Spotify Mini Carthing PythonEdition

A desktop application that mimics the Spotify CarThing device, displaying the currently playing song with album art, track info, and playback controls.

Table of Contents

• Features
• Screenshots
• Prerequisites
• Installation
• Usage
• Configuration
• Dependencies
• License
• Acknowledgments

Features

• Real-Time Track Display: Shows the currently playing track on Spotify.
• Album Art: Displays the album art of the current track.
• Track Information: Shows track name, artist name, and album name.
• Playback Controls:
  • Play/Pause
  • Next Track
  • Previous Track
  • Shuffle Toggle
• Like/Unlike Track: Add or remove the current track from your Liked Songs.
• Progress Bar: Displays track progress with current time and total duration.
• Dynamic UI: Adapts the UI colors based on the album art.
• Custom Window: Rounded corners and draggable interface without standard window borders.

Screenshots

Note: Include screenshots of your application here.

Prerequisites

• Spotify Premium Account: Required to control playback and access user-specific data.
• Spotify Developer Account: To obtain API credentials.
• Python 3.6 or higher

Installation

1. Clone the Repository

git clone https://github.com/yourusername/spotify-mini-carthing.git
cd spotify-mini-carthing

2. Set Up a Spotify Developer Application

1. Log in to the Spotify Developer Dashboard.
2. Click on Create an App.
3. Enter an app name and description.
4. Click on Edit Settings and add http://localhost:8888/callback to the Redirect URIs.
5. Save the settings.
6. Note down your Client ID and Client Secret.

3. Install Dependencies

It's recommended to use a virtual environment.

Using venv

python -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate  # On Windows, use `venv\Scripts\activate`

Install Required Packages

pip install -r requirements.txt

If requirements.txt is not provided, install packages individually:

pip install PyQt5 spotipy qtawesome

Usage

1. Configure the Application

Update the client_id, client_secret, and redirect_uri in the script with your Spotify API credentials.

# Spotify authentication credentials
client_id = 'your_client_id_here'
client_secret = 'your_client_secret_here'
redirect_uri = 'http://localhost:8888/callback'

2. Run the Application

python spotify_mini_carthing.py

Note: Replace spotify_mini_carthing.py with the actual filename if different.

3. Authenticate with Spotify

Upon running the application for the first time, you'll be prompted to authenticate with Spotify:

1. A web browser window will open, asking you to log in to your Spotify account and authorize the application.
2. After authorization, you'll be redirected to the redirect URI (http://localhost:8888/callback) with an authentication code.
3. The application will capture this code and proceed to display the current track information.

Configuration

Spotify API Credentials

Ensure you have set your Spotify API credentials in the script:

• client_id
• client_secret
• redirect_uri

Redirect URI

The redirect_uri must match exactly between your Spotify Developer Dashboard and the script.

Scope

The application requests the following scopes:

• user-read-currently-playing
• user-read-playback-state
• user-modify-playback-state
• user-library-read
• user-library-modify

These scopes allow the application to read your currently playing track, control playback, and manage your library.

Dependencies

• Python 3.6+
• PyQt5: Python bindings for the Qt application framework.
• Spotipy: A lightweight Python library for the Spotify Web API.
• qtawesome: Icon packs for PyQt.

Installing Dependencies

pip install PyQt5 spotipy qtawesome

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Acknowledgments

• Spotify: For providing a robust API to interact with music data.
• Qt and PyQt5: For making GUI development accessible in Python.
• QtAwesome: For the icon packs used in the application.
• Spotipy: For simplifying interactions with the Spotify API.

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

Authentication Error

If you receive an authentication error:

• Ensure your client_id, client_secret, and redirect_uri are correctly set.
• The redirect_uri in your script must match exactly with the one set in your Spotify Developer Dashboard.
• Make sure you have a stable internet connection.

No Active Playback Found

If the application displays "No active playback found.":

• Ensure that Spotify is running and playing music on one of your devices.
• The application cannot control devices in Private Session mode.

Logging

For debugging purposes, you can print additional information to the console by adding print statements or configuring logging in the script.

Contribution

Contributions are welcome! Please open an issue or submit a pull request.

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This project is not affiliated with or endorsed by Spotify. It is an independent project created for educational purposes.