Documentation

Welcome to OpenDJRadio!

Imagine you are attending your friend's birthday party and guests have song requests they would like to play but differ in tastes of music. Or imagine board game night where everyone has differing music tastes but only 1 device connected to the speaker. Or imagine a situtation where your significant other is remote but you would like to have a shared music experience. Or imagine growing your own following by hosting your own music request channel where members from around the globe can request, upvote, and suggest other songs, or imagine an application to create and manage your own playlists and/or can share them with a global community. OpenDJRadio is your free platform designed to meet these needs.

How does it work?

OpenDJRadio is an interactive experience where users can choose to either Join an Online Room, or they can choose to host their own room. Your room includes a Song Request panel, and songs can be added to your room's Queue. When users connect to a hosted room, their player begins to play where the host is at in the song, and any skipping / pausing of the video by the host will be reflected in your Player. You will accrue a Currency for the active Room when the player is playing that can be used to Request / Queue Songs or Upvote already queued songs. Hosts have the ability to Skip a song in the Queue, and all Currency spent on it is refunded to the viewers.

Getting Started

When you first login to OpenDJRadio, you will be greeted with a stepper to help setup your account (Figure 1). Let's create your first Playlist. Enter a name for the Playlist in Playlist Name and click Next.

Figure 1: Create Playlist Welcome Stepper

Next we are going to add a song to the playlist. First enter some search keywords of your choice into the box that says Enter Search Terms. Click on Search for Song and a search of available videos will populate. You can click on the title of the song to open a new YouTube window where you can preview the song. Select a video of your choice and click on Add to Playlist (Figure 2).

Figure 2: Add Song to Playlist Welcome Stepper

The final screen on the stepper will introduce you to your room - click Next to connect to your room (Figure 3).

Figure 3: Navigate to your Room

These are the basics! All additional aspects of OpenDJRadio are explained in greater detail below.

Your Room

Welcome to your room (Figure 4)! Each user on OpenDJRadio will have their own room with a unique Room Name. Other users on the application can join your room (if set to public), and likewise, you can join their room (if set to public). Users in a Room can request Songs using the top Panel and place them into the Queue. While in a room, the owner of the room is called the host, and he or she controls the viewing experience for other users in the room. For example, if the host pauses, skips ahead, skips backwards, or skips songs, the change will be reflected on the player of every user in the room. This means that you can have a group of people in your room that can collaboratively adjust the Queue with a shared listening experience.

Figure 4: Your Room

Rooms

Every user on OpenDJRadio has their own room where they can request Songs or queue up playlists. Rooms by default are Public and other users on OpenDJRadio can join them, and likewise, you can join other users' room (if the room is set to public).

All rooms will have a Player that plays requested / queued song requests. When the host of the room skips songs, pauses, skips ahead, or skips back, the other users in the room will have their player sycronized to the host. This allows for a shared music experience where multiple users have the same listening experience. Additionally, users by default can request songs in rooms. Requested songs will be moved into the queue where the order of the upcoming songs is determined by the aggregate total amount of currency spent on the song. This allows for the user community joined to the room to manipulate existing queued songs and change their order based on the amount of currency spent.

The first time you connect to your room, you will see a short introduction of the controls available on the page. These tutorials only will show 1 time, and there is 1 for each screen in OpenDJRadio. These guides are designed to give a short overview of the functions of the app with this documentation acting as a second resource. If you would like to see the introduction again, you can reset them from the Accounts screen accessible from the Listen menu at the top of the page.

Viewer

You can join any host's room that is set to Public and not locked. When joined as a viewer, the host's video player will also control the video player on your browser. When the host pauses, stops, rewinds, or skips forward during a playing song, the same pause, stop, rewind, or skip will be reflected in the player in your browser. This allows the host and viewer to remain in sync while enjoying a shared music / video experience.

While acting as a viewer in a room, you will accrue currency over time. The amount of currency you currently have for the room is displayed below the player, and each room has its own currency. You can use this currency to request songs or upvote songs to manipulate the queue and the upcoming song order.

Depending on the room settings, you can request songs while acting as a viewer in the room which will be added to the room's queue. You can also manipulate the queue by spending currency to upvote songs and change the order in the room. However, the host of the room has the capability to remove songs from the queue, but all spent currency will be refunded.

Host

You can instead host your own room with your own custom settings to hone the experience you are seeking between you, the room, and your viewers. When hosting a room, you have control over the queue and can remove songs and refund spent currency if the requested song is not desired. You can change settings on your room including setting it Public or Private, locking the room with a required Room Key, or disable requests with currency. Ideally, a hosted room will have genres associated with it to help viewers find their ideal tailored experience..

You can setup your room as you wish. For example, you can allow song requests without using currency, or you can just disable the ability to upvote songs with currency. You can change your room name or room description. There is no limit to the number of songs you can have in the queue. Additionally, instead of using requests, you can queue either your own playlist or a community playlists in your room and all songs in the playlist will be added to the queue.

Queue

This is the list of queued songs in the room (Figure 5). By default, songs in the queue are ordered by those with the most amount of currency to those with the least amount of currency. For example, in (Figure 5), the requested song has only 1 Note (notes are the name of the default currency) accrued on it. If a user were to request another song for 2 Notes, then the song with 1 Note would play second, and the song with 2 Notes would play first. By default, users in a room can add currency onto previously requested / queued songs to change the upcoming play order. This feature allows a dynamic room playlist fueled by user requests that can dynamically change the play order based on viewer actions. Only the host can remove songs from the queue, and when songs are removed, all spent currency will be refunded to their respective user.

Figure 5: Queue of Songs for the Room

Find a Room

To find a room, on the top nav-bar, click on Listen and then Rooms. A new panel will open thats shows unlocked, public rooms hosted by other users that are currently online (Figure 6).

Figure 6: Rooms panel

Select an unlocked public room. There is a genre dropdown filter you can use to help identify your desired room. Alternatively, if you know the Room Name, you can enter it in the textbox above the genre filter dropdown to join a specific room.

When you join a room, you can communicate with the other users using the included chat. By default, viewers, or users in the room, earn currency over time (by default called Notes) which can be used to request and upvote songs in the queue. The host can change the settings of their room (such as public, locked, allow requests, allow earning currency, etc) to change the actions available to viewers. As a viewer, you can support your favorite rooms by following them, and when these rooms are online, will appear in a separate follow rooms panel above the displayed public rooms.

Request Songs

To request songs, first enter keywords into the search at the top of the screen (Figure 7).

Figure 7: Song Request / Search Panel Top of Page

Add some keywords and click Request Song to see a list of potential songs you can queue in a room. When you find one you want to add to the queue, click on Request. If the room allows spending currency to request a song (this is a room's default setting), the user will be presented with a modal asking how much currency should be spent initially on the song to determine its place in the queue (Figure 8). Leave the initial value at 1, and click Request to request the song and have it added to the room's queue.

Figure 8: Add Song Request Modal

Upvote Songs

The order of the songs is determined by the current amount of currency which has been spent on the song. Viewers in the room can add currency to songs in the queue to change the upcoming song order. To Upvote a song and add notes to it, click on the Add Nodes button below the song in the queue. A modal will pop up asking how much currency you would like to spend upvoting the song (Figure 9). Leave the default value of 1, and click Upvote. Notice that the value of the song increased by 1, and 1 currency was removed from you.

Figure 9: Upvote Song Queued in Room

Remove Songs From Queue

If you are the room host, you have the option to remove the song from the queue by clicking the Remove button under the Upvote button. This will refund all currency for you and your viewers spent on this song request (Figure 5).

If you are the room host, you can also skip any song that is playing by clicking the skip button to the right of the Purchase Currency button (Figure 10). This will immediately skip the current song for your and your viewers and all currency spent on the song will be refunded.

Figure 10: Skip Song on Currency Panel

Follow A Room

When you find a room you enjoy and would like it to be highlighted when the room is online, you can follow the room. This will also notify the host that you have followed their room and your followed rooms will be available from your profile.

To follow a room, first enter a room where you are a viewer, then click the heart icon below the video player (Figure 11). You can click this button a second time to unfollow a room.

Figure 11: Follow a Room Button

Online rooms that you follow will appear above the public rooms panel (Figure 12). This panel will be hidden if you are not following any rooms.

Figure 12: Followed Rooms Panel

Chat

Every room has a chat where the host and viewers can communicate (Figure 13). You can click on a user's username in the chat to open their profile.

Figure 13: Chat Panel

To send a message to the chat, type your message into the textbox that says Enter Message here ... then click Send Message. Messages are displayed by the newest messages at the top to the older messages on the bottom. If you have a profile image, it will be displayed beside your username before your message.

Who Is In The Room?

You can see who is following your room or another host's room by clicking on the hyperlink below the player that specifies the number of follows (Figure 14).

Figure 14: Who Is Following A Room Panel

Room Settings

There are additional room settings you can change on the Accounts screen (Figure 15). You can specify up to three genres for your room which potential viewers will be able to filter by on the public rooms page. You can change the Room Name, which is the public name of the room you can distribute to viewers to join your room. The Room Name will also appear in the url for the room.

Figure 15: Account and Room Settings Screen

Specific room settings are discussed in more detail below:

Hide Your Room

Hiding a room means that it does not populate on the public rooms page, but viewers can still join it if they follow your room or know the Room Name. If you want to prevent public access to your room entirely, you can also lock your room.

Lock Your Room

You can lock your room by checking the Is My Room Locked checkbox on the Accounts screen. A new textbox will appear prompting you for a Room Key. The Room Key is any string of text you wish that you can give to users to join your room - users without this Room Key will not be able to join your room.

Is Allowing Song Requests

This option by default is enabled and allows viewers to request songs in your room. If this option is not checked, viewers can still join in your room and have a shared viewing experience, but will not be able to request songs. The room host however will still be able to request songs, and viewers can still upvote songs if enabled.

Do Song Requests Require Spending Currency

This option is enabled by default and specifies if requesting songs requires spending currency. This applies to both viewers and the room host. If enabled, a song request will require spending at least 1 currency to add to the queue. If disabled, song requests will be free, but viewers will still be able to upvote songs if enabled.

Is Spending Currency Allowed On Queued Songs

This option is enabled by default and allows viewers and the host to spend currency to upvote songs in the queue. If this option is disabled, users will still be able to request songs (if enabled) but will not be able to change the queue by spending currency.

Currency

While in a room, you will accrue a currency over time - by default, these are called Notes (Figure 10). Notes can be used to request songs in the room and / or to upvote songs in the queue. The higher the number of Notes that were spent on a song, the higher up the queue it is placed. Songs in the queue are ordered by the most amount of currency to least. These settings are all adjustable from the Accounts screen accessible from the Listen, Account, and Account menu at the top of the page.

Additionally, the host can rename the currency from the Accounts menu. This means that you could have viewers collect Glitters or Pixels over time instead of Notes. This will allow you to create a public rooms page and currency with an environment in line with your content choices.

Playlists

OpenDJRadio supports both private playlists and community playlists. Playlists can also be imported from YouTube and Spotify. To get started, at the top of the page, click on Listen, then click on playlists, and My Playlists.

Playlists Panel

This is the playlists screen (Figure 16). This screen shows all the playlists that you have created. It includes a filter for genre to help you locate desired playlists. To edit a playlist, click on the Title of the playlist.

Figure 16: Playlists Panel

Create or Edit a Playlist

This is the playlist edit screen (Figure 17). From here, you can change the name of your playlist, upload a playlist image, and set your playlist public as a community playlist. You can also add or remove songs to the playlist, set the genres for the playlist, queue the playlist in your room, or import either YouTube or Spotify playlists. The songs currently registered to the playlist are shown below the playlist song search panel.

Figure 17: Playlist Edit Panel

Search For Songs And Add To Playlist

You can add songs to your playlist by entering search keywords into the textbox that says Enter Search Terms ..., and then click Search for Song. A panel showing available songs will be populated. You can click on the title of a song to preview it, and when you have identified the song you would like to add, you can add it to the playlist by clicking Add To Playlist (Figure 17).

Remove Songs From Playlist

If you want to remove songs from a playlist, first open the playlist in the playlist edit screen. Below the search, locate the song you would like to remove and click Remove from Playlist (Figure 17).

Queue A Playlist

You can queue a playlist in your room from the playlists screen or the playlist edit screen. From the playlists screen, locate the playlist you would like to queue and click the Queue button (Figure 16). If you are on the playlist edit screen, you can queue the playlist in your room by clicking the blue button that says Queue Playlist In My Room (Figure 17).

Set Default Playlist

The default playlist is the playlist that will be used when there are no song requests in the room's queue. For example, we have Johnny B Good by Chuck Berry currently in the playlist. From the playlist edit screen, you can see the playlist has the checkbox checked called Is Default (Figure 17). When there are no songs in the queue, OpenDJRadio will pull songs from the default playlist to keep the music playing in your room. As we only have 1 song in the playlist, Johnny B Good will play on a loop in your room if there are no songs in the queue. For best viewer experience, it is recommended that the default playlist contain at least 10 - 15 songs to fill time when songs are not requested or queued.

Purchase Additional Playlists / Songs Per Playlist

When you initially sign up with OpenDJRadio, you start with 1 playlist that can have a maximum of 30 songs. You can purchase additional playlists and additional songs per playlist in the Purchasable Items screen available at the top of the screen by clicking Listen, Accounts, and then Purchasable Items. All revenue is directly used to offset hosting costs for OpenDJRadio.

Community Playlists

A community playlists is a playlist that has been marked as public and can be queued by other users in their rooms. From the community playlists screen, you can click queue on the community playlist you want to queue in your room.

View Community Playlists

To see available community playlists, click on Listen, Playlists, and then Community Playlists (Figure 18). You can filter playlists by genre by clicking on and selecting an option from the genre dropdown. If you click on any user's username, you will see the view the profile of the user who created the community playlist.

Figure 18: Community Playlists Panel

Queue A Community Playlist

If you would like to add all songs of a community playlist to the queue in your room, first go to the community playlists screen by clicking on Listen, Playlists, and Community Playlists (Figure 18). Locate the community playlists you would like to queue, and click the button that says queue.

Set A Playlist Public Or Private

You can set your own playlists as public community playlists from the playlist edit screen. Click on Listen, Playlists, and then click on to edit the playlist you would like to set as a community playlist or a private playlist. To set a playlist public, check the box that says Is Playlist public? from the playlist edit screen. If unchecked, the playlist will on be available only to your account.

Profile

A profile shows public information about the user that they have set in the accounts screen (Figure 15). Information available includes a Profile Title, a Profile Description, and a Profile Image if uploaded. Information about that user's rooms is shown including Room Name, Room Descrtiption, and Number of Follows. The next panel shows the publically available community playliss that belong to the user. The final panel, if visible, shows the user's followed rooms.

View A Profile

You can view any user's profile by clicking on their username anywhere throughout the application.

Edit Your Profile

You can modify your profile settings by clicking on Listen, Account, and Update Account / Room (Figure 15). Here you can set your profile properties including your Profile Title, Profile Description, and upload a Profile Image. Please upload only images conforming to our Terms of Service or your account will be disabled. This information is public and will be available to users when they click on your username from anywhere inside of the application.

Account

You can also modify your room and account settings by clicking on Listen, Account, and Update Account / Room (Figure 15). Here you can set properties for your room including but not limited to Room Genres, the Room Name, Room Description, if the room is public, if the room is locked, if song requests are allowed, or if currency is allowed to spent Upvoting songs in the room. You can also see information about your previous purchases, the number of playlists and songs per playlist available to your account, and if you would like to reset the tutorials.

If your account includes images or content that does not conform to our Terms of Service, your account will be subject to login timeouts, suspension, and / or account deletion.

Support

If you are having trouble, first check to see if you have 2 browser sessions open to OpenDJRadio. Currently, OpenDJRadio only supports 1 browser open per account. If multiple browsers are open, OpenDJRadio will try to disconnect the other browsers to maintain only 1 connection, and multiple browser sessions could yield in a connection connect and disconnect loop.

Please take care to only have 1 session to OpenDJRadio open per device.

If you need to support or to contact the OpenDJRadio team, you can email us at support@opendjradio.com. Please allow up to 7 calendar days for a response.

Additional Information

OpenDJRadio was created by LiveOrDevTrying and is maintained by Pixel Horror Studios. All related logos are registered trademarks or trademarks of Pixel Horror Studios in the U.S. and/or other countries. All other trademarks or trade names are the property of their respective owners. All Rights Reserved. Please review and conform to our Terms of Service.