Questions about MusicFab

[supine]

Well, I'm sorry to say that the uninstall/Reinstall didn't work. The Staff have replied to my Ticket saying that they are investigating tie issue. I replied back saying:

"I have been OOS for three days now. Just to let you know, I have completely uninstalled and reinstalled MusicFab three times now. The last time with a third party uninstaller that goes in after the MusicFab uninstaller finishes, and deletes left in files and registry entries. Then I searched for, and deleted what the Uninstaller missed. Each time I reinstalled, I have downloaded a fresh copy of the online installer, and installed from that one. I have tried going through a VPN, disguising my IP, and accessing my account from three different countries to no avail. I can still access Spotify from a browser outside of MusicFab, and stream music with no trouble with or without the VPN. Inside MusicFab, I cannot get past the "Protected Content" screen to the Spotify home page. Strangely, I don't get the "Protected Content" screen until after I log into my account".

BTW: I was quite interested in Dolby Atmos for a while, and did a little reading; thinking about perhaps upgrading my current 5.1 System. After my previous post about the Apple "Spatial Audio", I started thinking to myself, that it's ALL Spatial Audio. All of the Dolby's including Atmos. The Headphone surround spoofs, and three or four other "Spatial Technologies" including "Windows Sonic". Apple just pounced on the term, used it for their own branded technology and pretty much has that particular technology (so far) restricted to Apple. Although my previous research on the subject was fairly recent; it had been a while and technology can change rapidly. Worried that I may have posted misinformation, I decided to do a little current research, and post a correction to my previous post if needed. I was a little chagrined when I rapidly came across an article saying "Spatial Audio" (implying Apple Spatial Audio) is now available on Android! ...and it is! ....but the only streaming service you can use to make it Work? You guessed it! Apple Music. It doesn't work with regular Bluetooth Headphones. You have to purchase special headphones to take advantage of the Apple Spatial Audio, (I suspect they may even be wired, but I don't know for sure.)

But Wait! There's More! There are other Headphone Spatial technologies out there, including Sony 360. I'm sure that particular Tech works with some streaming services like Deezer and Tidal, but unfortunately most of those types Headphone Tech were developed for gaming consoles and computers. If you're interested in Spatial headphones for your phone or laptop, I'm certain that a little bit of research can point you to a pair that fit your application and purse (but get ready to lay out a little cash.). You're not just stuck with Apple Spatial Audio, AirPods or Beats. If you're looking at speakers and don't want to go through a complex Atmos installation; the reviews I read for the the Sony HT-A9s are very good. It's said that they deliver a wonderful and very convincing (virtual) Atmos experience. At $1500.00+ U.S. for four speakers and a hub though (No Subwoofer or center channel speaker is included), I'm not about to run right out and replace the 5.1 surround system I already have set up. Just a point of interest.
This is NOT an endorsement of any of these products. As always, please do your own research before making any purchase. No links are posted to any products mentioned due to Forum Decorum.
(All that typing for one silly rhyme?)

[supine]

They absolutely track the machine ID, e-mail, and other things like IP addresses to hide your identity are useless.

Thanks for the heads up. What StPeterOrding2015 said instantly made sense. The "Protected Content screen does not appear until after I sign into my account. Although I wouldn't want to pay for another subscription, I would have tried a free account under another address if not warned that it would not work. I have a domain, so whipping up another E-mail address is no problem. Even if I didn't own a domain, In these days of Gmail and Hotmail "throw away accounts", I don't imagine that another E-mail address would be a problem. Although I had not mentioned it before, I know, that signing in from another country through a VPN doesn't help, so what you say about the machine address makes sense.

What I'm going to try now, is to uninstall and reinstall MusicFab again. This time using an uninstaller to get past the "dirty uninstall" and delete the left in registry entries. I appreciate the thoughtful advice. If you can think of anything else. please let me know. Hey.... If that fails, I might just try a free account under a different address anyway, just to say I tried.

[Chameleon]

They absolutely track the machine ID, e-mail, and other things like IP addresses to hide your identity are useless.

[StPeterOrding2015]

Hi supine,
do you have multiple email addresses?

If so, try the following:
- Sign in to the free Spotify site with an email address that is not yet registered with Spotify
- then try to play tracks

Is that possible or are you also blocked with the new login?

Greetings

[Chameleon]

Atmos rendering devices are going up in price not down, a good one can cost up to 24,000€ to set up, I am not that kind of audiophile, as a matter of fact this program is so good with my 5 speaker system, and soundbar I am totally happy with it. The music is as wonderful as it always was.

[supine]

I have Amazon Prime Music, Apple Music, and Spotify and I have never had an issue. For me this is the best program I have ever used, I have a ton of great music now, and I have never even had a download that failed.

Chameleon ,Thank you for your reply. Since you are not having an issue with the "Protected Content" screen in Spotify, the problem must be on my end (somehow). Now if I could just get a little help figuring out why this is happening to me, that would be good. I have supplied .log files, and have not gotten any negative feedback from them. I have checked my settings, and cannot find anything obviously amiss. As of this morning, I am still totally locked out, and cannot use MusicFab at all.

mlknez , Although the advertising has defiantly stated that the software supports Atmos, someone in another thread said that Atmos from the Apple site may still not be supported. I HAVE downloaded files in FLAC and gotten wonderful Dolby 5.1 (six speaker) channel surround from the decoder in my receiver. Although my receiver supports up to eight channels, I only have six speakers hooked up, so I can't comment on the sound quality past 5.1. I know it's not Atmos, but the coding for 5.1 is still imbedded in the file. If you have a good Atmos decoder. your speakers are set up correctly and you are still not getting the immersive separation or channel breakout you believe you should have, I guess that's as good as it gets for now. I do know that Atmos is an immersive object oriented surround, and not 5.1, 6.1 or even 7.1. That said, I believe that if the streaming site is touting Atmos, the M4a, FLAC, MKV or MKA files that you download from their site (that are stated Atmos tracks), should have the coding for Atmos already imbedded in the file. Your Atmos Decoder should be able to decode them. You will still need to break out the "height channels" to hear the difference. Since I have only done minimal reading concerning Atmos, I have to admit that I'm still clueless on how to do this. As mentioned by Chameleon once I found out about the cost to set up an Atmos system, my exuberance to try and set it up in my Livingroom was severely curtailed.

Embedded Atmos coding in the downloaded files (although it seems reasonable) is just another one of my theory's. If you find out for sure, please let me know. I'm interested in what you find out.

Special Note: Apple has been also touting "Spatial Audio". If you look closely, it's "Powered by Atmos", and requires HomePod or Dolby Atmos supported speakers. I'm not sure if it has to be played through an Apple device to decode it. Spatial Audio also works with Beats Headphones or AirPods. Sonos has confirmed that it will work with some of their sound bars, and the ERA300 speaker, but at $400.00+ U.S. per speaker, I think I'll pass for now. Apple has also been building in special speakers into their more recent products to play spatial audio (including phones and iPads). If the Spatial Audio is really what you're after, you are asking the wrong question. Spatial Audio is a different animal. For now it remains a predominantly Apple feature and may not be supported in MusicFab. In the future, devices featuring Spatial Audio prices may come down, and the number of compatible devices may climb. Who knows? It may take off and become ubiquitous (Like the MP4 format). Until then, (even though it does sound good) I guess I'm going to have to wait. The only thing I can think of for you to try until then, (if that's what you're after), is to download a (designated) spatial audio track (M4a (Apple Standard), FLAC, MP3, MKV or MKA) and play it through your Apple device with compatible speaker(s), pods or headphones, and see if it sounds right. "Good luck Mr. Phelps".

[Chameleon]

A high-end ATMOS processor alone can cost several thousand dollars, I am not interested, I get great quality sound from my SoundBar and I am really happy. I love all types of music, and I enjoy this program.

[mlknez]

I have Amazon Prime Music, Apple Music, and Spotify and I have never had an issue. For me this is the best program I have ever used, I have a ton of great music now, and I have never even had a download that failed.

How do you use this program to get Atmos files from Amazon Prime?

[Chameleon]

I have Amazon Prime Music, Apple Music, and Spotify and I have never had an issue. For me this is the best program I have ever used, I have a ton of great music now, and I have never even had a download that failed.

[supine]

Hello everyone, I went out on the MusicFab side of the forum and did a search for anything related to what I'm going through. After reading quite a few of the threads, it's no wonder everyone knew ord1117. My heavens we are a small community! I just wanted to make sure that I wasn't getting caught up in my own little world. It turns out that the whole world is smaller than I thought.

My questions are: Is anyone else experiencing what I'm going through with Spotify and the browser not being recognized by both Spotify and Amazon?
Can anyone else not access content on Spotify, or is it just me that's locked out?
Does anyone else out there have an opinion on the theory that addresses in known ranges could be blocked by the Streaming services based on incoming browser versions and/or some other identifiable Browser trait? I know it's possible to glean incoming addresses to a site through the browser. My own I.P. address has been displayed back to me by sites wanting to sell me a VPN. If MusicFab services go back through their own servers, well...
Might there be some trait or version number in the baked in Chromium browser that would give the streaming services a clue that it's associated with MusicFab (or another program like it)?
Yes, not being able to use a paid program for it's intended function is more than a little inconvenience. Am I the only one experiencing this, and if not, can the developers rapidly find a way around the problem?
If I am the only one experiencing this, is there someone that can offer support and guide me through fixing this?

I have stated before, that I believe in this project, and the people in it. I understand that the lifetime all in one version runs around $300.00 U.S.. Even though Spotify is the only paid subscription that I have; if the Team can pull me/Us through this (Perceived) crisis and stabilize the program enough to fulfill its function again; I will pledge to support this project by purchasing an all in one lifetime subscription. Hopefully my "Big Four" will be addressed somewhere down the line.

[supine]

Since I'm listening to Spotify on my account, in a browser window outside of MusicFab; I know I haven't been kicked off for violating their TOS. Of course, that doesn't help with "offline" listening. I still suspect that they (Spotify and other streamers) have a bead on the baked in MusicFab Browser. Either that, or (even more likely) the MusicFab service pings back to one of their servers, and earlier, I could restart until I hit an address that pinged back to something that wasn't locked out. Either way, I'm locked out now, and dead in the water.

If this is a global failure, NOW is when the developers really need to step up and shine. How fast can you people develop a work-around? The easy (and I use the term easy loosely) part is over. It's time to gather yourselves, roll up your sleeves and start the hard work that justifies yourselves to all of us that paid license fees. GO TIGERS!

Edit: The MusicFab Member Portal for ticket submission is down. Although this is a bad sign, it's a pretty common thing to do, to stem a flood of reports on a known issue. Please team, I have had faith in you all from the beginning. All I ask now, is that you don't fold and let us all down.

Edit to the Edit: My LINK to the portal is down. I was able to log in through MusicFab.org and submit a ticket. I will leave my previous edit comment up for continuity reasons.

[supine]

Update: I totally uninstalled and reinstalled MusicFab. As soon as I logged back into Spotify, I was immediately locked out by the "Protected Content" screen. I have no other licenses, and cannot use the program. Se Murio.

Does anyone in the community have any other ideas? Help?

[supine]

I cannot get to the Spotify content screen in MusicFab. Since that's the only license that I have, MusicFab is essentially dead. The "Protected Content" screen will not go away, and is locking me out. I am also a prime member, but I don't have that MusicFab License. When I try to access Amazon just to see what's available, I get a "This Version Of Edge Is No Longer Supported" screen, and am directed to a site to download the Desktop App. (Useless for MusicFab.)

I have,
1. Cleared the Cache and Cookies on the computer. (Including "Forever Cookies")
2. Cleared the Cache in MusicFab.
3. Deleted the MusicFab temp and log folders and let MusicFab rebuild everything
4. Flushed the Computer DNS Cache

When I hit the Spotify home screen, things looked pretty normal and I got excited... until I noticed that I wasn't logged in. As soon as I logged back into Spotify, the "Protected Content" screen appeared and locked me out. Short of totally uninstalling MusicFab and reinstalling (and I'm about to try that.) I have tried everything I know of. Is anyone else out there experiencing this?

[supine]

I promised to report back on the crash issue. I'm sorry to say it still exists. I've been away for a few days, and shut down MusicFab while I was away. When I returned, I brought up MusicFab, and resumed a short download list. Before I could go to the Spotify home page, MusicFab crashed in my face. When I brought MusicFab back up, the opening page said everything except Spotify had expired. This is not normal, so I shut down MusicFab and rebooted the computer. When I restarted, MusicFab came back normally. I restarted the down load list and everything proceeded normally. When I tried to access the Spotify home page however, the "Protected Content" screen came up again. I wanted to verify (again) that this was not a Spotify issue. To do this, I had to pause the downloads. (I can't be streaming from Spotify from two different locations.) When I tabbed into my browser, the Spotify home page came up normally, and I was able to stream music. When I returned to MusicFab, it had crashed off the screen again. I should note, that I stay logged into Spotify In MusicFab, My Livingroom and bedroom mini PC's attached to the TV's, My truck, and my phone. As long as I only am streaming from one location, I have never had an issue with this before. I don't think one more log on in Spotify was the cause of the MusicFab Crash.

I should also note, that my lengthy descriptions have been remarked about before. Although my posts ARE for public knowledge; it is also my hope that my somewhat (slightly) detailed observations may help the "Fab Team" in some way. It is a small hope, but perhaps one of my offhanded remarks, may provide the team a clue to solve an issue. (even though I DO sometimes tend to "beat a dead horse".)

Edit: I got the attached error when I tried to go back into MusicFab after restarting again. Another restart got rid of this screen, but I cannot get back into Spotify through MusicFab. It seems that the "Protected Content" screen is being especially troublesome today, and refuses to go away. Rebooting the computer and restarting MusicFab (several times) doesn't work. Nor does closing the Spotify tab, and sampling another streamer. These are usually reliable ways to get back into Spotify so that I am actually able to use MusicFab. MusicFab is dead for now. I'll give it a few hours and try again later.

[supine]

Sylvia , Thank you for your reply. Yes, I do understand some of these problems take time and I do believe the team is working to make the program better.

In the mean time, 1.0.1.6 is out. For the information of everyone, I have also been turning in "Tickets" through the member portal. When I updated, a change log was not offered, so I can't say what was or wasn't worked on. I have only been "Playing" with it a short time, but this is what I noticed.

The Whine List:

1, The "Protected Content" screen in Spotify, and the "This Version Of Edge Is Not Supported" in Amazon are still there and a major issue. When the "Protected Content" screen is up in the Spotify section, MusicFab is essentially unless. Although, through rebooting and restarting MusicFab (often many times), the "Protected Content" screen can be bypassed, this is still a serious issue. Nobody wants to have to struggle to use a program.
Note: As long as I'm not logged in, Spotify seems to come up normally. As soon as I try to log in through the "Fab Browser" however, the "Protected Content screen immediately appears. This does not happen going through my regular browsers outside of MusicFab.

2. After finally getting past the "Protected content" screen and when I finish downloading several tracks, the track selection screen did not show up to select new tracks after pulling up a new artist and album. This forced me to restart MusicFab, and deal with the "Protected Content" screen all over again. If I am unable to select tracks, MusicFab is (again) useless while the issue is happening.

3 MusicFab is still dumping all of the tracks from multiple disc albums into single directory. The album I chose to test this problem was a five disc album. MusicFab dumped all the songs from all five discs into a single directory making a tangled mess that will take a huge amount of time to unravel. (if I can at all)

I haven't had time to see if the "Crash" issue is still there. Nor some of the more (to me) minor issues. I can report back on those later as I have the time to investigate.

The Issues I mentioned above are part of what I have privately refer to as the "Big Four". Although there are more minor issues that I didn't address, those are the (current) major issues that (I feel) most severely impact functionality, usability and the serviceability of the program as a whole. While I'm sure that the Team is concerned, is working on them, and will eventually solve them; finding the cause of, and a way to solve "The Big Four" issues seems to have eluded the "Fab Team" for a while. When the major issues are solved, I will start recommending MusicFab to my friends and Family, and start endorsing it far and wide. I am very much looking forward to the next update.