Xion Audio Player

Xion 1.5 build 160 public release is live!

Posted on

Xion Audio Player version 1.5 build 160 has been released!

Build 160 of Xion has a minor fix to allow playlists to set the font size and have the rows properly update their size as well as a new feature to allow you to disable the screensaver while playing audio.

You can download this release from the Xion Audio Player product page or from the Official Xion Audio Player website

Xion 1.5 build 150 public release is live!

Posted on

Xion Audio Player version 1.5 build 150 has been released!

Build 150 of Xion has a brand new skin designed by the amazing Lance Thackeray as well as a large number of fixes and optimization, tons of new features for skinners including a new tint control and knobs for volume and balance and even new file icons. Make sure you check out the changelist for a full list.

You can download this release from the Xion Audio Player product page or from the Official Xion Audio Player website

Xion 1.0 build 127 public release is live!

Posted on

Xion Audio Player version 1.0 build 127 has been released!

This release contains a fix for installing plugins on Windows 7/Vista with UAC enabled where previously you would get a permissions error.

This release also includes the new Equalizer skinning features (eqactive, eqcompressor, eq16hzlr, eq64hzlr, etc. For more see the Layer Keyword reference chart)

You can download this release from the Xion Audio Player product page or from the Official Xion Audio Player website

Xion 1.0 build 126 public release is live!

Posted on

Xion Audio Player version 1.0 build 127 has been released!

Xion Audio Player version 1.0 build 126 has been released!

This release is a bug fix release in order to fix a number of issues reported by several users.

You can download this release from the Xion Audio Player product page or from the Official Xion Audio Player website

Xion Skinning Contest 2010

Posted on

PRIZES:
First Place - $100
Second Place - $50
Third Place - $25
(prizes to be sent via Paypal)

HOW TO ENTER:
  1. You need to be a registered member at The Game of Life forum.
  2. All entries must be finalized and submitted before the 30th of November 2010, 23:59 GMT. Late entries will not be accepted.
  3. Skins that are allowed to enter are those that have not been released. This also includes works in progress if you want to finish them off and submit them as contest entries.
  4. We encourage you to post pictures of your works in progress in the forum and in other sites, as long as you dont include the skin file.
  5. You can team up with a friend to collaborate on a skin entry.
  6. You will both need to be registered at The Game of Life forum.
  7. THE GRAND FINALE: In addition to the functions you will add to your xion skin, it must have at least a shutdown animation that leads to closing the xion process completely.
SKIN SUBMISSION:
  1. Be a registered member at The Game of Life forum
  2. Say hello in this forum thread so we know you wish to participate. If you wish to discuss about the contest, you can create a new thread here instead.
  3. Email your skin files to [email protected] and add XION CONTEST (all caps) in the subject line.
  4. You can alter your files and email them before the contest deadline.
JUDGING:
  1. Voting by registered members will open on 1st of December 2010 and will end in the 7th.
  2. Winners will be picked based on member votes and overall decision of judges.
  3. Winners will be posted on 8th of December 2010.
XION SKIN REFERENCE:
Xion Skinning Guide

Good luck all and looking forward to your great skins! :)

Xion 1.0 build 125 public release is live!

Posted on

It's been over a year since the last Xion public release and finally I'm ready for another public release.

Thanks to all of the people who have been helping me test this build and give feedback, ideas, bug reports, etc!

The major new features are as follows:

  • Brand new Default skin
  • Skinnable Playlist
  • Unicode Support (future translations)
  • Album Art
  • Crossfading
  • Xion Taskbar Button
  • Auto Update Checking

There are literally 400+ fixes, features and changes in this build. If you haven't updated since build 100 you're going to find many, many changes. For a complete list of all the changes, view the Release Notes for Xion build 125

If you're looking for help, make sure you check out the forums and if you're interested in suggesting features, make sure you use the feedback on the left side of the website.

Have fun!

The next Xion public release

Posted on

It's been just over a year since the last Xion public release, however that doesn't mean that Xion has been sleeping!

The Xion beta releases have been making great progress and I'm getting very close to releasing a new public build. The reason for the long public release schedule was the new Skinnable Playlist, which required a lot of changes to the rendering system to allow it to be resizeable.

I also implemented full Unicode support so that Xion can understand almost all user tags. In the future you'll be able to translate Xion into your native language.

Xion also has Album Art support, reading from both image files stored on disk, as well as those embedded in your Audio files.

Another often requested feature is Auto Update. Xion now has the ability to check for regular updates (Both public and beta releases).

Xion now has Crossfading support for transitions between songs.

Xion has also been given a face lift by the amazing skinner, Lance Thackeray. Lance has redesigned the Xion default skin, creating a spectacular interface with which to interact with Xion. You can check out Lance's website at http://www.lancethackeray.com/

There are literally hundreds of changes for this next public build!

If all goes to plan, the new public build should be out within the next week or two.

Introducing the Xion Audio Player Suggestion and Feedback tool

Posted on

For a while now I've had user feature requests and suggestions in the forums. The list has steadily been growing and its at a point where I don't know which feature everyone wants next. This is where UserVoice comes in.

UserVoice is tool that provides a Digg-like voting system. You can either vote on existing features, or create your own, which can then be voted on by others.

This will allow me to see which suggestion is most popular, so that I can aim to implement that as soon as possible.

You'll notice a new Feedback button on the left side of the website. You can use this to keep an eye on all feedback, as well as make your own, or vote on someone else's.

For any other general discussion or bug reports, please visit the forums!

Xion Skin Challenge 2008 - Voting time!

Posted on

Be sure to visit the Forums in order to cast your vote!

Hurry though, voting lasts 1 week, ending on Sunday 8th June 2008!

Xion Audio Player in association with Skin Consortium bring you this exciting competition.

Posted on

Be sure to visit the Forums in order to cast your vote!

Hurry though, voting lasts 1 week, ending on Sunday 8th June 2008!

Think you have what it takes to design and create the ultimate Xion skin?

Well then this competition is just for you!

Competition Time!

The competition will run for the next month and we're looking for some really cool skin designs.

With Xion taking care of the coding this leaves the design aspect to really flourish and we will be looking at the design aspect of the skins and clever use of layer control to get the best out of what Xion is capable of doing.

So put on your designing heads and pull out your graphics editors and show us your creativity.

Get skinning!

What do points make? Prizes :)
  • 1st Prize $250
  • 2nd Prize $100
  • 3rd Prize $50
  • Top skins will get exposure on both SC & Xion home pages
  • Skin Author profile/questionare will also be part of the exposure
Sounds good eh? Well before you start you might want to check the rules!

Here are the Rules
  • Closing date for all entries is Saturday, 30 May 2008 at - Midnight GMT
  • Designs have to be by you.
  • No limit on number of entries per person
  • The skin must be "NEW" original (not already uploaded to any other site)
  • The skin cannot be uploaded to another site until after the end of the competition.
  • Skin Uploading will take place anytime during the competition, from Thursday 1st May to Saturday 30th May before Midnight GMT
  • Skins have to be functional, usable
  • The skin has to work on Xion v1.00 build 100+ Xion Download Page (should not be a design proposal, but a real skin!)
  • Any skins working on new beta builds 100+ are also welcome - make sure to post which beta version (if using specific version functionality)!
Extra info
  • Designs will be judged by SC staff and Cliff Cawley. Staff here and at SC (ADMINS) can't enter
  • The Public can also vote for skins - these votes will also have an impact on the judges decisions! so make sure to vote for your favourite skin!
  • The more points your skin gets the better your chance for the top prizes
  • Skins will be featured on Xion & SC home pages
  • Winners will be announced a week after the public skin voting poll is put up (at competition deadline), you will have 1 week to vote for your favourite skin!
How to skin?
How to submit
  • Submit yourskinname .xsf or .xsk using this form
We will post your skins in the SC forum so that people can give comments.

Prize money will be paid out via PayPal or other means if necessary.

Good luck to all and have fun creating the ultimate Xion skin!

Xion 1.0 build 100 public release is live!

Posted on

There are quite a chunk of changes since the last release about a month ago.

There are also a couple of new features for skinners to use, such as:

  • action_anim_reset
  • action_object_trigger
  • trans_volumeb
  • trans_volumem and trans_volumet
  • triggeron_songchange
  • balance_left/balance_right
  • progress_forward/progress_rewind
  • volume_increase/_decrease

Check out the Layer Reference page for details

Radio stations have also had some attention in order to fix and niggling issues including meta data updates.

Xion 1.0 build 95 public release is live!

Posted on

This version adds support for installable plugins! Xion plugin installers are .XPF files that when double clicked or dragged onto Xion will display all the files and request if its okay to install.

Check out the Xion download for a list of the available Plugins.

This version also sees support for the Logitech G15 keyboard.

Xion 1.0 build 94 public release is live!

Posted on

This is a major release with many fixes, changes and optimizations. Less CPU usage, more power to skinners and greater stability for expansion with plugins

Skinning.net Competition Winners

Posted on

Congratulations to zeolyte and basj for their winning entries, 'Valiant' and 'XionFlux' !

There were some really great entries and the judging of them proved very difficult. In the end the first place was split as there was a tie amongst the judges.

 

For a full list of all the competition entries, click here

Thanks to Skinning.net for organising the Competition and to the other judges who voted for the winning entries!

Skinning.net Competition Winners

Posted on

The Skinning.net Competition has now ended! Winners will be announced soon! Good luck to all those who entered!

Skinning.net Competition

Posted on

Skinning.net has started a Xion Skinning Contest! In cooperation with Xion Audio Player and (it's author) Cliff Cawley we give you 'The Xion Skinning.net Contest'.

Xion is possibly the easiest to skin and fastest growing skinable media player ever.

Anyone who can make a PhotoShop file (there are programs that can create a .psd without the need for PhotoShop, including some free ones) can make a great looking player in no time with this amazing program.

The Rules:

  • You must be a member of Skinning.net (joining is free with instant access).
  • Each contestant can upload 2 skins maximum.
  • The skin must contain all normal media player controls. These would include...
    • Play, Stop and Pause
    • Next and Previous Track
    • EQ and Playlist buttons
    • Volume control
    • Player can include more then these but the above are required.
  • Skin must be uploaded to the 'Xion Contest' section at Skinning.net
  • The skin must be "new" original (not uploaded to any other site)
  • The skin can not be uploaded to another site until after the end of the contest.
  • Uploading will take place anytime during the contest, from Sept. 4th to Sept. 24th

The judging will take place during the week after the upload deadline and a winner announced on Oct. 1st.

The Prizes

  • 1st Place - $75 USD from Skinning.net and $75 from Xion - Totaling $150
  • 2nd Place - $25 USD from Skinning.net and $25 from Xion - Totaling $50

Prize money from Skinning.net and Xion Audio Player will be paid out via PayPal or a money order if within the US, other arrangements will have to be made for outside the US if not paid through PayPal.

Be sure to get your skins ready and don't miss out on this contest.

Xion 1.0 build 82 public release is live!

Posted on

With 200+ fixes it is well worth the download! There have been many improvements, fixes and changes to make this release well worth the wait.

I've converted from using the FmodEx engine, over to the BASS engine which opens up a large array of new file formats including AAC, MP4, M4A, MPC and APE to name a few.

This release brings with it many new features for the skin engine which give skinners even more power to create amazing skins.

Xion 1.0 build 82 public release is live!

Posted on

A new Public Release of Xion is nearing completion!

The Beta releases have been moving along very well and after all of the feature additions, it is starting to stabilize

So far there are 100+ changes/additions/fixes including things such as faster skin rendering, new file formats and more advanced playlist features

A complete change list will be available when it is released!

webWICKED 'Name that Skin' Competition

Posted on

webWICKED is holding a Competition entitled 'Name that Skin'.

It's the simplest competition in the world, all you have to do is submit a name for their new Xion skin and you can win 12 months of web hosting!

Be sure to click here to find out all the details!

Community/Forum page now open

Posted on

I've just opened up a Community/Forum page, which you can find in the toolbar under 'Forum'

I will do my best to answer questions as soon as possible, but this Community page is for you! If you see someone who needs some help and you know the answer, feel free to jump in and help them out!

No need to install .ttf fonts

Posted on

I've noticed quite a lot of skins zipping up a .xsf file and including a .ttf and telling users to install the font.

There is no need to do this!. Just include the .ttf (True type font) file in your .xsf file and Xion will dynamically load it straight from the .xsf file when it loads the skin!

Yes, that means there is absolutely NO installation/setup required for your skin! Just include it in your .xsf file and Xion will automatically load it ready for your skin to use!

Xion 1.0 build 58 public release is live!

Posted on

This is a minor release which has a couple of fixes and optimizations. It helps to improve the stability of Xion