Roku Developer Program

[squirreltown]

Would like to request a feature I think has been overlooked:
isPlaybackPosition() for audio. I know Roku thinks this is unnecessary, but there is a good reason for it and the reason is:
Audiobooks.
I have just been modifying the SDK USB grid example with audio and video bookmarks. Video bookmarks are pretty painless, but audiobooks are much longer than movies, and because you have to use your own timers, the system is somewhat clunky at best and would be far better with an isPlaybackPosition() message.
I can't believe this is a too massive an addition to the firmware as it already exists for video files. If for instance, i wanted to create a channel that rented audiobooks, it would really be a necessary feature to have the channel work professionally.
Thank you.

[RokuJoel]

It is actually possible on non-legacy devices if you use a video playback component to play audio, a little tricky to get it working correctly but it does work, there is a thread from a year or so about this on the forum here somewhere.So you could use roVideoPlayer to play your audio and bookmark it. Not sure how accurate the resume would be with mp3 audio.

- Joel

[gonzotek]

"squirreltown" wrote:
Would like to request a feature I think has been overlooked:
isPlaybackPosition() for audio. I know Roku thinks this is unnecessary, but there is a good reason for it and the reason is:
Audiobooks.
I have just been modifying the SDK USB grid example with audio and video bookmarks. Video bookmarks are pretty painless, but audiobooks are much longer than movies, and because you have to use your own timers, the system is somewhat clunky at best and would be far better with an isPlaybackPosition() message.
I can't believe this is a too massive an addition to the firmware as it already exists for video files. If for instance, i wanted to create a channel that rented audiobooks, it would really be a necessary feature to have the channel work professionally.
Thank you.

Podcasts are another long-play type of audio that could benefit from this suggestion. They're generally freely distributed and legally obtainable from many different sources.

[squirreltown]

Thank you Joel, i thought of that but I already have mostly- working bookmarks, so the improvement I'm looking for is video-like ease of use, plus having a black screen while playing is not really the slick look I would want plus you lose any custom screensaver over video and all the buttons, like I have a skip button that skips 1,5 or 10 minutes- essential for such long files. My mp3s do play from the seek point very accurately but keeping track of where you actually are when setting them is more complicated then it needs to be having to use timers and reset and add or subtract all the time.

[NewManLiving]

I use two timers one for play / resume and the other for pause.
Subtract the difference on each mark Works great
Keeps perfect beat. I Actually use it for audiobooks
It also works for shorter songs not that you
Really need one But also discovered that the video player works
With audio to and that takes care of the timers