael

  13. The Staff Says:
    March 26th, 2008 at 9:42 am

    Chris, that may have more to do with the gadget being a third party feed than anything else. Try out the XM player from Windows Media Player and see if you still get the issue (just to check anyways).

    Michael, we’re working on version 1.7. It sounds like you’ve tried everything with the gadget to get it working. Could you try out Windows Media Player as well, just to check and see if you get any particular errors? Every little bit helps to try and narrow stuff down. Also, when you play the gadget, does the play button press down?

  14. David T Says:
    March 27th, 2008 at 1:53 pm

    I hate to ask the obvious, but I must: Will this work only for Vista? Is there an XP-equivalent? I’d consdier creating one for XP if needed, but I’d hate to waste the time and effort to redo the wheel.

  15. The Staff Says:
    March 27th, 2008 at 5:09 pm

    David, We’re working on porting it to other platforms, it’s just taking a little while.

  16. Michael Says:
    March 28th, 2008 at 8:39 pm

    I have Windows Vista Ultimate 32-bit with SP1 installed. The gadget was working fine a few days ago–and now, all of a sudden–I get no sound from the gadget. The sound on my computer works, as everything else produces sound, but the gadget itself will not play anything, despite it seeming to work.

    I’ve reset everything, uninstalled, reinstalled, and refreshed a bunch of times. The play button is indeed down (as you asked someone else above), and the stop button seems to “work”, but, again, I get no sound.

    Any help would be…helpful. Thanks.

  17. The Staff Says:
    March 29th, 2008 at 11:43 am

    Michael, Very interesting. If you have a minute, we’d like you to try out the XM player in Windows Media Player (Under Online Stores). If it works there, not sure why it shouldn’t work in the gadget.

    Beyond that, we are working through the 1.7 version of the gadget and have most of it recoded and hopefully a lot more stable and faster.

  18. Jeff Says:
    March 29th, 2008 at 8:59 pm

    This is far and away my favorite gadget – thanks for a great prod and support! I seem to have lost my favorite stations on upgrading to 1.6, and can’t figure out how to add new favorites in 1.6 either (could be I’m a moron – likely, in fact). Thoughts?

  19. Michael Says:
    March 29th, 2008 at 9:04 pm

    The Windows Media Player XM player works, but the gadget does not. Very odd.

  20. MIke Says:
    March 30th, 2008 at 11:51 am

    Just wanted to drop a note and say Thanks. This is a great gadget. Seems to work pretty well. I’ve had very few issues, and the interface is well designed and easy to use.
    Have you thought about doing a ‘Tuneselect’ type feature that many of the hardware based radios support? Tag Favorite artists/songs and show a message when one such song starts on another channel? Not sure if you could do this without eating a lot of CPU time.

  21. Andrew Says:
    March 30th, 2008 at 2:34 pm

    I am having trouble with my xm gadget. I downloaded the new version 1.6, and when I put in my login information, it says “Connection Problem”. I have no problem connecting to the XM online site and listening through Windows Media Player.

    Any Suggestions?

  22. Tom Novak Says:
    March 30th, 2008 at 4:34 pm

    I just wanted to echo the post left by Andrew on March 30. I am also getting “Connection Problem” when I log in. My password and username are correct and they both work with the XM Site and the Windows Media Player.
    I just wanted you to know that this is not just an isolated incident.
    Thank you.

  23. The Staff Says:
    March 30th, 2008 at 5:35 pm

    Hey guys, We’re working through the problems with the next version. We’re hoping to have that out at some point soon (maybe this coming week).

    The connection error is due to the Ajax coming back not ready. Very interesting… Try logging back in in a few hours and let us know if it’s still not working for you. It’s possible this could be server lag, we just need to be sure.

    Mike, Not sure about a “TuneSelect” option, maybe it’ll be something we look into in the future, but you might like one of the newer features we’re adding into 1.7 that has some similarities to this (but less automated).

    Jeff, use the + Fav button on the gadget after selecting a channel to add it to favorites. :)

  24. Tom Novak Says:
    March 30th, 2008 at 7:49 pm

    I have my XM Gadget up and working again. I shut down the computer and after it restarted, my Gadget was working again as usual. I hope this works for anyone else having the “Connection Problem” message.

  25. David Patrick Says:
    April 2nd, 2008 at 3:25 pm

    HELP

    I installed 1.7 and when I click login its does nothing, no login nothing, I unistalled and reinstalled twice still same probem
    Please advise and thanks

  26. The Staff Says:
    April 2nd, 2008 at 7:10 pm

    David, try restarting the sidebar (exit then re-open the program) and see if that helps. Sometimes the sidebar can lock down in a way that prevents Ajax calls from getting out. Usually either restarting the program or even restarting the machine can help with that.

  27. David Patrick Says:
    April 3rd, 2008 at 2:48 pm

    Thanks for the update, tried that no luck, I am using XP with the Vista Sidebar maybe that is the problem althoguth all my other Vista Gadgets from the MS site work fine, any other ideas and thank you so much

  28. Tom Novak Says:
    April 4th, 2008 at 9:40 am

    Is it normal that when I restart my Windows Vista computer that my XM Gadget 1.7 automatically turns itself on to the last station I was listening to? And if this is the norm, can I toggle that feature off?
    Once again, thank you so much fot a great product.

  29. The Staff Says:
    April 4th, 2008 at 10:32 am

    Tom, we’ll take a look into that and see what’s causing it. It could just be a fluke or something that we’ll fix soon.

    David, We haven’t tested the gadget on a hacked XP sidebar. Not sure what to tell you about this one… If we think of anything, we’ll let you know.

  30. The Staff Says:
    April 4th, 2008 at 10:55 am

    Tom, looks like it was just a weird glitch. Re-download the 1.7 beta again and that should be fixed. Please let us know if you run into any more issues. Thanks. :)

  31. Tom Novak Says:
    April 4th, 2008 at 11:58 am

    I did redownload 1.7 and it appears to be okay now. Thank you for the quick response.

  32. David Lake Says:
    April 9th, 2008 at 10:29 pm

    HELP,

    I have had persistent problems with getting the gadet to work. Seems to access the stream (gets song/artist information) but no sound. Gradually, the incoming stream peters out. This has happened with earlier versions of the gadget. Ocassionally, the gadet would mysteriously work for a while, but not all channels. Then, poof, no sound again on any channel.
    I have also had problwms with the Windows Media Player and XM. It cannot play the music and I get the error code C00D10B5. I have tried Microsoft’s suggested solution of checking the “Connect to the Internet” box under the player tab. Still no luck in getting it to play music no matter which channel I bring up. Just get same error message. I have adjusted the firewall and cookie settings numerous times with no chnage in performance. XM seems to play fine when I access it through AOL.

    Any help would be greatly appreciated.

  33. The Staff Says:
    April 10th, 2008 at 2:06 pm

    David, it really does sound like it’s a Windows Media Player issue. We wish we could help, but there’s not much we can do gadget wise if the player isn’t working. The last resort option would be to reload windows and see if you continue to get the errors (a bit extreme, but if there’s a deep rooted problem with WMP, that might be one of the better solutions), or try re-installing WMP.

    AOL works fine for you as they aren’t requiring WMP to stream. ;)

  34. Radicus Says:
    April 26th, 2008 at 3:46 pm

    Is there a way to change the audio output device from say speakers to Toslink, etc? Right now it’s set to speakers but I get no sound.

  35. Reid Says:
    May 18th, 2008 at 9:54 am

    Hi,just added XM Gadget today and I’m already hooked! This is awesome! Nice clear sound! Just one small issue-was hoping to add: channel 131 BBC World Service, but can’t locate it in yr channel line-up, what gives?

  36. The Staff Says:
    May 18th, 2008 at 5:07 pm

    Reid, We’ll take a look and see if that channel has been added to the lineup. The channel listings are controlled manually for speed reasons, but we’ll take a peek at the list today and add the channel if it’s there. :)

  37. The Staff Says:
    May 18th, 2008 at 7:13 pm

    Reid, we just synched up the channel list and Channel 131 is not included in the XM Radio Online channels. Sorry about that.

  38. Jim Says:
    May 21st, 2008 at 12:46 pm

    I would also like to see the gadget grow in size when it’s undocked and placed on the desktop. I have an Ultra Mobile PC and while at work or in the car it would be nice to have a larger mode that would be touch friendly.

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