C-ApiSRO - Sirius/XM Satellite Radio for PocketPC (PPC)

[R-Capi]

October 13, 2008: FYI, I've archived all of the pre-October 12, posts (those posted before the latest update). This was done so that folks didn't have to weed through 20 pages of old posts. Coz

The C-ApiSRO (C-Api Satellite Radio Online) application was written to stream online Satellite Radio feeds to a Windows Mobile device. The latest version now streams both XM and/or Sirius music to your PPC. You will need a subscription to play music from either service.

I am publishing to the community because I couldn't find an XM Radio app that I didn't have to pay atleast $15 for. I'm also considering publishing the source for others to enhance, but we'll see how things go.

I'm not asking for money, so feel free to download and enjoy.

SCREENSHOT



REQUIREMENTS
Windows Mobile 5+ (PPC)
.NET 2.0+

INSTALLATION
Simply copy the C-ApiSRO_Setup.cab file to your PPC and install. Should be that easy.

NOTES

• I do not know if it will work on a Smart Phone.
• Please DO NOT nag me for features. I developed this in my free time, which I have little of. You may ask for a feature or submit bugs/defects, but I am in no way obligated to implement/fix them.
• I have seen this app work on Sprints HTC Mogul and Touch phones with the latest ROMs.
• The list box control (KListControl) was actually written by DOSFAN, a member of the xda-developers.com forums. It's a decent kinetic control, but lacks some functionality such as D-Pad up/down and focus. I want to make sure I give him his props. You can begin streaming a channel by double tapping an item.
• Props to SomeGuyMMS for allowing me to use a small portion of his Http Client code so that I didn't have to reinvent the wheel.
• I own a Sprint HTC Mogul and I've streamed continuous audio for 3 hours straight. In that timeframe I went from 100% to 10% battery. It is a killer on power, but that is just streaming data in general.

If you find value in C-ApiSRO then please rate this thread using the "Rating" option at the top. This may help others become aware of it. Thanks.

********* UPDATES ************
v1.0.1 (May 13th)
A small oversight on my part was the fact that some Windows Mobile phones do not have a touch screen for navigation. I built this app to work with the Mogul, which is touch screen, and never considered how the lack of D-pad functionality for the KListControl listbox may affect non-touchscreen phones. I made necessary changes so that the app can be completely controlled by all navigation buttons as well as using the touch screen.

• Clicking the left/right D-pad will switch focus between the list box and volume bar.
• Clicking the middle D-pad button will play the selected channel
• Up/Down on the D-pad will move 1 item up/down in the list or adjust the volume, depending on which control has focus.

v1.0.2 (May 13th Again!)
I know, it's yet another release. Hey, what can I say; I'm finding things that really need to be taken care of. I'm hoping this is it for a while

• Controls now resize for landscape/portrait mode
• Fixed a few bugs with KListControl

v2.0.0 (October 2nd, 2008 )
Yes, it's been an extremely long time since you've heard or seen from me and I apologize for this. I've been really busy and haven't had time to work on this app at all. Fortunately for all of you, Sirius & XM have decided to make things difficult for me and changed a few things up, which broke the app. I had to go in and finish what I was doing or none of us would be happy . So, without further ado, I would like to introduce you to C-ApiSRO Satellite Radio Player v2.0.0. Here is what you will find in this version:

• Sirius implementation - You now have the ability to log into either Sirius and/or XM, depending on which service you subscribe to. Does this mean I now have the 1st Sirius/XM satellite radio? There is one drawback at the moment, which is I haven't been able to get the song information from the Sirius stream. The player will stream just fine, however you will not have song info. This is a technical limitation with how Sirius streams their data and the Windows Mobile Media player. I may have to actually write my own player to handle this .
• Updated Channel Lineups - You should now see all of the latest channels offered through the internet from both satellite providers. Some channels may not play and that is probably due to one of two things: 1) You don't have the proper subscription to play them, such as the XM channels on Sirius, or Sirius channels on XM. 2) You may have to play the channel in "low speed." Some channels appear to only be available in low speed, so give that a try.
• Fixed some small issues - I don't want to get into details here, but let's just say I fixed some bugs that where, well, bugging me.
• Changed the colors - I do not have themes done yet, but I changed the colors to give you all a different flavor. Just mixing it up a bit.

INSTALLATION - I recommend you remove the previous C-ApiSRO install to make sure old information is removed from your registry, however, I've been able to successfully install C-ApiSRO ontop of an existing installation. You will need to enter you username/password information again, so make sure you have that handy before doing the install.

ONE FINAL NOTE - i do not have a Sirius CD quality subscription, so I have no idea how that is going to work for those of you who do. I built the ability to stream in CD quality, but haven't tested it. Good Luck, and let me know how it works for you. I also do not have the premium subscriptions that allow me to play Sirius on XM and XM on Sirius. I refuse to pay that. This means I have no idea as to what will happened when those channels are actually streamed. If you have those services then let me know how it works.

I hope you all enjoy my latest work, and once again, I apologize for being on a sabbatical for the past few months.

v2.0.1 (October 6, 2008 )
This release solves the following 2 problems:

1. Sirius streaming now displays Song & Title information - I was able to write a proxy server that runs on a separate thread, which intercepts the song information and passes it along to C-ApiSRO. It appears to work nicely.
2. Fixed an issue with the XM logon credentials causing problems when there are special characters in either the username/password. This is in response to PSIPHI's problems in Thread #142.

I haven't had a chance to do agressive testing on this version, so it's possible that there may be some issues that I haven't found. Enjoy!!!

v2.0.2 (October 12, 2008 )
The following items have been added to v2.0.2:

1. Logging capabilities - The Menu->Settings dialog now has an option to enable logging. THIS IS FOR DEBUGGING PURPOSES ONLY!!!! Do not enable this unless you are having difficulties and need to provide a log file for troubleshooting purposes. If you leave this enabled it WILL eat up storage space on your device.
2. Fixed an issue with XM session timeouts. If you leave your player idle for an extended period of time then XM will log you out. The next time you try to play a channel C-ApiSRO will gracefully log you back in. I'm hoping this may fix some crash issues that others have experienced.

Log files can be found in the "Program files\C-ApiSRO\log" folder. YOU WILL NOT HAVE ACCESS TO THIS FILE if C-ApiSRO is running or you have logging enabled. Either shut C-ApiSRO down or disable logging to read or delete the log file.

v2.0.3 (October 22, 2008 )
***CRITICAL UPDATE FOR XM SUBSCRIBERS ****
The following items have been added/fixed to v2.0.3:

1. Fixed a break with loading XM Channel lists. XM had decided to use secure HTTP to display the channel list, which caused a slight problem for C-ApiSRO. All appears to be working fine again.
2. Added a Battery meter to the UI. If your phone supports the system level calls then the highlight bar for a selected channel in the list box now shows as a battery meter, otherwise it will show as it always has.
3. Added support to disable the Sirius Streaming Proxy in the settings page. If you are experiencing problems streaming from Sirius then disable the proxy. It may play without it. NOTE: Disabling the proxy will mean you do not get Song/Artist information. The proxy is responsible for getting this data from the stream.

All in all, this release was forced upon us because XM had changed their channel lineup URL. I apologize for the fact that you have to re-install the application, but it's necessary to get some of my other changes.

v2.0.4 (November 16, 2008 )
For many of you this release is nothing more than better channel support and power management. For others, I hope it resolves some of your XM connectivity issues, but no guarantee. A select few will enjoy the Canadian support for Sirius. Release notes are as follows:

1. Power Management - Allows you do disable the screen either manually or at a set interval. The backlight is a huge battery killer, so this will improve battery life.
2. Fixed issue with the Sirius Proxy server that in some instances would cause you not to connect with Sirius. This may fix some peoples problems with Sirius.
3. Canadian Sirius is now supported - Before logging in you must go to the settings and enable the "Canadian Subscriber" option.
4. Sirius has better channel support. It seems Sirius' channel lineup page isn't in sync with their media player. The media player is actually the correct list of up to date channels. C-ApiSRO now uses the latest channel information.
5. Since the latest XM channel page updates many of you are experiencing problems immediately after login. This is when I attempt to retrieve the channel lineup. I believe it's either a DNS or HTTPS issue that has caused problems. The following two items are an attempt to correct this:
   1. Added a configuration option to use the physical IP address of the channel list HTML page rather than the host name. The IP address will fix any DNS issues people are experiencing.
   2. Both Sirius and XM now use a local config/cache file to load channels. If the config file is missing, C-ApiSRO will retrieve the channels from the web. The cache file should improve load time, and possibly resolve some of the XM channel issues.

As with all of the previous builds, this release will require a full install. This release also incorporates a tighter integration with the Windows Mobile environment to provide power management functionality. I have only been able to test on the HTC Mogul. I really do not know how this will perform on other phones. Enjoy!!!

v2.0.5 (March 19, 2009 )
The entire purpose for this release is to get Alltel users past a bug with captcha text not being recognized correctly. If you are not an Alltel customer then there is no need to update to version 2.0.5, however, things will work just fine if you do.