This one is actually a pretty big deal to me. I’ve got a sizable music collection, nearly completely managed by iTunes...we’ll try to avoid a discussion regarding the general shittiness of iTunes just now...along with a collection of movies and tv shows, also managed by iTunes, that I like to watch regularly. My listening and viewing habits are such that having access to my own files that I’ve ripped or purchased is much more valuable to me than any of the available subscription services. I have built my collection because I enjoy what I’ve collected, and intend to consume it.
So, what am I getting at? I want to be able to listen to my music and watch my videos on my Cr-48, and Android for that matter, without paying someone (other than my ISP) for access rights to files stored on my computers. As a side note, no I will not pay money to a “locker” service to access my own stuff. That’s why I have a WHS.
Music is covered pretty well. The single server application Audiogalaxy gives me access on the Cr-48, Android, and even my iPod touch. It covers all of the file types in my library, including FLAC (although this doesn’t work in the browser yet), and it just works. You download the server app, point it at your music folders, let it scan your data, log in to the Audiogalaxy web site with your account, and there’s your music collection.
The UI is about as simple as it gets, but it is an extremely good design. It lists music in terms of Artists, Albums, or Playlists; basically how I would expect my CD collection to appear on the shelf. It also has a genre tab which is pretty cool, but not of great use to me just yet.
The problem there is video. It isn’t supported, and I don’t know if it ever will be.
My second option seems to be the Orb/Winamp remote server. I don’t like this thing. The interface is ugly and clunky, they have the guts to charge for poorly implemented mobile clients, and it doesn’t support all of the formats in my music collection. The one thing it has is video support...sort of...I can browse my video collection, load up a file, and in a little while, literally a few minutes, nothing happens. I’ve tried to work with this thing on and off for the last year or so, and I have yet to successfully watch a video of any format. I keep coming back to Orb server because it advertises itself so well as a server that will allow me to stream my own audio and video from my own server, and every time I try, I end up as disappointed as the last time I tried. In fact, the only reason I even bring this up is because I keep hoping they’ve done something to improve it.
Finally, and into an experiment here, there is TVersity. You download and install the server on the computer that has access to your media files, set up the server to share over the internet, and point your browser to your shared ip address, and there’s your media. I won’t likely be using this for music for a couple of reasons. The UI tries to be comprehensive, and ends up just being messy, my playlists are gone, and surprisingly, through the flash UI the playback was a little choppy. For video, however, this worked out pretty cool. I tried a handful of files in different formats, long movies, tv episodes, and music videos, and all played quite well. I can’t believe I haven’t tried this sooner.
The major drawback I’ve found in about an hour of futzing around is the same issue I have with music. The UI tries to be comprehensive, and ends up generally sucking. This is one place where iTunes has really done a pretty good job. If you can get the UI to respond in a timely manner, it’s a very nice layout, and people could take a lesson from Apple’s design guys.
In short, today’s playing around can be summerized as follows:
If you’re like me, and you have a personal collection on your own server that you want to stream from anywhere,
For streaming your music to anything, including the Cr-48, you can’t beat Audiogalaxy. It’s simple, intuitive, and just works.
For streaming your video to a browser that supports flash, including the Cr-48, TVersity free edition is a cool option. It transcodes on the fly, and streams over flash to provide a comfortable viewing experience, but I am not a fan of the file system based navigation.
Most importantly, it is possible to access your personal music and video collection through the browser of the Cr-48, and if you own your own server space, you can do it for free.
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