Installing the Music Player Daemon (MPD)
Installing the Music Player Daemon to use the Rpi as a music player/server is easy. Just do:
pi@raspberrypi~$ sudo apt-get install mpd mpc alsa-utilsIn my Debian version alsa-utils was already installed.
I attached an external hard disk to one of the two USB ports from the Rpi, which holds my FLAC music library. Some harddisks will not power up (e.g. my Hitachi 500 GB disk), even with a 2 Ampere power supply for the Rpi, as they use too much current from the USB port. My Adata CH64 harddisk did work on the USB port.
On the second USB port, I attached my good quality Schiit Bifrost DAC which is connected to my vintage Quad 44 pre-amplifier and Quad 303 amplifier system.
If you need more USB ports, you can attach a (powered) USB hub to one of the ports.
Configuring MPD
Configuring MPD is through the /etc/mpd.conf text file. Before you can do this you need to know a few things:
- The directory where your music files are located. For me this was my external USB hard disk that got automatically mounted on /media/ when I plugged it in. So the directory to my FLAC music (stored in sub-directrories) was /media/adata/music/music_lossless/
- You need to decide where you want to store cache, playlists, and other files that MPD will use. As I wanted to avoid writing to the SD-card as much as possible, I decided upon an 'mpd' directory that I created in my music directory on my external hard disk: mkdir /media/adata/music/mpd/. There I also created a 'playlists' directory: mkdir /media/adata/music/mpd/playlists.
- The hardware address of my Schiit Bifrost DAC.
The hardware address for my DAC was found using the Alsa sound system command 'aplay -l'.
pi@raspberrypi ~ $ aplay -l**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: ALSA [bcm2835 ALSA], device 0: bcm2835 ALSA [bcm2835 ALSA]
Subdevices: 8/8
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
Subdevice #1: subdevice #1
Subdevice #2: subdevice #2
Subdevice #3: subdevice #3
Subdevice #4: subdevice #4
Subdevice #5: subdevice #5
Subdevice #6: subdevice #6
Subdevice #7: subdevice #7
card 1: Interface [Schiit USB Interface], device 0: USB Audio [USB Audio]
Subdevices: 0/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: Interface [Schiit USB Interface], device 1: USB Audio [USB Audio #1]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: Interface [Schiit USB Interface], device 2: USB Audio [USB Audio #2]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
This showed me that the alsa device (format "hw:Card,Device") to use in MPD would be "hw:Interface,0" for the first Schiit USB Interface [USB Audio] listing.
Now you have to edit the /etc/mpd.conf file to tell MPD where to find/place files and resources. A basic text editor is already installed and you can start it up by typing 'sudo nano /etc/mpd.conf', which will open the MPD configuration file. My version of mpd.conf is displayed below as an example.
# Waterloo's configuration file for MPD# See the mpd.conf man page for a more detailed description of each parameter.
# Files and directories #######################################################
#
# This setting controls the top directory which MPD will search to discover the
# available audio files and add them to the daemon's online database. This
# setting defaults to the XDG directory, otherwise the music directory will be
# be disabled and audio files will only be accepted over ipc socket (using
# file:// protocol) or streaming files over an accepted protocol.
#
music_directory "/mnt/nfs_seagate/music/music_lossless"
#
# This setting sets the MPD internal playlist directory. The purpose of this
# directory is storage for playlists created by MPD. The server will use
# playlist files not created by the server but only if they are in the MPD
# format. This setting defaults to playlist saving being disabled.
#
playlist_directory "/mnt/nfs_seagate/music/mpd/playlists"
#
# This setting sets the location of the MPD database. This file is used to
# load the database at server start up and store the database while the
# server is not up. This setting defaults to disabled which will allow
# MPD to accept files over ipc socket (using file:// protocol) or streaming
# files over an accepted protocol.
#
db_file "/mnt/nfs_seagate/music/mpd/tag_cache"
#
# These settings are the locations for the daemon log files for the daemon.
# These logs are great for troubleshooting, depending on your log_level
# settings.
#
# The special value "syslog" makes MPD use the local syslog daemon. This
# setting defaults to logging to syslog, otherwise logging is disabled.
#
log_file "/mnt/nfs_seagate/music/mpd/mpd.log"
#
# This setting sets the location of the file which stores the process ID
# for use of mpd --kill and some init scripts. This setting is disabled by
# default and the pid file will not be stored.
#
pid_file "/mnt/nfs_seagate/music/mpd/pid"
#
# This setting sets the location of the file which contains information about
# most variables to get MPD back into the same general shape it was in before
# it was brought down. This setting is disabled by default and the server
# state will be reset on server start up.
#
state_file "/mnt/nfs_seagate/music/mpd/state"
#
# The location of the sticker database. This is a database which
# manages dynamic information attached to songs.
#
sticker_file "/mnt/nfs_seagate/music/mpd/sticker.sql"
#
###############################################################################
# General music daemon options ################################################
#
# This setting specifies the user that MPD will run as. MPD should never run as
# root and you may use this setting to make MPD change its user ID after
# initialization. This setting is disabled by default and MPD is run as the
# current user.
#
user "pi"
#
# This setting specifies the group that MPD will run as. If not specified
# primary group of user specified with "user" setting will be used (if set).
# This is useful if MPD needs to be a member of group such as "audio" to
# have permission to use sound card.
#
#group "nogroup"
#
# This setting sets the address for the daemon to listen on. Careful attention
# should be paid if this is assigned to anything other then the default, any.
# This setting can deny access to control of the daemon. Choose any if you want
# to have mpd listen on every address
#
# For network
bind_to_address "any"
#
# And for Unix Socket
#bind_to_address "/var/run/mpd/socket"
#
# This setting is the TCP port that is desired for the daemon to get assigned
# to.
#
port "6600"
#
# This setting controls the type of information which is logged. Available
# setting arguments are "default", "secure" or "verbose". The "verbose" setting
# argument is recommended for troubleshooting, though can quickly stretch
# available resources on limited hardware storage.
#
log_level "default"
#
# If you have a problem with your MP3s ending abruptly it is recommended that
# you set this argument to "no" to attempt to fix the problem. If this solves
# the problem, it is highly recommended to fix the MP3 files with vbrfix
# (available as vbrfix in the debian archive), at which
# point gapless MP3 playback can be enabled.
#
#gapless_mp3_playback "yes"
#
# This setting enables MPD to create playlists in a format usable by other # music players.
#
save_absolute_paths_in_playlists "no"
#
# This setting defines a list of tag types that will be extracted during the
# audio file discovery process. Optionally, 'comment' can be added to this
# list.
#
metadata_to_use "artist,album,title,track,name,genre,date,composer,performer,disc"
#
# This setting enables automatic update of MPD's database when files in
# music_directory are changed.
#
auto_update "yes"
#
# Limit the depth of the directories being watched, 0 means only watch
# the music directory itself. There is no limit by default.
#
auto_update_depth "5"
#
###############################################################################
# Symbolic link behavior ######################################################
#
# If this setting is set to "yes", MPD will discover audio files by following
# symbolic links outside of the configured music_directory.
#
#follow_outside_symlinks "yes"
#
# If this setting is set to "yes", MPD will discover audio files by following
# symbolic links inside of the configured music_directory.
#
#follow_inside_symlinks "yes"
#
###############################################################################
# Zeroconf / Avahi Service Discovery ##########################################
#
# If this setting is set to "yes", service information will be published with
# Zeroconf / Avahi.
#
#zeroconf_enabled "yes"
#
# The argument to this setting will be the Zeroconf / Avahi unique name for
# this MPD server on the network.
#
#zeroconf_name "Music Player"
#
###############################################################################
# Permissions #################################################################
#
# If this setting is set, MPD will require password authorization. The password
# can setting can be specified multiple times for different password profiles.
#
#password "password@read,add,control,admin"
#
# This setting specifies the permissions a user has who has not yet logged in.
#
#default_permissions "read,add,control,admin"
#
############################################################################
# Input #######################################################################
#
input {
plugin "curl"
# proxy "proxy.isp.com:8080"
# proxy_user "user"
# proxy_password "password"
}
# Use last.fm
playlist_plugin {
name "lastfm"
user "********"
password "********"
}
#
#########################################################################
# Audio Output ################################################################
#
# MPD supports various audio output types, as well as playing through multiple
# audio outputs at the same time, through multiple audio_output settings
# blocks. Setting this block is optional, though the server will only attempt
# autodetection for one sound card.
#
# See
# other audio outputs.
#
audio_output {
type "alsa"
name "Schiit Bifrost DAC"
device "hw:Interface,0"
}
#
#########################################################################
# Volume control mixer ########################################################
#
# These are the global volume control settings. By default, this setting will
# be detected to the available audio output device, with preference going to
# hardware mixing. Hardware and software mixers for individual audio_output
# sections cannot yet be mixed.
#
# An example for controlling an ALSA, OSS or Pulseaudio mixer; If this
# setting is used other sound applications will be affected by the volume
# being controlled by MPD.
#
mixer_type "hardware"
#
# An example for controlling all mixers through software. This will control
# all controls, even if the mixer is not supported by the device and will not
# affect any other sound producing applications.
#
#mixer_type "software"
#
# This example will not allow MPD to touch the mixer at all and will disable
# all volume controls.
#
#mixer_type "disabled"
#
#########################################################################
# Normalization automatic volume adjustments ##################################
#
# This setting specifies the type of ReplayGain to use. This setting can have
# the argument "album" or "track". See
# details. This setting is disabled by default.
#
replaygain "album"
#
# This setting sets the pre-amp used for files that have ReplayGain tags. By
# default this setting is disabled.
#
#replaygain_preamp "0"
#
# This setting enables on-the-fly normalization volume adjustment. This will
# result in the volume of all playing audio to be adjusted so the output has
# equal "loudness". This setting is disabled by default.
#
#volume_normalization "no"
#
#########################################################################
# MPD Internal Buffering ######################################################
#
# This setting adjusts the size of internal decoded audio buffering. Changing
# this may have undesired effects. Don't change this if you don't know what you
# are doing.
#
#audio_buffer_size "2048"
#
# This setting controls the percentage of the buffer which is filled before
# beginning to play. Increasing this reduces the chance of audio file skipping,
# at the cost of increased time prior to audio playback.
#
buffer_before_play "100%"
#
############################################################################
# Resource Limitations #########################################################
#
# These settings are various limitations to prevent MPD from using too many
# resources. Generally, these settings should be minimized to prevent security
# risks, depending on the operating resources.
#
#connection_timeout "60"
#max_connections "10"
#max_playlist_length "16384"
#max_command_list_size "2048"
#max_output_buffer_size "8192"
#
############################################################################
# Character Encoding ##########################################################
#
# If file or directory names do not display correctly for your locale then you
# may need to modify this setting. After modification of this setting mpd
# --create-db must be run to change the database.
#
filesystem_charset "UTF-8"
#
# This setting controls the encoding that ID3v1 tags should be converted from.
#
id3v1_encoding "UTF-8"
#
############################################################################
# SIDPlay decoder #############################################################
#
# songlength_database:
# Location of your songlengths file, as distributed with the HVSC.
# The sidplay plugin checks this for matching MD5 fingerprints.
# See http://www.c64.org/HVSC/DOCUMENTS/Songlengths.faq
#
# default_songlength:
# This is the default playing time in seconds for songs not in the
# songlength database, or in case you're not using a database.
# A value of 0 means play indefinitely.
#
# filter:
# Turns the SID filter emulation on or off.
#
#decoder {
# plugin "sidplay"
# songlength_database "/media/C64Music/DOCUMENTS/Songlengths.txt"
# default_songlength "120"
# filter "true"
#}
#
############################################################################
Now all you have to do is restart MPD by typing in the command /etc/init.d/mpd restart in a terminal window.
pi@raspberrypi $ /etc/init.d/mpd restart
[ ok ] Stopping Music Player Daemon: mpd.
[....] Starting Music Player Daemon: mpd Failed to bind to '[::]:6600': Address already in use failed!
pi@raspberrypi $
I get an error for binding to port 6600 because MPD is already connected to that port. If you have trouble with connecting to MPD see also https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/Music_Player_Daemon/Troubleshooting.
Configuring your MPD client
The only thing to do now is to tell your MPD-client (I use MPAD on my IPAD and the Gnome Music Player Client from my PC) to connect to MPD as shown in the image below. You have to provide the IP address of your MPD computer and the directories where your music resides and optionally the cover images (MPAD). Note that my Raspberry Pi is at LAN IP address 192.168.0.101, which I defined in my router. The directory shown points to the directory that holds my FLAC music files on the Raspberry Pi.
That's it, Enjoy!!!
Last modified: Wed Sep 2 12:49:15 CEST 2015