music server

[somebodyelse]

Logitech Media Server (abandoned bus still around)

Abandoned by Logitech maybe, but still under active development by the community, including packaging it for some NAS systems. Daphile (on an old pc/laptop/thin client) and piCorePlayer are easy ways to get it up and running, and daphile includes CD ripping if you attach a CD drive.

Be careful with the WD Red drives - they quietly introduced SMR drives to the line a while back which caused compatibility issues with several NAS products that often didn't appear until you tried to recover the RAID from a drive failure. Check specific model numbers for compatibility with the NAS manufacturer.

 

[ahofer]

Abandoned by Logitech maybe, but still under active development by the community, including packaging it for some NAS systems. Daphile (on an old pc/laptop/thin client) and piCorePlayer are easy ways to get it up and running, and daphile includes CD ripping if you attach a CD drive.

Be careful with the WD Red drives - they quietly introduced SMR drives to the line a while back which caused compatibility issues with several NAS products that often didn't appear until you tried to recover the RAID from a drive failure. Check specific model numbers for compatibility with the NAS manufacturer.

Yes and endpoints supported by Roon as well. I used a squeezebox/squeezeserver for years. For me, LMS doesn’t support classical music classification nearly as well as MinimServer can - with somewhat careful tagging and configuration.

 

[diddley]

Thank you...I did not realize the importance of the "always on" idea of the server & also like the back up capabilities. I guess I'll get to ripping while considering server technologies....so as far as "bits are bits" do you feel it would be OK to rip to the portable HDs I have available & then transfer to whatever type of server I decide on?

Yes it is possible but i would hesitate, because portables can crash and as been mentioned above check compatibility.

 

[ahofer]

Thank you...I did not realize the importance of the "always on" idea of the server & also like the back up capabilities. I guess I'll get to ripping while considering server technologies....so as far as "bits are bits" do you feel it would be OK to rip to the portable HDs I have available & then transfer to whatever type of server I decide on?

Sure. The main issues are having backups and, perhaps, the bandwidth to/from your portable HDs for when you transfer your library.

 

[somebodyelse]

For me, LMS doesn’t support classical music classification nearly as well as MinimServer can - with somewhat careful tagging and configuration.

Interesting - not my thing, but I understood that between the LMS 'Custom Scan' and 'Custom Browse' plugins you could tag and classify classical, jazz etc. with enough flexibility to suit most preferences. There are threads on the squeezebox forum discussing different options, and this flexibility is cited as a reason people picked LMS over other servers.

 

[Sashoir]

I would second the idea of considering a multi-drive NAS in RAID1 (or 5,6 or one of the others if you have more than two discs) configuration. Ripping CDs, and especially entering metadata the way you like it, can be excruciatingly tedious. Certainly archiving a fair sized CD collection is something I'd never want to do again, so having some redundancy is something to consider. If you don't go for the NAS/RAID option (or even if you do), consider backing up your rarities to some cloud storage. There's nothing more painful than shelling out huge sums for something you've bought and lost 15 years ago which is now only available as a Japanese import.
For tag management (when you have your discs ripped), I'd recommend ex falso for tagging an album at a time, or metatogger for doing bulk tagging. The scripting functionality is helpful (if you've a mind do do such things).
I can't give you good advice on the server to use; I've used Minimserver (the old free one), Plex, Kodi, and the upnp one that comes with Synology drives. Unfortunately none seem to be optimised for ragged hierarchy traversal. I'm going to try the paid version of Minimserver next week, as I think it will probably allow the most effective browsing for me.
For a controller, I use either the Linn app "kazoo", or bubble upnp.
I don't think either have particularly amazing pseudo-random play functionality-you might be best off using moose or volumio or something of that nature for "shuffle" play.
(As an aside, I was pleasantly surprised at how good the Linn app was; I'd never used Linn gear, as it's way beyond my price point, but I assumed their software would be rubbish, as they're a luxury hardware msnufacturer- it's actually pretty good).

 

[Beershaun]

Hi. Welcome and great idea to rip your library to digital. In addit to what everyone has already shared. I recommend start with simple and free to get to know how a media server and the various music player endpoints and technologies work. That way you avoid spending money until you decide how and what you like to use.

I use Plex for my music server. It's free, runs on any operating system and has its own player apps so it's easy to set up and use to play music right on your pc or smartphone when you are done. It also does a library radio or mix feature like you were asking about.

Rip a few cds to your hard drive then install the server software and try it out.

 

[ahofer]

Interesting - not my thing, but I understood that between the LMS 'Custom Scan' and 'Custom Browse' plugins you could tag and classify classical, jazz etc. with enough flexibility to suit most preferences. There are threads on the squeezebox forum discussing different options, and this flexibility is cited as a reason people picked LMS over other servers.

Could be, I left LMS years ago, and perhaps I never gained the expertise. MinimServer allows you to create a hierarchical browsing menu based on tags. That was a killer feature for me. Plex injected a lot of metadata, but searching it didn’t work. Roon seems to have slayed the beast for me, although I think @Kal Rubinson pointed out some gremlins in its classical metadata. I haven’t had too much trouble. The main thing for me is locating performers and composers accurately. They typically auto-tag in almost random variation.

 

[escape2]

so as far as "bits are bits" do you feel it would be OK to rip to the portable HDs I have available & then transfer to whatever type of server I decide on?

I've been using a 2.5" WD USB portable drive as my primary media server storage for 10+ years. Never had an issue. Any hard drive can fail, so make backups periodically.

As for media server PC, I'm using an older Intel NUC, running Ubuntu Linux, with both LMS and Plex installed on it.

 

[Daverz]

Yes and endpoints supported by Roon as well. I used a squeezebox/squeezeserver for years. For me, LMS doesn’t support classical music classification nearly as well as MinimServer can - with somewhat careful tagging and configuration.

Being able to create my own Composer->Work->Recording menus is one thing that keeps me using LMS.

MinimServer looks interesting. They mention a license, but not the cost. Not sure I want to get too deep in a proprietary music server ecosystem.

 

[macr56]

Hi. Welcome and great idea to rip your library to digital. In addit to what everyone has already shared. I recommend start with simple and free to get to know how a media server and the various music player endpoints and technologies work. That way you avoid spending money until you decide how and what you like to use.

I use Plex for my music server. It's free, runs on any operating system and has its own player apps so it's easy to set up and use to play music right on your pc or smartphone when you are done. It also does a library radio or mix feature like you were asking about.

Rip a few cds to your hard drive then install the server software and try it out.

Thank You! Excellent suggestion! I think that is a great way for me to start to explore & learn about some of these ideas....lots of great ideas here but I'm not going to be able to fully appreciate most of them until I stick my toe in the water.

 

[BillG]

I have a large CD & vinal collection & am just trying to make them all more easily available & also would like to be able to access collection in a random play or "shuffle" mode. Is this mode of play possible with any of these methods? Is this type of play possible with these types of software or am I asking too much?

You're very welcome...

Yes, Emby supports shuffle play and another mode called "Instant Mix". The exact details of the latter I don't recall, but I suspect it's based on artist and genre. Please see the below screenshot:

 

[BillG]

Another feature of Emby that I'd like to point out:

It supports remote streaming via cellular (mobile phone) from your home server even in its freeware version. As a matter of fact, I use it frequently when commuting or shopping.

Emby is even available for installation on certain NAS devices, if you decide to go with one as opposed to using a full blown personal computer as a server.

I've auditioned most, if not all, of the other server packages suggested here and found Emby to be the most user-friendly and attractive.

By the way, I'm a consulting software engineer-data scientist by training and profession. So it's not like I can't handle complex software installation and configuration. However, if something is going to make life much easier for end users, then I'll highly recommend it which I do in the case of Emby...

 

[macr56]

Another feature of Emby that I'd like to point out:

It supports remote streaming via cellular (mobile phone) from your home server even in its freeware version. As a matter of fact, I use it frequently when commuting or shopping.

Emby is even available for installation on certain NAS devices, if you decide to go with one as opposed to using a full blown personal computer as a server.

I've auditioned most, if not all, of the other server packages suggested here and found Emby to be the most user-friendly and attractive.

By the way, I'm a consulting software engineer-data scientist by training and profession. So it's not like I can't handle complex software installation and configuration. However, if something is going to make life much easier for end users, then I'll highly recommend it which I do in the case of Emby...

Dear Bill, I've recently posted this problem but wanted to direct it to you cause you seem like you may have the knowledge to help with this situation & if not that's fine...you just seemed like the guy to ask:
I have an Anthem MRX 720 AV Receiver which I love other than 1 nagging issue. This receiver will freeze up from time to time...meaning that during normal play it will just lock up & I can't shut down the receiver using remote or power switch on the receiver, I cannot scroll to or activate any other functions of this receiver BUT can continue to function in whatever mode I am currently in when receiver locks up. To get out of this situation I have to stop music & unplug receiver to get back to normal operation until eventually, it will lock up again.
I've contacted Anthem support & they were not able to help me...however, they did send a brand new replacement unit which I swapped into but problem continues which makes me believe the problem is on my end. Does ANYBODY please have any ideas what I might do to troubleshoot & hopefully fix this issue??