MusicServer DIY

All Linux / Raspberry PI audio streaming servers are way too heavy. I wrote my own with just a few lines of PHP and JavaScript code.

I sold my complete audio equipment a few days ago. Amplifier, reel to reel, cassette deck, all gone. If you want to enjoy analog sound, you’ll have to maintain the vintage equipment. But my heart wasn’t in it any more – so I sold everything to someone who may enjoy it more than I do (today). I kept my speakers, but – what to do with them?

I have a fairly large database of audios – why not play those? But each and every music server software I found was just overblown. I just want to be able to play my own songs which are safely stored on my raid, no need for fancy meta data display, no requirement to contact outside databases or services. Instead of spending a day or two to get volumio (or others) setup, I wrote my own server.

Here are my requirements: Scan the directory tree, present it in an easy way in the web, allow me to select songs, create playlists or play a complete directory. Play everything – from way to DSF.

So – you need to have a server that actually does the heavy lifting (in terms of playing) and, of course, that’s what mpd is for. Now we need to do the song selection, presentation and communication with mpd. My PHP scripts do that. While I was typing away, Amazon delivered my new amplifier, a S.M.S.L AO300 pro – I have it’s small brother sitting under my monitor for many years – it sounds just fine and never gave me trouble.

Anyway – I hooked it on to the Raspberry Pi 4, selected USB as input source, clicked on DSD in the displayed tree and was able to listen to Second Balcony Jump by Dexter Gordon.

Sweet.

So – all in all, my setup consists of sshfs to mount the RAID onto my Raspi, mpd, apache2 and my player scripts. No fuss, just an easy to use interface without gimmicks.

That’s all. Contact me if you want the source scripts.

Michaela Merz is an entrepreneur and first generation hacker. Her career started even before the Internet was available. She invented and developed a number of technologies now considered to be standard in modern web-environments. She is a software engineer, a Medical Rescue volunteer, an Advanced Emergency Medical Technician, a FAA Part 61 (PPL , IFR) , Part 107 certified UAS pilot and a licensed ham . More about Michaela ..