Hello, I love the fact that Volumio claims bit perfect and from what I can tell (topping D10 Balanced) it is. I also love that it is running on my Pi 4 and is low power so I can leave it on for instant enjoyment even if only for a few minutes. So, I really want to make it work… but…
It does have many quirks like a (painfull at times) slow interface, web radio does not work reliably at all and then the straw that broke the camels back is I wanted to play from my playlist this morning and it won’t work? It did yesterday and I have never had this issue since I got into it a few months ago. Rebooting did not fix it so something seems to have failed on it.
Now, I was willing to put up with everything until this morning where if I cannot rely on it working every time then I have no choice but to go back to my Ubuntu Studio which has always worked for me for many years. However, I have concerns about having to go back and my biggest one is I suspect it is not bit perfect.
So instead of listening to music this morning I spent type try Rune where I discovered it won’t even boot. And, the website is more forth coming saying that a Pi 4 version is coming soon whereas the Volumio formums do talk about it working with the Pi 4?
So I have two questions which I need a no BS answer to:
Does Volumio work on the Pi 4 and my problems are somehow me? If so, how do I fix this?
I don’t want to spend money and time buying a Pi 3 only to discover it is not much better so is it truly a better experience on the Pi 3 then the Pi 4?
I do want Volumio to work and would love for this problem to be me so I appreciate any support I can get.
The stuff you describe sound like quirks that come from the core volumio code. This is not usually specific to a device, and is the same for all devices. So changing to a pi3 wouldn’t usually effect this behaviour.
I wouldn’t advise downgrading to the pi3. Volumio3 is pegged for release in a week or so, perhaps give that a shot?
It certainly shouldn’t be painfully slow, and my web radio works reliably, so I guess you need to investigate what is causing problems in your case. As @ashthespy says have a go with the beta or wait for the release of Volumio 3 on the 7th December.
Can you simply select different radio stations and it switches to the different radio stations?
My experience is I cannot. It may work for the first one, two or three and then it won’t work. Either nothing happens or sometimes I get a red warning saying some kind of error.
I can even select a station that was working and it no longer works.
I don’t have problems changing between a small number of stations, but I don’t regularly try new ones. Have a care that radio stream URLs & data structure can and do change without much notice (you are often expected to be listening via their own website.
I suggest that you have a read about how to obtain the system log of your RPi. This gives valuable information about exactly what is happening in the background, and will usually contain error information about problems that occur.
‘My experience is I cannot. It may work for the first one, two or three and then it won’t work. Either nothing happens or sometimes I get a red warning saying some kind of error.’
I too get that issue on a P3b, so not specific to Pi 4
Your issues sound like a build, database or network issue. I had similar issues when I was using a slow Sparky SBC (Allo USBridge), but they minimized when I moved to a Rpi4.
The best way of troubleshooting would be taking a look at the logs, they should show what was the issue. I would recommend flashing the newest build on a reliable SD card, and allow some time to scan your music properly - don’t use it until it has finished. Also check that you are not running many unnecessary plugins. And last but not least, check how the Rpi is connecting to the network. If it’s wifi, check the reception, but wired should give the best results.
Can’t comment on the radios since I don’t use any.
SOLVED- I have a new issue with Volumio and my Debian server sharing music. And while trying to diagnose the problem I am using my fairly new laptop and find things are way more responsive. Everything I talked about here is much faster and acceptable including Web Radio.
So, I guess it is my 5 year old tablet running I think Android 5 that is not only slow but has many timeouts (especially Web Radio). Knowing this makes it easier to use as I would rather not replace it when it works fine for everything else I use it for.
Thank you everyone who has helped me.
