Arch Linux

gabe.benson

Member

Registered: 2011-08-16

Posts: 38

Looking for an Audio Server Solution

Alright, so I've got a headless server running in my bedroom that I use for storage.  I already stream media to my ps3 using ps3mediaserver, but what I'd really like to be able to do is play music remotely from my desktop and laptop.  I've spent some time looking around for solutions, but can't really come up with anything.  As such, I'm looking for some help!

What I'd like to do:

* Keep all music stored on the server
* Access the music remotely in a nice gui interface (Rhythmbox would be ideal, but something similar would work too)
* Play the music out of my desktop or laptop's speakers, not out of the server

I played around with mpd some, but ultimately gave up.  I could get it to stream with http, but I was having to stream it to vlc and control it with another program... Not the best solution.

Any ideas?  All help is greatly appreciated

tomk

Forum Fellow

From: Ireland

Registered: 2004-07-21

Posts: 9,839

Re: Looking for an Audio Server Solution

Use NFS to share your server's media directories.

ZekeSulastin

Member

Registered: 2010-09-20

Posts: 266

Re: Looking for an Audio Server Solution

That's a good option and one I use for videos; if you want to run a single MPD on the server itself, consider using PulseAudio's network capability (works rather well here!).

Last edited by ZekeSulastin (2012-11-08 19:58:39)

gabe.benson

Member

Registered: 2011-08-16

Posts: 38

Re: Looking for an Audio Server Solution

I'm attempting NFS, but I have no rpcbind.service file on my system.  rpcbind is installed, but when I attempt to start the services with systemctl it tells me that rpcbind.service doesn't exist.

As for MPD, I couldn't for the life of me get pulseaudio to work.  That looked like a really promising option to me, but whenever I would start mpd on the server, it would complain about a jackdbus error or something along those lines.

Rasi

Member

From: Germany

Registered: 2007-08-14

Posts: 1,914

Website

Re: Looking for an Audio Server Solution

That's a good option and one I use for videos; if you want to run a single MPD on the server itself, consider using PulseAudio's network capability (works rather well here!).

+1 for mpd + pulseaudio

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Inxsible

Forum Fellow

From: Chicago

Registered: 2008-06-09

Posts: 9,183

Re: Looking for an Audio Server Solution

i use minidlna to serve my music & media. I use my home-theatre (which is dlna enabled) to play the music through the speakers.

I also use my phone(again dlna enabled) as a remote control -- or to play music as well. For desktops & laptops, NFS would be the best option as tomk suggested.

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tomk

Forum Fellow

From: Ireland

Registered: 2004-07-21

Posts: 9,839

Re: Looking for an Audio Server Solution

I'm attempting NFS, but I have no rpcbind.service file on my system.  rpcbind is installed, but when I attempt to start the services with systemctl it tells me that rpcbind.service doesn't exist.

Are you sure your system is up to date? systemd support was added to the rpcbind package in April this year,

multiphrenic

Member

From: Toronto, Canada

Registered: 2011-04-26

Posts: 73

Website

Re: Looking for an Audio Server Solution

You can also use mt-daap as a music server, which interfaces well with Rhythmbox. It's what I use and works really well. Best part is there is only one audio database and background scanning so you don't need to constantly refresh as you add music.

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gabe.benson

Member

Registered: 2011-08-16

Posts: 38

Re: Looking for an Audio Server Solution

I'm attempting NFS, but I have no rpcbind.service file on my system.  rpcbind is installed, but when I attempt to start the services with systemctl it tells me that rpcbind.service doesn't exist.

Are you sure your system is up to date? systemd support was added to the rpcbind package in April this year,

Oddly enough it's working now.  No clue what changed.

As for MPD, I've pretty much given up.  Thanks for the suggestions and help!

rwd

Member

Registered: 2009-02-08

Posts: 664

Re: Looking for an Audio Server Solution

In case you do want to give mpd another try: try mounting  your music folder via sshfs, and then run mpd  as non-root (both sshfs and mpd running on your laptop). I've been doing this for years without issues.

Last edited by rwd (2012-11-10 13:21:36)