Future of Plexamp on Raspberry Pi?

[oberstel]

In 2019, Elan posted a beta of Plexamp 2.0 for headless Raspbery Pi devices.
In addition, there is an installer script on GitHub to install Plexamp on a Raspberry Pi.
And there are probably more wired solutions out there which I didn’t discoverd…

Both solutions needs an auth-token which needs to be fetched from an outdated Plexamp 1.x installation (the “server.json” thing) and there is a NodeJS 9.,x dependency which seems to be a security issue because NodeJS 9.x is outdated.

However, all this works - but its far away from beeing user frendly

Are there any plans to support Raspberry Pi devices as an Plex-Endpoint for audiophiles (like Roon)?
@elan Any plans?

[elan]

We’d like to for sure, just a matter of priorities…

However, e.g. one thing on the list is making Plexamp controllable again; that would be a necessary thing for Raspberry Pi so it’s a step in the right direction!

[enduser]

I’d be interested if there would be the possibility of having a PlexampOS for RPi like HiFiberryOS that would support the RPi Touchscreen too.

[oberstel]

It’s all a matter of priorities… for sure
I will take the liberty of giving you my personal requirements (as a user) - maybe this comes along with your prios as well:

As an audiophile user, I would like to have the ability to integrate a lightweight high quality audio endpoint to feed my Stax Headphones, to extend my B&O sound system and to deliver HiRes Music via DSD to my external DAC.

Such an Plex-Endpoint should run on the easy satisfaying Rasperry Pi, supporting all the audio HATs which are available on the market (DIGI for SPDIF, DAC+, DAC with AES etc.) - To make it clear: There is no need to support the onboard audio jack of the RPi because this is a mess.
MPD is always a good starting point… IMHO

*It’s possible to rund the Plex-Endpoint in a headless mode (without a GUI, without a monitor/keyboard) but it should be possible to support keyboards and remote controls (e.g. Flirc, Lirc, IR-Keytable) to control some basic functions like Vol -/+, Next/Previous Track, Seek -/+ etc.

Due to the headless usage, all necessary settings can be easily configured by a proper Web-Interface. This includes the possibility to chose the right audio interface and to enable / disable things like audio exclusive mode, up/down sampling, source matching, native DSD / DoP etc.

For all the audio capabilities, please refer to Volumio - An awesome audiophile solution with a poor User Interface (this is wehre Plex blew all others away).

@Elan: I’m not able to code but I’m a grate music enthusiast with a strong base of Linux knowledge - so feel free to contact me further input or any kind of brainstorming

[meaning]

You’re a dreamer dude. Plex is a commercial company. They don’t care about music, they care about making profits. This is how it works. You get paid, you have to pay your employees.

Do not missunderstand me, I like Plex. But as a long time music enthusiast Plex user, I’ve requested a ton of things that never were delivered.

Installing plexamp headless on a raspberry pi is a niche, and they will never spend money developing this for a few enthusiasts like us.

[akshunj]

100% agree, except for your reasoning. Plex is a commercial company, but they are also themselves a niche company. How many regular people run a home server to watch movies and tv, and listen to music? Almost none. But the ones who do have been largely captured by Plex. Sure they want profits, but they also want to keep their users happy so they can deliver those profits. Sometimes that’s their base users, but sometimes that’s also the vocal minority of users.

Plex Labs exists to service niche users. Period. There is literally no other reason for it to exist. MOST Plex users don’t use Plexamp. Most don’t even know it exists. To say Plex won’t develop for the Pi because they are a corporate behemoth who doesn’t care about their fringe users is disingenuous, at best. I would argue that its a matter of resources. Plex is actually too SMALL to devote the type of resources to enthusiast projects that we all want to see. Google can spin off an entire division to make streaming video games that scant few people have ever heard of. Plex just doesn’t have the resources or manpower to prioritize for everything the vocal minority of users would like to see. It’s a resources issue, not a corporate greed issue.

[elan]

@meaning

They don’t care about music,

the evidence to the contrary is pretty strong. look at all the enhancements we’ve made to metadata over the past few years, along with plexamp, along with an upcoming server upgrade with some very juicy music stuff (the last of which you didn’t know about, sure).

[elan]

@akshunj

MOST Plex users don’t use Plexamp

most plex pass users who use music are using Plexamp at this point.

[elan]

@meaning

Installing plexamp headless on a raspberry pi is a niche, and they will never spend money developing this for a few enthusiasts like us.

we have almost all the pieces, just missing a replacement http server for plexamp and then it’ll be pretty simple to get it working on the pi.

[akshunj]

I stand corrected. That’s awesome!

[oberstel]

@elan

we have almost all the pieces, just missing a replacement http server for plexamp and then it’ll be pretty simple to get it working on the pi.

That’s sounds awesome… I love you guys!
Can’t wait to take a look at it… Pleas announce it right here, if you have an almost working version!

[olghur]

Can you give us an Update?

[phthalo]

Seconding this.
In the meantime, it’s my understanding that HiFiBerryOS has Docker support; is it at all feasible to run Plexamp-headless v.2.0 w/ the old node inside of a container on a pi?

[Urfish]

Just adding another voice to the chorus of folks who would love this. I’ve been building a music console from scratch and while I have rasplex running as the client on my pi currently, I’m using a touchscreen that is miscalibrated with (presumably) openelec and I can’t for the life of me figure out how to get it right. The embedded plex client works fine, but it’s full plex… I’d much prefer the interface, sweet fades, and everything else that comes with plexamp.

Does plexamp show up as a destination player from other clients though? I’ve never tried. I’d miss controlling playback from my desktop as I work if that wasn’t part of the equation.

Thanks for all the awesome!

[elan]

@Urfish

Does plexamp show up as a destination player from other clients though?

Not yet But we’re looking to add it back.

[meaning]

@elan , so would you eventually consider competing with Roon ? looks what I described a while back in this post :

Merge identifal albums in a single occurence + improve the overall music collection displays ! Make Plex as good as ROON!

Server Version#: latest… Player Version#: latest Hi all, I recently tried out Roon, and I got to say it is a great music server / player. Issue is, Roon is not built to permit the following : Stream music outside of your LAN (really. this is not joke) and possibility to share your library with friends (yes, this is also not a joke). But I have to say I was impressed by Roon due to its look and feel, and features plex music is definitely missing ! Here they are : Roon automatically detects …

in short :

→ Plex capable to stream to rpi endpoints, and in sync to several enpoints if requested (just like Roon does using RAAT, included Eg: in Hifiberry OS)
→ Plex automatically putting alternative versions of the same album in a single album occurrence in the GUI, to avoid seeing the same album 5 times when you own several versions) + display the best quality automatically in the GUI
→ more generally, improve Plexamp to be used as a remote (just like Roon clients do) and improve the tags, create genres sections, better artists descriptions, implement lyrics, etc.

Really, I’d love to share my Roon account with you to give you an idea about what music enthusiasts expect from Plex. I’d love to see this working in Plex. Really.

[elan]

@meaning

Plex capable to stream to rpi endpoints

Yes, we want to do this.

@meaning

in sync to several enpoints if requested (just like Roon does using RAAT

Likely not; RAAT isn’t open and implementing something like it is super hard.

@meaning

alternative versions of the same album in a single album occurrence

Possibly. We’ve heard the request before…

@meaning

improve Plexamp to be used as a remote

Doesn’t that work already? (besides the fact that it needs to be controllable again)

@meaning

improve the tags

Too vague to comment.

@meaning

create genres sections

Not entirely sure what this means.

@meaning

better artists descriptions

The TiVo-sourced bios and album reviews are top-notch.

@meaning

implement lyrics

This has been available for years.

I’ve seen Roon; there are certain aspects of it we like, but others (wide “native” device support) which aren’t practical for us.

[meaning]

ENDPOINTS :

when it comes to the Rpi endpoints, I’ve installed plexamp on a plexpi to give it a try. I had to start generating a file with an old V1 version of macos plexamp app in order to get it to work.

I think you could allow some resources on that and quickly solve rpi (and other types of hardware actually) endpoints to play, and even to play in sync, as it is your own software, quite easily. there is even an existing version of plexamp on the rpi. It is just not finished.

Even further, I did contact Hifiberry team back in the days, and they commented they would be happy to add this to their OS the day it would be working out of the box, and stable.

DUPLICATE ALBUMS / VERSIONS :

It is SO frustrating when you have a very large library, to see albums showng up several times in an artist page. Please do something about that guys.

and now some screenshots to explain what I mean about IMPROVING THE TAGS, ARTISTS BIO, and more generally, the UI of plexamp :

Look at the information, monikers, clear information about the artist, link to the bio, link to the compositions (that do even include the alternate compositions of, Eg, a classical composition)

The Roon scanner do search for covers that are located in the album folders, but also in sub folders, if you, lets say, do have your covers in a “cover” subfolder, contained in the general album folder.
Look at all the details you can see here. Only one version of the same album is show in the general screen, and alternate versions are visible once you click on “versions”.

Roon also clearly indicates on a nice home screen which albums were added (yes Plex do have a similar feature, but nothing comparable), and the ones that were played, and has a clear scanner overview with progress bar :

Look how Roon GUI looks like !

Look at how it looks like running from an old tablet I did recycle, that is simply used as a remote, and starts the actual play on my rpi endpoints, (rpi3s located at the ground floor, both playing in sync !)

What I mean is there is a world between Plex and Roon when it comes to music. I’m just saying I would love to see Plex be motivated enough to try to at least follow the path they have taken.

If you really did see latest version of Roon and tested it, I believe you agree there is a long way to go to reach their level of quality in terms of music library management. But the real question is (which brings me back to my initial statement you commented on), will Plex build any userbase out of these developments? I guess you guys are not working for free and, like any company in the world, needs to pay your employees and get a return on investment. This is perfectly understandable.

[meaning]

and now :

[Urfish]

Thanks, for your impressions of Roon. As a fellow music nerd I considered a subscription a couple of years ago when I was looking at how I could use an old pi2 as a music front end. I also bought a hifiberry hat and thought that roon might be a decent solution.

Instead I ended up sticking with plex because, with a few exceptions, it just works. I’m consistently impressed with how well the product team balances the temptation to add niche features with the practicality of maintaining those features over time. Elan’s response about RAAT above is a perfect illustration.

I think there’s space in the market for both solutions—I don’t think I want Plex to follow roon. While plex UIs are far from perfect, they do a much better job (IMHO) of progressively disclosing details and grouping data fields in a way that roon vomits all over a page.

Anyway, just respectfully adding another voice. I looked at roon and it wasn’t for me.