iHeartRadio and Spotify?

[bobgrey1997]

So, after browsing around, I noticed some external programs people have made to "interact" with the game...
This makes me wonder: would it be possible to make a program that could link to iHeartRadio, Spotify, or other music system so that you could log into it through the game and stream music straight to the in-game audio player?
For example, I want to hit 'r'(my key to access audio player) and click "iHeartRadio" and navigate to 100.3 The Edge, and listen to it in game, be able to change volume by < and > as I do with in-game radio... And, if I am logged in to iHeartRadio, I could even use [ and ] to change to my next favorited radio station...

[Frontiersman]

Could you leave it playing in your browser then drive? I know it's not quite what you want.

[bobgrey1997]

It is possible.
I actually use Spotify more than anything. What I do with it is I log into Spotify on my computer, chose a playlist and song, play it, open the game, start playing... I then log into Spotify on my phone. When I want to change song, I use my phone, which then sends that change to the computer and changes the song...
However, I would like to see a program so that if someone does not have a phone or other device, don't want to have to minimize the game (iHeartRadio), or if they just don't want to have multiple programs running. I would actually like to be able to close all other programs for performance purposes... When no one else is home, I can use by phone's Bluetooth to connect to my stereo for music and close Spotify on the computer, but other times...

[TwinShadow]

I may be wrong, but I believe iHeartRadio has an encrypted stream that the game can't pick up on. So they're pretty much moot to add without leaving it up on a browser or something.

Now, I don't know the full extent of the SDK for the game, but I honestly don't think its possible to use said SDK to do what you want. Its basically having to add in a dialog box or something to log into a 3rd party service and all that. This may even require changing the source code as well, but that I could be wrong on.

[juizzysquirt]

So, after browsing around, I noticed some external programs people have made to "interact" with the game...
This makes me wonder: would it be possible to make a program that could link to iHeartRadio, Spotify, or other music system so that you could log into it through the game and stream music straight to the in-game audio player?
For example, I want to hit 'r'(my key to access audio player) and click "iHeartRadio" and navigate to 100.3 The Edge, and listen to it in game, be able to change volume by < and > as I do with in-game radio... And, if I am logged in to iHeartRadio, I could even use [ and ] to change to my next favorited radio station...

DSBridge used to work exactly like this, it uses modified dsound.dll and .ini -file for settings to send audio output from any program to local mp3 stream. It used to work fine with Spotify last year, but around this spring I haven't had any luck. You'd also need your own lame_enc.dll, but this wrapper hasn't been updated for 8 years, unfortunately. You still might want to try it anyway. https://github.com/ThrDev/dsbridge

[Axel Slingerland]

It used to work fine with Spotify last year, but around this spring I haven't had any luck.

This is because they changed everything to "gently" push people towards paying for memberships by adding "commercials" in non-member accounts. At first I thought a few commercials wouldn't hurt anything. So I just kept doing what I used to do, load up a bunch of stuff in a playlist and let it go while playing ETS2. But now it plays several tracks then goes to a Spotify commercial that often don't work and causes the playlist to stop playing. If you aren't playing the game that's no problem, you just go restart it. But if you are playing a game, you may have to shut the game down to fix it. The most I can get some days is about 10 tracks before it poops out. Other times I don't get any commercials at all. So I decided that if I am going to play a game, I would go back to using an MP3 player and a bunch of CD rips. I used WinAmp for years, but the version I have now causes some glitches in Windows 7, so I switched to the Xion Audio Player. It's pretty no frills, but it works great for running with ETS2.

[bobgrey1997]

Great to hear I am not the only one who has had that issue with the Spotify Commercials!

I used to think it was some kind of Spotify "glitch" that they purposely put in place to piss people off so that they will buy Premium out of anger...
..I may have not been to wrong if it happens to many people...
Here is how I imagine it works:
1: Spotify needs some funding so they release a "premium" membership
2: Not enough premium members
3: Force shuffle on mobile
4: Not enough
5: Add commercials
6: Not enough
7: Make commercials more common
8: Still not enough
9: Desperate measures!

So, now I can't listen to any specific song on my phone? Whatever...
And commercials...? Fine!
The song I want to hear is up next! But now a commercial?
Alright...
Wait! Why did my music... um, commercial, stop?
*hits play*
Why...*slams play*won't...*again*it...*once more*work?
*Closes and re-opens Spotify*
There we go!
*Five songs later...*
More comm... Wait! Why did it stop again!? Piece of sh*t!
*Two weeks of this crap*
SCREW IT! I'M DONE WITH THIS CRAP!
*Buys Spotify Premium*

Now I was not going to do that, as I felt it was exactly what they were trying to do: piss me off to the point of giving them money...
I only use Spotify now because Premium was given to me. When that expires, I plan to buy my own just because I now know how useful it is, and rather cheap.

What do you think of my little "conspiracy theory" Ax? Have you ever felt like it might be what's going on?

[Axel Slingerland]

I used to think it was some kind of Spotify "glitch" that they purposely put in place to piss people off so that they will buy Premium out of anger...

***

What do you think of my little "conspiracy theory" Ax? Have you ever felt like it might be what's going on?

I think that is exactly what's going on. However, I am not giving in. I'm from Alabama, and we got "Stubborn" in our blood! They can keep Spotify at the prices they charge. It reminds me of SiriusXM... Back in December 2015, my Missus and I bought a 2016 Dodge Grand Caravan and one of the so called "perks" was a free year of SiriusXM radio. About six months in we decided we liked it as we hadn't used the CD player or normal radio since we bought the car. They kept insisting it would cost us $19.99 a month for their "XM All Access" membership. It was a great for free, but $19.99 a month? Not hardly. So we let the year trial expire.

Another perk with this car that we hadn't even checked out up to then, is a 40Gb hard drive with built in MP3 player and DVD player with two screens, one in the radio and a drop down in the ceiling for the back seats. So I ripped what we liked from about 50 or so of my CD's and audio DVD's and loaded up the car's hard drive, set the car's MP3 player to random, and it plays just like a commercial free radio station. No membership, no bills to worry about paying and it plays what we like all the time. And it plays DVD movies too... Something SiriusXM didn't do. After that we promptly forgot all about SiriusXM. [ external image ]

And I won't be buying a premium account on Spotify either.

[bobgrey1997]

Now if only you had that radio outside the car...
*pulls out phone*
...oh, yea...

[Axel Slingerland]

Naaa... To me, that sounds like a transistor radio from the 60's. As a musician, I like a little more high quality sound for my music. Using a PA system for a stereo is a hard act to follow... Even 20 years later. [ external image ]