Using digital music library without a laptop/desktop/cloud access?
November 23, 2015 9:01 AM Subscribe
How can we play music from our massive library of tunes (~2TB), from our phones or tablets through our existing home stereo? A few snowflakes inside....
Mrs. FuzzyDog and I have a huge collection of music that is now digitized (YEA!) and we would like to play through our existing stereo speakers--or wireless speakers--the catch is neither of us spends much time on our laptops, we both do 99% of our computing on a tablets/smart phones, so most the time the laptops are sitting in their bags, turned off.
The best--yet still kludgy solution--I've come up with is something like a older Mac Mini outputting to the AUX input on our stereo, knowing said phones and tables could control the MM from afar.
I do not want to load all my tracks into to the cloud or pay for a service like music match.
Other ideas? Suggestions on solutions to use in place of iTunes for this application?
Thanks.
Mrs. FuzzyDog and I have a huge collection of music that is now digitized (YEA!) and we would like to play through our existing stereo speakers--or wireless speakers--the catch is neither of us spends much time on our laptops, we both do 99% of our computing on a tablets/smart phones, so most the time the laptops are sitting in their bags, turned off.
The best--yet still kludgy solution--I've come up with is something like a older Mac Mini outputting to the AUX input on our stereo, knowing said phones and tables could control the MM from afar.
I do not want to load all my tracks into to the cloud or pay for a service like music match.
Other ideas? Suggestions on solutions to use in place of iTunes for this application?
Thanks.
Oh wait, but the media is not on the phones? Never mind. Though if you reconsider the cloud/paying thing, you can do this with iTunes Match for $25/year.
posted by Rock Steady at 9:05 AM on November 23, 2015
posted by Rock Steady at 9:05 AM on November 23, 2015
Don't mess around with a Mac Mini. I've done that. Then you've got a whole other computer you need to update and stuff. I found the whole setup to be clunky, to require a lot of tweaking, and I still never quite got it working the way I wanted. If you actively enjoy regularly tweaking and frobnicating your computer setup, give it a shot.
Much easier to leave one of your existing Mac plugged in and get an Apple TV or Airport Express that you plug into your stereo. Put Apple's Remote app on your smartphones and tablet (I'm assuming you've got iOS devices, which might not be a safe assumption—there are other Airplay apps for Android, but I don't know much about them). This gives you a capsule version of the iTunes music-library navigation on your phone.
If you hook up an Apple TV to a TV, you can also navigate your music library via your TV. Ideally get a stereo with HDMI in/out ports; hook up the Apple TV to an HDMI-in and the TV to HDMI-out; you can use the system with the TV on or off, navigating either via smartphone app or the Apple TV interface.
posted by adamrice at 9:54 AM on November 23, 2015
Much easier to leave one of your existing Mac plugged in and get an Apple TV or Airport Express that you plug into your stereo. Put Apple's Remote app on your smartphones and tablet (I'm assuming you've got iOS devices, which might not be a safe assumption—there are other Airplay apps for Android, but I don't know much about them). This gives you a capsule version of the iTunes music-library navigation on your phone.
If you hook up an Apple TV to a TV, you can also navigate your music library via your TV. Ideally get a stereo with HDMI in/out ports; hook up the Apple TV to an HDMI-in and the TV to HDMI-out; you can use the system with the TV on or off, navigating either via smartphone app or the Apple TV interface.
posted by adamrice at 9:54 AM on November 23, 2015
My advice is to rethink using the cloud. Give me a moment.
I have a paid 1TB Dropbox account and I backup all my music there. There are a selection of apps that play this for Android and iPad. They are pretty clunky though, and you'd have to pay for Dropbox.
Second much better solution is Google Play Music. They give you a free 20,000 track account. That is a lot of cloud based music. The Google Music app sits on your desktop and watches a folder or your iTunes archive and will very quickly match up your tracks and upload any it can't find. The service is super fast and yes, FREEEEEE.
I have a LOT more than 20,000 tracks in my iTunes library, but I made a series of playlists and spent some time curating the music I really care about. Then Google Play Music watches only these playlists. Easy.
I recently bought a ChromeCast Audio and It. Is. Awesome. I can stream music from my Google Play account through a browser, tablet, my phone etc. It works like a dream. My girlfriend is signed into my account on her iPad and so she can play anything she likes too. When I add new music to iTunes Google Play uploads it automatically and it arrives in my online account more or less straight away. I am thinking of buying a second ChromeCast Audio for another room in my house = cheap and fantastic house-wide music.
posted by 0bvious at 11:22 AM on November 23, 2015
I have a paid 1TB Dropbox account and I backup all my music there. There are a selection of apps that play this for Android and iPad. They are pretty clunky though, and you'd have to pay for Dropbox.
Second much better solution is Google Play Music. They give you a free 20,000 track account. That is a lot of cloud based music. The Google Music app sits on your desktop and watches a folder or your iTunes archive and will very quickly match up your tracks and upload any it can't find. The service is super fast and yes, FREEEEEE.
I have a LOT more than 20,000 tracks in my iTunes library, but I made a series of playlists and spent some time curating the music I really care about. Then Google Play Music watches only these playlists. Easy.
I recently bought a ChromeCast Audio and It. Is. Awesome. I can stream music from my Google Play account through a browser, tablet, my phone etc. It works like a dream. My girlfriend is signed into my account on her iPad and so she can play anything she likes too. When I add new music to iTunes Google Play uploads it automatically and it arrives in my online account more or less straight away. I am thinking of buying a second ChromeCast Audio for another room in my house = cheap and fantastic house-wide music.
posted by 0bvious at 11:22 AM on November 23, 2015
We have a Sonos set up. I've got an external hard drive connected to the Bridge component of the system. Works great, is controlled via app on whatever device you have handy.
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 11:41 AM on November 23, 2015
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 11:41 AM on November 23, 2015
Do you have to control it from your phones or tablets? 'Cos a $50 media player w/infrared remote would otherwise fit the bill.
posted by ZenMasterThis at 11:11 AM on November 24, 2015
posted by ZenMasterThis at 11:11 AM on November 24, 2015
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by Rock Steady at 9:04 AM on November 23, 2015