Synology music packages
April 15, 2020 in digital music by Dan Gravell
NAS devices have become common for self-hosters and audiophiles alike. One of the leading manufacturers is Synology. Like with many other NAS makers, Synology allow the capabilities of their products to be extended by software with Packages.
What’s a NAS?
A NAS, which is short for Network Attached Storage, is a storage device that you can connect to an office or home network. It allows you to store all your colleagues’ and family files on a centralised platform.
Be it video collections, music collections, or photo albums – you can store all of them on NAS. You can easily access any of your files using web browsers or mobile apps. Simply said, you can use numerous services and access files that the NAS provides through the internet.
A NAS eliminates the challenge of storing a multitude of digital files scattered across various services and devices. For example, rather than storing documents on your workstation, photos on your smartphone and music on your laptop, you can consolidate all of them in a safe place with NAS’ centralised storage.
What Are Packages?
Numerous add-on packages are available for you to expand the functionality and value of the Synology NAS that you have. You can easily download and set up packages that match your particular needs. Be it for sharing photos, sharing some files on the cloud or setting up a VPN environment – you can find all of these things as add-on packages with a few simple clicks.
Best music packages for Synology NAS
You will be surprised to see how many music aficionados use the Synology NAS. It is, after all, one of the most comprehensive attached system storage out there. You could be one of those enthusiasts as well.
Of course, bliss is a music organizer with a Synology add-on. But bliss only organizes music libraries - what about playback?
If you are looking for some other playback-oriented music packages for Synology NAS, here are some of the best options:
DS Audio
DS Audio is a great option to stream music using your Android phone or tablet, outside or inside your home network. You can access it anywhere as long as there is a decent internet connection present. A great thing about DS Audio is its offline mode. It allows you to listen to all the songs that you saved in your device’s local memory for times when no internet connection is available.
DS Audio allows you to browse music by genres, folders, artists, and albums. You can even prepare your own playlists and make them shareable for your friends. There’s also a music rating option available. With a Bluetooth connection from your Android device you can also use DS audio as a remote control to Bluetooth speakers.
Plex
Many consider Plex to be the one-stop-shop package that stores all their important media in one place. Using Plex will make your personal multimedia collection look tremendous.
Plex also provides additional steaming content (in addition to your own content). With DVR, live TV, and an ever-increasing catalogue of top podcasts, web shows, and news, Plex proves its worth. You can access Plex from any device and destination.
Logitech Media Server
Logitech Media Server (LMS) happens to be a highly valuable add-on package for people who use NAS. It allows you to stream music wherever you are.
LMS has proven itself as something of a venerable stalwart in the digital music space - many self-hosters, including myself, still use the software (and the Squeezebox hardware) to this day.
With LMS, you can arrange your music according to the genre, album art, time of release, and alphabetical order, among numerous other convenient options.
iTunes Server
The iTunes server lets you share videos and music on Synology NAS with every iTunes client that is present in a local network. It also allows you to play and browse multimedia content through iTunes.
This is a big win for those fully integrated into the Apple ecosystem.
MinimServer
This is an excellent UPnP server that provides users a convenient and effective way to explore their collection of music.
MinimServer’s intelligent browsing is the main reason why so many people rely on it to meet their digital music storage needs. It also has various other features that make it a must-have add-on package.
Audio Station
Audio Station is the official Synology music app. You can listen to your music library, create personal playlists, organize your entire music collection (in a limited fashion), and share music with your friends as well.
Audio Station also has an app specifically dedicated to smartphone streaming, DS Audio (see above).
Roon
Roon is an app that has grown out of the audiophile community to gain more and more users over time. You could say that it was made by music lovers for music lovers. Roon completely realizes that transitioning physical media to digital media can sometimes be quite mundane, and flips this on its head to give you as immersive an experience as possible.
Roon offers you a lot of conveniences as it helps organise your audio collection just the way you want it. Once you are done organising, you will essentially have a surfable and searchable magazine full of the music you love. It’s not cheap though!
Are there any other musical-themed packages you use?
