WebNowPlaying companion not connected to Rainmeter

[iggybob]

How I get it connected? It worked fine for over a year and now suddenly it stopped working in the middle of a song. Now every player skin shows "Stopped" or "N/A" instead of song, artist etc. I didn't change anything and no updates made to Windows etc. I clicked the icon on the browser (Edge chromium) and made as the quide said "check firewall....". Rainmeter was correctly ticked in Firewall so I guess it's not the problem. I reinstalled Rainmeter and Edge but that didn't help.

Rainmeter version is the latest
WebNowPlaying plugin is version 0.4.7

[Alex88]

Same thing happened to me starting maybe a couple hours ago, but has started working again a few minutes ago.

• Initially tried changing the firewall settings as recommended here, allowing private while public was already allowed, but didn't seem to help.
• Tried reinstalling the Chrome WebNowPlaying plugin but the version hasn't recently changed (0.4.7 last updated October 6, 2019), so I don't think it was that in itself. Also my main Rainmeter installation has not changed throughout, so I doubt it has to do with that.
• Then tried uninstalling Edge, cleaned everything with Red Button and BleachBit, then reinstalled the latest Edge version. The first few minutes after reinstallation didn't seem to net anything, but then it started to work, so it's a maybe on that. I'm guessing there was/is some hiccup between a recent Chromium release and the plugin?
• Windows also has a recent update, here and here I think was the latest ones I had, so some fringe connection there?

Is fixed on my end but just in case: So it seems intermittent possibly as it just stopped working again. I reinstalled Edge, and is working for now, so it has to be something changing on the Windows/Edge/Chromium side.

Windows 10 Home 2004 64-bit (build 19041) | Edge 85.0.564.51 | Chrome WebNowPlaying 0.4.7 | Rainmeter 4.4.0.3404 beta (64-bit)

[Xal]

Came to say that mine also stopped working. I was using the github version on Chrome and I'm on Windows 10 Edu 1909

[iggybob]

EDIT................

I think I found the problem... at least in my case it was uBlock Origin. Not Windows or any browser. After several (useless) attempts to fix the issue I got an idea to see what happens if I disable UBO. After refreshing Youtube the WebNowPlaying companion started working immediatelly. When I set the UBO again on the WNP companion stopped working.

Can you guys test and confirm this.

EDIT2...........

I tested with Ghostery and Adblocker Ultimate and they didn't block the WNP companion.

EDIT3.... oh shibalabadayum.... Ghostery and AdBlocker Ultimate are blocking WNP companion as well. They worked for a little while and then the WNP companion was again blocked.

I disabled one feature at a time in AdBlocker Ultimate and one feature, "Ultimate Security Filter", which happens to be the one that blocks ads also blocks the WNP companion. Same with Ghostery.... block ads and you block the WNP companion. I haven't had this problem before so any idea what has changed???

[Jeff]

Have you guys looked in the Rainmeter log? It might just be a classic case of the plugin not being able to listen to the WebSocket server created by the extension, or port conflict, the log returns the specific errors for whatever the type of problem is (just search API.LogType.Error here to see)

[Alex88]

EDIT................

I think I found the problem... at least in my case it was uBlock Origin.
...

Disabling uBlock Origin on just the Youtube and Soundcloud sites (am trying other sites as well) has worked for me so far, and flipping it on and off and checking what happens is consistent with WebNowPlaying not working and working. I've kept AdBlock and AdBlock for Youtube fully on, and I don't see any negative interactions from those currently.

uBlock Origin WebNowPlaying.png

uBlock Origin Youtube.png

[eclectic-tech]

If sites could not advertise, there would not be a World Wide Web... so you are going to see ads.

{Deleted my off-topic opinion about data collection}

[iggybob]

If there are no errors or bugs should we take it that fight against adblockers is evolving?

[Yincognito]

If sites could not advertise, there would not be a World Wide Web... so you are going to see ads.

{Deleted my off-topic opinion about data collection}

Then how come the WWW existed before these "necessary" adds became as invasive as today?

I get that sites need money to survive, but from my experience, once an app or site uses advertising in a hidden and / or abusive way, that thing is already putting advertisers' interests before product quality, therefore gradually becoming not worthy of being used itself.

Bottom line, advertising often compensates quality loss or are a sign of other shady things going on. Good products don't really need advertising, as their quality speaks for themselves and people will already flock in great numbers on that product, app or site. That's why you rarely see Coca Cola, Intel or even top free product advertising, because their quality is the best advertising ever.

[CodeCode]

Then how come the WWW existed before these "necessary" adds became as invasive as today?

I get that sites need money to survive, but from my experience, once an app or site uses advertising in a hidden and / or abusive way, that thing is already putting advertisers' interests before product quality, therefore gradually becoming not worthy of being used itself.

Bottom line, advertising often compensates quality loss or are a sign of other shady things going on. Good products don't really need advertising, as their quality speaks for themselves and people will already flock in great numbers on that product, app or site. That's why you rarely see Coca Cola, Intel or even top free product advertising, because their quality is the best advertising ever.

If a site demands I switch off my ad blocker, I just seek a different site. In rare cases, I have disabled ad block, but usually to find the ads were not worth the trouble of using that site.

I also have a tirade regarding web players - their sole purpose is to market music and anything that will support that endeavour. I keep all of my music locally, and I paid for JRiver music player. Rainmeter and JRiver get along very nicely.