Remote Streaming - worth it?

[matka]

1) installed subsonic on same system as lms (mine is a bananapi)

2) both access same music store (in this case a very large HD attached to the bananapi's sata port)

3) subsonic app on phone streams to my cars stereo over bluetooth (HQ)

subsonic has built in realtime transcoding and automatically converts my flacs to 128bit mp3 in realtime and streams them to my phone over 3g just fine

subsonic also plays through a neat web front end.. awesome software... you can even give other people logins to upload there music or play/download yours with limited rights

PS If you put a large sdcard in your phone, subsonic cache's songs on first play, so over wifi at home cache first for play back later if in bad 3g area or no data allowance !

same here, streaming using subsonic and Android clients for years, it kind of solves the streaming from home issue on all fronts. As you said, awesome.

[atrocity]

That's all gone once I installed hostap. That works great, but the "down side" is that you need to configure fix IP addresses on the phone and on the BPI. You could probably even fix that by using some sort of lightweight DHCP server on the BPI. The fix IP thing isn't that bad; my iPhone remembers the profile of my CarSqueeze and it doesn't interfere with other profiles on my iPhone. Bottom line, I'm happy with how it works today.

Thank you for suggesting this and giving me the kick I needed to get it set up. I followed the instructions at https://frillip.com/using-your-raspb...-with-hostapd/ and it worked the first time. The setup detailed there includes a DHCP server, but obviously you're happy without one.

One thing I learned immediately is that once I tell my phone to connect to the Pi, it assumes it will receive all data from there even though when it connects it warns that there's no Internet. That means no Google Maps or anything else that would normally use cellular data. Or at least that's the case on Android, maybe that's another thing Apple does better. The fix is simply to start the music, then turn off the phone's wifi until the next time it's needed. On the upside, the access point method means server discovery works in OrangeSqueeze, which wasn't the case with tethering. If I really want to go overboard, I can just take along an old phone strictly for use for LMS control. Since I occasionally drive for Lyft, that might be a fun toy for the passengers to play with.

[atrocity]

same here, streaming using subsonic and Android clients for years, it kind of solves the streaming from home issue on all fronts. As you said, awesome.

It looks pretty straightforward and at $1/month not exactly expensive. But if I already have a VPN for streaming to my cell phone, is there really an advantage? I'm not trying to argue or badmouth, I'm genuinely curious if it's something I should try.

[epoch1970]

once I tell my phone to connect to the Pi, ... it warns that there's no Internet.

You followed the Frilip guide, you might try changing dnsmasq.conf like this:
a) Comment or remove "bind-interfaces". It is not needed and is a potential source of problems at startup.
b) Add "dhcp-option=3". Just like that. This removes default gateway information from the dhcp lease sent by the server. With a little chance, your phone will keep its current default route to the Internet, and you will be able to access both wifi LAN and Internet at the same time.
You can also add "dhcp-option=6" to wipe out DNS server information in the same way, although if what gets sent is 8.8.8.8 as in the Frilip config, it won't have any effect.

[matka]

It looks pretty straightforward and at $1/month not exactly expensive. But if I already have a VPN for streaming to my cell phone, is there really an advantage? I'm not trying to argue or badmouth, I'm genuinely curious if it's something I should try.

I'm not sure I understand where the VPN (as in Virtual Private Network) comes into play, unless you need to encrypt when you stream tunes from home to your phone ...
Must be a misunderstanding.

[mherger]

>> It looks pretty straightforward and at $1/month not exactly expensive.
>> But if I already have a VPN for streaming to my cell phone, is there
>> really an advantage? I'm not trying to argue or badmouth, I'm genuinely
>> curious if it's something I should try.
> I'm not sure I understand where the VPN (as in Virtual Private Network)
> comes into play, unless you need to encrypt when you stream tunes from
> home to your phone ...

You don't want to just open the LMS port to the internet.

http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?107165


--

Michael

[matka]

>> It looks pretty straightforward and at $1/month not exactly expensive.
>> But if I already have a VPN for streaming to my cell phone, is there
>> really an advantage? I'm not trying to argue or badmouth, I'm genuinely
>> curious if it's something I should try.
> I'm not sure I understand where the VPN (as in Virtual Private Network)
> comes into play, unless you need to encrypt when you stream tunes from
> home to your phone ...

You don't want to just open the LMS port to the internet.

http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?107165


--

Michael

Ok, I understand now. I thought the discussion is about functionality of streaming services, in that regard I think Subsonic is better suited to the task than LMS . Security of such connections, LMS or Subsonic or any other, seems to me another topic.

[teeitup]

I started this thread and appreciate the responses.

My solution was to use a Pi running Max2Play instead of streaming.
M2P is a nice solution. It runs LMS and SqueezeLite.
I installed the Access Point plug-in.
For now I'm using the Pi's earphone plug to connect to the car stereo.
My phone easily connects to the AP. I was surprised by the range and stability of the M2P's AP network. M2P has a web based admin solution built-in making controlling the system easy and convenient.

Using Orange Squeeze on my phone I can control LMS just like the home setup.
(Maybe a WiFi enabled device of some sort to act as a controller is in order. This would free up my phone. Anyone have any ideas?)

I purchased an ExpertPower 20000mAh Ultra High Capacity External Battery Power Bank for Smartphone & Tablets. Only $16.99 on Amazon with free delivery (prime).

The initial test produced 17 hours of play time on a 50% charge.
Recharging the power bank form 0% took 14 hours.

This last weekend I took it on the road. I'm very pleased with the results. The setup is still working on that first full charge and the power bank indicates 75% left. Sometimes I paused the playlist other times just let it play. I shut it down when I was done driving for the day and restarted it when loading the car.

Next step is to come up with a case of some type to use for my mobile setup.

The Pi with M2P has a Bluetooth plugin. So far I have been unable to get Bluetooth to work/pair. The wife's SUV has Bluetooth so I'll have to work on that some more.

I now have s fully functional LMS, excluding online service and radio stations, running in the car.

[kidstypike]

I started this thread and appreciate the responses.

My solution was to use a Pi running Max2Play instead of streaming.
M2P is a nice solution. It runs LMS and SqueezeLite.
I installed the Access Point plug-in.
For now I'm using the Pi's earphone plug to connect to the car stereo.
My phone easily connects to the AP. I was surprised by the range and stability of the M2P's AP network. M2P has a web based admin solution built-in making controlling the system easy and convenient.

Using Orange Squeeze on my phone I can control LMS just like the home setup.
(Maybe a WiFi enabled device of some sort to act as a controller is in order. This would free up my phone. Anyone have any ideas?)

I purchased an ExpertPower 20000mAh Ultra High Capacity External Battery Power Bank for Smartphone & Tablets. Only $16.99 on Amazon with free delivery (prime).

The initial test produced 17 hours of play time on a 50% charge.
Recharging the power bank form 0% took 14 hours.

This last weekend I took it on the road. I'm very pleased with the results. The setup is still working on that first full charge and the power bank indicates 75% left. Sometimes I paused the playlist other times just let it play. I shut it down when I was done driving for the day and restarted it when loading the car.

Next step is to come up with a case of some type to use for my mobile setup.

The Pi with M2P has a Bluetooth plugin. So far I have been unable to get Bluetooth to work/pair. The wife's SUV has Bluetooth so I'll have to work on that some more.

I now have s fully functional LMS, excluding online service and radio stations, running in the car.

Sounds good, I'm interested.
Where are your music files stored?

[teeitup]

Sounds good, I'm interested.
Where are your music files stored?

I maintain a parallel mp3 copy of my flac library. I use the Robin Bowes flac2mp3 script.
LMS says I have 661 albums. The mp3 copy fits on a 64GB flash drive. It's easy to run rsync to keep it up to date when I add new albums. (PNY Elite-X Fit 64GB 200MB/sec USB 3.0 Flash Drive (P-FDI64GEXFIT-GE) It's small profile ensures it stays in place.

I figure with engine and road noise mp3 versions sound just fine in the car.