How to listen to my music library from anywhere? Plex? Something Else?

[spyrelx]

I have a pretty bespoke music collection in itunes (apple music) - i.e., thousands and thousands of songs, many bootlegged, with very specific tagging. They are all currently sitting on my 2012 Mac Mini, which I run headeless via my macbook pro. The mini is connected via bluetooth and wire to various speakers. It works fine for at home use. Periodically, I will also download playlists to my iphone and listen to them on the go (the iPhone is backed up to, and syncs with, the mini).

As I say, this works just fine for at home use and the occasional transfer of songs to the iPhone. But I would like to have my music collection, which sits on my mini, available to me from anywhere there is a wifi connection. I distrust iTunes match for a variety of reasons, including my large amount of bootlegs and the way things are tagged. So I’m looking at other options.

Would PLEX be a good solution? Or is it overkill and is there a simpler solution? Right now, and for the forseable future, this is about music files (most of which are unprotected) and NOT about movies. I just want to be able to access the music relatively seamlessly.

If Plex is the way to go, then could I run it (well) on my mini or should I get other gear? Also, does it work well with iTunes/Apple Music? I’m thinking of my playlists and tags. Will I have to get a new music app and/or redo my tagging?

I hope that’s clear. Any advice you can give would be welcomed. Thanks.

 

[spyrelx]

Anyone have any thoughts on this? Thanks.

 

[Scansterz]

I use Plex. For years now.

 

[satcomer]

I use Plex. For years now.

So do I! I guess we are fewer and fewer Gen X kids around in these boards!

 

[spyrelx]

Thanks. Do you run Plex on a mac? Could I run it well on my mini? Also, does it work well with iTunes/Apple Music? I’m thinking of my playlists and tags (which are copious). Will I have to get a new music app and/or redo my tagging?

 

[satcomer]

Nope! I run in My Synology NAS Plex Server and client on My Mac!

 

[neo_reloaded]

So you can use Home Sharing, a built-in Apple capability, to share your library across a local network. If you have iTunes/Apple Music on multiple PCs/Macs, they can use Home Sharing to see and play each other's libraries.

You can then create a virtual local network via various software (I've successfully used LogMeIn Hamachi, which has both Windows and Mac OS clients) and sneakily extend the Home Sharing capability to any computer with Wi-Fi access.

I have a desktop at home with all my (like you, carefully curated) music files. As long as that desktop is connected to the internet, running iTunes, and running LogMeIn Hamachi, I can connect to it and use Home Sharing to stream that library from any computer with internet access.

There is an iOS version of LogMeIn, but I have not tried it and cannot vouch for its usability in this scenario. I sync my iPhone with the main library-hosting desktop and generally rely on that selection while using my phone.

 

[satcomer]

I can keep my 20 years of collecting music on my Synology and keep my Music rips on that and then use a VPN server in my NAS two connect to when I am on the go! Then when I'm back home I turn the VPN server off!