I'm slightly concerned at the permissions it requires. A music player should not ask for the power to make phone calls, and then refuse to work when it's denied.

Same here, the music player asks for permission to make phone calls and record audio. Maybe I have a different understanding of a music 'player', or this is a bug in the android permissions list.

AFAIK, apps need this permission so that they can mute/stop when there is an incoming call.

No permission seems to be required to listen on a call being done:

https://developer.android.com/reference/android/telephony/Ph...

There's one permission (READ_PHONE_STATE) required for some other methods, but it is different from the permission to initiate a a phone call.

READ_PHONE_STATE is precisely what the app in question uses.

https://github.com/harjot-oberai/MusicStreamer/blob/master/a...

This used to be correct, in Android 1/2.x. It no longer is, there is no compelling reason for it to need it now that there are audio focus APIs.

I don't recall any other media player I've used requiring it.

Did they pause when there was an incoming call?

Yes

To be honest, I don't see the appeal here. 99% of the time, my phone is playing music in my pocket. If the visualizations were trippy, I'd use it when smoking a J. But the visualizations look pretty static. Maybe I'm not seeing what others are seeing. Just my 2 cents.

Tangential: Is there a non-Google way of getting similar functionality to what Google Music used to be? It's hugely appealing to have my own copy of everything I listen to synced seamlessly across devices. Google Music is getting it done, but there are a few warts: a) It keeps pushing its marketplace, subscription service, and "radio" feature. I'm interested in none of them. b) There's no (sane) way to make a track from my library be played from my alarm clock. c) It limits how many times I can download a particular track. That I own. Yes, I have my own copy elsewhere, but the point of Google Music is supposed to be saving me the headache of keeping things in sync.

You can set up a Subsonic server, there are multiple apps like DSub and the official Subsonic app which are very polished.

http://www.subsonic.org/pages/index.jsp https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=github.daneren...

Libresonic[0] is my go-to when someone asks for Subsonic functionality.

It's a libre fork of Subsonic that removes the licensing code.

[0]:https://github.com/Libresonic/libresonic

It doesn't appear to be under your github account so where should we file issues?

Found in the play store description: https://github.com/harjot-oberai/MusicStreamer

I do hope it will be uploaded to F-droid.

I pessimistically always think these kind of things are spearfishing attempts!

well, you could clone the repo, and build it yourself to lessen the chances of such attempts.

I noticed that the icon in the status bar was a music note. But because the app is called Music DNA, you should make the top bar twisted like a strand of DNA is!

Genuine question: what's the need of music players these days? I mean, all the songs are locked in music streaming app (apple music, spotify)- where do you download your songs from?

Some people like their music without DRM and vendor lock-in. We rip it from Audio-CDs or buy mp3 albums when available. Sometimes we even resort to piracy (SoulSeek, torrent, one-click hoster+piracy blogs).

Also if you often travel between borders, streaming music is just not an option.

I have an offline collection of about 500GB of music, but there are people who have substantially more.

On SoundCloud you can find tons of mixes. I don't have a data plan so I prefer to listen to podcasts offline.

>I don't have a data plan so I prefer to listen to podcasts offline.

I do have a data plan and prefer to listen to podcasts offline. The amount of data podcasts can take up is crazy

Have you heard about that those ancient things called music CDs? That's where people get their offline music from ;-)

I must say this is a very nice attempt for a music player !

That's a pretty tough thing to ask.