Why #
I used to use Foobar2000 to play my music stored on an SMB share (or directly on my laptop’s hard disk). This setup was not ideal, especially with my work laptop. At first, I was the System Administrator, so I was allowed to have music files on my computer. Later, it became a problem. All my colleagues were using cloud music providers, but I was never a big fan of the concept of not owning my music. Still, I wanted to listen to my music on my mobile phone anywhere.
LMS #
After many nights reading about self-hosted music servers, my choice came down to Navidrome and LMS. LMS seemed more lightweight, and since I only have around 60 GB of music, it was sufficient for my needs, so that’s what I chose.
For now, I use Ultrasonic on my Android phone, but it seems unmaintained, so I may switch to another app.
Fixing tags #
Installing LMS was very easy (using the Docker image). The real challenge was fixing all the tags in my music files. I used Picard; it was long and painful, but everything is now tagged correctly except for two unofficial live albums by Dire Straits.
Where is my data #
My data is in my Storage Box:
- It is available via SMB, so I can still use Foobar2000 on my home laptop and add new albums.
- It is synced twice a day to my server that hosts LMS (read-only).
- It is backed up every week to my NAS at home (also read-only).
It’s also available via DLNA to use with my Hi-Fi system.