MiniLyrics no longer working after updating VLC

[Tirrinz]

I recently updated to VLC 2.2.1 and upon doing so, MiniLyrics no longer shows up under Preferences > Interface > Control Interfaces. I tried uninstalling/reinstalling MiniLyrics and despite Minilyrics telling me it installed successfully, it still does not show up under settings. Is anyone else able to run Minilyrics 7.6.48 on VLC 2.2.1? Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.

[theomega76]

No i specifically registered on this forum just because of this also. I *also* tried uninstalling MiniLyrics from VLC's plugin directory which it said it failed to do... That wasn't really a concern being that there is only two files when it DOES install, so i just deleted them. Started the ML setup again and it did detect that ML was NOT installed on VLC anymore, so i installed it, it placed the two files in the VideoLan\VLC\plugins\notify\ like it should during a proper install, however when i start VLC, surprise surprise... no MiniLyrics . I even tried going to the MiniLyrics setup application and starting VLC from there and it still didn't show up?? WTF is going on, I've literally been using MiniLyrics for close to EIGHT damn years now, never ONCE have i had a problem. However the second i updated VLC to 2.2.1 it just 100% stopped working. I cant even get it to start the VLC program from the setup screen, im not saying to make it work, but it basically detects what media players you have installed on your computer and list them in the setup screen. However you are able to click the name of one or more of media players you have installed, and it shouldn't make MiniLyrics work but it should start that media player. I can get it to start shitty WMP, and WMP x64, but when i click on VLC it just says it didn't install right. Which leads back to the original point, no matter how many times you install/uninstall it, it always says that it didn't install correctly??? I don't want to have to roll back VLC, i mean i will if i have to, but i really would prefer not to. You guys who know the in's and out's of VLC have any idea what might be causing this behavior? Lastly not only do i have the newest version of MiniLyrics, i have the licensed version as well.

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

MiniLyrics is not compatible with VLC 2.2. Nothing VLC developers can do about.

[Tirrinz]

MiniLyrics is not compatible with VLC 2.2. Nothing VLC developers can do about.

Thank you for responding to me. MiniLyrics has worked with VLC since the beginning and suddenly it no longer works. Could you please explain why this is? I use VLC for music specifically because it works so well with MiniLyrics and now that it doesn't I am extremely disappointed. I understand that projects change over time but telling me there is simply no solution is very discouraging. I'm guessing this has to do with the way VLC 2.2 handles plug-ins or perhaps plug-in permissions? Why was this changed? Were there security concerns or was it to streamline the plug-in process by forcing them through the new Plug-in menu?

I know my concerns probably aren't very important relative to the responsibility you developers have maintaining such a large and ubiquitous project, but I would really appreciate any feedback concerning this issue. Perhaps I could relay your response to the developers of MiniLyrics to help those like me continue to use VLC as their favorite media player.

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

VLC plugins are per version. Is all.

[lkrsF]

To solve the issue, I downgraded to version 2.1.0 Ricewind 32 bit. I have all the functionality I need, except remember file position. Unless either Mini Lyrics or VLC fixes this, it is the end of the road for me and VLC. Too Bad.

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

There is nothing for VLC developers to fix. This is a MiniLyrics problem that it has no plugins for VLC 2.2.

That is the kind of problem you should expect from using proprietary software, more specifically proprietary VLC plugins.

[vnsh]

To solve the issue, I downgraded to version 2.1.0 Ricewind 32 bit. I have all the functionality I need, except remember file position. Unless either Mini Lyrics or VLC fixes this, it is the end of the road for me and VLC. Too Bad.

Even i downgraded to Rincewind 2.1.0, but i dnt have minilyrics option under preference.
Can u pls post a link, from where u downloaded VLC 2.1.0?

[boulvail]

Hi guy,
I got the same issue previously. I used version 1.1.9 32bits version and it worked perfectly.
Enjoy !

[Vander]

Hi,
MiniLyrics hasn't working anymore since 3.0.3 update.
I don't have in advanced preferences -> Control Interfaces

I reinstalled both VLC & MiniLyrics, but it's still not working
MiniLyrics is ok on other readers like Windows Media Player

Thanks for your support,
Nicolas

[Jean-Baptiste Kempf]

Did it work in 3.0.2?

[VLCMPfan]

In name of many VLC Fans:
This is a (to) long going on story. I understand VLC is not responsible and has nothing to do with Minilyrics. However, it can’t be denied that Minilyrics was a popular plug-in and is missed by many VLC fans.
Many VLC-users don’t upgrade to VLC 3.x to prevent losing the minilyrics plug-in.
It would be very much appreciated by all these fans when VLC would build and provide their own lyrics feature for VLC Media Player.
Thank you

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

Really, there are several ways to solve this:

• CrintSoft more quickly follows VLC major releases, and adds support for Win64,
• CrintSoft open-sources their MiniLyrics VLC plug-in and cleans it up so it can be merged into the official VLC for Windows installer,
• CrintSoft documents its MiniLyrics IPC protocol and somebody else contributes an open-source plug-in for the official VLC for Windows, or
• Somebody else reimplements MiniLyrics features from scratch.

VLC developers do not have the time, motivation and expertise to do the later. And the other solutions are up to CrintSoft.

So don't hold your breath.

[VLCMPfan]

OK, I didn't hold my breath.
I have forwarded our conversation to support@crintsoft.com twice (2018-12-14 and 2019-06-06) and asked for their comment on this issue, but they never responded.
As a workaround, I just keep using VLC 2.2.6 and hope VLC v4.0 will have a lyrics feature.

[Rémi Denis-Courmont]

VLC 4.x will have the same problem as VLC 3.x, and as will any future major version.

If CrintSoft sees no business reasons to update their plug-in (including support Windows 64-bits), it's hardly possible for anybody else to do so.

As far as I can think, there is only one alternative: somebody reverse engineers the existing plug-in, and documents the protocol, then somebody else writes a new clean-room plug-in for new VLC versions.