Frequently Asked Installation and Startup Questions
I still don't get it – what exactly does SongTip do?
SongTip is software which turns your smart phone or handheld or desktop into an intelligent remote to browse and play your digital music library. See more details or features.
I just downloaded SongTip on my Mac – how do I start it?
Simply open the downloaded SongTip.dmg and click the green “Play” triangle icon to launch. The icon should then also appear as a running application in your dock, where you can use the right/control menu to keep it in your dock for future launches or have it start upon login. You may also choose to drag it directly into your into “Applications” (a shortcut link is provided next to SongTip's launch icon), your dock, or anywhere you find convenient.
How do I install SongTip on my Nokia N810?
After clicking on the Nokia "click here" link on SongTip's download page, choose "open" (not "save"). After downloading, approve the installation (you may receive a warning about installing non-Nokia software). You should receive a notification once SongTip is successfully installed.
I just installed SongTip on my Nokia N810 – how do I start it?
Click on SongTip under Nokia's Application “Extras” - look for the green “Play” triangle (although icons in the desktop menu are sometimes not refreshed until the next reboot). After selecting SongTip, you will see a splash screen while it searches for SongTip services on the local network (ensure you have at least one SongTip running on a Mac, and that the Nokia is connected to the WiFi/LAN).
Frequently Asked Operational Questions
How do I scroll the music?
You can drag the music (move your finger or stylus while pressing down) as if it were a piece of paper sliding on the screen.
I have a lot of music - how do I scroll quickly?
As you drag (up or down), continue pressing above or below the frame of music – the music will continue to scroll.
I don't like scrolling – how can I find the music I want?
You can type text contained in the title or artist of the desired music and SongTip will filter out all else.
Ok, now that I've typed a filter, how do I see all my music again?
You can backspace to erase the filter. Also, the filter is cleared when you switch tabs.
I notice the music is sorted by title – can I sort by artist?
Simply touch/click the current tab again and the sort order will toggle between title and artist. You may also gesture left on an item (as if you were dragging the item) - this will toggle the sort order and leave the item selected (very useful for finding "other titles by this artist".
I'm on the Queue page, and I've scrolled far away from the highlighted now playing item - how can I get back to it again?
The Queue page automatically scrolls back to the now playing item if there haven't been any user inputs for several seconds. However, if you wish to scroll back immediately, simply gesture (drag) left anywhere on the music in the queue.
On the Playlists page, why does it show an artist name and cover art?
For convenience, SongTip shows the artist name and cover art of the first song of the playlist to let you know what will play first when you listen to that playlist.
I've selected an album (or playlist) - how can I see the content inside?
Touch/click the selected album or playlist again and the selection will be expanded in the list. If the expansion goes below the bottom of the window, the list will scroll up to show you as much of the expanded list as possible. Touch/click again to close. You may have multiple items expanded at the same time. Touch/click again to close. If you touch the cover art icon of an album or a playlist, the item is expanded immediately (it needn't be selected first). Note that "touching again" does not have to be done within a certain time (SongTip strives for ease-of-ues by avoiding tedious gestures such as double-clicks and complicated modes such as multiple selection).
Now that I've selected music, how do I get it to play?
After music is selected (its cover art will display inside the graphical play button along with the number of tracks), you may either:
- press the graphical play button
- drag the selection to the right and drop over any of the music control buttons
- press the hardware 'enter' key or button
I'm dragging the music up and down and then dragging right, but the selection doesn't drag right!
Once your drag is scrolling the music up/down, it stays in scroll mode. Simply release and then drag right. Similarly, once you are dragging a selection right, you can't scroll without first dropping the item (drop the item back in the list if you don't want the drop to do anything). SongTip determines the difference between an up/down drag and sideways drag by which direction you move first.
What happens to selected music when I hit play?
The default mode is to play the selected music directly. SongTip also has a queue mode (see the "Q" button and "Queue/Q" tab) in which the selected music is queued first then played. Queue mode has many advantages, such as being able to see and return to previously played music, reordering (and deleting and adding to) items in the queue, and saving the queue as a playlist. You can also repeat (loop) and shuffle (randomize) items in the Queue.
I select music and hit play, but it keeps playing previously selected music – how do I get it to play my new selection?
Don't panic - you are probably in queue mode. You can leave queue mode by de-selecting the "Q" button. If you prefer to stay in queue mode, simply press the stop button - when stopped, newly selected music added to the queue will start when you press play.
How do I switch between direct and queue modes?
Pressing the "Q" button toggles between these modes - when the "Q" is green, SongTip is in queue mode, when the "Q" is grey, SongTip is in direct play mode. SongTip automaatically enters queue mode when the queue page/"Q" tab is selected.
I see tabs labeled Albums, Songs, and Playlists, but I don't understand this "Q" tab - what is it?
Selecting a tab brings you to its corresponding page. Most of the music pages share a similar format, with a few exceptions on the queue page/"Q" tab. Save (red-heart) and remove (note crossed with red slash) buttons replace the "Q" and SongLink buttons, and the stop button doubles as a clear queue button after the music has stopped playing for a few seconds. Music selections on the queue page are played directly as it makes little sense to re-queue items already in the queue.
I notice that music stays in the play queue even after it's been played – why, and how I can I clear it?
Songs remain in the queue so that you can replay them, edit them, or save them as a playlist. After being stopped for five seconds, the queue page's stop button turns into a clear button with a red "X" which when pressed will remove all songs from the queue.
How do I save the queue as a playlist?
On the queue page, press the red heart on the queue page – you may then type a new playlist name, or wait several seconds to have it saved with the default “SongTip-<date>” name. SongTip does not provide playlist management beyond saving - use your library management software to rename or delete playlists.
On the Preferences tab, what does "Exclude One-Song Albums" do?
The list on the album tab can filter-out albums which do not have more than one song - this allows the list to feature complete or at least multi-song albums. Single songs (with their album's artwork) remain available on the Songs tab.
On the Preferences tab, what does "Exponential Volume" do?
Because our ears are more sensitive at lower volumes, it can help to use more of the volume slider for these lower volumes. This can be done using logarithmic and exponential relationships. Depending on your audio system, you may find this option gives you better control of the loudness of your music.
Frequently Asked Licensing Questions
Is SongTip Free?
SongTip offers a free trial for a limited time, after which continued use requires a license key for each running SongTip client application.
How do I purchase SongTip license key?
Purchasing a SongTip license key is simple and quick at the SongTip store where various payment methods are accepted.
How do I use a SongTip license key?
Once you have purchased a license key, enter it directly into the SongTip program (Extras -> Keys -> invoice#). License keys are tied to the server with the music, not to SongTip clients with the GUI - this allows you the flexibility to share license keys among various clients, so long as the total number of clients in use at a given time does not exceed the total number of licenses keys.
Frequently Asked Apple Questions
The GUI looks boring - is there any cover art?
Be sure you have cover art enabled in iTunes - if you see it in iTunes, you should see it in SongTip.
Are there plans to support other platforms besides iTunes?
SongTip is carefully architected to be able to support multiple server and client platforms (and media types).
I have a DAAP or other iTunes compliant repository – can SongTip control such a repository directly?
Not at this time - in current releases, SongTip uses iTunes to control music playback.
Is SongTip meant to replace iTunes? Can SongTip do everything iTunes can do?
No. SongTip is an simpler interface designed for the most common uses of digital music especially in mobile environments.
SongTip is not responding or playing - what could be wrong?
SongTip currently uses iTunes to play music, so check to ensure that iTunes is responding and playing music (that the computer is not sleeping, or that iTunes is not stuck on something like a dialog box asking the user for permission to perform a software upgrade). Also be sure that all your songs are enabled (checked) in your music library.
Can I use iTunes and SongTip at the same time?
No. At this time, SongTip uses iTunes, and the concurrent use of iTunes by both a user and SongTip could result in conflict. At this time, if you change content in iTunes, simply reload SongTip.
What is Airtunes and these boxes called Airport Expresses?
Airtunes is a great technology developed by Apple that allows you to listen to your music throughout your home. You can play iTunes music from your central music source over the network to Airport Express hubs which feed directly into a stereo amplifiers or powered speakers. See About AirTunes or Music sharing with Airport Express for more information.
Frequently Asked Nokia Questions
How do I make SongTip switch between full-screen and normal views?
Press the hardware button on the top-left of the Nokia N810 to toggle full-screen on and off.
Do I need to use the stylus with SongTip?
SongTip was designed to be usable with your finger tips as well as the stylus on portable devices. Also, on desktop interfaces, the scroll-wheel works for list scrolling and volume changes.
What do Nokia's N810 hardware buttons do in SongTip?
- top-left: toggle full-screen
- top second-to-left (zoom +/-): volume buttons (single increments, no autorepeat)
- scroll/D-pad: up/down moves the selection, right/left expands and collapses track sets, center plays the selection.
- keyboard: filters content through the text that is typed.
How do I make SongTip play music on my Nokia N810 device?.
SongTip is a distributed control interface and does not stream or render content (at this time, it uses the server to play), but there are many other good programs available for local rendering and streaming to the device itself.
Frequently Asked Linux Questions
The splash screen "Searching for SongTip Services" just sits there without finding anything, but I have SongTip running on a Mac on the same network and I know these two machines can connect to each other - what is wrong?
Ensure that port 5353 (the mDNS UDP port used by Apple for its Bonjour/Rendezvous services) is not being blocked by your firewall. Try "allowing" UDP port 5353 for mDNS in your firewall configuration.
How does one SongTip package run on most linux distributions?
Because most linux distributions are LSB-compliant, much of the software does not need to be recompiled for specific distributions. In the few cases where the software object may vary too much between platforms, that object is statically linked.
Why two different package formats?
SongTip chose RPM and DEB package formats to distribute software because these two formats are overwhelmingly popular and cover the vast majority of linux distributions (DEBs for Ubuntu, Debian, etc., RPMs for SuSe, Fedora, RedHat, etc.). Tarballs could also be made available upon request, but most linux users can unroll an RPM or DEB package as if it were.
How did SongTip put an icon on my desktop?
SongTip simply puts a "songtip.desktop" file in the current user's "Desktop" directory. This is a useful launch point for SongTip as well as a source for inclusion into menus, toolbars, etc. It can be replicated into other users' desktops, and it can be safely removed (SongTip can also be launched as "/usr/bin/songtip").
SongTip is available for Intel/i386 processors - can it work on others?
Yes. If you'd like SongTip for other processors or platforms, please provide specifics in an email request