David McGown wrote:
Are you concerned about it being "Free to use", or "Freely Distributable".
Daphile is based the formerly commercial but now opensource "Logitech Media Server" and "Squeezelite". The developer has worked on developing a package that can be easily installed, configured and maintained headlessly through a web interface, and works well. He provides it free of charge to all for personal use, but not commercial use:
DAPHILE DISTRIBUTION IS MADE AVAILABLE FREE OF CHARGE FOR NON-COMMERCIAL PRIVATE
USE. ANY COMMERCIAL USAGE AND REDISTRIBUTION OF DAPHILE IN ANY FORM ARE STRICTLY
PROHIBITED.
I suspect that some of the reason it cannot be distributed in source code is that the code for playing MP3 files (for example) is restricted in a way that inhibits free distribution (but still available as source). Also, the developer has put alot of vision and personal effort to develop and maintain this project. He is making it free to use, but wants to maintain control.
You will be hard to find a system on running on x86 systems that is as easy to install and setup as Daphile. There are alternatives on the RaspberryPi (PiCorePlayer, for one), that does the same as Daphile. Any "open source" alternative is going to mean you have to manually install the components and get them to work headlessly. You can always install LMS and Squeezelite on top of a Linux distribution and build your own version. Or you can install a server backend to maintain and stream your library, and install a lightweight MPD based client, and control it through a phone, tablet, or web interface. But that alot of work.
So what are you looking for? There is alot of alternatives but it means getting your hands dirty.
David
I am trying to make a budget version using that Dell mini. I can't get the 32 bit Daphile to work so I am looking for something similar but smaller. I just need a simple way to play MP3s.