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<[email protected]> |
On 09/13/2018 08:17 AM, 'M' [email protected] [EAC] wrote:
> additional tag(s) that can show various definable attributes (summer
> tune, 70’s, driving, etc.) which could be used to develop play lists
Seems like a good use of the GENRE tag. You can have multiple instances
of GENRE without causing problems.
> a media player that can play based on pointing to the location of
> the files rather than absorbing the files into the player
A dirt-cheap Raspberry Pi with an added HiFiBerry soundcard
<https://www.hifiberry.com/> running piCorePlayer
<https://www.picoreplayer.org/> (free!) is the low-cost option I'm most
familiar with. Others like Sonos, but it's much, much more expensive,
closed-source and can only work with something like 64,000 tracks. The
Pi can either be completely self-contained by adding Logitech Media
Server (also free!) to handle library tasks, or it can be a standalone
player that connects to a server on another computer. If you want
pretty, you can even add a screen, though it works fine without one. The
Pi is all Linux under the hood, but there's no need to actually know
Linux at all to set it up and use it.
Depending on your needs, you can get a soundcard that outputs digital
bits or one that's a high-quality DAC. I'm a surround sound fan, so I
went the digital route as it's stable enough to work perfectly with DTS
and AC-3.
If you're comfortable fiddling around with things like VPNs, the
piCorePlayer option would also make it possible to stream your library
remotely, for example to your phone while you're in the car. If data
speed is an option, it can be configured to convert your FLAC files to
MP3 on the fly for streaming.
Sonos (and others) may have similar capabilities, I'm just not familiar
with them. The Pi option is such an exceptionally good value that I've
never been tempted to look at anything else. But many would be more
comfortable paying more to get the support of a large company, and I
completely understand that.
I've been using the server software in question for at least ten years
now and am still extremely happy with it.