Is remote control functionality built-in?

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senseivita
Posts: 1
Joined: Thu Jun 23, 2022 6:04 pm

Is remote control functionality built-in?

Post by senseivita »

I'm trying to set MediaMonkey as a whole-home music player replacing iTunes.

A few challenges popped up, the first was playback sync. DLNA is great, but it can't sync playback across speaker endpoints. So I plan to use MediaMonkey on a Mac so it can use the built-in AirPlay+Airfoil servers to (selectively) play audio in sync.

The second challenge was getting MediaMonkey to a Mac. After Wine kept failing (it would launch but show no GUI, crash constantly, freeze drawing a giant block of solid color on-screen) I switched the approach to Microsoft's RDS RemoteApps. It showed the same glitches/crashes as on Wine, but I found out that as long as I didn't mess with MediaMonkey's window (minimize, resize, open Settings/Preferences) it stays reasonably stable--that's fine since it's a headless Mac anyway.

The last challenge was actually what I thought would be the easiest: controlling it remotely. Other than remoting into the Mac and risking crashing it, I, for some reason thought would be able to control it from another MediaMonkey instance. I have an automation server that behaves like this, it pulls licensing, devices, logs, etc as if it the server logic was running on the remote clients (iTunes Remote does this too), maybe I got that from this, but I'm hopeful: can this be done in MediaMonkey?

I still have another, maybe two options more, fortunately, but since MediaMonkey is the paid of the two (or three---fingers crossed) I thought this would be all sorted out. Maybe I just haven't found the appropriate settings, there are a ton of them--which seems like a good sign. :)

Is this possible? (if so, how?)

Thanks in adv.
Peke
Posts: 17446
Joined: Tue Jun 10, 2003 7:21 pm
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Re: Is remote control functionality built-in?

Post by Peke »

Hi,
There is basically three real solutions to your problems.

Solution 1 Current (I personally use):
- Move all music to NAS (I prefer Intel QNAP NAS Models, but any REAL NAS with Multiple HDDs and RAID1 should work. This excludes all so called NAS that use cloud to access them even locally. Also DIY NAS builds based on headless NAS OS can work too)
- Have dedicated PC that have main MM installed. You can make it headless ( I have my main PC do the role) with Active Monitor Cables converters (eg. HDMI -> VGA) and remote app (Anydesk, TeamViewer, TightVNC, ...)
- Connect to your PC using almost any device Remotely or sync to it (For me all family devices/phones/tablets/STBs connect and read single MM5.DB from Main PC)
- USE any streaming protocols available on your devices to query and play tracks out of main PC (DLNA for TVs, BT adding Card for Wireless Speakers, Virtual Cables for remote audio points, Chromecast for A/V receivers) in single or Multizone setup

Solution two (Current NAS based MMS server) which is in Apha stage and have WEB control:
- Move all music to NAS (I prefer Intel QNAP NAS Models, but any REAL NAS with Multiple HDDs and RAID1 should work. This excludes all so called NAS that use cloud to access them even locally. Also DIY NAS builds based on headless NAS OS can work too)
- Install MMS on compatible NAS https://www.mediamonkey.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=31
- Use ONE PC to manage library and paths
- Use any device Web Browser to play tracks off MMS

Solution three (Hopefully in SOON future)
- Move all music to NAS (I prefer Intel QNAP NAS Models, but any REAL NAS with Multiple HDDs and RAID1 should work. This excludes all so called NAS that use cloud to access them even locally. Also DIY NAS builds based on headless NAS OS can work too)
- Install MAC OS native MediaMonkey version (Not yet ready for public)
- Enjoy MediaMonkey on MAC and all other benefits it brings.
Best regards,
Peke
MediaMonkey Team lead QA/Tech Support guru
Admin of Free MediaMonkey addon Site HappyMonkeying
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