Stream your Entire Music Library to Any Computer
Serious audiophiles like to be close to their music. Our previous DIY Multi-Room Wireless Music Remote was just one way to take your music anywhere you want. With these two free programs and a bit of configuration, you can stream your own music from anywhere you’d like. With the two program setup, you can also stream songs over the internet for friends to enjoy.
The tutorial guides you through the 6 steps of launching your stream:
- Install an Apache server
- Install netjukebox
- Secure your server
- Setup netjukebox
- Link your music library
- Stream your music remotely
Setup your PC as a server platform with the installation of Apache. Use XAMPP, the open source and cross-platform web server package. XAMPP packages MySQL, PHP and Perl in a single zip or exe file. Download and run with minimal configuration of the various components that make up the web server.
netjukebox is an open source, flexible, web based Winamp/httpQ media jukebox. It can be configured as a client/server to stream music from any computer that’s a part of the network. The downloaded netjukebox needs to be extracted in XAMPP’s htdocs directory. Provided codecs along with netjukebox go into another subfolder. The login screen of the media jukebox is accessed by typing a URL in the browser.
Securing your server installation is a priority. The tutorial walks through the steps needed to setup a secure admin username and a root password for the XAMPP and MySQL host. Passwords also sets-up XAMPP directory protection for protected access through browsers.
The media player is configured (just a few lines in Notepad) to locate the music library and read the codecs. This step also configures web access for the administrator with the correct server password.
Log on to the netjukebox administrator page with the browser and use the configuration panel to index all your songs in the music library. The user friendly program also updates your music collection with album covers automatically or manually using online databases.
Log in to your music library from anywhere using a browser and typing in your IP with the /netjukebox/ extension. Dynamic DNS is another option to access your songs without the hassle of IP addresses. For those behind a home router, the port forwarding technique solves the issue.
The how-to goes into each step in detail. Using the flexible freeware and a comparatively hassles free setup, you can play your tunes anywhere.
We have a vast gallery of tutorials for audio enthusiasts to enjoy. Check them out!
July 19th, 2009
Another good program to do this is VibeStreamer — http://www.vibestreamer.com/
July 19th, 2009
Or get Spotify…if you’re in the UK
September 25th, 2009
“Or get Spotify…if you’re in the UK”
I would consider that if they were any good and had a decent catalogue