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sp is a command-line client for Spotify's dbus interface. Play, pause, skip and search tracks from the comfort of your command line.
#!/usr/bin/env bash
#
# This is sp, the command-line Spotify controller. It talks to a running
# instance of the Spotify Linux client over dbus, providing an interface not
# unlike mpc.
#
# Put differently, it allows you to control Spotify without leaving the comfort
# of your command line, and without a custom client or Premium subscription.
#
# As an added bonus, it also works with ssh, at and cron.
#
# Example:
# $ sp weather girls raining men
# $ sp current
# Album 100 Hits Of The '80s
# Artist The Weather Girls
# Title It's Raining Men
# $ sp pause
#
# Alarm clock example:
# $ at 7:45 <<< 'sp bangarang'
#
# Remote example:
# $ ssh vader@prod02.nomoon.ta 'sp imperial march'
#
#
# Copyright (C) 2013 Wander Nauta
#
# Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
# of this software, to deal in the Software without restriction, including
# without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish,
# distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit
# persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following
# conditions:
#
# The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in
# all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
#
# The software is provided "as is", without warranty of any kind, express or
# implied, including but not limited to the warranties of merchantability,
# fitness for a particular purpose and noninfringement. In no event shall the
# authors or copyright holders be liable for any claim, damages or other
# liability, whether in an action of contract, tort or otherwise, arising from,
# out of or in connection with the software or the use or other dealings in the
# software.
#
# CONSTANTS
SP_VERSION="0.1"
SP_DEST="org.mpris.MediaPlayer2.spotify"
SP_PATH="/org/mpris/MediaPlayer2"
SP_MEMB="org.mpris.MediaPlayer2.Player"
# SHELL OPTIONS
shopt -s expand_aliases
# UTILITY FUNCTIONS
function require {
hash $1 2>/dev/null || {
echo >&2 "Error: '$1' is required, but was not found."; exit 1;
}
}
# COMMON REQUIRED BINARIES
# We need dbus-send to talk to Spotify.
require dbus-send
# Assert standard Unix utilities are available.
require grep
require sed
require cut
require tr
# 'SPECIAL' (NON-DBUS-ALIAS) COMMANDS
function sp-dbus {
# Sends the given method to Spotify over dbus.
dbus-send --print-reply --dest=$SP_DEST $SP_PATH $SP_MEMB.$1 ${*:2} > /dev/null
}
function sp-open {
# Opens the given spotify: URI in Spotify.
sp-dbus OpenUri string:$1
}
function sp-metadata {
# Prints the currently playing track in a parseable format.
dbus-send \
--print-reply `# We need the reply.` \
--dest=$SP_DEST \
$SP_PATH \
org.freedesktop.DBus.Properties.Get \
string:"$SP_MEMB" string:'Metadata' \
| grep -Ev "^method" `# Ignore the first line.` \
| grep -Eo '("(.*)")|(\b[0-9][a-zA-Z0-9.]*\b)' `# Filter interesting fiels.`\
| sed -E '2~2 a|' `# Mark odd fields.` \
| tr -d '\n' `# Remove all newlines.` \
| sed -E 's/\|/\n/g' `# Restore newlines.` \
| sed -E 's/(xesam:)|(mpris:)//' `# Remove ns prefixes.` \
| sed -E 's/^"//' `# Strip leading...` \
| sed -E 's/"$//' `# ...and trailing quotes.` \
| sed -E 's/"+/|/' `# Regard "" as seperator.` \
| sed -E 's/ +/ /g' `# Merge consecutive spaces.`
}
function sp-current {
# Prints the currently playing track in a friendly format.
require column
sp-metadata \
| grep --color=never -E "(title)|(album)|(artist)" \
| sed 's/^\(.\)/\U\1/' \
| column -t -s'|'
}
function sp-eval {
# Prints the currently playing track as shell variables, ready to be eval'ed
require sort
sp-metadata \
| grep --color=never -E "(title)|(album)|(artist)|(trackid)|(trackNumber)" \
| sort -r \
| sed 's/^\([^|]*\)\|/\U\1/' \
| sed -E 's/\|/="/' \
| sed -E 's/$/"/' \
| sed -E 's/^/SPOTIFY_/'
}
function sp-art {
# Prints the artUrl.
sp-metadata | grep "artUrl" | cut -d'|' -f2
}
function sp-display {
# Calls display on the artUrl.
require display
display $(sp-art)
}
function sp-feh {
# Calls feh on the artURl.
require feh
feh $(sp-art)
}
function sp-url {
# Prints the HTTP url.
TRACK=$(sp-metadata | grep "url" | cut -d'|' -f2 | cut -d':' -f3)
echo "http://open.spotify.com/track/$TRACK"
}
function sp-clip {
# Copies the HTTP url.
require xclip
sp-url | xclip
}
function sp-http {
# xdg-opens the HTTP url.
require xdg-open
xdg-open $(sp-url)
}
function sp-help {
# Prints usage information.
echo "Usage: sp [command]"
echo "Control a running Spotify instance from the command line."
echo ""
echo " sp play - Play/pause Spotify"
echo " sp pause - Pause Spotify"
echo " sp next - Go to next track"
echo " sp prev - Go to previous track"
echo ""
echo " sp current - Format the currently playing track"
echo " sp metadata - Dump the current track's metadata"
echo " sp eval - Return the metadata as a shell script"
echo ""
echo " sp art - Print the URL to the current track's album artwork"
echo " sp display - Display the current album artwork with \`display\`"
echo " sp feh - Display the current album artwork with \`feh\`"
echo ""
echo " sp url - Print the HTTP URL for the currently playing track"
echo " sp clip - Copy the HTTP URL to the X clipboard"
echo " sp http - Open the HTTP URL in a web browser"
echo ""
echo " sp open <uri> - Open a spotify: uri"
echo " sp search <q> - Start playing the best search result for the given query"
echo ""
echo " sp version - Show version information"
echo " sp help - Show this information"
echo ""
echo "Any other argument will start a search (i.e. 'sp foo' will search for foo)."
}
function sp-search {
# Searches for tracks, plays the first result.
require curl
Q="$@"
SPTFY_URI=$( \
curl -s -G --data-urlencode "q=$Q" https://api.spotify.com/v1/search\?type=track \
| grep -E -o "spotify:track:[a-zA-Z0-9]+" -m 1 \
)
sp-open $SPTFY_URI
}
function sp-version {
# Prints version information.
echo "sp $SP_VERSION"
echo "Copyright (C) 2013 Wander Nauta"
echo "License MIT"
}
# 'SIMPLE' (DBUS-ALIAS) COMMANDS
alias sp-play=" sp-dbus PlayPause"
alias sp-pause=" sp-dbus Pause"
alias sp-next=" sp-dbus Next"
alias sp-prev=" sp-dbus Previous"
# DISPATCHER
# First, we connect to the dbus session spotify is on. This isn't really needed
# when running locally, but is crucial when we don't have an X display handy
# (for instance, when running sp over ssh.)
SPOTIFY_PID="$(pidof -s spotify || pidof -s .spotify-wrapped)"
if [[ -z "$SPOTIFY_PID" ]]; then
echo "Error: Spotify is not running."
exit 1
fi
QUERY_ENVIRON="$(cat /proc/${SPOTIFY_PID}/environ | tr '\0' '\n' | grep "DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS" | cut -d "=" -f 2-)"
if [[ "${QUERY_ENVIRON}" != "" ]]; then
export DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS="${QUERY_ENVIRON}"
fi
# Then we dispatch the command.
subcommand="$1"
if [[ -z "$subcommand" ]]; then
# No arguments given, print help.
sp-help
else
# Arguments given, check if it's a command.
if $(type sp-$subcommand > /dev/null 2> /dev/null); then
# It is. Run it.
shift
eval "sp-$subcommand $@"
else
# It's not. Try a search.
eval "sp-search $@"
fi
fi
@tkanarsky
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I think the Spotify api changed recently -- the search endpoint request returns a blank value when searching a song. I added an echo statement after the curl command, and the value of $SPTFY_URI is blank. The dbus message format seems to have changed, as the get URL command no longer works either. If I have some time on the weekend, I'll take a stab at updating the script.
Screenshot at 2020-04-30 18-06-04

Screenshot at 2020-04-30 18-06-47

@LazarLazarov
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Spotify have changed the way their query API works and so now it requires an authentication token to lookup songs. curl -s -G --data-urlencode "q=test" https://api.spotify.com/v1/search\?type\=track returns a { "error": { "status": 401, "message": "No token provided" } }
The new Spotify docs say the token is now required and they have also provided steps on how to get one. Fixing it locally should be pretty straightforward, but making a generic elegant solution would take a bit longer.

@BelkaDev
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BelkaDev commented Jun 28, 2020

Here's a working solution I made for searching songs
https://github.com/BelkaDev/Mustream

@tigerjack
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A version working with spotifyd and Wayland.
The difference is in the usage of wl-copy instead of xcopy, a few modifications to the constants and a different format for copy-url.

https://github.com/tigerjack/dotfiles/blob/master/bin/sp

@BachoSeven
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BachoSeven commented Jan 22, 2021

Hi, any idea how to find out if spotify is currently playing or in pause state? Metatada does always return the currently active song.
Edit: I found this "solution" ... but it works https://muffinresearch.co.uk/ubuntu-lock-screen-and-pause-spotify/

@dedeibel There is a much easier solution, instead of getting the Metadata property, there is a PlaybackStatus property':

dbus-send --print-reply --dest=org.mpris.MediaPlayer2.spotify /org/mpris/MediaPlayer2 org.freedesktop.DBus.Properties.Get string:"org.mpris.MediaPlayer2.Player" string:'PlaybackStatus' | grep -Ev "^method" | grep -Eo '("(.*)")|(\b[0-9][a-zA-Z0-9.]*\b)' | cut -f2 -d'"'

@Mexidense
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Hi, any idea how to find out if spotify is currently playing or in pause state? Metatada does always return the currently active song.
Edit: I found this "solution" ... but it works https://muffinresearch.co.uk/ubuntu-lock-screen-and-pause-spotify/

@dedeibel There is a much easier solution, instead of getting the Metadata property, there is a PlaybackStatus property':

dbus-send --print-reply --dest=org.mpris.MediaPlayer2.spotify /org/mpris/MediaPlayer2 org.freedesktop.DBus.Properties.Get string:"org.mpris.MediaPlayer2.Player" string:'PlaybackStatus' | grep -Ev "^method" | grep -Eo '("(.*)")|(\b[0-9][a-zA-Z0-9.]*\b)' | cut -f2 -d'"'

it works! 🎉
image

@jeleniste
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Is nescessary edit expression for obtain TRACK number in url function
TRACK=$(sp-metadata | grep "url" | cut -d'|' -f2 | cut -d'/' -f5)

@Jacajack
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Jacajack commented Mar 4, 2021

Can confirm that @jeleniste's fix works.

@onyxcode
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onyxcode commented Mar 19, 2021

@onyxcode
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onyxcode commented Mar 19, 2021

Is anyone else unable to get images from sp art? Every link it returns, spits out a 404 for me.

Examples:

* https://open.spotify.com/image/ab67616d00001e02e76d13e2f7064d70c47a43ab

* https://open.spotify.com/image/ab67616d00001e0212c3d5474c709e2d336b8ee0

EDIT:

It appears if you replace https://open.spotify.com/image/ with https://i.scdn.co/image/ it works.

Example: https://open.spotify.com/image/ab67616d00001e02e76d13e2f7064d70c47a43ab becomes https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d00001e02e76d13e2f7064d70c47a43ab

I made a patch that should the sp art command, as well as sp feh.
image
sp display won't work because of the server's firewall I assume.

@shillshocked
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shillshocked commented Apr 10, 2021

*** UPDATED WITH SOME NEW CHANGES ***

Is anyone else unable to get images from sp art? Every link it returns, spits out a 404 for me.
Examples:

* https://open.spotify.com/image/ab67616d00001e02e76d13e2f7064d70c47a43ab

* https://open.spotify.com/image/ab67616d00001e0212c3d5474c709e2d336b8ee0

EDIT:
It appears if you replace https://open.spotify.com/image/ with https://i.scdn.co/image/ it works.
Example: https://open.spotify.com/image/ab67616d00001e02e76d13e2f7064d70c47a43ab becomes https://i.scdn.co/image/ab67616d00001e02e76d13e2f7064d70c47a43ab

I made a patch that should the sp art command, as well as sp feh.
image
sp display won't work because of the server's firewall I assume.

In some weird cases, the metadata function doesn't work properly. The below version of this script fixes it. Also added sixel support as an option for viewing images directly in terminal (need the proper terminal for this, mlterm is recommended and you can change your system's default for terminals to this if you want to use it alot).

Also, sp display works for me. I modified your code and added an updated url and uri function (the url one stopped working and the uri has just been implemented by me) sp search now works again thanks to Mustream (needs to also be installed, you may need to directly reference its location in your code). xclip has been replaced with xsel due to it not working for me:

#!/usr/bin/env bash

# Updated in 2021 by Shillshocked
# Added an updated url and uri function (the url one stopped working and the uri has just been implemented by me) sp search now works again thanks to Mustream (needs to also be installed, you may need to directly reference its location in your code). xclip has been replaced with xsel due to it not working for me
# Added img2sixel support
# Updated metadata function for odd cases not supported
#
# This is sp, the command-line Spotify controller. It talks to a running
# instance of the Spotify Linux client over dbus, providing an interface not
# unlike mpc.
#
# Put differently, it allows you to control Spotify without leaving the comfort
# of your command line, and without a custom client or Premium subscription.
#
# As an added bonus, it also works with ssh, at and cron.
#
# Example:
# $ sp weather girls raining men
# $ sp current
# Album   100 Hits Of The '80s
# Artist  The Weather Girls
# Title   It's Raining Men
# $ sp pause
#
# Alarm clock example:
# $ at 7:45 <<< 'sp bangarang'
#
# Remote example:
# $ ssh vader@prod02.nomoon.ta 'sp imperial march'
#
#
# Copyright (C) 2013 Wander Nauta
#
# Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
# of this software, to deal in the Software without restriction, including
# without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish,
# distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit
# persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following
# conditions:
#
# The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in
# all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
#
# The software is provided "as is", without warranty of any kind, express or
# implied, including but not limited to the warranties of merchantability,
# fitness for a particular purpose and noninfringement. In no event shall the
# authors or copyright holders be liable for any claim, damages or other
# liability, whether in an action of contract, tort or otherwise, arising from,
# out of or in connection with the software or the use or other dealings in the
# software.
#

# CONSTANTS

SP_VERSION="0.1"
SP_DEST="org.mpris.MediaPlayer2.spotify"
SP_PATH="/org/mpris/MediaPlayer2"
SP_MEMB="org.mpris.MediaPlayer2.Player"

# SHELL OPTIONS

shopt -s expand_aliases

# UTILITY FUNCTIONS

function require {
  hash $1 2>/dev/null || {
    echo >&2 "Error: '$1' is required, but was not found."; exit 1;
  }
}

# COMMON REQUIRED BINARIES

# We need dbus-send to talk to Spotify.
require dbus-send

# Assert standard Unix utilities are available.
require grep
require sed
require cut
require tr

# 'SPECIAL' (NON-DBUS-ALIAS) COMMANDS

function sp-dbus {
  # Sends the given method to Spotify over dbus.
  dbus-send --print-reply --dest=$SP_DEST $SP_PATH $SP_MEMB.$1 ${*:2} > /dev/null
}

function sp-open {
  # Opens the given spotify: URI in Spotify.
  sp-dbus OpenUri string:$1
}

function sp-metadata {
  # Prints the currently playing track in a parseable format.

  dbus-send                                                                   \
  --print-reply                                  `# We need the reply.`       \
  --dest=$SP_DEST                                                             \
  $SP_PATH                                                                    \
  org.freedesktop.DBus.Properties.Get                                         \
  string:"$SP_MEMB" string:'Metadata'                                         \
  | grep -Ev "^method"                           `# Ignore the first line.`   \
  | grep -v "^[[:space:]]*dict entry($" | grep -v "^[[:space:]]*)$" | grep -v "^[[:space:]]*variant[[:space:]]*array[[:space:]]*\[$" | grep -v "^[[:space:]]*]$" | sed 's|^[[:space:]]*variant||g' | sed 's|^[[:space:]]*||g' | sed 's|[^ ]* ||' `# Fix for odd cases added `\
`# | grep -Eo '("(.*)")|(\b[0-9][a-zA-Z0-9.]*\b)'  Filter interesting fiels.`\
  | sed -E '2~2 a|'                              `# Mark odd fields.`         \
  | tr -d '\n'                                   `# Remove all newlines.`     \
  | sed -E 's/\|/\n/g'                           `# Restore newlines.`        \
  | sed -E 's/(xesam:)|(mpris:)//'               `# Remove ns prefixes.`      \
  | sed -E 's/^"//'                              `# Strip leading...`         \
  | sed -E 's/"$//'                              `# ...and trailing quotes.`  \
  | sed -E 's/"+/|/'                             `# Regard "" as seperator.`  \
  | sed -E 's/ +/ /g'                            `# Merge consecutive spaces.`
}

function sp-current {
  # Prints the currently playing track in a friendly format.
  require column

  sp-metadata \
  | grep --color=never -E "(title)|(album)|(artist)" \
  | sed 's/^\(.\)/\U\1/' \
  | column -t -s'|'
}

function sp-eval {
  # Prints the currently playing track as shell variables, ready to be eval'ed
  require sort

  sp-metadata \
  | grep --color=never -E "(title)|(album)|(artist)|(trackid)|(trackNumber)" \
  | sort -r \
  | sed 's/^\([^|]*\)\|/\U\1/' \
  | sed -E 's/\|/="/' \
  | sed -E 's/$/"/' \
  | sed -E 's/^/SPOTIFY_/'
}

function sp-art-nw {
  # Prints the artUrl.

  sp-metadata | grep "^artUrl" | cut -d'|' -f2
}

function sp-art {
  # Fixes artUrl to properly display.
  original=$(sp-art-nw)
  correct="https://i.scdn.co/image/"
  incorrect="https://open.spotify.com/image/"
  [ "${original%$incorrect*}" != "$original" ] && original="${original%$incorrect*}$correct${original#*$incorrect}"
  echo $original
}

function sp-display {
  # Calls display on the artUrl.

  require display
  display $(sp-art)
}

function sp-feh {
  # Calls feh on the artURl.

  require feh
  feh $(sp-art)
}

function sp-i {
  # Calls img2sixel on the artURl.

  require img2sixel
  img2sixel $(sp-art)
}

function sp-uri {
  # Prints the Spotify track uri.

  TRACK=$(sp-metadata | grep "^url" | cut -d'|' -f2 | cut -d'/' -f5)
  echo "spotify:track:$TRACK"
}

function sp-url {
  # Prints the HTTP url.

  TRACK=$(sp-metadata | grep "^url" | cut -d'|' -f2 | cut -d'/' -f5)
  echo "https://open.spotify.com/track/$TRACK"
}

function sp-clip {
  # Copies the HTTP url.

  require xsel
  sp-url | xsel -b
}

function sp-http {
  # xdg-opens the HTTP url.

  require xdg-open
  xdg-open $(sp-url)
}

function sp-help {
  # Prints usage information.

  echo "Usage: sp [command]"
  echo "Control a running Spotify instance from the command line."
  echo ""
  echo "  sp play       - Play/pause Spotify"
  echo "  sp pause      - Pause Spotify"
  echo "  sp next       - Go to next track"
  echo "  sp prev       - Go to previous track"
  echo ""
  echo "  sp current    - Format the currently playing track"
  echo "  sp metadata   - Dump the current track's metadata"
  echo "  sp eval       - Return the metadata as a shell script"
  echo ""
  echo "  sp art        - Print the URL to the current track's album artwork"
  echo "  sp display    - Display the current album artwork with \`display\`"
  echo "  sp feh        - Display the current album artwork with \`feh\`"
  echo "  sp i          - Display the current album artwork with \`img2sixel\`"
  echo ""
  echo "  sp uri        - Print the Spotify uri for the currently playing track"
  echo "  sp url        - Print the HTTP URL for the currently playing track"
  echo "  sp clip       - Copy the HTTP URL to the X clipboard"
  echo "  sp http       - Open the HTTP URL in a web browser"
  echo ""
  echo "  sp open <uri> - Open a spotify: uri"
  echo "  sp search <q> - Start playing the best search result for the given query"
  echo ""
  echo "  sp version    - Show version information"
  echo "  sp help       - Show this information"
  echo ""
  echo "Any other argument will start a search (i.e. 'sp foo' will search for foo)."
}

function sp-search {
  # Searches for tracks, plays the first result.

#  require Mustream

  /home/destiny/Scripts/Mustream-master/play "$@"

}

function sp-version {
  # Prints version information.

  echo "sp $SP_VERSION"
  echo "Copyright (C) 2013 Wander Nauta"
  echo "License MIT"
}

# 'SIMPLE' (DBUS-ALIAS) COMMANDS

alias sp-play="  sp-dbus PlayPause"
alias sp-pause=" sp-dbus Pause"
alias sp-next="  sp-dbus Next"
alias sp-prev="  sp-dbus Previous"

# DISPATCHER

# First, we connect to the dbus session spotify is on. This isn't really needed
# when running locally, but is crucial when we don't have an X display handy
# (for instance, when running sp over ssh.)

SPOTIFY_PID="$(pidof -s spotify || pidof -s .spotify-wrapped)"

if [[ -z "$SPOTIFY_PID" ]]; then
  echo "Error: Spotify is not running."
  exit 1
fi

QUERY_ENVIRON="$(cat /proc/${SPOTIFY_PID}/environ | tr '\0' '\n' | grep "DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS" | cut -d "=" -f 2-)"
if [[ "${QUERY_ENVIRON}" != "" ]]; then
  export DBUS_SESSION_BUS_ADDRESS="${QUERY_ENVIRON}"
fi

# Then we dispatch the command.

subcommand="$1"

if [[ -z "$subcommand" ]]; then
  # No arguments given, print help.
  sp-help
else
  # Arguments given, check if it's a command.
  if $(type sp-$subcommand > /dev/null 2> /dev/null); then
    # It is. Run it.
    shift
    eval "sp-$subcommand $@"
  else
    # It's not. Try a search.
    eval "sp-search $@"
  fi
fi

@Jokilos
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Jokilos commented Jun 11, 2021

@Belka_Dev

Here's a working solution I made for searching songs
https://github.com/BelkaDev/Mustream

Yeah, it works like a charm, thanks dude!

@deadchri5
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Comand for search songs is still not work?

sp-search

@wgorski
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wgorski commented Dec 20, 2021

Great script!

There should be an additional shortcut: sp rr which would alias to sp open spotify:track:4cOdK2wGLETKBW3PvgPWqT

@CallMeRush
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I have updated the searching. If anyone is interested in the changes, I've published them here:
https://github.com/CallMeRush/sp

@enriluis
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like

Is there any chance to have a "like" option to star a song?

has u found the solution to "like" a song, albun or playlist?

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