5 things I discovered whereas constructing my first media server

For years, there used to be a lonely Raspberry Pi 3 gathering mud on my desk, compatible subsequent to a cup of pens and a stack of Put up-Its. Often I’d ranking it up and absent-mindedly twirl it around, as if it were a stress ball. But true through a long holiday damage, a belief started forming in my head: Could per chance furthermore I in fact flip this glorified paperweight into something helpful?

Working here at TechHive as I operate, I was attentive to on the very least one enticing technique to position a Raspberry Pi to work: as a media server for movies and song recordsdata. Now, I’m not an expert at constructing PCs, nor operate I be mindful myself an audiophile (though I focus on I do know appropriate sound after I hear it), however I was drawn to the realization of inserting my modest CD sequence (and a few outdated DVDs as properly) into my possess interior most cloud, where I would possibly possibly well also movement it to my phone, my tablet, my dwelling theater, or compatible about any machine I desired to.

Now, I’m not here to come up with a step-by-step recordsdata on straightforward suggestions to make your possess media server (we occupy already bought those). As a alternative, I desired to share about a things I discovered true through my possess expertise, beginning with…

It’s surprisingly straightforward

Developing a rental media server would possibly possibly well also sound intimidating, however it doesn’t would possibly possibly well also aloof be. For my possess first project, I took the center avenue, picking to consume the Linux-based fully Raspberry Pi (which entails spending quality time with the divulge line in Terminal) with Plex, a fashioned, off-the-rack, and moderately straightforward-to-consume media server package. (We reviewed Plex as a DVR, however it’s furthermore a succesful song and video server.)

There are a couple of online tutorials on straightforward suggestions to set up Plex Media Server on a Raspberry Pi, and within an hour or so I had Plex up and running. Mounting an 8GB USB thumb drive (I made up my mind to commence small until I knew what I was doing) on the Pi grew to alter into out to be barely trickier, though I even had that licked after one more 45 minutes or so. I then tossed some outdated MP3s and residential video recordsdata on the memory stick, and sooner than I knew it, my unused Raspberry Pi had grew to alter into true into a media server.

Ben Patterson/IDG

For sure, you don’t necessarily need a Raspberry Pi to set a rental media server. In minutes, it is probably going you’ll possibly well possibly simply set up Plex Media Server on a Mac or Home windows PC, ranking some folders stuffed with song, movies or diversified media, and commence streaming away. There are barriers to installing Plex on a desktop PC or a computer—particularly, you’ll must sustain it running whenever you snatch to must movement media—however it’s a grand, low-effort technique to look what the whole fuss is ready.

It doesn’t would possibly possibly well also aloof be pricey

It’s indubitably likely to consume hundreds of bucks on NAS drives, “endpoints” and diversified hardware for your rental media server. Being the newbie that I am, I opted for a rock-backside budget, spending compatible $25 for an exterior DVD drive (after realizing that I’d long within the past shed my outdated PCs with optical drives) and $30 for a new 256GB USB memory stick (which holds my whole 200-CD song sequence, in lossless FLAC layout, with hundreds room to spare). Oh, and I later sprung for a $40 powered USB 3.0 hub and a $15 power strip (for causes I’ll yelp in a moment).

Now, being cheap alongside with your rental media server has its downsides. Inserting in media server tool on underpowered hardware can lead to slow performance, whereas skimping on top of the vary endpoints methodology sacrificing some audio quality when the bit movement is transformed to analog. But there’s something to be said for beginning small even as you’re a newbie, and likewise it is probably going you’ll possibly well possibly continuously give a boost to your media server piece by piece even as you come by the hunch.

Media server tool doesn’t would possibly possibly well also aloof be pricey, both. An excellent deal of free alternate choices are accessible in, whereas the free Plex tool skill that you just can unencumber some nifty developed capabilities (akin to song downloads and Plex’s iOS and Android apps) for $5 a month. Roon, a slick media server for song aficionados (read our overview), goes for a dearer however aloof realistic $13 a month.

You would possibly possibly well possibly (and can) re-consume system it is probably going you’ll possibly per chance occupy already bought

Few things fetch me happier than reviving outdated system that I even occupy sitting on my cupboards, and my dwelling media server project gave me a couple of alternatives to operate compatible that.

The build to birth used to be that Raspberry Pi that had been languishing on my desk, however then I started pondering bigger. That 10-yr-outdated MacBook Air I was going to present away: would possibly possibly well also I flip it into an continuously-on server for my media? Why sure (with barely aid from Amphetamine, a free MacOS app designed to sustain your Mac wide awake indefinitely). An outdated 512GB laborious drive sitting on one more desk grew to alter into a media storage machine, and after I dug out one more dusty 512GB HDD from a drawer (I believed it used to be slow, however it came to lifestyles after I plugged it in), I made up my mind to combine them true into a 1TB RAID drive (which it is probably going you’ll possibly well possibly operate in about a clicks the utilization of the MacOS Disk Utility instrument). One powered USB 3.0 hub and an affect strip later, and I had my devoted media server—slow, noisy and touchy, mind you, however extremely satisfying from an economic viewpoint.

It is going to be a gateway to high-resolution audio

For years, I’d settled for the iffy 128Kbps MP3s that I’d smooth from iTunes and Napster (the outdated Napster, mind you), or for the significantly better 320Kbps Ogg Vorbis streams on Spotify. But I’d long felt that something used to be missing when paying attention to my MP3 library; I was hearing the tunes, sure, however I wasn’t in fact playing them within the identical procedure that I did with my outdated CDs. For my media server project, I made up my mind to commence new, ditching the MP3s and as an alternative re-ripping my CDs (the utilization of the free Staunch Audio Copy utility) into lossless FLAC recordsdata.

Exact to make sure, the 16-bit/44.1kHz FLACs it is probably going you’ll possibly well possibly rip from CDs don’t qualify as high-resolution audio recordsdata, that are in total regarded as to be 24-bit/48kHz or better. But whereas it’s controversial whether the human ear can discern the distinction between a 24-bit/96kHz movement and a 24-bit/192kHz one, the leap in quality from a 128- or even 320Kbps MP3 and a 16-bit/44.1kHz FLAC is dramatic, and it will possibly possibly well also run away you with a model for more. And even as you operate come by the hunch to dabble in high-res audio, it is probably going you’ll possibly well possibly acquire a sampler (HDTracks has some) to your rental media server and commence streaming, totally free.

I omitted my song sequence

No doubt one of many fun of Spotify, Tidal, Apple Tune, and diversified streaming song providers and products is the skill to dip into an global of song, skipping from one song to the subsequent in any mix it is probably going you’ll possibly well possibly dream up. What I didn’t realize until I’d set up my dwelling media server, however, used to be how grand I omitted my song.

Ben Patterson/IDG

Streaming my tunes on Plex and (especially) Roon reminded me of sitting on the bottom with my recordsdata, paying attention to albums the whole procedure through (do not put out of your mind that?) whereas pouring over the quilt art and the liner notes. In set of tossing a Spotify mix onto the Google tidy audio system in our residing room, my family and I would queue up Led Zeppelin I-IV and hearken to them so as. I rediscovered artists that I’d identified and loved aid in college, song that would never occupy surfaced in my Spotify Day-to-day Combine. Briefly, my dwelling media server brought my neglected binder of CDs aid to lifestyles.

Ben has been writing about expertise and user electronics for more than 20 years. A PCWorld contributor since 2014, Ben joined TechHive in 2019, where he covers tidy dwelling and residential entertainment products.