Replacing Music Streaming Services with a Self-hosted Stack
blog.nfreak.tv
Replacing TV and movie streaming services is pretty trivial, and typically one of the first projects for any new self-hoster, but music streaming services are a whole different beast. There's a growing need to replace the likes of Spotify, but there's no one-size-fits-all solution, and maintaining an on-disk music library

Full disclosure, I’m pretty new to selfhosting myself, and I haven’t written a guide like this before, but hopefully this scatterbrained writeup is enough for someone out there lmao

This is just what works for me and how I set it up. Always open to ideas for improvement as well.

  • 3abas@lemmy.worldEnglish
    101·
    12 hours ago

    Annoyance: Can’t scan your music library from the PlexAmp app, can’t scan it from the Plex app either. Super frustrating when music as added and you have to struggle with pop-up navigation on the Plex desktop site on mobile.

    Game breaker: maybe it’s just really hard to find and undocumented, but there doesn’t seem to be a way to use profiles with PlexAmp, either to have individual play history and playlists, or to age restrict some music content.

    • Seefoo@lemmy.worldEnglish
      11·
      11 hours ago

      Dunno about plexamp, but Plex has an auto-scan built in. Its disabled by default, but works like a charm. It listens for new file events and general finds things before you complete a download or copy

      • 3abas@lemmy.worldEnglish
        41·
        10 hours ago

        I had issues with auto scan years ago, just re-enabled it and it’s working fine now so that’s resolved, thanks.

        The other issue is still a problem, and why I’ll be switching to Navidrome for music. Jellyfin wasn’t mature enough last time I tried to replace my lifetime Plex pass, but I have a feeling I’ll be ditching Plex entirely soon.

        • AtariDump@lemmy.worldEnglish
          6·
          9 hours ago

          In PlexAmp, on the bottom right, tap the gear. Tap account. Tap “switch user”.

          Now switch users.

        • dai@lemmy.worldEnglish
          3·
          9 hours ago

          You hosting your plex service for other users outside of your home? I’m finding the ease of access for other users / the wife is the largest driving point for me to continue using plex.

          I could configure a VPN and attach my jellyfin server to that network however that’s a large hurdle for some of the general population users I have on my plex currently.

          For something on-topic the wife and I agreed that she should move to the student sub as she’s studying and kick me off Spotify entirely. I’ve got until the EOM to get plexamp / something else self hosted. Interested to see what comes from this post as it’s pretty relevant for me right now.

          Admittedly I could Bluetooth to my head unit in my car and stream Grayjay music to it, but that’s just leaning on an unfree service.

          • blitzen@lemmy.caEnglish
            3·
            9 hours ago

            I love the idea of Jellyfin, but since I host for my extended family, and it has to be wife approved (re: easy) plex is the answer. If you already have a plex pass it’s annoying brainer. If you don’t, weigh the pros and cons because there are cons.

            Spool up an instance of Plex, and install PlexAmp. Put a handful of your favorite albums on it, see if you like the features and the interface.

            • dai@lemmy.worldEnglish
              2·
              6 hours ago

              Yer I host Plex for 10+ folks and it’s an easy send. Really wish I could pipe it through CloudFlare but not willing to risk it currently.

              I’ll give plexamp a go, man my tastes are all over the shop so it will be an album dump (that I should have done years ago) spinning up some old cds and the external dvd drive 😂

    • blitzen@lemmy.caEnglish
      61·
      10 hours ago

      There definitely can be profiles. You can either create fully new users (with their own logins, etc) or home users. Assign them restrictions as necessary. Of course this is all done in the plex web app, but user switching is done easily in PlexAmp.