Zipped-Album-Player 0.1.1

Zipped Album Player (ZAP) - A simple Python-based cross-platform player for the Zipped Album format

Zipped Album Player (ZAP)

A simple Python-based cross-platform player for the Zipped Album format

Features

• MacOS, Windows and Linux support
• Digital booklet slideshow
• Keyboard navigation (with Vi-like alternatives)
• Fullscreen mode

Installation

ZAP can be installed with pipx:

pipx install Zipped-Album-Player

Detailed instructions

MacOS

1. Make sure you have Python 3 with Tkinter support installed

   If not, install it. For instance: https://www.python.org/ftp/python/3.9.6/python-3.9.6-macosx10.9.pkg.

2. Make sure FFmpeg shared libraries are installed

   If not, install them. For instance, using Homebrew:

   brew install ffmpeg
   

3. Install pipx

   python3 -m pip install --user pipx
   python3 -m pipx ensurepath
   

4. Install ZAP

   pipx install Zipped-Album-Player
   

Windows

1. Make sure you have Python 3 with Tkinter support installed

   If not, install it. For instance: https://www.python.org/ftp/python/3.9.6/python-3.9.6-amd64.exe

2. Make sure FFmpeg shared libraries are installed

   If not, install them. For example:

   • Download https://github.com/GyanD/codexffmpeg/releases/download/4.4/ffmpeg-4.4-full_build-shared.zip
   • Unzip to C:\FFmpeg\
   • Add C:\FFmpeg\bin\ to your environment variable PATH

3. Install pipx

   python3 -m pip install --user pipx
   python3 -m pipx ensurepath
   

4. Install ZAP

   pipx install Zipped-Album-Player
   

Linux

1. Make sure you have Python 3 with Tkinter support installed

   If not, install it. For instance, on Debian-based distros:

   sudo apt install python3 python3-venv python3-pip python3-tk
   

2. Make sure FFmpeg shared libraries are installed

   If not, install them. For instance, on Debian-based distros:

   sudo apt install ffmpeg
   

3. Install pipx

   python3 -m pip install --user pipx
   python3 -m pipx ensurepath
   

4. Install ZAP

   pipx install Zipped-Album-Player
   

Usage

After successful installation, ZAP can be started with either

zap [ZIPPED_ALBUM]

or

zipped-album-player [ZIPPED_ALBUM]

where ZIPPED_ALBUM is an optional path to a Zipped Album file.

Keyboard navigation

Play/Pause:                               Return           |      Space
Select next track:                        Down             |      j    
Select previous track:                    Up               |      k    
Select first track:                       Home             |      gg   
Seek forward:                             Right            |      l    
Seek backward:                            Left             |      h    
Seek to beginning:                        Numpad 0         |      0    
Show next slide:                          Shift-Right      |      L    
Show previous slide:                      Shift-Left       |      H    
Increase volume:                          Shift-Right      |      K    
Decrease volume:                          Shift-Left       |      J    

FAQ

• Where can I find music in a format ZAP plays?

  ZAP plays Zipped Albums, a simple one-file format for digital audio. Basically, these are ZIP archives of FLAC or Opus files with an optional digital booklet and playlist. Albums downloaded from Bandcamp in FLAC format, for instance, are compatible, but you can also easily create them yourself from your existing music.

• Couldn't you provide simple one-click installers/executables for ZAP?

  Yes, I could use something like PyInstaller, and I might do that at some point. For now, however, I think pipx is a good enough solution.

• Why do I not hear any sound when playing an album in ZAP?

  If you are on Linux, you need to have either OpenAL (reccomended) or PulseAudio installed. PulseAudio comes as default in most distros these days. OpenAL can be installed with your package manager (for instance on Debian-based distros with apt install libopenal1).

• Why do I hear glitches/skips/crackling when playing an album in ZAP?

  If you are on Linux, this might be an issue with PulseAudio. You could either install OpenAL (recommended; see previous answer) or try to fix the PulseAudio problems (see e.g. https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/PulseAudio/Troubleshooting#Glitches,_skips_or_crackling.

• Why is the bit depth of my tracks reported as "24→16 bits"?

  OpenAL does not support bit depths higher than 16, and ZAP will resample to 16 if tracks have higher bit depths. This process, however, might lead to quantization noise. Please also note that distribution/listening formats do not benefit from bit depths higher than 16. I hence suggest to try to obtain properly dithered 16 bit versions whenever possible.

• Couldn't ZAP dither when resampling to 16 bits?

  Yes, I tried that, but I ran into issues with Pyglet's FFmpeg wrapper. If you know how to make this work, feel free to submit a pull request.

• Why is fullscreen mode only working on the first display in a multi-display setup?

  Because Tkinter is not really aware of multiple displays. Currently, I could only make fullscreen mode use the current display on Windows.