Z-Subsonic App Reviews

To hard to set up not user friendly

It was very easy to get this up and working properly, but it is going to take some UI polishing for me to bump up the rating. I dont think I should have to click through a menu 3 times, then click a blue arrow to finally play the song.

I have grown to absolutely love this app and just increased my rating to a full ****. I now like it much more than Simplify. Its almost perfect, but not yet: Please add MULTITASKING! Im sure youre already working on it ;) I would also still like to be able to *save* playlists. And access to lyrics/ artist-info (Simplify did that) would be great. Thanks in advance. The recent improvements, such as queuing of the audio, etc are much appreciated!

Im using this as a replacement for simplify media. The artwork is nicely displayed and there is no gap between songs when playing music. The program does a great job at bufferring the music.

Ive been using this app for a while now and it has continued to improve. Its a great way to stream your music library. And the ability to set up multiple servers is a big plus. I am wondering though if the developer will be adding multi-tasking for iOS4 and whether they will make a version that fits/rotates on an iPad screen. Otherwise, great app!!

A great replacement to Simplify. Much better iPhone app than Simplify ever was. Doesnt take forever to load a large library every time you start the app. However, setup on the computer requires a LOT more knowledge (or homework) than Simplify did. Would love to see multi-tasking and a universal update for iPad native support.

The app works. It does frequently hang up on the artist folder even on iphone 4. Needs to look more like the native iPod UI. Simplify got the UI down solid.

I can not even get the thing to load onto my computer let alone stream my music. Their web site is terrible and there are no simple instructions to follow. Waste of $5 and 4 hours from me.

For everyone that says this is better then simplify media obviously didnt use simplify. It was easy to install unlike this app. They had directions on how to setup under 5 min. This app you will waste 2 hours to get frustrated. I am computer savvy and this app has no direction other then download and click on the link that doesnt work. Even after you port forward and give it access through your firewall. Waste of time. Wait till something better comes out. Rip simplify, you will be missed.

Im writing this to set some clear expectations for anyone interested in purchasing this app. Not all of this is new information, but I would like to specify a few things that would have been helpful to know before making my purchase. 1. This app requires you to run a program called "Subsonic" on your computer. Before purchasing the app, I would recommend downloading Subsonic and making sure you have it configured and running on your computer fully. 2. Configuring and running Subsonic (the computer application) is not very basic. Its not just a matter of installing an application on your computer and setting some preferences (like Simplify Media was). Setup involves: Knowing your computers IP address (and ideally setting up a static IP address for it as well as making that IP address publicly accessible), enabling port forwarding on your router, possibly enabling port access through your firewall, and potentially some other steps as well. If you have no idea what those things are or have never done them, this can turn into quite a process for you. There are many web resources that Subsonic provides links to for setup help, but these are anything but step by step, comprehensive guides for the configuration process, mostly due to the fact that the process can be very different depending upon your router, computer, operating system, ISP, anti-virus software, and firewall settings (yes, a lot of variables come into play). I would highly recommend going through this setup process with the computer application before purchasing this app (which wont run unless the computer application is up and running properly). 3. I think it is clearly stated on this page, but I feel obligated to repeat that using Subsonic, after 30 days, requires a donation to get a full license (meaning you have to spend money in addition to this app for the app to work after 30 days). 4. Subsonic is developed and maintained by one person. There is no traditional phone support for setup problems. At best, you can post to a forum of a helpful community, but obviously, with so many variables for setup problems, this is not the optimal way to get tech support. Finally: With all that being said, the actual iPhone app - which, I realize, is a separate entity to everything listed above, but also depends on everything listed above working for it to work - does what it is supposed to do. I find that my library loads slower than it did with Simplify Media, and it also takes quite a bit longer to buffer than Simplify did. It seems other users have had the opposite experience, and it is loading faster for them, so that might just be a matter of your location. Overall, however, it does exactly what it is supposed to do: stream music over Wifi or 3G to my iPhone. So, my rating is 4 stars for the app itself, because Im pretty happy with the app, although it could use a few improvements. The setup for the app to work is definitely the weak link here. This is why I would highly recommend going through that process and make sure you have it working before you spend any money.

This is an excellent program. Very reliable - better than Simplify Media. I use it every day to and from work. I just got the updated multitasking version and it works very well. The GUI is good but could use a little work. Not sure about the artwork. It seems random - not sure if it is Z-Subsonic or the server Subsonic. Minor issue.

Great app! Would really like to see better iPhone 4/IOS4 integration. The multitasking is GREAT but I would also love to see the ability to use the iPhone music controls from the "multitasking bar" and also from the locked home screen. These added features along with a cleaned up main interface would really make the app shine! Keep up the great work!

After spending the 5 bucks to get this app I was verry unhappy to find out i could only use it with the pc software for 30 days before they wanted more money from me to continue to use it. They should give the iphone app out for free and then after 30 days let you decide to buy their software. Verry misleading

Ive been using this app for the past several months, and Ive never been completely happy with it. When it works properly Z-Subsonic is pretty nice. But there are numerous crash bugs, and Ive had my settings get completely wiped on more than one occasion. Z-Subsonics standout features are its ability to cache songs locally, and to pre-cache the next track while the current one is still playing. Neither of these features, however, work as well as they should. Pre-caching has an issue which causes tracks to get cut short. Theres a workaround for the problem, but it requires you to dig around the guts of the Subsonic server, and introduces some problems of its own. The local caching works, but if you encounter the truncation problem, its impossible to clear out the incorrectly cached track without wiping out every other song youve cached. Furthermore, its extremely difficult to get to the tracks offline (actually its impossible if you searched for the tracks), which makes it useless for plane trips and the like. Overall this app simply has too many issues to be considered usable. I suggest you avoid it, or at least wait until it gets better.

After trying isub I gave z-subsonic a chance as well and have been using it everyday. It is perfect for me. I mainly listen to custom playlist as I commute. The shuffle feature which shows you upcoming tracks is awesome. You can even reshuffle while the current track is playing. The best feature for me is that the app reconnects to your playlist where you left off flawlessly day after day over 3G or wifi, something that isub cant do. I have finally found something that is better than simplify was. Only improvement to request would be to increase the playlist restriction from 1000 to something higher - but overall great app.

The new version (2.2) wont even run on my 3G. It crashes on start up each time. There are also issues with repeating image artwork in album lists - it seems to only use 11 images and then repeats them down the entire list.And them mixes then up when the list is scrolled. Use the iSub app instead. It costs the same it works 100 times better.

I am computer savy, but have been unable to set up Z-subsonic. There are not clear instructions on the website forum. This is a complete waist of money and time. I hope someone can help me.

I purchased iSUB first because of the bad reviews that I read here for Z-Subsonic. Then after awhile I figured what the heck, Ill give Z-Subsonic a try. I like both apps but Z-Subsonic is easily my favorite. It was easy to setup with my Subsonic server. Well worth the $4.99 I paid for it. Now I can easily listen to all of my FLAC encoded music while away from home.

All and all I love the app so far. Works great with my NAS and local computer to stream music to me over 3G. Tree are a couple small things that would make it a lot nicer for me tho. 1) caching of directories - it may be because my music is on a NAS, but loading a list of directories takes longer than it does to load a new song. If the directory structure was cached this would not happen. 2) return to place in directory structure - once in play mode, when you return to the directory listing mode it goes back to the root directory rather than to where you were just browsing. Combined with the lack slow loading of directories, this is quite annoying.

After paying for and downloading the app, you have to first download the subsonic app onto your computer then go to a designated webpage. The webpage requires a user name and password. I set up a username and password, then when I try to log on, it says the username or password doesnt exist. There is no email customer service offered, only a forum that provides no information. Dont waste your money. Any app that provides no way for questions to be answered or any customer service is suspect to begin with. Im surprised apple allowed this app into the app store.