[mythtv-users] mythmusic alternatives

[Phill Edwards]

> I've been using mythmusic for a while and it's okay, but I'd also like to
> find something better.  In my opinion, what I want is a music playing
> application that follows a server-client model.  Let me explain;
>
> You have a "music server" app running on your mythbox.  This app has no
> user interface, but it knows about your music collection, holds your
> playlists, and can play music on your speakers.  This app runs 24/7 in the
> background.
>
> You then have multiple "frontends" - these front ends talk to the "music
> server" backend.  They can get lists of songs, start a song playing, stop
> a song playing, get status info (what is playing, etc), they can manage
> playlists.  The idea here is that you have a "MythMusicFrontend" that is
> nicely integrated with Myth, and a WebFrontend that allows you to
> start/stop/manage playlists from a remote laptop / pda / whatever via your
> network.
>
> Maybe the server application also exports your library so you can play it
> in iTunes using mtdaapd in some way.
>
> I've not found anything that does this yet, but I've not looked very hard
> either.  I kind of think that vlc might have some of this functionality
> available, but I've never found time to look into it.

Slimserver does most, if not all, of this. You can even run a java
client on your Myth box (called Softaqueeze) which is controlled with
your IR remote. The main problem I find is one of window focus, and
also I find slimserver is quite resource hungry.