Jayce
Fully Optimized
- Messages
- 3,056
- Location
- /home/jason
Well, I added a new thing to the list of many items my Linux server downstairs handles. Between ownCloud, my Motion video surveillance, simple file/backup services (the list goes on and on...), the server is doing something at all times. It's been about a week, and so far I'm very happy with Subsonic. Subsonic is a *free/open source music streaming application which works off of your own system. I understand there's a Windows version for it, but of course I haven't really been down that route. I simply dumped the Linux version on my system and set it up accordingly. I pointed the directories to my RAID array where I dumped about 100 music files to get acquainted with it. You can utilize Subsonic through the web interface, which would of course make it accessible anywhere as long as you know the external IP or have DDNS set up to point to an actual domain URL. It has a nice customizable interface and does the job well.
The * from above comes in regard to the fact the application is free. There is a "premium" license you can unlock by donating money to the project. I donated 10 "dollars" in whatever currency was selected by default (I kind of forget) which comes in at about 12-13 USD. I was emailed the premium key and away we went. The premium key is to unlock full mobile streaming support, which is what I was after since I wanted to utilize the Subsonic Android app on my Nexus 7 tablet. While it may have been a few bucks, it's hard to sneeze at donating towards a solid project like this. I'm extremely happy with it. It's easily been one of the more worthwhile software purchases I've made as of yet.
Subsonic uses port 4040 by default, so I just forwarded that accordingly and I was in business. Since I use DDNS on my server I was able to hit up my DDNS URL:4040 and up came the login page.
I'm not sure how people feel about cloud based services. There's good and bad to any sort of online service like this. I like the idea of having my own cloud-esque server for handling tasks such as this, especially if it's still "local" to me, such as my box sitting in my basement. It's basically my own Pandora, except I control the music, so limitations that you typically run into with other services simply doesn't exist here. Same goes for ownCloud, where it's an online hosting of files... but on my own box... can't argue with that. There is however, the simple fact that you must be connected in order to access this setup. Of course, there's still a place for locally saved music, and quite honestly that won't ever change. I'm going on a trip later this year, so I'll be suiting up my tablet with locally saved music since I won't be connected that much. Situations like that will always be a -1 to cloud based services, however for the majority of the time that I'll be listening to music around the house, it's REALLY nice to have a "one stop shop" for all music on one server.
Just yesterday I got a little taste of the additional convenience that comes from it. We were laying hardwood laminate in the dining room. I set up a small computer speaker set, propped up my tablet on the counter in its neat yet weird little folio case, fired up Subsonic, and away we went with some Pearl Jam in a matter of 20 seconds. Then it was back to laying the floor. Sure, if you have a laptop with music on it, this is just as easy. If you have an iPod, yes you could just connect it and be done with it. But I didn't... and seeing as though my Sansa hasn't been updated in a super long time and I really wanted to listen to the FLAC's of the new concert I just got, and also considering my laptop setup hasn't been completed since I had to replace the HDD, it just reminded me how convenient services like this can be.
My long term goal is to pick up four 2TB drives and set up a RAID5. With that amount of space I can have anything and everything saved on the server in media folders without having to worry about space, whereas now with only 500GB to dish out, it's a little more food for thought.
At any rate, Subsonic is worth looking into if anybody out there has your own music collection that you want to access a bit easier. It's basically like Google Music, except on your own box. I decided not to use Google Music, despite their super nice 20,000 song upload cap, mostly because my DSL upload speeds are pretty bad... it would have taken me weeks to upload my music library. Installing Subsonic locally on my box, donating a few bucks to unlock the premium mobile license, and attaching my Android devices to my server via the Subsonic app was easily the best solution existent.
While I'm clearly advocating how nice it is to have a home server handle all of these tasks, that doesn't mean I'm oblivious to the consequences that come from a lack of pro-active backup steps. Back up your data. That server isn't fail proof.
Cheers.
The * from above comes in regard to the fact the application is free. There is a "premium" license you can unlock by donating money to the project. I donated 10 "dollars" in whatever currency was selected by default (I kind of forget) which comes in at about 12-13 USD. I was emailed the premium key and away we went. The premium key is to unlock full mobile streaming support, which is what I was after since I wanted to utilize the Subsonic Android app on my Nexus 7 tablet. While it may have been a few bucks, it's hard to sneeze at donating towards a solid project like this. I'm extremely happy with it. It's easily been one of the more worthwhile software purchases I've made as of yet.
Subsonic uses port 4040 by default, so I just forwarded that accordingly and I was in business. Since I use DDNS on my server I was able to hit up my DDNS URL:4040 and up came the login page.
I'm not sure how people feel about cloud based services. There's good and bad to any sort of online service like this. I like the idea of having my own cloud-esque server for handling tasks such as this, especially if it's still "local" to me, such as my box sitting in my basement. It's basically my own Pandora, except I control the music, so limitations that you typically run into with other services simply doesn't exist here. Same goes for ownCloud, where it's an online hosting of files... but on my own box... can't argue with that. There is however, the simple fact that you must be connected in order to access this setup. Of course, there's still a place for locally saved music, and quite honestly that won't ever change. I'm going on a trip later this year, so I'll be suiting up my tablet with locally saved music since I won't be connected that much. Situations like that will always be a -1 to cloud based services, however for the majority of the time that I'll be listening to music around the house, it's REALLY nice to have a "one stop shop" for all music on one server.
Just yesterday I got a little taste of the additional convenience that comes from it. We were laying hardwood laminate in the dining room. I set up a small computer speaker set, propped up my tablet on the counter in its neat yet weird little folio case, fired up Subsonic, and away we went with some Pearl Jam in a matter of 20 seconds. Then it was back to laying the floor. Sure, if you have a laptop with music on it, this is just as easy. If you have an iPod, yes you could just connect it and be done with it. But I didn't... and seeing as though my Sansa hasn't been updated in a super long time and I really wanted to listen to the FLAC's of the new concert I just got, and also considering my laptop setup hasn't been completed since I had to replace the HDD, it just reminded me how convenient services like this can be.
My long term goal is to pick up four 2TB drives and set up a RAID5. With that amount of space I can have anything and everything saved on the server in media folders without having to worry about space, whereas now with only 500GB to dish out, it's a little more food for thought.
At any rate, Subsonic is worth looking into if anybody out there has your own music collection that you want to access a bit easier. It's basically like Google Music, except on your own box. I decided not to use Google Music, despite their super nice 20,000 song upload cap, mostly because my DSL upload speeds are pretty bad... it would have taken me weeks to upload my music library. Installing Subsonic locally on my box, donating a few bucks to unlock the premium mobile license, and attaching my Android devices to my server via the Subsonic app was easily the best solution existent.
While I'm clearly advocating how nice it is to have a home server handle all of these tasks, that doesn't mean I'm oblivious to the consequences that come from a lack of pro-active backup steps. Back up your data. That server isn't fail proof.
Cheers.
