Is Volumio the best 'streamer freeware'?

[ahofer]

Any particular reason(s)? Might help others decide what to try.

It's a cheap streaming swiss army knife. If it had Chromecast emulation it would be perfect. It's stable, and it just sits there on a tiny computer, compatible with Roon, Airplay, etc.

 

[direwolf08]

The Spotify plugin for Volumio has been in shambles for a considerable time already. From what I see in their forum, the problem is far from being resolved. So, if you stream from Spotify, Volumio is not an option currently.

This is why I had to give up on Volumio in favor of a few Wiim Minis. Spotify was unusable on it. I was a premium user too. The (relatively) frequent crashes and bugs, the lame app that was clearly only a window for the web interface, and the painfully slow library navigation just made it untenable, especially as a paid software. I stuck with Volumio for the UI and touchscreen interface, but Moode was way more stable and snappy in my experience.

 

[FrantzM]

The Spotify plugin for Volumio has been in shambles for a considerable time already. From what I see in their forum, the problem is far from being resolved. So, if you stream from Spotify, Volumio is not an option currently.

Keeping my fingers crossed. It has been working on a Raspberry Pi, for a few months now.. No issue, I EQ the Headphones through it...
Volumio did however crash for no apparent reasons in a previous install, on same hardware..

Peace.

 

[lpdot]

This is why I had to give up on Volumio in favor of a few Wiim Minis. Spotify was unusable on it.

I went for a Node N130 - a very reliable and consistent performance with Spotify.

I was a premium user too. The (relatively) frequent crashes and bugs, the lame app that was clearly only a window for the web interface, and the painfully slow library navigation just made it untenable, especially as a paid software. I stuck with Volumio for the UI and touchscreen interface, but Moode was way more stable and snappy in my experience.

I always wondered if the premium users had to go through the same ordeals...

P.S. That thing with the app being just a wrapper for the web interface

 

[lpdot]

Keeping my fingers crossed. It has been working on a Raspberry Pi, for a few months now.. No issue, I EQ the Headphones through it...
Volumio did however crash for no apparent reasons in a previous install, on same hardware..

Peace

Before subscribing to Spotify I used Volumio for local files and web radio. Rarely the system would just freeze for no apparent reason. Other than that, the experience was quite positive.

However, ironically it was Volumio that led me to trying out Spotify - even more so the frustration when it failed to provide a solid performance.

Interesting to know that Spotify works for you without issues, though...

 

[FrantzM]

Before subscribing to Spotify I used Volumio for local files and web radio. Rarely the system would just freeze for no apparent reason. Other than that, the experience was quite positive.

However, ironically it was Volumio that led me to trying out Spotify - even more so the frustration when it failed to provide a solid performance.

Interesting to know that Spotify works for you without issues, though...

Don't jinx it!!!
I am now afraid to turn it on

Peace.

 

[BoycottHiFiScam]

Sorry to bump up this old post...
I just recently started using Volumio on my RPi4 due to the same reason - it comes with so many features. However, the experience is quite awful to be honest. I was quite shocked that I constantly hit bugs that impact basic daily music listening:
1. Spotify Connect will automatcially pause the music as long as I switch track myself (pressing "Next" button)... And there is no way to get out other than a restart... I have to wait for the current track to finish itself in order to go to the next track on queue without it constantly pausing itself.
2. It does not seem to handle CUE file properly. If an album has 1 music file and 1 cue file, I have to start from the 1st track otherwise it won't play. Also no matter which track it is currently playing, as long as I adjust time in the progress bar, it will switch back to the 1st track...
Coming from using FB2K on PC, I was surprised that I will hit bug on basic functions...

 

[Geertidow]

Sorry to bump up this old post...
I just recently started using Volumio on my RPi4 due to the same reason - it comes with so many features. However, the experience is quite awful to be honest. I was quite shocked that I constantly hit bugs that impact basic daily music listening:
1. Spotify Connect will automatcially pause the music as long as I switch track myself (pressing "Next" button)... And there is no way to get out other than a restart... I have to wait for the current track to finish itself in order to go to the next track on queue without it constantly pausing itself.
2. It does not seem to handle CUE file properly. If an album has 1 music file and 1 cue file, I have to start from the 1st track otherwise it won't play. Also no matter which track it is currently playing, as long as I adjust time in the progress bar, it will switch back to the 1st track...
Coming from using FB2K on PC, I was surprised that I will hit bug on basic functions...

I like Moode so much more

 

[Snoopy]

Sorry to bump up this old post...
I just recently started using Volumio on my RPi4 due to the same reason - it comes with so many features. However, the experience is quite awful to be honest. I was quite shocked that I constantly hit bugs that impact basic daily music listening:
1. Spotify Connect will automatcially pause the music as long as I switch track myself (pressing "Next" button)... And there is no way to get out other than a restart... I have to wait for the current track to finish itself in order to go to the next track on queue without it constantly pausing itself.
2. It does not seem to handle CUE file properly. If an album has 1 music file and 1 cue file, I have to start from the 1st track otherwise it won't play. Also no matter which track it is currently playing, as long as I adjust time in the progress bar, it will switch back to the 1st track...
Coming from using FB2K on PC, I was surprised that I will hit bug on basic functions...

All these freeware pi4 streamer softwares are exactly That... freeware that feels like VLC player 10 years ago.

Software is really worth paying for... try audirvana and roon.

It's like going from a ancient android streamer to a apple tv

 

[direwolf08]

All these freeware pi4 streamer softwares are exactly That... freeware that feels like VLC player 10 years ago.

Software is really worth paying for... try audirvana and roon.

It's like going from a ancient android streamer to a Apple TV

Just want to point out that Volumio does have a paid tier that is required For the functionality that I wanted from it. Even though it is cheaper than alternatives, poor performance and major bugs in standard usage scenarios was not acceptable in my book.

Sorry to bump up this old post...
I just recently started using Volumio on my RPi4 due to the same reason - it comes with so many features. However, the experience is quite awful to be honest. I was quite shocked that I constantly hit bugs that impact basic daily music listening:
1. Spotify Connect will automatcially pause the music as long as I switch track myself (pressing "Next" button)... And there is no way to get out other than a restart... I have to wait for the current track to finish itself in order to go to the next track on queue without it constantly pausing itself.
2. It does not seem to handle CUE file properly. If an album has 1 music file and 1 cue file, I have to start from the 1st track otherwise it won't play. Also no matter which track it is currently playing, as long as I adjust time in the progress bar, it will switch back to the 1st track...
Coming from using FB2K on PC, I was surprised that I will hit bug on basic functions...

Sadly @BoycottHiFiScam, your experience seems to be all too common. It sounds like they still haven’t fixed Spotify, and it has been broken for a long time now.

 

[Geertidow]

Same with picoreplayer, it used to work beatiful and now when you pause the track just skips randomly forward.
Yes good software costs money, so a bluesound works great (or Roon if you have more to spend).
I just like the idea of using a RP4.

 

[somebodyelse]

In my experience payment is no guarantee of good software or support. There are good and bad examples in both paid software and and various definitions of 'free' and the thread about poor support and breaking features in Roon gives me little confidence that they are a 'good' example. I gave up trying to get UPnP based things to do gapless playback reliably - commercial vendors generally don't say which of the optional parts of the spec they do or don't support. I consider gapless playback to be core functionality but many would disagree. It probably helps that I have the skills to patch the libre code to my liking if I can be bothered, making their arbitrary decisions that I don't agree with less frustrating than in closed software where you're stuck with it. Libre software usually has a public bug tracker too, so you can report problems and (see what's happening (or not) about fixing them.

 

[muslhead]

In my experience payment is no guarantee of good software or support. There are good and bad examples in both paid software and and various definitions of 'free' and the thread about poor support and breaking features in Roon gives me little confidence that they are a 'good' example. I gave up trying to get UPnP based things to do gapless playback reliably - commercial vendors generally don't say which of the optional parts of the spec they do or don't support. I consider gapless playback to be core functionality but many would disagree. It probably helps that I have the skills to patch the libre code to my liking if I can be bothered, making their arbitrary decisions that I don't agree with less frustrating than in closed software where you're stuck with it. Libre software usually has a public bug tracker too, so you can report problems and (see what's happening (or not) about fixing them.

Couldnt agree more. Roon is great software if it works for you. Expecting and getting support, if needed, is the flip of a coin ... at best. I get the same functionality for my use case out of Jriver (one time payment) for less than 25% of roon annual price. Audirvana was crap for me
There is no one good solution that meets everyone's need.

 

[JLGF1]

I get the same functionality for my use case out of Jriver (one time payment) for less than 25% of Roon annual price.

$150 (Roon annual) x 25% = $37.50

The current new license cost for JRiver is $70 (one OS) or $90 (all OS) according to their web page.

 

[BoycottHiFiScam]

I like Moode so much more

Sadly my Moode experience was even worse than Volumio
Just tried it on my Pi4. It did not enable AP after first boot so I have to went outside and purchase an ethernet cable to connect it to my router in order to have it configured.
Once I did that, it simply does not even allow me to configure WiFi SSID to connect. The moment I hit save, the whole setting just froze and I won't be able to enter any setting pages anymore

 

[glorious_iguana]

I run Moode on my RPi 4 streamer. connected to Topping D10S USB DAC. I use it primarily with Spotify Connect and aside from one minor annoyance (which is an issue with librespot and will hopefully be fixed in the future as the library is undergoing a major rewrite) I'm happy with the experience. I also have a small collection of local FLACs as well as listen to the web radio some times. I'm not a big fan of its web interface, but it works on desktop and mobile, so I can live with that.

Moode runs on Debian Linux, which allowed me to configure the streamer a mini NAS server. I attached an 8TB drive in a USB 3.0 enclosure, installed Jellyfin and use it to host my movie collection. Something you wouldn't be able to do with commercial streamers.

If I were to get a new streamer now, I would probably go for Wiim Pro Plus and just use it with its improved DAC, however I also value flexibility offered by open source software, so I will stick with the current setup. In the end, Moode is just a web interface for Debian, MPD and librespot. If one has basic Linux administration skills and likes tinkering, it's a very nice option.

 

[KaNuckles1]

If all you do is stream music from a nas, mpd (music player daemon) is a solid option and there are multiple graphical clients to choose from to control your music

 

[glorious_iguana]

If all you do is stream music from a nas, mpd (music player daemon) is a solid option and there are multiple graphical clients to choose from to control your music

I tried an MPD client for Android and it works quite well with Moode.

 

[Jack Harrison]

I’ve been using Moode for years without any glitches or problems. I tried Volumio but I just preferred Moode. It doesn’t have an app but it’s easy enough to create an app-a-like from Safari if you‘re using an iPad for instance. just one click and there it is.
I just changed over to an RPi4 and the setup didn’t go quite as smoothly as before. But I just read the instructions and followed them, instead of going from memory and all was OK. I don’t know why any one would pay for software that isn’t as capable or just does the same thing. I stream ripped CDs from an attached ssd, stream Spotify through Spotify connect and stream Amazon HD through Airplay 2, listen to internet radio through it. I also have a Wiim Mini but it’s not getting much use. With Camilladsp, and a 12 band PEQ also available it’s a pretty competent package. The paid for packages look pretty expensive to me as an option for playing services I’ve already paid for or my own ripped CDs - and the life time licences? Some actual people’s life time ago they were still playing 78s through wind up gramophone players.

 

[glorious_iguana]

stream Amazon HD through Airplay 2

Are you sure? AFAIK Moode only supports Airplay 1.