Roadmap

Off the subscriptions first, then the fun part.

Step one is simple: play your own music anywhere, so a streaming subscription becomes optional. Everything after that is the stuff no other music app does. This page updates itself whenever SynAmp changes — last on October 22, 2026.

Phases11

Pieces done34 / 56

Being built7phases in progress

Last updateOct 22

Done
Being built now
Not started yet

Foundations

Done

Decide what SynAmp is made of before building it, so later features slot in without starting over.

3 of 3 done

Done: Pick a proven music server to build on, so playback is solid from day one
Done: Keep the heavy listening work on your computer, not your NAS
Done: One install that starts everything SynAmp needs

Cancel the subscriptions

In progress

Play your own music anywhere — phone, car, computer — so a streaming subscription becomes optional.

4 of 5 done

Done: Your whole library, streaming from your own server
Done: A guided checklist to listen away from home, privately, with no port forwarding
Being built now: Lock-screen controls, background play and CarPlay through phone apps you already know
Done: Bring your existing playlists across
Done: Lighter streams on mobile data, full quality at home

Library care

In progress

Leave your library better than SynAmp found it — tidy, complete, and safe to change.

8 of 9 done

Done: Every track keeps its history when you rename or move it
Done: See how big your library is and how far along the analysis is
Done: A list of every album with missing tracks, that clears itself as you fill the gaps
Done: Tidy artist and album names with a preview first — nothing changes until you approve, and everything can be undone
Done: Add new music by dragging it in
Done: Find albums you don't have yet from the artists you love
Done: Spot second copies of the same song and keep the better one (the other is set aside, never deleted)
Done: Fix song details inside the files (artist, album, track numbers)
Not started yet: Add music straight from Dropbox

Ready for your server

In progress

Make SynAmp something you can set up, trust and keep up to date on your own server, without the developer there to help.

1 of 6 done

Being built now: A guided setup that checks your server is ready before it changes anything
Being built now: Hear a first playlist from part of your library, without waiting for all of it to be listened to
Being built now: See which version you're running, update safely, and go back if an update goes wrong
Being built now: Backups of your playlists, history and settings that have been tested by actually restoring them
Done: Send feedback from inside the app, reading every word before it goes
Not started yet: A public report of how well playlists work on real libraries, with every miss counted

One simple install

In progress

Download SynAmp, open it, and point it at your music. No Docker, no command line, and it works on whatever computer you have.

2 of 6 done

Done: Works on any modern computer or NAS, whatever chip is inside
Done: A lighter listening engine: a much smaller download, and it runs on older Intel Macs too
Being built now: SynAmp for Mac: one app that carries everything it needs
Not started yet: A first run that asks where your music is and plays a first playlist the same day
Not started yet: Starts by itself, updates itself, and lives quietly in the menu bar
Not started yet: SynAmp for Windows

Playlists that scale

Done

Playlists as good as the old Winamp days — better, even — for a library of any size.

5 of 5 done

Done: Describe a playlist in plain words and get it, with a reason for every song
Done: Folders for your playlists
Done: Playlists of playlists: shuffle a whole folder at once
Done: Your SynAmp playlists show up in your phone apps
Done: Smooth scrolling through a hundred thousand songs

The Brain

In progress

The part nobody else has: "make me a playlist that sounds like this."

2 of 8 done

Being built now: Listens to every song in your library: tempo, energy, loudness, rhythm
Done: Learns from what you skip, love and remove
Being built now: Smart mixes keep adding songs as you listen; play any saved playlist once or let it keep going
Being built now: Clear feedback beside the buttons, automatic next song after a rejection, and “more like this” for the next song
Done: Double-check the measurements yourself: tap along to the beat
Being built now: Knows which songs have words, and which have piano (or guitar, or horns)
Being built now: "Sounds like these two songs"
Being built now: Understands moods and lyrics

Radio and visualizers

In progress

The fun stuff: world radio and visuals that dance with the music.

3 of 5 done

Done: Thousands of radio stations by country, genre and mood
Done: Radio stations in your playlists, right next to your own music
Done: Milkdrop-style visualizers, back again
Being built now: Fullscreen visuals with song controls and extra display windows
Being built now: Mac menu-bar controls and global keyboard shortcuts

Gapless, crossfade and DJ mode

In progress

Seamless listening, with party-grade transitions.

3 of 4 done

Done: Gapless albums: no silence between tracks
Done: Crossfade, set to your taste
Being built now: DJ mode: songs matched by tempo and key so mixes flow
Done: Skip mid-song and it blends instead of cutting

Party tools

Done

Host a party where friends request songs from their phones.

3 of 3 done

Done: Guests scan a QR code and request songs (and vote)
Done: A big-screen "now playing" display for the TV or an old iPad
Done: You stay in charge of the queue

Apps and sharing

Planned

SynAmp in your menu bar, and maybe on other people's servers too.

0 of 2 done

Not started yet: A menu-bar player for your Mac
Not started yet: A SynAmp phone app, if the existing apps leave a real gap

Recently shipped

Small steps, often.

The newest pieces, as they land.

Oct 22Fixed: a song could stop partway through while the player still said Playing, and the next song never came. Now SynAmp notices within a few seconds, tries the song once more, and if it still won’t play, tells you which song and why, then moves on to the next one. If several songs in a row won’t play, it stops and asks you to check your music library instead of running through the whole playlist
Oct 14From the next release, SynAmp's server runs on ARM-based servers and NAS models as well as Intel and AMD ones, with nothing to choose: each server picks the right version itself
Oct 13A lighter listening engine: SynAmp now listens for singing and instruments without the big PyTorch download (about a fifth of the size), gives exactly the same answers, and runs on Intel Macs as well as newer ones
Oct 13Send feedback: tell us what went wrong, what was confusing or what worked, right from the app. You choose which details go with your note (song and folder names stay out unless you tick them), read every word, then email it from your own mail app, copy it, or save it as a file. SynAmp never sends it by itself, and it still works when the server is down
Oct 13Fixed: a playlist preview sometimes dropped under the “What I understood” notes on the left instead of sitting in the main column
Oct 13Listen to these first: tick some artists, albums or songs in the Library and SynAmp listens to them before the rest of your library, so your first playlist can come from them in an hour instead of days. The Library strip shows how many are ready, and you can forget your picks at any time
Oct 13Library: opening an artist or album group no longer jumps the page, what’s inside a group is indented under it, the title bar and table headings stay at the top as you scroll, row buttons fit on one line, and a Full screen view spreads the Library across the whole window. Playing from the Library shows only the buttons that apply, plus “Make a smart playlist from this”
Oct 12SynAmp tells you when a new version is out and what’s new in it. Skip a version, get reminded in a few days, or turn the checks off in Settings; they only read GitHub’s public list of releases and send nothing about you or your music
Oct 12Ready-made releases are on the way: SynAmp shows its version number, nothing has to be built on your NAS, and updating (or going back to an earlier version) is one download and one button in Container Manager
Oct 12Guided setup: one command asks where your music is, shows you the plan, and changes nothing until you say yes. It makes the folders and private settings for you, checks the server is ready, and never touches your music. Every install now gets exactly the same versions of the parts SynAmp is built on

What won't change

Promises that come with every phase.

Features will come and go on this list. These won't.

Your files, your call

SynAmp suggests; you decide. Nothing in your library changes until you approve it, and every change can be undone.

Private by default

It runs in your home, on your hardware. No account to make, no tracking, and nothing about your listening leaves the house unless you ask.

Honest playlists

Every song shows why it's there. When SynAmp isn't sure — say, whether a track has piano — it tells you instead of guessing.

Works with what you have

Keep using the phone and car apps you like. SynAmp fits around them instead of asking you to switch.

For everyone

Usable with a keyboard, a screen reader or a phone, with motion and sound that never surprise you.

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