Content types

Status: implemented (core modules and web app views).

Lauschkiste plays more than albums. Audiobooks, podcasts and radio behave differently and should be handled as separate content types, each with its own place in the library, its own playback rules and its own view in the web app.

Content types

Type	Source	Position	Shuffle/repeat	Unit on a card
Music	audio files	starts from the beginning	allowed	album / folder
Audiobook	audio files	resumed per audiobook	off	audiobook
Podcast	feed URL	resumed per episode	off	podcast (newest unheard episode) or episode
Radio	stream URL	none (live)	n/a	station

Music

Unchanged behaviour: folder or album, shuffle and repeat as set by the user.

Audiobooks

• One folder per audiobook; tracks in file name order (chapters).
• Position (track and seconds) is stored per audiobook: periodically while playing, on pause, stop, switching to something else, and shutdown. Playing the audiobook again continues there.
• On resume, go back a few seconds (configurable, e.g. 10 s) so the listener finds back in.
• Shuffle and repeat are ignored while an audiobook plays; the global settings are restored after.
• Actions: start over, previous/next chapter, mark as finished. A finished audiobook starts from the beginning next time.
• The web app shows progress per audiobook.

Podcasts

• A podcast is a feed URL with a name; episodes are fetched from the feed.
• Position per episode, like audiobooks; an episode counts as heard near its end.
• A card plays the newest unheard episode, or a fixed episode.
• Episodes are streamed; they can be downloaded for offline use through the cache.

Radio

• A station is a name, a stream URL and optionally a logo; M3U and PLS playlists can be imported.
• No position, no shuffle; “next/previous” may switch stations within a list.
• A card plays a station.

Library layout

The music folder gets a new name and one subfolder per file-based type:

<home>/library/
  music/
  audiobooks/

Podcasts and radio stations are not folders of audio files; they are stored as entries (name, URL, settings) in the settings, editable in the web app.

Cards

A card refers to an item of a type, e.g. player.play_folder for music, audiobooks.play with the audiobook folder, podcasts.play with the podcast id, radio.play with the station id. The web app’s card dialog picks the type first, then the item.

Web app

The library is organised by content type, not by source. Its tabs are:

• Continue: audiobooks in progress and podcasts with unheard episodes.
• Music: albums of all sources in one list (filter chips per source once there is more than one), and a folder view of library/music with upload and file management.
• Audiobooks: the audiobooks with progress, and a folder view of library/audiobooks.
• Radio and Podcasts: stations and subscribed feeds.

There is no tab per source. Setting up a source (account, server address) belongs to the settings, later to the plugin settings in the web app.

Sources from plugins

A plugin can add content to one or more types. Each type has an extension point:

• library.sources (music) and audiobooks.sources: list items and play them; a source with its own progress (Audiobookshelf) keeps the position itself.
• podcasts.directories and radio.directories: search services for finding feeds and stations.
• cache.providers: sources whose items can be downloaded (caching).

Items and card actions carry the source (source argument); without it the built-in source is meant. Details are in Core and plugins.

Decisions

• The library is library/ in the Lauschkiste home with music/ and audiobooks/ below (setting library.path).
• The type of a file-based item follows from the folder it is in; folders are not marked.
• One position per audiobook, regardless of the card that starts it.
• Each type is a core module (audiobooks, podcasts, radio) that uses the player through the backend interface (play_files, seek, status), so it works with every backend supporting it.
• Radio: one station per card.
• Podcasts: streamed, downloads through the cache.