How to Stream Local Music Library Remotely?

[Jud]

I have just found out, much to my disappointment, that Plex, which I was going to use to access my music library remotely, has terrible/no support for AIFF, the format in which I keep all my music.  I figured the folks here might be a great resource for alternatives.

 

So, any suggestions for servers to stream my local music library remotely?  I don't mind a little home brew/software DIY.  I have Win 10, Linux, and MacOS (El Capitan or Mojave) available to run it on.

 

I am looking for a no-cost solution.

 

Thanks in advance!

[mansr]

Convert your AIFF files to something supported? If that's not an option, maybe this can work: https://gerbera.io/

[Jud]

Thanks, seems worth looking into (I recognize the MediaTomb name).  Also looking at Mopidy, Ampache and mStream.  Thoughts, cautions, anyone?

[Jud]

On further examination, "Gerbera is a UPnP media server which allows you to stream your digital media through your home network," and I'm looking to be able to access my music remotely (for example, using my phone to play in the car or other locations).  Am I missing this capability in Gerbera?

[mansr]

21 minutes ago, Jud said:

On further examination, "Gerbera is a UPnP media server which allows you to stream your digital media through your home network," and I'm looking to be able to access my music remotely (for example, using my phone to play in the car or other locations).  Am I missing this capability in Gerbera?

Sorry, I misread your requirements. For remote access to my music, I use the copy I keep in Google Drive. Don't you have something similar?

[ShawnC]

If you had to pay for something.  JRiver software does this, just have to configure your router, plenty of info on there forums.  Also Western Digital Cloud storage devices do this.  I have both.  JRiver is a lot easier and I think (not certain) you can import playlists, you'd have to research this.

[Ran]

@Jud   BubbleUPnP server allows you to access your music from outside your network.:

 

https://www.bubblesoftapps.com/bubbleupnpserver2/

[Jud]

2 hours ago, mansr said:

Sorry, I misread your requirements. For remote access to my music, I use the copy I keep in Google Drive. Don't you have something similar?

 

I don't have room for much of my collection in my Google Drive space unless I transcode, and I'd rather not (transcode on the fly is fine, though max resolution the device or remote computer can handle would be nice).  My backup is Backblaze, and I don't think their all-you-can-eat-for-$60 tier permits playback of files from their servers.

[Jud]

24 minutes ago, Ran said:

@Jud   BubbleUPnP server allows you to access your music from outside your network.:

 

https://www.bubblesoftapps.com/bubbleupnpserver2/

 

It doesn't seem to play well with AIFF, from what I'm reading.  MinimServer does, but I don't think it makes the stream available outside your home network.

[Jud]

Might try out mStream or Ampache - meanwhile, I'm wondering if nginx could be configured to do this....

[Bill_G]

Emby probably does. However, it'll require the paid version in order to enable remote streaming from it, but one could always test aiff prior to purchase via local network streaming first to verify. 

 

https://emby.media/about.html

 

[Ran]

9 minutes ago, Jud said:

 

It doesn't seem to play well with AIFF, from what I'm reading.  MinimServer does, but I don't think it makes the stream available outside your home network.

BubbleUPnP server acts as a front end for any UPnP / DLNA library. It works well with AIFF  as well.

[Jud]

OK, next questions:

 

- It appears BubbleUPnP and mConnect as app can provide as high a resolution as the iPhone can handle (24/48). Is this correct?

 

- Unfortunately the iOS app picture for Ampache and mStream doesn't look good, so I'm off them.

 

- Subsonic as a media server and iSub as an app look nice, but I'm kind of getting the impression this combo would transcode the streamed files to lossy format. Anyone know different?

 

Thanks again.

[Jud]

Answering my own question, it appears Subsonic is able to stream lossless. Might try both Subsonic and BubbleUPnP, though I think I’ll check out Subsonic first (seems like the UI of the Subsonic/iSub combo gets slightly better user reviews than BubbleUPnP/mConnect), and if I like it enough I may just stick with it.

[DuckToller]

Jud,

did you try LMS with IPeng for IOS or Orange Squeeze for Android ?
Best, Tom

[Jud]

Haven’t tried anything yet, but I’ll look at those too.  Thanks!

[Jud]

2 hours ago, Jud said:

Answering my own question, it appears Subsonic is able to stream lossless. Might try both Subsonic and BubbleUPnP, though I think I’ll check out Subsonic first (seems like the UI of the Subsonic/iSub combo gets slightly better user reviews than BubbleUPnP/mConnect), and if I like it enough I may just stick with it.

Research continues: Subsonic closed source, Airsonic fork open source, so may try the latter. Also play:sub gets excellent user reviews in App Store, says explicitly it works with AIFF (though I believe it was the less well reviewed AVSub that says explicitly it supports up to 24/192 and DSD(!)).

[Jud]

By the way, I did want to mention: JRiver does what I want, i.e., serving my music files remotely.  So I will give that a try.

 

But I'm going to give the DIY a try also.  I never much liked puzzles that people created *as* puzzles, or "brain teasers," or whatever you want to call them.  But for some reason I just love the puzzle of learning how to make unfamiliar software work to do what I want.  Right now the degree of difficulty (not that it would be for anyone with any degree of Linux-fu, but for me as an absolute amateur) is part of the fascination, and I don't intend to pass that up.  It makes eventually accomplishing this small thing so very satisfying.

[wklie]

This is not a complete solution to the question, but once you get an OpenHome setup (that there are others here who can help you with, if you're not simply using Lumin OpenHome player hardware), Lumin app supports remote access to your local music library.

• Create a port forward of port 9790 to MinimServer
• Apply for a dynamic DNS if desired

• Let Lumin app complete the loading of MinimServer in local WiFi network first

• In Lumin app turn on remote access in the options for MinimServer library and enter the internet address and port 9790
• Bring your iPad running Lumin app to the remote site, then you can add music from your local library to an OpenHome renderer playlist in the remote site and play them

[Cebolla]

19 hours ago, Jud said:

OK, next questions:

 

- It appears BubbleUPnP and mConnect as app can provide as high a resolution as the iPhone can handle (24/48). Is this correct?

???

 

Why is the iPhone's own hi-res audio handling limit a factor?

 

I can't see that being an issue if the remote network is a standard UPnP audio network streaming setup, so with the iPhone running the mConnect Player app just to control a UPnP renderer (eg your microRendu) on the same network and online access to your home UPnP media server via an ISP. So the streamed audio files will not be handled by the iPhone at all.

 

- Is your intention to use the mConnect Player app's built-in player for playback on the iPhone itself, rather than use it as a UPnP controller for a UPnP renderer on the remote network?

- And/or is it that you intend using the phone's network operator for internet access rather than via its WiFi connection?

 

[Jud]

5 hours ago, Cebolla said:

???

 

Why is the iPhone's own hi-res audio handling limit a factor?

 

I can't see that being an issue if the remote network is a standard UPnP audio network streaming setup, so with the iPhone running the mConnect Player app just to control a UPnP renderer (eg your microRendu) on the same network and online access to your home UPnP media server via an ISP. So the streamed audio files will not be handled by the iPhone at all.

 

- Is your intention to use the mConnect Player app's built-in player for playback on the iPhone itself, rather than use it as a UPnP controller for a UPnP renderer on the remote network?

- And/or is it that you intend using the phone's network operator for internet access rather than via its WiFi connection?

 

 

Hi Cebolla -

 

My primary contemplated use cases right now would be:

 

(1) Playing the iPhone analog output through the car stereo. The car is a 2011 model, so no CarPlay.  And I don't own a Camera Connection Kit to connect an external DAC to the phone.

 

(2) Listening to music on long daily walks out in the desert through IEMs connected to an iPhone, or perhaps with an Apple Watch if I ever get one of those.  I don't want to be carrying anything extra beyond the phone or watch.  So again I'm pretty well limited to what the device's internal DAC will handle.

[Cebolla]

Ah, it all makes sense now.

 

In which case, unfortunately, I believe you cannot use the BubbleUPnP Server method with an iOS device remotely on its own, given that you need to use the BubbleUPnP Tether Client (a Java command line application) on some device on the remote network - unless you can find some way of getting Java runtime support on iOS!

 

Only the BubbleUPnP Android app and the foobar2000 Windows audio file player with the foo_upnp plugin can natively remotely connect to the BubbleUPnP Server; otherwise the remote UPnP control point application needs to go via the BubbleUPnP Tether Client on the same remote network.

 

How about using an Android phone instead?

[Jud]

38 minutes ago, Cebolla said:

How about using an Android phone instead?

 

Well no, I'm not going to run out and buy a new phone. 🙂 But it's certainly an option for those who already have Android phones or are thinking of getting one.

[AudioBob]

Hi Jud.

 

And hello everyone.This is my first post for several years. I usually browse posts and take advice, which has been invaluable. But your search Jud above prompts me to post with my recent experience.

 

I have tried several ways of taking my music with me over several years on my commute to and from work, including Google Play uploading (transcoding down to 320 kbs - not my preference either) and carrying all my music on a SeaGate wifi drive and playing on my iPhone with mConnect or similar app (I had to make sure the Drive was charged, setup took time and connection often did so too).

 

I started backing up my music in the last year to OneDrive after Crashplan stopped its consumer plan. I realised that since I have an Office 365 subscription (for Outlook, Word, Excel, etc) I had 1 TB of cloud storage sitting there doing nothing.

 

If you also have OneDrive with enough free space (I realise your Google Drive is limited) or can get some cloud storage cheaply/free, there are now a number of apps on iOS that play music directly from the cloud. I tried several, and settled on CloudBeats. There’s a free trial version. Paid version is about AUS $8.

 

I find this solution easy, almost free (for me) and I only have to have my iPhone with me. I can play my songs at full resolution. My music is nicely sorted with art work and genre. As I write this it’s sounding like an ad for the app. It isn’t. I have no affiliation. It’s a vote for the solution. 😊

 

I hope this is of some assistance. Cheers.

 

Edit. Apparently this app also plays from a home server. If that helps.

 

 

[AudioBob]

http://penguinlovesmusic.de/ipeng-the-iphone-skin-for-squeezecenter/how-to-use-the-ipeng-application/known-issues/coolios-guide-to-remote-playback/