Linux iTunes Server
I haven’t tried it yet, but it is possible to set up Linux as an iTunes server, allowing any Windows or Apple machines on the network running iTunes to browse and play any music on that server. This sounds ideal for me, as my music collection lives on my desktop PC that usually runs Linux, while my wife and I often use our wireless laptops. This should even allow us to easily sync music to out iPods, albeit over the relatively slow 54Mbps wireless connection (which is why I usually just hook up my iPod to my desktop for this purpose). My alternative solution would have been to simply access my music library using a Samba share, but exposing it as an iTunes server sounds like a much better solution.
The two main components that are required in order to set this up are:
- daapd, the server for the “digital audio access protocol” that iTunes uses
- mDNSResponder, the Apple Rendezvous multicast DNS advertiser
Here are the instructions for setting up an iTunes server on Gentoo Linux. Sounds pretty straightforward, so this might be my next weekend project.
March 29th, 2005 at 8:33 pm
There is another project that emulates iTunes streaming server. It’s called mt-daapd. I’ve used it successfully on RedHat Linux distro. The advantage is that it includes the rendez-vous multicast so you don’t need to install mDNSResponder seperatly. Unfortunatly, both solutions suffer from the same problem as they do not allow sharing of .m4p drm protected files that you can buy on the iTunes music store. This is why I resorted to buy a mini and set it up as a jukebox, using iTunes built-in sharing service.
March 29th, 2005 at 9:17 pm
Thanks for the link, I’ll check it out as well.
At this point, I don’t really care about the DRM protected iTunes content, as I haven’t bought any and am not planning on doing so any time soon. First of all, I strongly dislike the idea of paying money for DRM-crippled content, and second the price point of $10 for a full album is way too high, particularly since I can buy most CDs for $12 to $14 from Amazon (and have them shipped to me for free within 2 days using Amazon Prime).
Maybe I should look into PyMusique…
I’d be perfectly willing to pay about $5 - $6 for a downloadable album if it doesn’t come with any restrictions, and ideally if the artist gets a bigger cut from it than they currently get from iTunes (see Downhill Battle).
April 19th, 2005 at 6:05 am
” This should even allow us to easily sync music to out iPods”
Can you do this - sync that is? My understanding was that you can listen to all shared songs, but not copy or sync them to your iPod. Am I incorrect or have you been able to do this?
April 24th, 2005 at 8:34 am
To be honest, I’m not sure. I thought this was possible, but I haven’t had a chance to actually try this out yet.