Playdar is a music content resolver service - run it on every computer you use, and you'll be able to listen to all the songs you would otherwise be able to find manually by searching though all your computers, hard disks, online services, and more.

Playdar provides a consistent API for accessing any song ever recorded. Learn more...

Got Playdar running? Check the Playdar Web Demos and see how web pages can integrate Playdar to take advantage of music you already have.

Playdar is free and Open Source (MIT License), and written primarily in Erlang.
You can extend it by writing additional resolvers in any language you like, not just Erlang. Read more..

News

2010-05-11

• News coming soon about a new desktop build, and more on browseable collections

2010-03-12

• Local library in the process of being moved to external binary, using C++/sqlite.
• Will specify updated external script/binary protocol including collection support, this will make Playdar aware of browsable collections for the first time

2010-01-21

• flowcontrol merged to master: playdartcp now uses distinct connections per stream, which means queries are still serviced during streaming
• added comet support for streaming query results
• added experimental websocket API (and patched mochiweb for websocket support)
• other misc bits and pieces

2009-11-26

• We'll be posting misc updates and playdar tips on twitter: Follow Playdar on Twitter

2009-11-24

• Playdar Summit and MusicHackDay in Boston were a huge success. Will be merging in new resolvers and patches in the coming days.
• AOLMusic resolver added to contrib
• SoundCloud resolver added to contrib
• Added a press page listing some of the Playdar coverage.

2009-11-18

• Added the Mac OS X prefpane package to the download page
• Added the Windows installer to the download page

2009-11-12

• Article on ReadWriteWeb about Playdar: "A Messiah for streaming music"
• Added Toby's Playgrub.com to the Demos page
• The Windows installer is almost ready for release, you can get a copy in IRC to help test.

2009-10-29

• Article in New Scientist about Playdar

2009-10-27

• Updated Demos list to add more demos

2009-10-24

• An OS X package is nearly ready. Ask in IRC if you want to help test it
• Windows packaging is next after Mac - scanning works but there are a few glitches we're still sorting out
• An Intent To Package Playdar for Debian was submitted, .debs will appear in due course.

2009-10-12

• Updated site to reference the new Erlang codebase, and officially deprecate the C++ one.
• License changed from GPL3 to MIT.
• We still need to make packages/installers for the new codebase!

2009-10-09

• There's an article on Wired.com about Playdar

2009-10-08

• The Erlang version is very close to feature parity with the C++ codebase, once it's complete we'll deprecate the C++ project and build packages with the Erlang code.
• It should be a smaller download once the Erlang version is complete, and generally be faster and easier to extend.

2009-10-01

• Decided to rewrite in Erlang, it's already feeling much more elegant. See http://github.com/RJ/playdar-core
• Kicking myself for not using Erlang from the beginning.

2009-09-29

• Changed to one config file per plugin instead of one big file
• Changed playdar daemon http port to 60210, and updated demos/js on playdar.org

2009-05-20

• Everything is pluginized - api and local library moved out of core daemon
• Comet http api plugin (StreamingStrategy interface is being updated atm)
• Many performance and stability improvements to the daemon and core plugins
• Results are re-ranked with a reliability weighting as well as a score now
• mp3tunes resolver in contrib/
• darknet resolver in contrib/ compiles again, and (kinda) works

2009-04-29

• The collection database is now auto created the first time you need it
• Added a 'preference' setting that affects sort order: you can have an equal score (based on metadata match) but still rank lower, based on reliability of the source or user preference.

2009-04-26

• Added hAudio autodetection to playdar.js Docs
• Changed bug tracker link to github issues

2009-04-11

• Added scrobbling support to playdar.js. Docs. You'll need a build that supports the audioscrobbler plugin, e.g. mxcl's

2009-04-10

• playdar.js update to "0.4". Lots of backwards incompatible changes (sorry). Take a look at change notes, and the revised docs.
• Hooked up track/playlist interface idea to pull in queries stored in memory and be playable.
• Updated status bar colours to conform to palette.

2009-04-07

• Many performance improvements.
• Stale queries are deleted after 6 hours of inactivity, to reclaim memory.
• Script and external processes are now considered first-class resolvers.
• Example resolvers in PHP and Python available.
• Added Jason's screencasts to site.

2009-03-26

• Updated resolver pipeline docs, link to example resolver written in PHP.
• Source code link now lists the trees for various parts of the project.

2009-03-22

• playdar.js updates. Status bar now has a "Tracks" tab that shows a history of all queries and lets you choose individual results to play rather than just the best. New clear_auth handler

2009-03-17

• User authorisation is now working, and pushed to github.
• Click "auth" in the green playdar bar to allow the site to access Playdar.
• Playdar localhost webserver now lets you manage which sites are authorised
• Mac build updated with auth. Windows build is currently outdated and doesn't have auth yet.

2009-03-11

• Added an "about" page
• Resolver plugins are loaded dynamically now, wrote a tutorial Demo Resolver Plugin. There are still some build issues to iron out in my tree on win/mac atm -RJ

2009-03-08

• some API changes to playdar.js relating to soundmanager registration. Check the docs. Bumped version 0.3.2 - james

2009-03-05

• made a Lighthouse account for bug tracking

2009-03-04

• updated playdar.js library to 0.3 with support for SoundManager 2 - james
• some improvements to the search demo - james
• Link to mac package that comes with prefpane from max

2009-02-28

• updated playdar.js library to 0.2 with docs: this is a backwards incompatible api update. demos and the greasemonkey script have been updated accordingly. - james
• Mac build works now, fixed 'bus error' crashbug - russ

2009-02-25

• added windows installer from Laurie, and a wrapper app that creates a systray icon

2009-02-22

• pushed source to github