build a music server
BUILD YOUR OWN MUSIC SERVER FOR FREE
Nik Rawlinson explains how to break free from Spotify’s monthly bills by running your own free music server that works with Alexa
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You can create multiple libraries for various media types.
© PLEX
ONE OF THE BEST USES for a smart speaker is as an on-demand jukebox. Amazon’s Echo devices integrate directly with both Spotify and Amazon’s own online music service, each of which offers a library of more than 100 million tracks, so you should be able to find almost everything you want.
There are downsides, however. One is that you need to pay a subscription fee to get the best from these music services. On both Spotify and Amazon Music, free users can only request playlists, rather than specific songs; Amazon Prime subscribers can stream individual tracks from Amazon Music, but the service limits how often you can skip, and insists on shuffling albums and playlists. For full control you need to pay $10.99 a month for a full Spotify account, or $10.99 a month for Amazon Music Unlimited.
Another catch is that, as we said, you can find almost everything you want on these services. But what about those rare bootlegs and B-sides that you’ve been painstakingly collecting? Or recordings of your friends’ bands, and your own mixes? Curating your own music library is unfashionable these days, but it’s the best way to keep full control of your music, with all the tracks you want to listen to and no recurring payments.
The good news is that it’s perfectly possible to get Alexa to stream your own music: you simply need to use the right software to make your tracks available over the network. A great free solution is Plex Media Server (and it also happens to handle video streaming as well). Here’s how to set up Plex in Windows, and—our preferred solution—how to run it on an inexpensive, low-power Raspberry Pi computer.
If your libraries aren’t refreshing, force an update from the taskbar icon.