What the player plays
The player plays one thing at a time. It picks in this order:
Your schedule
When a schedule block is running for this location, the player plays it.
What you chose in the app
Outside a block, it plays the playlist or radio you chose with “Change what it plays” on its card, all day.
Nothing
With no block running and nothing chosen, it stays silent. Its card says “Nothing to play right now: no schedule block and no chosen source”.
If you choose a playlist or radio while a block is running, your choice plays until that block ends. Then the schedule carries on. A block you add or edit after making your choice wins over it.
The player takes a playlist or a radio. It cannot play a single track, an album, a genre or search results. Open a playlist or radio and press play to send it to the player.
At a location with a player, the app never runs the schedule itself. The player does.
The app is the player’s remote
Once a player is added to your location, the Melodial app on your phone or PC stops playing music itself. It drives the player instead.
Play, pause, skip, volume and shuffle
The buttons on the player’s card in Devices and the player bar in the app all control the player. Skip is greyed out while the player is paused.
Press play on a playlist or radio
It goes to the player.
“Play on this device”
Stops the player and plays the music on the phone or PC in your hand. “Back to the player” hands it back. This lasts until you close the app: the app always opens as the remote.
Several locations
If you manage several locations, press “Control in the player bar” on a player’s card to choose which player the bar controls.
A location plays in one place at a time. The player and a phone or PC never play together. Whoever is playing keeps the music. If a phone or PC is playing for this location, the player waits and its card says “Waiting: another device is playing for this location”.
Setting up a new player
In the box: the player, its power supply and an audio lead.
If the app says “The player is not online yet”, the player has not reached the internet. Wait a minute and try again. If it still says so, check the cable or connect the player to your WiFi.
Connecting the player to WiFi
Use this when there is no network cable. You need a phone, and your shop’s WiFi name and password.
A wrong password locks nobody out. Within a couple of minutes the light blinks once a second again and the setup network is back. Join it again, check the password and press “Join”. A network without a password: leave the box empty.
Changing the WiFi later
For a new router, a new password, or a player moved to another network:
The player is still online
On its card, press “WiFi network”, type the new name and password, and press “Send to the player”. The player keeps the new network even if it is not in range yet, so you can do this the day before a router change.
The old network is already gone
Do nothing in the app. The player keeps playing its downloaded music. Two minutes later its setup network opens: follow “Connecting the player to WiFi” above.
While its setup network is open, the player checks every few minutes whether its old network is back. The setup network then disappears for about 20 seconds. If your phone drops off it before you press “Join”, wait a moment and join it again.
The green light
The green light on the player shows what it is doing. The red light next to it only means the power is on.
| The green light | What it means |
|---|---|
| Steady | Playing, online. |
| On, with a short blink off every 5 seconds | Playing its downloaded music while the internet is away. |
| A slow pulse: half a second on, 1.5 seconds off | Paused, or nothing to play right now. |
| Two quick blinks, then a pause | Not added to a location yet. Type the code from the sticker in the app with “Add a player”. |
| Three quick blinks, then a pause | Something is stopping it. Most often a phone or PC is playing for this location: look at the player’s card in Devices. |
| Fast flicker | Starting, connecting or updating itself. A minute at most. |
| Blinking once a second | It has no network and its setup network is open. See “Connecting the player to WiFi”. |
How long things take
A change from the app
Reaches the player within about ten seconds. Meanwhile the player bar says “Sending to the player…”. The bar shows the playlist first, and the track’s name a few seconds later.
“Nothing playing” for a moment
Normal right after a change, while the player starts the new music.
Updates
New versions of the player’s software install by themselves at the end of a track: about five seconds of silence, then the music carries on. The player never cuts a song off to update.
When the music stops: what the card says
Open Devices in the app. The player’s card says what is going on. Try the one thing next to it.
| The card says | Try this |
|---|---|
| Offline | Check the power and the network cable, and look at the green light. If the player has moved or the WiFi has changed, see “Changing the WiFi later”. |
| Waiting: another device is playing for this location | On the phone or PC that is playing, press “Back to the player”, or close the app there. |
| Paused | Press play. |
| Nothing playing | Choose a playlist or radio with “Change what it plays”, or check that your schedule has a block for this time. |
| Nothing to play right now: no schedule block and no chosen source | Choose a playlist or radio with “Change what it plays”, or add a schedule block. |
| Playing, but you hear nothing | Check the amplifier is on and set to the right input, and the audio lead is in at both ends. Then check the player’s volume on its card. |
If the internet drops
The player keeps playing its downloaded copies of the current music, and the green light blinks off briefly every five seconds. It stays on that music until the connection is back: the next schedule block starts once the player is online again, and so do any changes you made in the app meanwhile.
Moving the player to another location
A location has one player. To add a different one, remove the old one first. Still stuck? Email support@melodial.com with your location’s email address and what the card says.