I've been inspired by bob.jr's excellent Hypem site-specific browser application to create a more native experience for online music website Grooveshark. Grooveshark doesn't seem to offer an official API so a Fluid-based SSB is as close as I can get to native without rewriting the whole thing from scratch. However, Grooveshark's JavaScript code is fairly legible, which means that I can implement plenty of integration features like:
• Build & share your own (grooveshark-native) themes
• Growl notifications of song changes, friend activities, favoriting and so on
• Last.fm integration
• Possibly remote control via Bowtie themes (if permission to reimplement API for Grooveshark is given)

UPDATE 29/1/2011
First testing release: THREAD

That would be so amazing! I would greatly appreciate it!

I have been wanting something like the Hypem Fluid app for Grooveshark for a long time, especially since you have to become a VIP member to use the desktop application. I say go for it

I've got an really scrappy personal version working in Fluid that enforces a specific theme (Mellow, theme 93) right now. What should I work on first? User-settable themes and theme bundles? Growl/Dock integration? There's a script out there right now that does that, but it produces hangs and crashes on my machine.

Musicality http://industriousone.com/musicality allows control via the media keys, which is awesome.

Bowtie support would be amazing!

Thank you so much for doing this.

Just_Jake wrote:I've got an really scrappy personal version working in Fluid that enforces a specific theme (Mellow, theme 93) right now. What should I work on first? User-settable themes and theme bundles? Growl/Dock integration? There's a script out there right now that does that, but it produces hangs and crashes on my machine.

[url]http://cl.ly/1S3I341S1m1m0v2d0y0i/content[/url]

I think that sidebar scrollbar would look better if it was like the iOS scrollbars.

grooveshark uses flash, though? how would this be possible?

Luke-ekul wrote:I think that sidebar scrollbar would look better if it was like the iOS scrollbars.

I'm not sure if the version of Webkit used in Fluid supports theming scrollbars, and it just isn't worth it to hack-implement it if it doesn't. [This blog post](http://webkit.org/blog/363/styling-scrollbars/) gives me hope, though. The iTunes-like scrollbars you see are a system-wide theme, not custom to my Grooveshark SSB.

mazakor wrote:... Musicality ...

I think this can provide us media key support.

mazakor wrote:Bowtie support would be amazing!

I don't think I could get this to work with the actual Bowtie app, but I might be able to make a separate remote-control window that is styled using something exceedingly similar to a Bowtie widget. Again, Fluid lags behind the cutting edge in terms of effects and CSS3 support.

jivhg wrote:grooveshark uses flash, though? how would this be possible?

Grooveshark's user interface is all HTML5/Javascript now.

Feature implementation order:
• Dock badges for notifications (easy)
• Dock control for prev/next/pause/play (moderate)
• Media key control (moderate)
• No ads, no ad themes (easy)
• Set theme via native UI while supressing ad themes (looks difficult right now)
• Last.fm? Premium? (???)
• iOS/leopard styled scrollbars (???)

Dream features:
• User themes directory, pickable from the native Grooveshark theme UI (maximum difficulty)
• separate remote window (probably won't be alpha-enabled like Bowtie, but we'll see.) -> this might take programming a plugin which is beyond my ability ATM
• Bowtie theme support

Anyone want to donate or create an excellent Grooveshark icon? I really like Grooveshark, Quicktime Edition by Kevin Andersson, but anything of similar quality would be far beyond my artistic talents.

Distribution: This all would have to be distributed as package installer. I know some people eye .pkg files with suspicion, but I can't think of an easier way.

Grooveshark is all HTML5/Javascript now.

No, it's not. If you had ClickToFlash or ClickToPlugin installed you would know, there is flash being used.

killer54291 wrote:

Grooveshark is all HTML5/Javascript now.

No, it's not. If you had ClickToFlash or ClickToPlugin installed you would know, there is flash being used.
http://i.imgur.com/hspJB.png

The Flash isn't on Grooveshark's side, it's on MSN's who they use as a search engine.

Grooveshark went Flash-free two months ago. There was a huge blog appreciation thing over it. Loads of people loved the move and loved the implementation.

Hate to be a buzzkill, but the music is still loaded through Flash. I am using a Macbook Air (which don't have Flash installed) and when I first went to Grooveshark a few days ago it said I needed to install flash. The interface will load, but the music itself is delivered in flash. Try visiting Grooveshark on an iPhone or iPad and you'll see what I mean.

However, this is no an impediment to Just Jake's efforts- Musicality, which I linked to earlier, works great with the new interface. The lack of flash in the chrome of the music player is great, but Grooveshark still relies on the user having Flash installed.

First alpha/testing release is now available. Check it out!

Hate to be a buzzkill, but the music is still loaded through Flash. I am using a Macbook Air (which don't have Flash installed) and when I first went to Grooveshark a few days ago it said I needed to install flash. The interface will load, but the music itself is delivered in flash. Try visiting Grooveshark on an iPhone or iPad and you'll see what I mean.

Yes, thank you, at first I thought my post was enough but I guess the people didn't understand...

Grooveshark Desktop 0.02 Beta

This is a desktop client for Grooveshark built using Fluid. This releases features:
• minify and maximize
• media keys control
• Growl song notifications
• Grooveshark's native Last.fm support
• less pixel waste

INFORMATION & DOWNLOAD HERE

Please reply with fixes, suggestions, etc!

It would most definitely be too easy to download all of the original music files Grooveshark is playing if they were streamed via HTML5/JavaScript. The Flash is still necessary for DRM, at least they are not using Silverlight.

It seems the installer package is not working for me. Grooveshark doesn't appear in my Applications folder (/Applications), and a search using "Today" for Grooveshark yielded nothing. I tried reinstalling, twice. :/

cristomac24 wrote:It seems the installer package is not working for me. Grooveshark doesn't appear in my Applications folder (/Applications), and a search using "Today" for Grooveshark yielded nothing. I tried reinstalling, twice. :/

That's ok, it's not supposed to install into /Applications. It installs into ~/Applications in your user folder (/Users/yourname/Applications). You could try to make a new folder in your user directory called Applications and install again.

What version of OS X are you running? Are you an administrator user? Have you set special permissions on your user folder (~)?

I also got the same problem I installed fluid, then installed your package and just found an Alias in ~/Applications/ which directed to nothing.

This apps is make to stream music right?

Luke-ekul wrote:I also got the same problem I installed fluid, then installed your package and just found an Alias in ~/Applications/ which directed to nothing.

Ok. Did you get a preference file at ~/Library/Preferences/com.fluidapp.FluidInstance.Grooveshark.plist and/or userscripts in ~/Library/Application Support/Fluid/SSB/Grooveshark/userscripts/ ?

Either way, it looks like the DMG manual install is the way to go right now. I'll pull the installer package until I get the next version out later tonight or tomorrow.

Neg_Crepe wrote:This apps is make to stream music right?

Yes, from listen.grooveshark.com