The case for mpd, I'm not sure I get it

browntown · 2014-01-09 14:01:46

Looking at the light and fast awards, mpd is the overwhelming choice for a music player. I find this odd since the front end players are what I would consider the player. Anyways:

If I'm the only user of my arch system, what is the advantage of the whole client / server mpd and front end strategy? By running mpd as a service does it vastly reduce the overhead that a standalone player would consume?

Also, I generally plug in a small external hdd with my music library in when I want to listen to music (only about 10% of my computing time on this particular machine do I listen to tunes). MPD doesn't seem to like the remote mount even after I link the "music_directory" location to the remount mount.

My question is this - is MPD worth the trouble of running both a service and frontend on a small netbook that rarely is used for music?

Seems like a lightweight gui standalone player (eg, deadbeef-gtk2) seems like a much easier solution.

Last edited by browntown (2014-01-09 15:28:58)

Inxsible · 2014-01-09 16:01:13

I use deadbeef because I didn't see the point of client server for a single machine.

If you have multiple machines that you might want to listen to music from, it helps if you can store all the music in one place and just use a client to connect to the server. So if you have a laptop etc. that you want to take to another room and listen to music then you can do that.

I have a home theater system that I plan to play music through -- via xbmc (through htpc) and I don't think I will use mpd then too since xbmc can access nfs shares. But I think there are advantages to mpd wherein it can play music even when you aren't in X. eg - if you have a headless server etc.

drcouzelis · 2014-01-09 17:07:47

Also, if you spend a lot of time downloading and listening to individual music files instead of a static music library (like me) MPD isn't really a good option.

Just find what works for you and use it.

Last edited by drcouzelis (2014-01-09 17:08:10)

diffycat · 2014-01-09 17:29:40

browntown wrote:

MPD doesn't seem to like the remote mount even after I link the "music_directory" location to the remount mount.

Just FYI: if your mpd server and client located on the same host then you will be able to play music from outside your "music_directory". You just need to connect to mpd via domain socket (mpd.conf: bind_to_address "/home/username/.config/mpd/mpd.socket"). And also you need client which support that feature (e.g. gmpc or cantata).

So on localhost mpd+client is no different from other standalone players (except for some initial configuration in mpd.conf).

wesleyac · 2014-01-09 19:49:03

I use mpd because of the vast array of clients for it.
I mostly use a awesomeWM widget frontend to mpc that says the title of the current song, the author, if it's playing or paused, and allows me to click to toggle playing/paused.

GloW_on_dub · 2014-01-09 20:01:35

I'm using mpd on my raspberry pi, of course i connect using client (from main computer or phone ) to play music.
I'm using mpd on my main computer because I really like the way it feel when you just open the client, change the music, and close the client.

Last edited by GloW_on_dub (2014-01-09 20:01:47)

ayekat · 2014-01-09 20:16:03

I'm using mpd on my main computer, since it is connected to the speakers, and connect to it through my laptop sometimes via ncmpcpp.

But mostly I use it because I can scrobble my listened music to last.fm thanks to mpdscribble.

Onyros · 2014-01-09 20:17:42

I went from using Foobar2000 through WINE, to Deadbeef, which I still think is the best graphical (GTK) player and eventually moved on to MPD. Though Deadbeef can almost rival it in memory usage and CPU consumption, MPD is indeed even lighter. The mere fact MPD in the Raspberry Pi (which I also have) can handle anything you throw at it without a hiccup says a lot.

And ncmpcpp, it's just a great frontend.

/dev/zero · 2014-01-09 21:06:00

browntown wrote:

If I'm the only user of my arch system, what is the advantage of the whole client / server mpd and front end strategy?

I like to control my music through my window manager by setting up hotkeys. I didn't immediately jump to mpd for this, it was only via a process of trying to make my WM work with the like of mplayer. The problem with using mplayer was, how do I tell it that I'm partway through a playlist, and how do I get it to print out the current song metadata to my status bar? I started setting up baroque scripts.

Eventually I realised that these baroque scripts were a procrustean attempt to turn mplayer into mpd. Now I use mpd. Even though it's not perfect, it's simpler than trying to turn something else into mpd.

xtraroot · 2014-01-09 21:10:40

I like it because it's light and out of the way. You can set up hotkeys to control it with a client and have mpd start at boot, so all you ever have to do to start listening to music in my case is just hit the play media key.

Last edited by xtraroot (2014-01-09 21:10:56)

graysky · 2014-01-09 21:13:18

For your use case, probably not. I have it on a low power system hooked-up to the home stereo system. Both our phones have a mpd client on them so the music is easily accessed via the phone as a remote control. Since it's wifi, no line of site is required.

EDIT: If you are a fun of ncurses, ncmpcpp is a great client but as others have mentioned, there are many choices from web to full blown GUIs for interacting with the server.

Last edited by graysky (2014-01-09 21:14:05)

Arch Linux

#1 2014-01-09 14:01:46

The case for mpd, I'm not sure I get it

#2 2014-01-09 16:01:13

Re: The case for mpd, I'm not sure I get it

#3 2014-01-09 17:07:47

Re: The case for mpd, I'm not sure I get it

#4 2014-01-09 17:29:40

Re: The case for mpd, I'm not sure I get it

#5 2014-01-09 19:49:03

Re: The case for mpd, I'm not sure I get it

#6 2014-01-09 20:01:35

Re: The case for mpd, I'm not sure I get it

#7 2014-01-09 20:16:03

Re: The case for mpd, I'm not sure I get it

#8 2014-01-09 20:17:42

Re: The case for mpd, I'm not sure I get it

#9 2014-01-09 21:06:00

Re: The case for mpd, I'm not sure I get it

#10 2014-01-09 21:10:40

Re: The case for mpd, I'm not sure I get it

#11 2014-01-09 21:13:18

Re: The case for mpd, I'm not sure I get it

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