I have recently returned to Volumio after jumping ship to Max2Play + Squeezebox.
I left Volumio because of my frustrations with the mobile (Android) remote. The choice being either a Volumio app that rarely connects or a web-app that takes 15-30 seconds to load. If they do work then you have to navigate with teeny-tiny controls and an incredibly sluggish and unresponsive experience - like wading through thigh-high mud. What works brilliantly on a desktop falls a long way short on a tiny mobile screen. And it’s just too much bother to boot up my PC every time I want to stop or change playback.
You can get around all of these impediments if you use the hugely impressive MALP (Android) app. However, MALP won’t allow you to browse and control radio playback. Which provides at least 50% of my listening. All of which meant that the only reasonable solution was to dust down the Squeezebox and then to install the OrangeSqueeze or SqueezeCtrl app.
That was until I found a Pi Touchscreen for sale on Ebay for 1/3 the retail price. I thought I’d give Volumio another go with a hopefully more responsive touchscreen experience. For £25 it was worth the risk. And it’s a risk that’s paid off handsomely. The combination of Pi2 + Touchscreen + Volumio has been a revelation. It provides the Volumio experience I had hoped to find with a mobile touchcreen. Just brilliant.
With one small (tiny) caveat and a feature suggestion.
Would it be possible to include an option to re-arrange the order of the browse section panels. So that the user’s choice of four panels can occupy the top line in the list. And you don’t have to scroll to find your choice. Just tap, tap, tap.
In my case I would like to order the top four panels (from left to right) : Artists, Web Radio, Favorites, Playlists. Artists and Web Radio are the only sections I use so it’d be nice to have them a little more easily accessible.
Also, would it be possible for the touchscreen plugin to help those with fat fingers and straining eyes by making the dialogues and the queue icons a little bigger? And then maybe think about using MALP as the basis of a proper and dedicated Volumio app for Android.
Sorry if this was all a bit whingy and whinny; I don’t mean to be such an arse. Volumio is an amazing project with some amazing people. It’s just that this was / is my actual experience and I thought it better to be honest than just sit in silence and hope for the best.