Web & Audio Server Advice Sought

[Todd Slater]

Hiya Ken,

On 9/6/06, Ken McLennan <kenrmcl at mysoul.com.au> wrote:
> G'day there Todd,
>
> > What platforms are your clients running,
>
>     Clients (all 2 of them) are WinXP for my wife, and either WinXP, or
> Dapper for me.
>
> > and what formats are your
> > audio files in?
>
>     Mostly MP3. I mirrored most of them in OGG format, and iTunes seems
>     to have converted a few of them to AAC.
>
> > I highly recommend mt-daapd/firefly media server if
> > you want to serve mp3's to linux, windows, or mac boxes. If your
>
>     That pretty well covers it. I wouldn't mind getting a Mac to play
>     with, but they want me to pay real live money to get one =).

I'd just go with firefly then.

> > collection is ogg|flac|wmv, you can still use firefly with linux
> > clients, but your choice of media players is limited to Banshee.
>
>     I've heard a few good things about Banshee, but I've not seen it in
>     use. I prefer OGG, but I can live with MP3, so the choice of player
>     isn't such a biggie.

My entire collection is ogg, so the transcoding thing is a big deal to
me. Eventually firefly will be able to transcode or not based on ip
and/or player, so it will transcode oggs to the SoundBridge but not to
Rhythmbox.

I'm not crazy about Banshee because I can't find an easy way to play
an entire album; it looks like you have to add each song individually.
For listening on the same computer as my files, I prefer Muine.

> > Mt-daapd/firefly is an iTunes-like server.
>
>     It sounds like something I should look at then.
>
> > Rhythmbox and Banshee can
> > connect using DAAP protocol, but Rhythmbox can't play the transcoded
> > oggs and flacs for some reason.
>
>     A bit of a mystery as to why. Any recommendations for a player on
>     Windows? I have a few different ones that I've installed to try with
>     different formats here & there. I keep falling back on iTunes or Jet
>     Audio for music, and VLC for video.

Somebody filed a bug report with Rhythmbox about not being able to
play wav's. As for a Windows player, I'd just stick with iTunes, as it
will automagically connect to your firefly server, and can handle
smart playlists and such. I did a little searching but couldn't find a
better Windows DAAP client than iTunes.

On linux I believe you're limited to Rhythmbox and Banshee at the
moment. Listen is planning on it, and there might be some daemons that
use it (MPD?) but I never ventured there.

> > I use firefly to stream music
> > wirelessly to my stereo via the Roku Soundbridge.
>
>     Sigh... I'm restricted to the noises that come out of my 'pooter,
>     although the stereo speakers my son gave me as a gift are pretty
>     damned nifty =).
>
> > It's a close second
> > to sex.
>
>     I'm married. What's sex?

Me too, so of course I'm speaking from memory...
>
> > http://www.fireflymediaserver.org/
>
>     I'm off to have a look this very instant.
>
>
> Thanks muchly for your advice, it's greatly appreciated.

No problem, enjoy!

Todd