So as the title suggests I’m looking to leave behind Spotify for many obvious reasons over the previous years.
I’m thinking that because of my fairly limited music library that I should just stick with an offline library. However I want the option to expand it as I find new music here and there.
I know that I can use things such as Jellyfin to organise a library on my PC, but are there good options to “sync” the library to my phone other than just simply drag and drop the media?
You can use Tailscale to connect to a server remotely and just stream all of your music.
And I would recommend Syncthing to sync a “favorites” folder to your phone so you always have your favorite music.
I’m not sure if Plex is still viable to stream your own music content without paying…but it is an option.
I found an old $5 mp3 player in a discount bin and get my CD’s from the local library where I convert them to mp3’s. CD’s from the library give you quite an eclectic mix of music. I just delete my mp3 files from time to time, knowing I can get them at the local library again.
However I want the option to expand it as I find new music here and there.
With Jellyfin or other self hosted media player you’ll be able to add files as you like. I usually buy music in FLAC format from Bandcamp and Qobuz to add to my own library. That’s in addition to other music I ripped from CDs over the years.
but are there good options to “sync” the library to my phone other than just simply drag and drop the media?
Some Jellyfin apps have an offline mode (Finamp is one of them) so you can stream music online from your Jellyfin server or mark albums/songs to download within the app and then be able to play that music offline. I use it since I don’t have unlimited mobile data but still want to have some music on my phone for offline play. Not sure if that’s the best way but so far it works for my usage.
That’s basically exactly what I’m doing, except I use Navidrome as my media server and Symfonium as my Android client. Works brilliantly for me, no complaints.
For some PD classical music.
My combo is Jellyfin+Symfonium
With Symfonium you can manually download playlists and favorites for offline, and/or have a “rolling cache” where the most frequent listens are automatically kept synced for offline listening.
My collection is far too large to keep on my phone in its entirety, but with Symfonium I don’t need to, and if I’m ever caught without internet, I’ve still plenty to listen to.
Jellyfin does not organize the music, it’s a way to browse and access it. For a nice client for desktop, look at Feishin.
To actually organize the music, you want something like Picard.
Is it on F-Droid? It’s a PITA to install play store apps because I’d have to install play store (bleh) so I’m hoping symfonium has a github or something so I could use Obtainium.
Symfonium is not open source. It is a paid app by a helpful and responsive sole dev.
If you want FOSS, that’s Finamp. But it is not as good. It does also implement offline play features.
The Symfonium dev has responded to and implemented two requests of mine, making me quite happy to pay for and mention their app.
🏴☠️"Drink up, me harties! YO-HO!"🏴☠️
Sailing the high seas is definitely on the cards!
If you don’t know about soulseek, hit up !soulseek@lemmy.dbzer0.com
It’s been by far the most effective way to actually find files.
Google EeveeSpotify, SpotX, and SpotC++ (depending on your platform of choice). Basically patches the stock app to remove ads and playback restrictions, plus other nice quality of life features.
Well, for starters you could start buying CDs again and then do your own FLAC rips from those.
Where do you gets CDs?
Thrift stores is a great place to start
Ironically, nowadays, it’s easier to get the LP. I buy them directly at the concert, and they come with a bandcamp voucher so you can also download the album.
For more popular band, you now get very nice albums fulls of goodies, which also feature a CD
Library
Now we’re talking
I get them from ebay. If you sort by lowest price + shipping first, you can pick up tons of music you’re looking for on the cheap. Just gotta be consistent in searching, as listings come and go all the time.
Thrift shops, dedicated music stores if any still exist in your local area, and even niche online stores like Discogs, among other sellers.
It’s gone downhill in some regards (enshittification for free accounts), but I’m still using Plex and plexamp for my audio setup. Works equivalent to a self hosted Spotify.
Have you considered a DAP (Digital Audio Player)? It’s an MP3 player. The beginner ones people like are typically the Innioasis Y1 and the Fiio Snowsky Echo. There’s a million options. I have the Y1. I like it so much that I’ll probably invest in a high quality.
Connect with USB and drag and drop.
This is one thing I have definitely considered! Do they come with Bluetooth as this would be good for the car too!
Yes they pretty much all do
I went back to using a DAP in the car, at work, and on the go. Migrating back to single-function devices is the way.
If you are already doing Jellyfin, you can sync as much or little to your phone as you want. Just use finamp. It’s a very nice player for Android that connects to your Jellyfin and allows you to download any synced music on the go or stream it directly.
I have nextcloud server and Inuse Power Ampache 2 to stream directly from it
Syncthing might work for your usecase.
this might not be entirely true
It only syncs if both devices are in the same network though.
You can use synchting even if you are not in your local network. You can enable global discovery in the settings. Synching then connects to their server to provide the correct IP to your corresponding devices. Your devices connect directly with each other via P2P. Just like torrents.
But it means my computer has to be always on doesn’t it
Im using syncthing to sync my music with my phone. It’s really easy to setup and reliable. As a mediaplay on your PC I can really recommend Fooyin cause it’s fast, highly customizable, and has good searching functionality. On my Phone I’m running Symphony. Everything is FOSS of course :)
If you have a ugreen nas. I suggest the ugreen nas app as the music player. It has one feature i have been missing from all other players:
Delete from your playing source (network storage)
You can selfhost a navidrome server and stream the files from there. I dont know how tech savy you are but that is what I do.
