How to use Sam's Labs - one-page guide

🔑1. Signing in

You have one username and one password for everything at Sam's Labs.

Open any Sam's Labs page, for example music.samslabs.org.
You'll see the Sam's Labs sign-in page. That's normal and safe.
Type your username (not your email) and your password, then tap Sign in.
You stay signed in for a while, so other Sam's Labs pages usually open without asking again.

Forgot your password? Tap Reset password? on the sign-in page and follow the email.

🎵2. Asking for music

Go to music.samslabs.org and sign in.
Type an artist or album name. Results show up as you type.
Tap Request on the album you want. Most music starts downloading right away.
When it's ready, the button changes to Listen now.

More like this (music ideas)

Open an artist, or ask for an album, and a More like … row shows similar artists. Swipe sideways to see more.
Each artist says On the server · 3 albums or Not on the server yet. Tap one to see their albums.
Below that is one album from each artist, with the usual Request or Listen now button. Nothing is asked for until you tap one.
Optional: if you use ListenBrainz, type your ListenBrainz name under Suggestions from your own listening at the bottom of the music page. You'll get Based on your listening ideas. No password needed. Tap Disconnect to stop.
Navidrome can send what you play to ListenBrainz: in Navidrome open Personal, turn on Scrobble to ListenBrainz and paste your ListenBrainz token. You don't have to.
Ideas come from ListenBrainz. If it's busy, the page says Recommendations aren't available right now. Search still works.

🎬3. Asking for movies & TV

Go to movies.samslabs.org and sign in (same sign-in as music).
Type the name of a movie or TV show.
If it's already here, you'll see Watch now. If it's a movie that isn't here yet, tap Request this movie.
For a TV show, tap Choose seasons to request. Tick the seasons you want. Nothing is ticked to start with, so you only get what you pick. Select all ticks every season you can ask for, and Clear unticks them.
Then tap Request 1 season (or Request 2 seasons, and so on). Seasons that say Already on the server, Already requested or Not out yet can't be ticked.
Sam OKs new requests first. After that, most titles are ready within a few hours.

Follow a show (new seasons, automatically)

Like a show that's still going? Follow it, and when a new season comes out it's asked for you, so you don't have to remember.

Search for the show on movies.samslabs.org and tap Follow this show. It changes to Following.
Sam's Labs checks 4 times a day. When a new season is out, or airs within about a month, it asks for just that season, in your name. Sam OKs it first if your requests normally need an OK.
Seasons that are already out when you follow aren't asked for. If you want those, tap Choose seasons to request as usual.
Your shows are listed under Shows you follow, with a short note such as Next season not announced yet, Waiting for Season 4 (airs Jan 12) or Season 3 requested for you. The next time you visit, a note tells you what was asked for.
Tap Unfollow to stop. Anything already asked for stays. You can follow up to 20 shows.

More like this (ideas for what to watch next)

Tap More like this under any movie or show on movies.samslabs.org to see a row of similar titles. Swipe sideways to see more.
When the search box is empty, the page shows Because you requested … (ideas based on what you asked for last, or a show you follow), Coming soon and Popular right now.
Each poster says On the server, Already requested or nothing (you can ask for it). ★ 7.4 is the TMDB viewers' score out of 10.
Tap a poster to see the usual buttons: Request this movie, Choose seasons to request, Follow this show or Watch now. Nothing is asked for until you tap one.

📚4. Asking for audiobooks and ebooks

Go to books.samslabs.org and sign in (same sign-in as music).
Type a title or an author. Each result shows the cover, author, narrator, length and series.
If it's already in the library, tap Listen now. Otherwise tap Request.
Sam OKs new audiobook requests first. After that it downloads by itself and shows up in Audiobookshelf, usually within an hour or two.
See how it's going under My requests, or on the downloads page. Not found yet means it's checked again every 6 hours for 2 weeks.
Ebooks: tap Request ebook instead. When it's ready, tap Read now, then Read in Audiobookshelf.
Series: under a book in a series, tap Follow this series. The next book is asked for you when a new one comes out or you finish the one before. Or tap See the whole series, then Request the whole series.
Continue listening at the top shows the books you're partway through. Tap Open in Audiobookshelf to keep listening.

📦5. Where's my stuff?

Open downloads.samslabs.org to see everything you asked for and how far along it is.

Asked for: your request is in. If Sam needs to OK it first, the page says so. You don't need to do anything.
Looking for it or Downloading: it's on its way. Big or rare things can take longer. Not out yet means it downloads once it's released.
Ready to enjoy: tap Watch now or Listen now. Mostly ready means a few songs or episodes are still missing.
If a download has trouble, it tries again by itself. If it keeps failing, Sam takes a look.

If a download seems stuck

If something hasn't moved for a few hours, the downloads page puts a yellow note on it, for example Stuck: no progress for 7 hours, Nobody is sharing this file, Waiting on import or Not started: no matching copy found yet.

Tap Try again on that item, then Yes, try again to confirm.
Sam's Labs throws away the stuck copy (and its leftover partial files), skips that copy from now on, and looks for a better one. Nothing you already have in the library is touched.
After a minute the page tells you what happened, for example Cleared the old partial download (1.2 GB) and searched again, or Looked again, nothing better found yet; I'll keep checking.
You can try each item again once every 30 minutes, up to 3 times a day. After that, Sam takes a look.
If there's no button, the note says why. Found a problem with the file means the copy looked unsafe, so it's only removed and Sam checks it.

Stopping or deleting a download

Changed your mind? On downloads.samslabs.org, things you asked for have Stop and Delete buttons.

Stop pauses a download. Tap Yes, stop it to confirm. The item gets a Paused note. For movies and TV, everything downloaded so far is kept. For music, finished songs stay but half-downloaded songs start again later.
Tap Resume to carry on where it left off.
Delete gives you a choice. Cancel the request and remove the download stops it for good and cleans up half-downloaded files. Anything already in the library stays, so you can still watch or listen to it.
Also delete the files from the server removes what's already in the library too. Only Sam can do this. If you want something removed from the library, the page says Ask Sam to remove the files.
Before anything is deleted, the page lists exactly what goes, for example TV/Show (season 1), 8 episodes, 12.3 GB, and asks you to tap Yes, delete the files. Very big deletes ask one more time.
Audiobooks: to cancel one, open My requests on books.samslabs.org and tap Cancel.
You can only stop or delete your own requests. If someone else also asked for the same thing, deleting only removes your request, and it stays for them.

▶️6. The Watch now and Listen now buttons

When something is in the library, a big green button shows up on the music, movies, audiobooks and downloads pages.

Watch now opens the movie or show in Jellyfin, Sam's Labs' movie and TV player.
Listen now opens the album in Navidrome, the music player. For an audiobook it opens the book in Audiobookshelf.
Read now opens an ebook in Audiobookshelf. Tap Read there.
An amber button means only part of it is here so far (some songs or episodes). You can play what's there.

Opening things in your app. On an iPhone, iPad or Android phone, the button can open your app instead of the web player.

iPhone and iPad, movies and TV: the button says Open in Swiftfin. It opens that exact movie or show in the Swiftfin app. You need to be signed in to Swiftfin with your own Sam's Labs account.
Phones and iPads, music: the button says Open in Substreamer. It opens that album in Substreamer. On iPhone and iPad you can pick Amperfy under Other apps, which starts playing the album.
Other apps lists the rest. Infuse and NaviBeat only open the app, then you find the title yourself. The Jellyfin app and Symfonium can't be opened to one title from a web page, so they show a Get the app link instead.
Whatever you pick in Other apps becomes your button on that device. Pick Web player (browser) to go back to the web player. Nothing is sent anywhere. Your pick is only saved on that device.
If nothing happens, the app may not be installed. After a moment the page says Not opening? with a link to the web player and the app store. You can always tap Open in browser instead.
On a computer, the button always opens the web player.

📱7. Add Sam's Labs to your phone's home screen

This puts an icon on your phone that opens the page like an app.

iPhone (Safari): open the page, tap the Share button (square with an arrow), then Add to Home Screen, then Add.
Android (Chrome): open the page, tap the ⋮ menu at the top right, then Add to Home screen (or Install app), then Add.
Good pages to add: music.samslabs.org, movies.samslabs.org, books.samslabs.org and downloads.samslabs.org.

🙋8. Who to ask for help

Ask Sam. Reply to any Sam's Labs email (it goes to sam@samslabs.org). Tell him which page or app, which device, and what you see.

Something not loading? Check the status lights on the home page first. More answers are in the FAQ, and the welcome tour walks you through setup.