Lyrics Jukebox
Playing music with synchronized lyrics display for Windows, Linux and Mac
Setup
| Overview | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Windows | Linux | Mac | Amiga etc. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| ||
|
|
|
|
| |||
|
|
|
|
| |||
Download and Extract
If you’d like to try Lyrics Jukebox, download the archive compatible with your operating system from the
download page and extract it. Mac users should avoid using Safari to download the file if possible; please read the section on Mac quarantine below in the
Problems and solutions section.
The downloaded archive contains a top-level directory Lyrics_Jukebox.
It contains five files (two on macOS) and six directories or folders:
- Catalogs – Directory containing translations of program messages
- Fonts – Directory where fonts to be used by the program can be stored
- LJ_Data – Directory for configuration data and the cache for cover images
- Lyrics – Directory where song lyrics to be displayed can be stored
- Music – Directory whose subdirectories are intended to hold music files
- Plugin_license_files – Directory containing the plugins’ readme and license documents
- avcodec.hwp – Plugin for media playback (FFmpeg library)
- svg.hwp – Plugin for using SVG graphics
- Lyrics_Jukebox.config – The central configuration file for Lyrics Jukebox
- Lyrics_Jukebox.exe (Windows) or Lyrics_Jukebox (other operating systems) – the executable program
- Lyrics_Jukebox_Service.exe (Windows) or Lyrics_Jukebox_Service (other operating systems) – the service component of Lyrics Jukebox
On macOS, the two plugin files (.hwp) and the service program are part of the application package and
are therefore not included here.
The directories Fonts and Lyrics are empty;
Music contains two subdirectories — Standard
and Reserve — which are also empty and are intended for your music files.
The LJ_Data directory contains the following files, which you can edit if necessary:
- LJ HTMLentities.config – List of HTML entities to be replaced
- LJ Hyphenation.config – List of hyphenation suggestions for displaying artist or title
- LJ LanguageFonts.config – List of language-specific fonts
- LJ RadioURLs.config – Text file containing streaming URLs for internet radio
- LJ SearchAbbreviations.config – List of abbreviated names for searching
In addition, the program creates files here containing internal status information and a subdirectory LJ_Cache, where the cover art from your music files is collected so that it is quickly available in the jukebox.
Handling startup barriers (making files executable, dealing with security restrictions)
Linux or macOS: For unix-like operating systems Linux or macOS, it is now necessary to make the two program files
Lyrics_Jukebox and Lyrics_Jukebox_Service executable. On Linux, everything
should then be ready to go, on Mac the program will only work properly once it is no longer in quarantine, which is
triggered by the download and automatic unpacking via Safari.
(You can find more detailed instructions for the Mac below under Problems and Solutions. On Mac, you can also save the
program to a USB drive formatted with FAT32 or exFAT for testing purposes, as it does not have to be made executable first.
However, this does not solve the quarantine problem).
Windows: On Windows, the “Windows Defender SmartScreen” may appear when you first launch
Lyrics_Jukebox, claiming that “Windows protected your PC”. In this case, you can allow
the program to run by clicking “More info” and then “Run anyway”. Because Lyrics Jukebox then automatically attempts to start
its service component (Lyrics_Jukebox_Service), the same message appears a second time immediately
afterward, and you should respond in the same way. From then on, Windows recognizes the program and will no longer display
these warnings.
Copy music files to the default music folder
If you start the Lyrics_Jukebox program now, you will still receive a warning message if there is
no MP3 file in the Music/Standard folder. As soon as the program finds at least one music file there, it
will work.
It is best to start with just a few music files so that the jukebox feature is available immediately.
Instead of copying the music files into the prepared folders, you could also change the path entries in the
configuration file so that they point to your music folders, but for an easy start I recommend leaving the provided
configuration file as it is for the time being.
Lyrics must have the same file name as the corresponding music file, unsynchronized with the extension
.txt, synchronized ones with the extension .lrc. The lyrics can be stored
in the directory for lyrics (here Lyrics), but may also be in the same directory as the corresponding
music track.
Getting Started
Upon its initial launch, Lyrics_Jukebox scans the ID3 tags of all music files for its internal playlist, creates an image cache and
extracts all album covers, calculates the random order for the queue and corrects any repetitions of artists or song names.
Progress is displayed by a message at the bottom of the screen.
The jukebox mode can only be activated up after the processes are completed. How long this takes depends on your hardware and the
number of music files; this will take approximately one minute per 100 files. If the jukebox symbol is pressed beforehand, an
hourglass will appear to indicate the progress.
Edit configuration
To change the settings of the program, you must use a text editor and edit the supplied configuration
(Lyrics_Jukebox.config). The entries there are commented, and you will also find fitting descriptions on the
Configuration page. Don't be put off by the large number of parameters, you don't need to change most of them.
Most important are the two entries for the directories for music and lyrics files.
If you want to move the data directory to a different location (for the Raspberry project, for example, this is an external USB drive),
move the configuration file (Lyrics_Jukebox.config) to the Lyrics Jukebox directory; the path specified in that
file will then be used for the data directory (which is entered as the DataDir parameter).
Notes
Plugins: To function, Lyrics_Jukebox requires the two plugin files
avcodec.hwp and svgimage.hwp, which I deliver here.
The Plugin-Licenses directory contains necesarry license documents and readme files for
their distribution.
These plugins come from the Hollywood download space. The download
links can be found in the AVCodec and SVG rows in the column for your operating system. Occasionally, these plugins are
updated, and I may not refresh them here promptly; it might be worthwhile to download newer versions directly. You can find the version
numbers of the plugins in the README files.
Special feature for Mac: When running on macOS, Lyrics Jukebox searches for the configuration file Lyrics_Jukebox.config
in multiple locations. If it is located next to the program (the "app"), as with other operating systems, Lyrics Jukebox behaves
exactly as described. However, placing the program in your Applications folder may be impractical. Therefore,
you can also place the configuration file either in the Resources folder of the application package or (better) in the
~/Library/Application Support/LyricsJukebox folder. In both cases, this LyricsJukebox folder
is then the starting point for relative path specifications in the configuration.
I would also recommend this method if you intend to keep Lyrics Jukebox on your Mac: So move the app to
/Applications and everything else from the downloaded MacOS folder to the
Library/Application Support/LyricsJukebox folder (to be created if necessary) starting from your user folder.
Problems and Solutions
If an error message of the following type appears when starting the program
This program requires avcodec.hwp!
then the named plug-in is missing or the version for a different operating system is used. Ensure that the processor architecture (32 or 64 bit) is also compatible.How can you make the program executable on the Mac?
There are various ways to do this. It is easy with a file manager such as Disk Order.
However, if you are not afraid of the command line, you can also use on-board tools:
After you have unpacked the zip archive, right-click (or Control-click or Ctrl-click) on the Lyrics Jukebox program icon. Then select the menu item "Show package contents" and open the Contents folder, then the MacOS folder. There you will see the two files of the not yet executable program.
Now open the terminal (open Launchpad, type "Terminal" and click on the terminal symbol) and enter the following:
chmod +x
(leave a blank space after the x). Then drag the program icon of Lyrics_Jukebox with the mouse from the Finder window to the Terminal window and release it. This will write the path and the program name to the terminal after the blank space. If the window does not become active with older macOS versions, switch to the terminal window (click inside). Now press Enter to execute the command line.
Repeat the chmod for the service program Lyrics_Jukebox_Service.
Exit the package in the Finder (click Return three times). You should now be able to start Lyrics Jukebox.
If the Mac then complains because I am not a verified developer, open the program once by holding Ctrl and clicking open.How to solve quarantine problems on the Mac?
If you download a zip archive from the Internet on your Mac using Safari, it is automatically unpacked (with Safari default settings) and may enter a quarantine status (Only Apple knows when this happens). If this archive contains unsigned executable programs, you can run them as soon as they have been made executable, but an additional security function is activated that moves the program to a randomly selected new path and starts it there with restrictions. Lyrics Jukebox is then unable to activate its service component and displays a warning message.
Below I describe how to avoid or fix this condition, but this probably doesn't apply to all macOS versions, so you may have to do some trial and error. (Keywords for an internet search are "App Translocation", "Gatekeeper Path Randomization" and "com.apple.quarantine").- Download Lyrics Jukebox using Chrome instead of Safari or use another computer and bring the program to your Mac on a USB drive. This will prevent the program from being quarantined.
- If Lyrics Jukebox is already in quarantine, proceed as follows:
Start the terminal (see the previous section on making executable). Execute the command xattr on Lyrics_Jukebox to display the extended attributes. For example, if the program is in the Applications folder, the command line should look like this:
xattr /Applications/Lyrics_Jukebox.app
If it has been quarentined, then com.apple.quarantine will be displayed in response. If this is the case, enter the following line:
sudo xattr -cr /Applications/Lyrics_Jukebox.app
The sudo requests administrator rights, so it asks for the password, and xattr deletes all extended attributes of all objects of the application package with the argument -cr and thus also the quarantine state com.apple.quarantine.
Lyrics Jukebox should then run.
- Radio cannot be started
- VLC player is missing
- VLC Player is not installed in the default path.
Check the configuration entry VLCExecutable, which can be used to change the path. You will also find the default paths there.
- VLC Player is already running in terminal mode, but with an unknown password.
Check the configuration entry VLCPassword. - The list of radio stations specified in the configuration field RadioStations was not found.
