Shortwave 4.0

It was long overdue, but better late than never! Shortwave 4.0 is now available on Flathub:

General

• New MPRIS media controls implementation with improved CPU usage
• Song notifications are disabled by default now
• No more loading on startup, stations now get directly retrieved from cached data
• Fixed issue which sometimes prevented loading more than 8 stations from library
• Refreshed user interface by making use of new Libadwaita widgets
• Large parts of the app were reworked, providing a solid foundation for the next upcoming features

Playback

• Last station now gets restored on app launch
• Redesigned player sidebar, allowing to control volume more easily
• New recording indicator showing whether the current playback is being recorded
• Fixed buffering issue which prevented playing new stations, especially after switching stations too fast
• Fixed issues which sometimes prevented that a song gets recorded
• Fixed issue that volume remains muted after unmuting

Station Covers

• More supported image file format for station covers
• Enhanced security by loading station covers using sandboxed Glycin image library
• Non square covers automatically get a blurred background
• New generated fallback for stations without any cover image
• Improved disk usage by automatically purging no longer needed cached data

Browse / Search

• More useful station suggestions by respecting configured system language / region
• Suggestions now get updated with every start, no longer always showing the same stations
• More accessible search feature, no longer hidden in a subpage
• Search results are no longer limited at 250 stations
• Faster and more efficient search by using new grid widgets

Chromecast

• Shortwave is now a registered Google Cast app, no longer relying on the generic media player
• New backend which greatly improves communication stability with cast devices
• Improved discovery of cast devices with lower CPU and memory usage
• Now possible to change the volume of a connected cast device

Enjoy!