Plex/Emby/Jellyfin Not so much for Music?


Derek_

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So i'm the old guy who keeps all of his music in directories and i've never created a playlist *ever*. I just go fine the song/s i want to play and drag them into my desktop player and play. But lately i've been wanting to stream music and obviously my old-school methods don't cut it. But i'm also not the kind of person who is going to devise 150 playlists. I might have half a dozen - as i don't generally sort my music into genre except for "harder" stuff like old-school rap music (80s/90s mainly) and techno/house/trance mixups. Simply being able to select a genre or artist from the metadata without having to make a playlist would be nice.

 

I've had a bit of a play with Emby for my music collection and i do find it a bit clunky. While i quite like Emby for video - I'm not a huge fan of the interface for music. I see there's a few music-specific Dockers but i don't know anyone who uses them. What's a good starting point? FWIW i have Denon HEOS equipment at home (just one speaker and an amp) but the HEOS app is... well... not fun to use.

 

Pointers from those more experienced than myself are appreciated.

Edited by Derek_
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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 5 months later...

I too am in the same boat.  Prior to setting up an unRAID server I used to use Logitech's Squeezebox Media Server on my Windows server.  That is still up and running, but my old Squeezebox devices are slowly dying off one by one.  So not only am I looking for new devices I am trying to figure out the server end of it as well. 

 

I am looking for a good way to serve up my music files both locally and remotely.  Getting ready to play around with Jellyfin and see what happens.  PLEX just isn't cutting for me as a music player. 

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On 2/8/2020 at 1:27 AM, Derek_ said:

So i'm the old guy who keeps all of his music in directories and i've never created a playlist *ever*. I just go fine the song/s i want to play and drag them into my desktop player and play. But lately i've been wanting to stream music and obviously my old-school methods don't cut it. But i'm also not the kind of person who is going to devise 150 playlists. I might have half a dozen - as i don't generally sort my music into genre except for "harder" stuff like old-school rap music (80s/90s mainly) and techno/house/trance mixups. Simply being able to select a genre or artist from the metadata without having to make a playlist would be nice.

 

I've had a bit of a play with Emby for my music collection and i do find it a bit clunky. While i quite like Emby for video - I'm not a huge fan of the interface for music. I see there's a few music-specific Dockers but i don't know anyone who uses them. What's a good starting point? FWIW i have Denon HEOS equipment at home (just one speaker and an amp) but the HEOS app is... well... not fun to use.

 

Pointers from those more experienced than myself are appreciated.

Have you tried Plexamp?  It's actually REALLY good, at least that's what I use on my mobile devices.  I hope they bring it to the TV interface, it's done very well.  https://plexamp.com/

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I was collecting cd's and ripping them to my workstations for ages before I started to use Plex (Used Plex long before using unraid as my base server system ;) )

I use Plex for all my media needs and am very happy with the setup for a number of years now.

I have a Tidal account integrated into my plex library for streaming content.

To play music only (for example in the car) I use the allready mentioned PlexAmp App on my phone which can also be operated in the car via Apple's CarPlay features.

Edited by Kevek79
typo
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Yes I have a Plex pass (Lifetime) and I would strongly suggest to have a plex pass if you want to use the whole range of features Plex can deliver.

 

I am in no way, shape or form connected to Plex Inc. and the system is by far not flawless but still the best solution for my needs (and a lot of my friends) to date.

 

Tidal is a Streaming / Music Shop Service like Apple Music or Spotify.

On one hand you can buy music on tidal (Which I do not)  like in the iTunes Store but also you can have a monthly subscription like with Spotify.

This Subscription allows you to play all the content in the tidal catalog.

The nice thing is, that I can link Tidal content into my music library and it will be displayed side by side with the music on my own server.

So lets say you have two albums of one artist in your Plex Library. With Tidal integration you will be presented with other albums of the same artist and you can "add" those albums to your library.

 

Edited by Kevek79
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On 8/6/2020 at 2:14 AM, Kevek79 said:

The nice thing is, that I can link Tidal content into my music library and it will be displayed side by side with the music on my own server.

So lets say you have two albums of one artist in your Plex Library. With Tidal integration you will be presented with other albums of the same artist and you can "add" those albums to your library.

I presume you have to share your Plex out of your network? I'd love it if i could just upload my music collection and have the app use that.

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On 8/5/2020 at 12:57 AM, Michael_P said:

I've been using Subsonic for 10 years now, one of the few reasons I keep my WHS running in a VM. It just works.

 

Looks pretty good from a quick look on YouTube. Doesn't look like there's a supported Docker for unRAID as yet :(

 

 

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4 minutes ago, Derek_ said:

 

Looks pretty good from a quick look on YouTube. Doesn't look like there's a supported Docker for unRAID as yet :(

 

 

Take a look at Airsonic, its a newer fork of the original Subsonic project  (which went closed source) and maintains compatibility with many of the same clients.

 

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20 minutes ago, Derek_ said:

I presume you have to share your Plex out of your network? I'd love it if i could just upload my music collection and have the app use that.

To have your music on the go wherever you are, for sure you need to make Plex available outside your own network.

Not sure what you want to achieve, and what that has to do with Tidal integration ?

But from what I understand, at least the authentication for the plexAmp player runs over your Plex account and their servers.

The media streaming within your network between Plex Server and PlexAmp app should be direct as far as I know. But I can test in the evening if necesary.

Edited by Kevek79
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4 minutes ago, Kevek79 said:

But I can test in the evening if necesary.

 

That's ok, thanks. I don't want to open up anything outside my network. I just want it for home. I'm not a fan of the Plex/Emby style interface either. Perhaps with the PlexAmp app it's better than just Plex? Is it usable without buying into the premium? (i am currently trialling Emby for video).

Edited by Derek_
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16 minutes ago, tjb_altf4 said:

Take a look at Airsonic, its a newer fork of the original Subsonic project  (which went closed source) and maintains compatibility with many of the same clients.

 

Oh, now that is interesting. Thank you :)

 

So Airsonic is to Subsonic what Jellyfin is to Emby. I like it :)

 

EDIT: And their logo is an otter. Sold :D

Edited by Derek_
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32 minutes ago, Derek_ said:

 

Perhaps with the PlexAmp app it's better than just Plex? Is it usable without buying into the premium? (i am currently trialling Emby for video).

I like the PlexAmp interface better in regard to music playing than the standard PlexApp.

You need to have an active PlexPass to use PlexAmp.

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On 8/7/2020 at 3:44 AM, Kevek79 said:

I like the PlexAmp interface better in regard to music playing than the standard PlexApp.

You need to have an active PlexPass to use PlexAmp.

 

I use Tidal a lot via the mobile android app, when using Tidal in PlexAmp do you think the Tidal experience is as good as using Tidal directly?  Also, do you happen to know if you can play to a Chromcast audio device like you can in the Tidal app?

 

One issue I had with Tidal in the regular Plex app is it didnt play Tidal music in the "Master" resolution, it downgraded all of those to just HiFi....but I pay the more expensive Tidal subscription to have the Master quality. Any experiences with that?

 

Do you set up the Plex server Unraid app to point to your music share so it shows up in Plex, then use the PlexAmp app to control it? 

 

Thanks!

Edited by SPOautos
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On 9/26/2020 at 10:27 PM, SPOautos said:

 

I use Tidal a lot via the mobile android app, when using Tidal in PlexAmp do you think the Tidal experience is as good as using Tidal directly?  Also, do you happen to know if you can play to a Chromcast audio device like you can in the Tidal app?

 

One issue I had with Tidal in the regular Plex app is it didnt play Tidal music in the "Master" resolution, it downgraded all of those to just HiFi....but I pay the more expensive Tidal subscription to have the Master quality. Any experiences with that?

 

Do you set up the Plex server Unraid app to point to your music share so it shows up in Plex, then use the PlexAmp app to control it? 

 

Thanks!

I use PlexAmp while driving in the car via carplay.

I nearly never use the tidal app itself.

Management of Music from Tidal that I want to listen to, I do perform from the Plex Web App.

Don't know about converting the Master quality to something else as I do not use a high quality HiFi system myself (I only have a standard Tidal subscription).

My PlexAmp App is connected to my Plex server's music library which has Tidal content linked into it.

 

I think my usecase might not be the same than yours ;)

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8 minutes ago, Kevek79 said:

I use PlexAmp while driving in the car via carplay.

I nearly never use the tidal app itself.

Management of Music from Tidal that I want to listen to, I do perform from the Plex Web App.

Don't know about converting the Master quality to something else as I do not use a high quality HiFi system myself (I only have a standard Tidal subscription).

My PlexAmp App is connected to my Plex server's music library which has Tidal content linked into it.

 

I think my usecase might not be the same than yours ;)

 

Thanks for getting back! Yes, different use case...I do play in the car, but mostly play at home with a pretty high resolving stereo system. 

 

I went ahead and installed PlexAmp and can confirm a few things. It does lower the Tidal Master quality down to regular. Also, you can use it with Chromecast.

 

I did some research and the only players that Tidal lists as having their Tidal Master support are Roon and Audivarna. I'm testing out Roon since it has a Unraid docker....super nice, I like it a lot....but crazy expensive at $120 annually.  Audivarna is $95 lifetime, but only installs in Windows so I'd need to run it in a VM. Also with Roon it only plays local, even with the mobile app....apparently people use a VPN back to their local network as a work around.

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For whatever it's worth, I took advantage of a recent PLEX Lifetime Pass special ($89) and started using PLEXAmp.  Other than the delay due to my discs spinning back up, I really couldn't be happier with it.  Great platform. 

 

But that may change when I add a high-end streaming player to my system. 

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