Fingerfy: Make music blogs iPhone friendly

Fingerfy is a tool that allows you to stream music while browsing mp3 blogs. It is designed for use on iOS devices (iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch), allowing you to listen to music in-page, rather than being taken to the Quicktime player.

It’s at a very early, experimental stage, but works well with a number of blogs already. You WILL occassionally have formatting problems and some blogs simply won’t work. This will improve over time. Please report back any broken blogs and so that support for them can be added.

Features

• Adds Play/Pause buttons beside any playable mp3s
• Supersized buttons / font sizes, for easy use on small screens
• Continue reading while the song plays in the background
• Songs play one after another
• Generates a collapsible playlist of all playable mp3s
• Quickly jump from a song in the playlist to the relevant blog post
• Strips out Flash mp3 players that don’t work on iPhone
• Use built-in Audio Controls to Play / Pause remotely (details)
• Use other apps while listening in the background
• Works on any website with mp3 links (support varies)
• Works on any mobile / desktop browser with either Flash or HTML5 Audio

How to Use It

There are two ways to use Fingerfy. Firstly, you can visit http://fingerfy.com and start browsing from a list of compatible music blogs. This list is pretty limited at the moment, but as more blogs are added and personalization is introduced, this homepage will become a great starting point for finding music you like.

Secondly, you can install the bookmarklet which will ‘fingerfy’ the page you are currently looking at. So when you visit a blog with lots of mp3′s, it will reload the page, adding in playlist functionality, so you can continue to browse the site, while listening to music they’ve posted. To install the bookmarklet, drag it to your Bookmarks Bar in Safari and sync it with your phone (instructions).

Bookmarklet: Fingerfy

Once you are browsing a website in Fingerfy mode, you will see the finger icon in the top right-hand corner. Tapping this icon will expand the menu, allowing you to listen and quickly scroll to any song on the page. Remember, Fingerfy is a work in progress, so don’t be surprised if things don’t go according to plan. If you have any problems, leave a comment here and it will be addressed.

Background

As is well known, Flash doesn’t work on Apple devices, yet many websites continue to rely on it for music playing. Eventually, websites will start using mp3 players that work on Apple devices too, but this is taking way to long. And so, Fingerfy was created to allow you to inject playback functionality into any website. It is isn’t perfect, but it’s great for impatient iPhone users who want a better music listening experience.

Known Issues

As the heading suggests, these are some issues which are known and which solutions are being developed:

• Occassionally songs play in Quicktime instead of in-page
• Has been known to freeze Safari
• Sometimes when browsing, it goes out of Fingerfy mode
• Certain pages on Pitchfork.com get cutoff
• Playlist doesn’t always continue when listening in the background (using other apps or in standby mode)

The Future

Here’s what’s on the todo list:

• Mobile Optimization: Improve loading times by stripping out certain unnecessary elements
• Local Library: Keep track of all the songs you find while browsing
• Continuous Playback: If possible, music should keep playing after you leave the site
• Better Compatibility: More sites!

Leave a comment if you find sites that work well with Fingerfy and they’ll be added to the home page. Similarly, leave a comment if they DON’T work well, and support will be added.