hearts of space | news

An Updated Version of Our iOS App, and a Peek at Version 4 of Hearts of Space

 

On Friday, Feb. 10th an updated Version 3.0 of our iPhone app was approved by Apple and showed up in the iOS App Store. See the description there for the full details.

https:://iTunes.apple.com/us/app/hearts-of-space/id391429572?mt=8

One small bug emerged after release affecting the sign in box on iPads. We pushed an update that fixed that to Apple on Sunday and it is now (2/15/2017) available in the app store as Version 3.1.

IN BRIEF

This version is 64 bit, so no more misleading message from Apple about slowing down your phone (it never did — it was exactly as fast as previous versions). A new approach to the player provides much more reliable streaming in difficult network situations, along with many bug fixes and minor improvements. It looks pretty much the same on screen, but there are big differences under the hood. The music should be far less subject to buffering interruptions. 

FREE AT LAST

iOS upgrades have always been free, but with this version we are making the iOS app free for new users as well.

VERSION 4 COMING

Why no major changes or new features? Because this version of the app will be in service only until <FANFARE!> We introduce a completely redesigned, full-featured, super-slick "Version 4" iOS app with all the features of our main web site and more. 

At the same time, we'll be launching a brand new version of our website at www.HOS.com.

We've been silent about this until now, for two reasons. First, when we started the Version 4 rewrite/upgrade project over 3 years ago, we had no reliable idea how long it would take. Second, we didn't want to create hopes and expectations for our users until we could actually deliver them.  

VERSION 3 UPDATE

As the months passed, we realized that before launching Version 4 we would have to update the existing iOS app to fix problems that had emerged due to new versions of the iOS operating system and Apple’s insistence on 64-bit compatibility. That is the Version 3 iOS app mentioned above, now in the App Store.

FLASH SUNSET

If you've been streaming from HOS.com using our web application, you know the service has been very reliable. Most problems are due to mixed-up email addresses, forgotten passwords, credit card issues and...Flash updates. 

Yes, we know. Like many major video sites, we are still using Flash. Despite what you may have heard, it has been an excellent streaming solution for us for the last seven years.  But technology never sleeps. Our old "backend" was difficult to update and administer, and Flash was slowly but surely being replaced by newer streaming technologies. So as part of this major rewrite and redesign we decided to rebuild our backend completely using newer streaming protocols and state of the art cloud technology from Amazon Web Services (AWS). This means that going forward the service should be even faster and more reliable. 

VERSION 3 TO VERSION 4

The current version of our web site has some geriatric elements and limitations due to the site architecture we chose in 2007. For Version 4 we commissioned first-class professional developer BAY INTERACTIVE and our longtime programmer STEPHEN BROSSEAU to start from scratch and rewrite the entire setup based on up-to-date web and mobile standards. We spent almost a year working on technical specifications,  "wireframes,” and detailed design for the new user interfaces and new apps — before starting to write code. 

WEA CULPA

We realize that some of  you have had frustrating problems with the previous generation mobile apps, and for that we apologize sincerely. We expect that the Version 3 iOS update will end those issues on the iOS side and provide reliable, though still somewhat limited access to the service for the next few months. We will follow up with a similar update for Android as soon as possible. 

VERSION 4

When Version 4 of the HOS web and iOS app goes into beta testing (please email service(at)hos.com if you want to be a beta tester)  the situation will be completely different: there will be many improvements and new features on the web site, and aside from the necessary differences in screen design and graphic layout, the feature set of the iPhone and iPad apps will be identical to the website. Many users will only know the phone version of Hearts of Space, and never need to see the full size website.

We know many of you have been waiting patiently for this, and we're truly sorry it's taking so long. We have learned that software development is a difficult and demanding craft, and we want to make sure we deliver a beautiful and reliable suite of apps so you can lose yourself, or find yourself, in the music.

:: SH

The HOLIDAY Channel

Thanksgiving is past and we are now into that very special time of year called The Holiday Season. We make it easy for our Standard and Full Service subscribers to access the seasonal gems in the Hearts of Space Archive with this special channel. It's filled with heartwarming seasonal music, folk and classical melodies and choral masterworks.

To hear it on our web site, Just click CHANNELS in the main menu bar or select HOLIDAY from the Channels drop-down menu. On the Hearts of Space iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch app, tap the CHANNELS icon on the main screen or the Channels tab on the bottom navigation bar.

 

Hearts of Space Mobile Apps

   
                           ANDROID                                                                 iPHONE

LET'S REVIEW

We introduced our iPhone app in December 2010; a virtually identical Android app was released in late April 2011. If you are looking for Hearts of Space on-the-go, follow these links and download the app of your choice for just 99 cents.

  iPhone App Store                                   Android Market

Both these apps currently have a reduced set of features when compared to our main web site with its custom Flash player. To be specific, after free registration you can play

• a selection of free introductory content
• the current week's program (as often as you like)

Subscribers who purchase our "Radio Channel + This Week's Show" combo plan ($5 to $7 per month, depending on term and billing options) OR our "All Archive Access" plan ($10 to $13 per month, depending), also get unlimited access to our full time radio stream — the "All Archive Channel" — in both the mobile apps and online in all major web browsers. If you turn off the program voiceovers, this service is ideal for uninterrupted background music.

OUR NEXT UPGRADE

We have begun work on the next upgrade to both our mobile apps and our main web service. The enhancements include seven new full time "virtual radio channels" in addition to our current "All Archive Channel."  Here's the list of channels:

ALL ARCHIVE MIX (aka "All Archive Channel" — same as the current "Radio Channel")
ELECTRONIC SPACE
AMBIENT/DOWNTEMPO
CONTEMPORARY INSTRUMENTAL
ORCHESTRAL/CHAMBER/CHORAL
CLASSIC HOS MIX
WORLD FUSION MIX
CELTIC SPACE

Per user request, the next version of our mobile apps will also show and play MY PLAYLISTS that you've created on the web site.

One enhancement already being enjoyed by mobile users is that HOS programs in the ALL ARCHIVE MIX channel always start from the beginning — rather than being joined in progress, traditional radio-style. We will add this feature to our main web service Flash player in the next update.

LOOKING FORWARD

Our development roadmap for the near future is committed to supporting all features and services on both the web and mobile platforms. This means that whether you use the HOS music service on your desktop, laptop, tablet or mobile phone, the same content and features will be available to you — depending, of course, on the service level you choose. However, we won't get there until the revision after next.

Look for our upgraded mobile apps and upgraded web service with 8 full-time channels this fall. Our "full featured" mobile apps will follow, hopefully in the first quarter of 2012.

:: Stephen Hill and the HOS team

 

HOS Android App now available!

If you searched the Android Marketplace for the long-awaited Hearts of Space app in the last few days, you were probably surprised to find it there! 

We put it up last week without announcing it because a last minute issue came up in testing, and we were concerned it might cause problems for our Android users.

A few of our testers told us that it was taking an unusually long time to do the initial installation of the app — up to four and half minutes. In no case did the app fail to install, and it loaded fast and worked perfectly after it finished. It just took too long to get going.

Since then, around 75 people have downloaded the app and no one has reported the problem. Either they are very patient people, or what we were seeing was a "device-specific" problem. In any case, our programmer is working on a revised version of the app with a different initial setup sequence, which should end the problem for good. He's promised it in two weeks.

So Go Forth and Download, dear spacefans. The HOS Android app awaits you. See our Android special plan page for details.

ONE MORE ISSUE WE'VE HEARD ABOUT

For one early user the app failed to download completely after he bought it. This problem has nothing to do with the HoS Android app, but rather with the Android Marketplace app delivery method.

The Android mobile platform is still fairly new so issues like this apparently aren't that unusual. Many people have the same problem on a number of different Android devices including several reports on various HTC models.

Google recommends several methods to solve this problem, quote:

"You may occasionally see downloads get caught up on your phones. However, this is often a temporary connectivity matter.
Some troubleshooting tips include :

1) activating Google Talk
2) performing a soft reset or
3) using the "Force Stop" option to stop the download and then resume it again."

Here's one user report:

"I had the same problem even after I did a hard reset. I then went and activated Google Talk and ... Viola!
Not only did the download function start working, it allowed me to go back and re-download all my purchases!"

To activate Google Talk, you must have a Google account.

=    Open the browser on your Android phone and go to http://www.google.com
=    Sign In to your Google account
=    Tap on My Account
=    Then tap on Mobile - this opens a page with lots of Google mobile apps including Google Talk
=    Tap on the Google Talk icon -t he Google Talk page will load.
=    Tap on the "Launch Now" button - it may ask you to Sign In again (security)
=    Once you've activated Google Talk, go back to the Market.
=    Search for the Hearts of Space app - it should start downloading and installing.

If you have any other problems no matter how small, just email [email protected]. We love to help folk use our apps!

:: SH

HOS Android App

UPDATE: Our Android beta testers really proved themselves this week as we discovered incompatibities with certain models of Android phones like the HTC Eris. And we found one tester with a "jailbroken" phone where the app just didn't work at all. That's where we draw the line, folks: we really can't support "rooted" or jailbroken phones. Look for the finished app early next week.

---

Now, y'all been very patient about this, and we appreciate that.

Turns out that even when you have a finished iPhone app to model the design, building an Android app is different enough that you wind up doing 90% of the work over again. So naturally, it takes longer than you'd like, but we wanted to get it right. Thanks to our ace programmers PAUL YAGO and JOHN ZORKO, who burned the traditional midnight oil to make it happen.

The app has been in the hands of our beta testers for a week, and we've been discovering and fixing the "device-related" bugs, where it works on one model of phone, but not another. As of today we're pretty much past this, and just waiting for the last few reports to come in to confirm that everything is working as intended. We even managed to make a few improvements here and there.

If all goes well, we'll make the app available in the Android Marketplace next week. We'll announce it here in our blog, on our home page, and via email if you contacted us about the app in the past. GO ANDROID!