Music streaming without subscriptions...

[Turn7]

For years, I enjoyed curating my music collection via Itunes, and then that changed to "Music" , which along woth Spotify became very playlist orientated, which I dislike intensely.

I still have aroUnd 100gb of tunes and am thinking of setting a home server up to stream to my phone.

Chatgpt recomendations pictured...

This is way out of my knowledge, so can someone techy sense check this and offer advice or alternatives ?

I want straightforward easy and reliable listings, as near to iTunes as possible.

I did try to use Match, BUT Apple wont allow the Alexa to stream as "You must have an Apple Music rental agreement"......

I really hate the renting everything business model that is prevalent today.

[Griffith4ever]

Yep - plexamp would bemy 1st suggestion, and it's what I use.

You can run a VPN back to your home router and then its free away from home too. Or pay Plex a monthly sub.

[Turn7]

Interesting.

Why use a VPN ?

[Tim Cognito]

I use cloud player on my phone, you can stream music files from Google drive which I pay about £1.69 a month for 100gb storage.

I went down this route after Google ruined Google Music :-(

Also interested in any alternative set ups people have for this.

[Griffith4ever]

Turn7 said:

Interesting.

Why use a VPN ?

Because Plex remote access (to your home server) is now a paid for service. Use a VPN back to your house and you are now "at home" :-)

Plex media server (which I initially used for moves and TV shows) is pretty amazing with music libraries - it'll do all the organising and categorising for you , very well indeed, much better than Sonos. Plexamp is a free phone app to stream said music.

- install plex media server on your chosen box (NUC/NAS whatever - mines on my Synology Nas)
- tell plex where your music library is
- any device with plex media player, or plexamp installed will now see and stream your music collection

Edited by Griffith4ever on Monday 4th May 08:18

[ARH]

Griffith4ever said:

Turn7 said:

Interesting.

Why use a VPN ?

Because Plex remote access (to your home server) is now a paid for service. Use a VPN back to your house and you are now "at home" :-)

but a vpn is a paid service too?

If it was me I would look at a NAS with Music assistant on it you can access that remotely for free.

https://www.music-assistant.io/

[nvubu]

Griffith4ever said:

Because Plex remote access (to your home server) is now a paid for service. Use a VPN back to your house and you are now "at home" :-)

Plex media server (which I initially used for moves and TV shows) is pretty amazing with music libraries - it'll do all the organising and categorising for you , very well indeed, much better than Sonos. Plexamp is a free phone app to stream said music.

- install plex media server on your chosen box (NUC/NAS whatever - mines on my Synology Nas)
- tell plex where your music library is
- any device with plex media player, or plexamp installed will now see and stream your music collection

I've got all mine in a Music folder and just use DS Audio. What's the advantage of using Plex?

[Griffith4ever]

ARH said:

Griffith4ever said:

Turn7 said:

Interesting.

Why use a VPN ?

Because Plex remote access (to your home server) is now a paid for service. Use a VPN back to your house and you are now "at home" :-)

but a vpn is a paid service too?

If it was me I would look at a NAS with Music assistant on it you can access that remotely for free.

https://www.music-assistant.io/

No - a connection back to your house is something you setup yourself, assuming you have a router that isn't limited - most half decent routers have support for multiple VPN clients. I have Open VPN running on my router, and Open VPN client on my Phone and laptop. I can connect through my house FROM anywhere in the world for free.

You are thinking of paid VPNs where you pay them to appear as if you are in a country you are not . There are plenty of free ones too BTW.

Back onto "local"/"home made" VPNs - this is my router setup page. Its super easy - plenty of tutorials out there. You set up a use, create a password, and then load a setup file/key onto your USB stick or email it to yourself and install on your clients.

Plex media server is a joy to use and I'd go to some lengths to make it work for you - it's so hands off its wonderful

[dxg]

Are you actually wanting to stream from your home to your phone when away from home?

Or are you only wanting to stream within your home?

[Griffith4ever]

nvubu said:

Griffith4ever said:

Because Plex remote access (to your home server) is now a paid for service. Use a VPN back to your house and you are now "at home" :-)

Plex media server (which I initially used for moves and TV shows) is pretty amazing with music libraries - it'll do all the organising and categorising for you , very well indeed, much better than Sonos. Plexamp is a free phone app to stream said music.

- install plex media server on your chosen box (NUC/NAS whatever - mines on my Synology Nas)
- tell plex where your music library is
- any device with plex media player, or plexamp installed will now see and stream your music collection

I've got all mine in a Music folder and just use DS Audio. What's the advantage of using Plex?

The advantage is huge if you don't have a synology NAS ;-)

OP wants a box and software. AI suggested a NUC, which assuming he doesn't want to spend out on a NAS, is a great idea.

Local access is a cinch, remote access is also a cinch, if needed - and let's be frank - you'd be crazy to ignore this feature when its free.

[dan98]

My vote would go for a Synology NAS and the DS audio app (or similar) that it comes with.

Avoids any need for VPN and just simply works for months/years on end without any intervention.

[John87]

Tim Cognito said:

I use cloud player on my phone, you can stream music files from Google drive which I pay about £1.69 a month for 100gb storage.

I went down this route after Google ruined Google Music :-(

Also interested in any alternative set ups people have for this.

This seems like a decent method as I can't imagine running a server at home 24/7 would cost less.

I just stream most things these days as I have YouTube premium but it also allows you to upload your own music to access anywhere

[butchstewie]

Is there not a streaming service that has a UX that does what you want?

[Turn7]

dxg said:

Are you actually wanting to stream from your home to your phone when away from home?

Or are you only wanting to stream within your home?

Both really .

In car and also streaming to Alexa occasionally

[NDA]

Tim Cognito said:

I use cloud player on my phone, you can stream music files from Google drive which I pay about £1.69 a month for 100gb storage.

I went down this route after Google ruined Google Music :-(

Also interested in any alternative set ups people have for this.

I have a large music library and use Roon - Roon seamlessly blends your collection with it's own data (album credits, artist bios and much more) into one easy to use management system. It will also mix it in with Tidal and Qobuz (for example) with higher resolution recordings - and you can choose your own copy or 'cloud' copies to listen to very easily... it also controls speakers, amps and other end points.

That's part of the answer. The other part is Roon ARC (a free mobile app if you have Roon) which very easily allows you to access and play your own collection from anywhere. I've used it extensively touring France in my car - it's quite novel to think it's playing from your library at home.

Not cheap, but it does everything and is hugely robust. Extremely clever software in the background - but you wouldn't know. There's no expertise needed to set it up.

It's worth adding that I actually need very little access to my large library - 95% of what I want to listen to is on Qobuz. I have a few recordings that are unavailable on Spotify or Qobuz - but they are few and far between.

[nvubu]

Griffith4ever said:

nvubu said:

Griffith4ever said:

Because Plex remote access (to your home server) is now a paid for service. Use a VPN back to your house and you are now "at home" :-)

Plex media server (which I initially used for moves and TV shows) is pretty amazing with music libraries - it'll do all the organising and categorising for you , very well indeed, much better than Sonos. Plexamp is a free phone app to stream said music.

- install plex media server on your chosen box (NUC/NAS whatever - mines on my Synology Nas)
- tell plex where your music library is
- any device with plex media player, or plexamp installed will now see and stream your music collection

I've got all mine in a Music folder and just use DS Audio. What's the advantage of using Plex?

The advantage is huge if you don't have a synology NAS ;-)

OP wants a box and software. AI suggested a NUC, which assuming he doesn't want to spend out on a NAS, is a great idea.

Local access is a cinch, remote access is also a cinch, if needed - and let's be frank - you'd be crazy to ignore this feature when its free.

Ah ... thought you were recommending using on a Synology as well.

I did install the server to try to see if I was missing something, but as soon as it asked me to login I removed it.

[Griffith4ever]

nvubu said:

Griffith4ever said:

nvubu said:

Griffith4ever said:

Because Plex remote access (to your home server) is now a paid for service. Use a VPN back to your house and you are now "at home" :-)

Plex media server (which I initially used for moves and TV shows) is pretty amazing with music libraries - it'll do all the organising and categorising for you , very well indeed, much better than Sonos. Plexamp is a free phone app to stream said music.

- install plex media server on your chosen box (NUC/NAS whatever - mines on my Synology Nas)
- tell plex where your music library is
- any device with plex media player, or plexamp installed will now see and stream your music collection

I've got all mine in a Music folder and just use DS Audio. What's the advantage of using Plex?

The advantage is huge if you don't have a synology NAS ;-)

OP wants a box and software. AI suggested a NUC, which assuming he doesn't want to spend out on a NAS, is a great idea.

Local access is a cinch, remote access is also a cinch, if needed - and let's be frank - you'd be crazy to ignore this feature when its free.

Ah ... thought you were recommending using on a Synology as well.

I did install the server to try to see if I was missing something, but as soon as it asked me to login I removed it.

Plex uses the account to manage user profiles, and ease connections remotely.

Probably around 15 years in now and no issues with them having my email.

[eeLee]

Try Youtube Music free tier. You load your tracks into it, you can play them with the Google App.

Or put Tailscale on your storage and device and connect from anywhere, simples.