[SemiAudiophile]

i have a desktop that acts as a music/video server. i used to use itunes for playback via wlan with my laptop, but found that itunes is a crappy player. when i'm on my laptop, i just use foobar and access my music via a shared drive on the server.

nowadays, i'm usually on my desktop, if not i'm using my squeezebox classic that still accesses music from the server or via web through last.fm.

 

[Ech0]

HTPC frontend mounting Music directory (NFS) from a backend server.

 

[turnstyle]

fwiw, to answer my own question...

I actually use a laptop as my server, so it can sit on the shelf, with the lid closed, and remain mostly out of the way. I keep a mirrored pair of drives attached via USB -- I had first tried an eSATA card -- that was fast, but would periodically dismount a drive, so I reverted back to USB.

I keep all my data on the external drives, and I share that directory over my LAN. I also keep a printer attached to this 'server' laptop.

So, I back up all my PCs to the 'server' -- which winds up mirrored onto two drives, and I also maintain a copy of the media files this way.

The 'server' is also connected to my stereo via USB (the receiver, an Outlaw Audio RR2150 -- Outlaw Audio -- has a built-in USB DAC).

So, I can use Remote Desktop to control what happens on the server from other PCs on my LAN, and I can the use other PCs to play MP3s/FLACs/Rhapsody/Pandora/Internet Radio on the server, which then passes into the stereo.

I also use my software (which uses PHP) to present my collection as a site that I can browse and play over the LAN -- so, for example, if I'm working in another room and I want local playback, I can call up the site from the server, and have the music play locally (ie, as opposed to using Remote Desktop to control the server).

I should also add -- I find Apple software to generally be a pita, and so I tend to avoid it...

 

[BadassBob]

I also have a copy of my whole music library in high quality VBR MP3, which I stream from my home server over the internet via Sockso. It works pretty damn good, especially because Im between my home and my girlfriends home most of the time. Its also good for showing new music to friends without having to take physical media over to their houses.

 

[eric0531]

I've got a pretty basic LAN setup. An old Dell desktop with a 1TB drive acts as a file server, quietly humming away with about 700 gigs of FLAC files in a large closet in my home office (or as my wife calls it, my "man room"). I use my laptop as my primary computer, at my desk it's got a Total Bithead that feeds a pair of M-Audio AV40 monitors from one output, and my HD595s from the other. Most of my music listening is done there in my office but I can take the laptop/bithead/HD595 combo anywhere in the house if I want a change of scenery, although frankly it's easier to just take my iPod Classic with a CMOY and headphones. Foobar is my player of choice, with the FLAC library accessed via a mapped drive.

The laptop has about 175gb of my library in Lame V0 MP3 files to feed my iPod or take with me when I travel.

Pretty straightforward but it works for me!

 

[KevDo]

I use MPD running on a Buffalo Linkstation connected to my Amp.
Controlled with MPoD on the iPhone.

Also have Icecast2 running but I'm having probs with it "stuttering" at the moment. Will stream over the Internet and it should also stream to my iPhone when "on the go" also controlled with MPoD via 3G