Time Machine plugin for browsing local music by decade

Plugins
1

Hi all,

I’ve been working on a Volumio 3 music service plugin called Time Machine and would welcome feedback from anyone interested in testing it.

The idea is simple: it adds a Browse source called Time Machine, then lets you browse your MPD-indexed local/NAS library by decade:

1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s, 2020s, plus Missing Year and a small Library Report.

Inside each decade there are options to:

  • play random tracks
  • play random albums
  • browse albums
  • browse tracks

The plugin uses MPD’s indexed database and Date metadata. It does not crawl the filesystem directly or scan files with metaflac.

Settings are deliberately minimal:

  • MPD library paths: comma-separated MPD-relative paths to index, for example NAS/NAS/Flac,NAS/NAS/Vinyl
  • Maximum random tracks: how many tracks to queue when using Play Random Tracks
  • Random albums count: how many complete albums to queue when using Play Random Albums
  • Include missing year: whether tracks without usable Date metadata can be included in random playback

The plugin does not index automatically on startup. After installing or changing settings, use Save and rebuild MPD index from the plugin settings page.

This is an early test release, so please treat it as experimental. Normal browse and album-track playback are the known-good reference points. The area I’m especially looking for testing on is random playback: whether it reliably updates Volumio’s visible queue, current song metadata, and album art across different setups.

Video showing UI:

GitHub repo:

Release zip:

Any feedback, logs, or suggestions would be very welcome, especially from people with larger MPD libraries or NAS-based music collections.

Thanks!

1 Like
2

Thanks for your work.
But Volumio 3 is in end of life.
No more plugin will be added.
There’s a plugin repo for that.
Please move to volumio 4 based on bookworm.

3

Time Machine updated for Volumio 4 / Bookworm

Hi all,

Quick update: Time Machine has now been updated for Volumio 4 / Bookworm.

The current test version is v0.4.0. The plugin metadata now targets Volumio 4, Bookworm, and Node 20+, and the install docs have been cleaned up for the Volumio 4 version.

GitHub repo:

The basic idea is unchanged: Time Machine adds a Browse source that lets you browse your MPD-indexed local, USB, or NAS music library by decade.

It currently creates sections for 1950s, 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, 2000s, 2010s, 2020s, Missing Year, and Library Report.

Inside each decade there are options to Play Random Tracks, Play Random Albums, Browse Albums, and Browse Tracks.

Install from GitHub

SSH into your Volumio 4 box, then run:

cd /home/volumio
git clone https://github.com/jhscann/volumio-timemachine-plugin.git
cd volumio-timemachine-plugin/timemachine
npm install
volumio plugin install
volumio vrestart

Confirm the installed version:

cat /data/plugins/music_service/timemachine/package.json | grep -E '"name"|"version"|"prettyName"|"plugin_type"'

Expected version:

0.4.0

After installing, enable the plugin in Volumio, open the Time Machine settings, set your MPD library paths, then click Save and rebuild MPD index.

Finding MPD paths

Time Machine needs MPD-relative paths, not Linux filesystem paths. In other words, use the paths MPD knows about.

To inspect what MPD has indexed:

mpc listall | head -50

To list likely music roots:

mpc listall | awk -F/ 'NF>=4 {print $1"/"$2"/"$3; next} NF>=2 {print $1"/"$2; next} {print $1}' | sort | uniq -c | sort -nr | head -30

To generate a comma-separated value you can paste into the plugin’s MPD library paths setting:

mpc listall | awk -F/ 'NF>=4 {print $1"/"$2"/"$3; next} NF>=2 {print $1"/"$2; next} {print $1}' | grep -Ev '(^|/)(#recycle|@eaDir|\.Trash|\.Trashes|\.TemporaryItems|System Volume Information)(/|$)' | sort | uniq -c | awk '$1 >= 10 {$1=""; sub(/^ +/,""); print}' | paste -sd, -

Example output:

NAS/NAS/Flac,NAS/NAS/Vinyl,USB/Music

Please review the output before pasting it, especially if your MPD library includes multiple drives, NAS shares, or non-music folders.

Feedback welcome

I’d really welcome feedback from anyone testing on Volumio 4, especially around install, MPD path discovery, browsing by decade, random tracks/albums, visible queue updates, current-song metadata, and album art.

Logs, screenshots, and simple “worked / failed” reports are all very useful.

Thanks!

1 Like
4

done :slight_smile: