On-Demand Music

MistriHD

Hi there!

I’m developing my own software for my magic mirror from the ground up, and putting it on a Raspberry Pi. I’ve got a good speaker and a good microphone, and I was planning to use a Spotify CLI that I found to control Spotify on my Raspberry Pi and play Spotify music through the speaker, but I recently found out that Spotify is not supported on a Raspberry Pi. I’ve been researching it for the past couple of hours and I can’t find a single way to play music on-demand on a Raspberry Pi, where I can simply tell what song I want and it will play.

Does anyone know if there’s a way to get Spotify on a Raspberry Pi? I’m willing to do anything (even install a new operating system). If not, what other alternative methods do I have to play music on-demand on a Raspberry Pi? I have access to Spotify Premium and Amazon Prime Music, but I know neither of those have official APIs that I can use to play music on-demand.

Thanks in advance!

McSorley

I seen an article of someone doing it, but it was its own project. Unaffiliate with the MagicMirror.

http://www.pimusicbox.com/

Not looked into it. I made an AlexaPi and the only dissapointing thing about it is that it doesn’t play Spotify or Prime Music. I was looking into the possibility of using this but it was an after thought about a week ago.

yawns

Spotify is not supported? About 2 weeks ago when I last played around with my mirror components spotify was still working and I could use my phone or my laptop to select music to be played on my mirror.

MistriHD

@yawns What software did you use? I’ve been researching for hours and couldn’t find a way to get Spotify on my RPI. Where did you install it from?

Chiumanfu

I use Volumio to play Spotify on a RPi and the MMM-Volumio plugin to display Now Playing info from Volumio.

https://volumio.org
https://forum.magicmirror.builders/topic/2515/mmm-volumio

MistriHD

Hey guys, I ended up using mopidy (mopidy.com) which works great, but it requires Spotify premium.

yawns

@MistriHD

I use spotify-connect-web: https://github.com/Fornoth/spotify-connect-web
There is a MagicMirror frontend available: https://github.com/CatoAntonsen/MMM-SpotifyConnectUI
You don’t need the frontend, it just helps you seeing your spotify status on your mirror. And the installation instructions are helpful.

The biggest issue is getting the app-key. I completed the request form 3 times and it took 2-3 weeks but I received my app-key and went on.

This is my spotifyconnect.sh file. Of course you need to add your spotify premium username and password. And you might need to play around with playback devices. The -n switch defines the name you see when browsing for Spotify devices.

#!/bin/bash
cd /home/pi/spotify-connect-web
 ./spotify-connect-web --username IWONTTELLYOU --password WONTTELLEITHER --bitrate 320 --n MagicMirror --playback_device sysdefault:CARD=ALSA

After everything is set, the connect service is running on your pi and you should be able to select it on your smartphone, your tablet, the browser frontend or your computer, if you are on the same network.

schlachtkreuzer6

A pretty easy an fast way is by installing this: https://discourse.osmc.tv/t/howto-spotify-connect-support-via-raspotify-librespot/38348?source_topic_id=15818&source_topic_id=15818

the best things are: works instantly , works instantly with justboom amp hat etc; stream from different profiles

but there is no frontend yet,…

lavolp3

@Lisa-Brown Haha, well Lisa, that’s not exactly what I would call “on demand” music playback . I guess the OT had something different in mind.
However with the ample possibilities with Spotify on a Raspberry Pi nowadays I wonder why you would go through such an extensive workaround.

A Former User

@lavolp3
I have been reading tons of topics about spotify music converter or downloader nowadays in this forum. I doubt its a kind of Adv. or spam.

Anyway, Any kind of downloading or storing Spotify music stream is violation of EULA. It would be illegal attempt.

MistriHD

@Sean So you’re saying that it’s illegal to use the Spotify client? We’re downloading music to temporarily stream it, so it’s a violation of the EULA, right?

Spotify has an API for developers, and it is meant to be used to stream music to other platforms using Spotify. I figured out how to do it 2 years ago, and posted the answer in this thread. Thanks for your input though!

lavolp3

@MistriHD it is as it is. Ripping is against their eula. Sean is of course right. The songs you download through their app have a protection so you can’t use them elsewhere. If you download and save an mp3 it’s against the terms. Obviously.
And I for myself would never do such thing.
Never!!

lavolp3

@MistriHD said in On-Demand Music:

So you’re saying that it’s illegal to use the Spotify client?

No he didn’t say that.

A Former User

@MistriHD
well, I respect your efforts but terms and condition says like this;

The following is not permitted for any reason whatsoever:

copying, redistributing, reproducing, “ripping,” recording, transferring, performing or displaying to the public, broadcasting, or making available to the public any part of the Spotify Service or the Content, or otherwise making any use of the Spotify Service or the Content which is not expressly permitted under the Agreements or applicable law or which otherwise infringes the intellectual property rights (such as copyright) in the Spotify Service or the Content or any part of it;

and developer guideline also says;

Restrictions
General restrictions. You agree that you will follow the restrictions set out below and will not encourage or facilitate others to violate these restrictions. (…)
d. Do not facilitate unauthorized access to the Spotify Service or Spotify Content, including
…
(iii) facilitating “stream ripping” or other functionalities that make it easier for users to capture or otherwise make permanent copies of Spotify Content.

Downloading and storing(or caching) spotify stream to DRM free MP3 is violation of that [“ripping” to make available to the public is not allowed]. This rule is also applied generally to Netflix, youtube or any other commercial streaming services.

Literally, streaming data is stored(cached) in your pc already, but that is under official application. When you extract it out of official app, hmmm… it might not be ILLEGAL but at least IMMORAL. You are breaking the agreement.

As far as I know, The only allowed open sdk for playing spotify songs outside official app/web is “web playback SDK” but including that, there is no SDK API to reuse streaming data cached or streamed in your device directly. All other attempts are not allowed.

MistriHD

When you extract it out of official app, hmmm… it might not be ILLEGAL but at least IMMORAL. You are breaking the agreement.

Yes, but you see, that’s where you are wrong. If you read my original post, you would see that I’m not downloading it from the “official app”, which doesn’t exist on Raspberry Pi, nor am I downloading it at all — I’m using the Spotify Web API to stream music, which is explicitly allowed. If you think that’s illegal, then you’re wrong, and you should go report mopidy-spotify instead of trying to convince me that I’m an immoral person.

A Former User

@MistriHD
Ok, there be some confusing. I’m talking about ‘Spotify Music Converter’ or ‘Downloader’ of @Lisa-Brown 's reply, not original works of yours. Your uncomfortable might be my faults, sorry.

MistriHD

@Sean I see, thanks for letting me know. Sorry for the misunderstanding.

sdetweil

@jhoney maybe look at raspotify

https://github.com/dtcooper/raspotify

https://medium.com/@pugillum/spotify-connect-with-raspberry-pi-a3280893a076