MP3 Jukebox Software With Networking?

Milo_Mindbender asks: "I need a jukebox that supports networking with copies of itself on other computers. The main feature I'm looking for is the ability to have different MP3 files on different computers but keep a single master catalog covering all songs on all the jukeboxes you can access. If you request a song that isn't on your machine, the jukebox that has it would stream or copy it to you. I've seen a number of packages but the documentation isn't clear enough to tell if they have this feature and how well it works. The setup of each package is too involved for me to try them all. Any recommendations from people who have actually used this kind of software would be appreciated."

Re:Why not file share??

[anacron]

This is what I'm building. It's written in Java, so it's cross platform. Also, you can specify different 'mounting points' for the root of MP3 directories. They could be on the same machine, or on multiple machines. I have a helper program which then goes out and reads the ID3 tags and tries to put them into the database ... if nothing is found it tries to guess using the filename, and if that doesn't work, it lets you specify.

Also, my program has the ability for different users to assign adjectives (categories) to different songs.. so you may call one thing "electronica" where I might call it "bristol breakbeat" .. then using the playlist manager you can specify that you want to only hear 'bristol breakbeat' songs ..

The whole application is basically a data-driven user-centric mp3 catelog that also happens to serve up Mp3 files.

I should have at least a beta available in the next few months. I have a lot of functionality already in place, it's just a matter of bringing it together.

My personal pick

[Benley]

While searching Sourceforge [sourceforge.net] revealed bunches of MP3 jukebox apps, the one I use and find to be very cool is Globecom Jukebox. It also has a Sourceforge page [sourceforge.net]. I think this one can be configured to do just what you're asking, involving transferring files between multiple networked jukeboxes, as well as Icecast streaming to you if you want. I use it on my personal machine a bit, and it makes a great multi-user jukebox in my office where many people queue up songs - it's quite nifty.

ftp based.....

[Garion911]

I've been slowly working on a FTP based MP3 player.. Python based... Runs console only... Uses mpg123.. Doesn't handle multiple servers, but could be done fairly simply... It connects the the FTP server,recurses the directories looking for mp3 extensions, and then lets you build a playlist.. It'll then transfer one file at a time to the player... I'm working on getting to cache a couple songs at time now, but the basics work..

I'll probably be posting something on Freshmeat in a few weeks..

webplay

[cswan]

I'm personally using webplay at the moment. It's located at:

http://webplay.sourceforge.net/

Like someone else mentioned, the solution you're probably looking for is to NFS mount or SMB mount the drives on the other machines, then have a linux box serve all the files up.

At the heart of them, all your mp3 player apps are going to be just about the same. The compelling feature of webplay, for me, is the ability to stream mp3s to you at any desired bitrate. So on the local net, I just do native bitrate. But when away, I stream at 96kbit, because my pokey DSL upsteam can't handle much more. On-the-fly bitrate changing is handled via Lame on the server.

I'm building one

[anacron]

I'm building one in Java/J2EE. If you'd like to help, reply to this. :)

There are a few features that the existing ones don't have that I have put in mine .. the ability to support multiple users listening to multiple songs at the same time .. the ability to create custom playlists for unique users, the ability to auto-create playlists (similar to musicmatch jukebox), etc. I also want this to be a web interface set up on a server in my house, and have terminals be able to hit it and stream music to a particular room, or to piggy-back on an existing playlist/stream.

I haven't decided if I will opensource it yet. I expect to be complete with at least a beta within the next two months. I'm hoping the free J2EE servers will be robust enough to handle EJBs by that time. Enhydra, last I checked, doesn't.

anacron

A better way

[anacron]

There are two ways Mp3s can be streamed from servers. The first is the shoutcast model, where UDP packets are sent to multiple IP addresss at the same time. The second method is to do what MP3.com does and let the client side "stream" the file from the server.

The second method has the advantage that you can push playlists to the client, and allow the client to move through the playlists without having to change anyone else's stream. That is, you basically have N streams running for N users, and each user can navigate their own stream independently.

In the shoutcast model, you have 1 stream for N users, and changing the stream (by controlling it through the jukebox) affects all users.

I personally prefer the Mp3.com model, as it allows more control over the end user, but it's not as scalable as the shoutcast model.

anacron

Mp3Mystic - Close

[Chainsaw76]

I am the Author of MP3Mystic [mp3mystic.com] which is a personal MP3 Server (Streaming as well as Downloading) supporting multiple paths (i.e. network paths) and drives. on the down side MP3Mystic is only supported on Windows (9x/me/2000). www.mp3mystic.com Email me if you have any questions.

-Jason

mymusic/mp3sb + NFS?

[psychosis]

There are two packages - mymusic is on freshmeat, and mp3 server box [mp3sb.org] - that do something like what you are looking for. If you combine one of them with NFS mounts of the different machines' music directories, I think you'll have something close to what you need.
If that doesn't do the trick, I'm sure that minor tweaking of the code of either project should get you there.

Why not file share??

[Milo_Mindbender]

Some people have suggested just using NFS or other file sharing setups to share the MP3 drives between multiple machines. I don't think this would work too well if some of the machines wern't on the same physical LAN (say, one at home on cable modem, several at work on a T1). It also might expose you to potential security holes. This is why I was hoping to find a networkable jukebox, it would seem a jukebox software with a very limited streaming/copy system would be less likely to be a security problem.

Having a jukebox with some serving ability makes it easier to control load, like how many streams you send at a time. Also, I was hoping for something that was (or could be made) cross-platform and nearly transparent to the user so users don't have to go through setting up NFS or other filesharing stuff.

It seemed like the best approach would be to have a jukebox with a batch of "local" songs and a web-style cache of popular "non-local" songs and the ability to send/receive realtime playable streams between jukeboxes. Hook that up to a database of what's on other people's machines with an automatic transfer to your local cache and you've got something that can cheaply serve huge amounts of content, without a central site.

Why?

[Bud]

Of course it would be neat-o to have networked jukeboxes, but I don't see what you are trying to accomplish that you can't do with either OpenNap or simple file sharing. Granted, hiding OpenNap into a jukebox would be quite cool. Put a tune on your wish list, and the local napster daemon downloads it for you within the hour. :-)

--Bud