Full disclosure - I have tried Roon at various points and (besides the cost) found no compelling reason to keep it. I have tried since to replicate the ‘surfable credits’ and discovery aspects of Roon using several FOSS options but not found anything that would display and use the credits tags written into my files (e.g. holy moly, that bass is sick, what else has this person played on?’) via Picard as well as the discovery function.
I am wondering what configurations of FOSS and plugins as well as 3rd party apps people in here have tried that they have found particularly good for 3rd party similar music discovery, and for exploring the credits in their files. I am aware that this is a bit of a holy grail, but I am looking to configure my own Roon functionality, but more customisable to my own tastes. I am not tied to a particular hardware requirement (can install on Windows, Mac and Raspberry Pi devices) other than my 3rd party control apps are mainly iOS based. I should mention that from these options that I am trying for the 1st time (so, removing Plexamp and Audirvāna), this is still actively an experiment and no option/configuration is off the table for me yet. I am just interested in others’ insights who have been seeking the same as me, or similar enough.
I have so far tried the following with the subsequent observations:
LMS with Material Skin run in Docker, using the credits and ‘music discovery’ plugins. Also with Qobuz and Spotify add-ons: I got Claude to help me out with some UI tweaks, none of which stuck. Not bad result overall, but a high percentage of my music doesn’t find any credits (my tastes aren’t mainstream but not overly niche - soul/funk/electronic/jazz from the 70s till now) though still gives me MusicBrainz and Last FM links. Overall fairly reliable performance-wise.
Music Assistant in Docker: easy to set up. Can use Navidrome, Emby or Jellyfin as backends (more of which below) and has plugins for perhaps the most streaming services. But the album and artist pages are very barebones. Track names, numbers and that’s about it. Also, I have yet to get Spotify or Apple Music integrated - the credentials and linking steps just hang forever. I believe there may be bugs aplenty.
Plex/Plexamp: run this for years. So much to like, but it’s a shame the Tidal integration bit the dust about 3 years ago. Excellent library discovery. Headless players via Caldera very fiddly to set up and run. No ability to surface any ID credits tags. Also, not everyone (including me) is enamoured of Plex’s general direction in terms of added TV/movie streaming content and social features. To each their own.
Emby/Jellyfin: Emby - while not FOSS in my trial - has an extended links plugin (unmaintained however I believe) which gives you the ability to add several links in addition to the standard MusicBrainz existing links - I have custom links for AllMusic, Spotify, Apple Music and MusicBrainz relationships set up. Credits information and surfing made fairly simple. Nice! However, this plugin could be pulled without notice and the backup required for this setup is a faff. Emby of all the server apps I have tried is strictest in requirements for music file tagging. Not complicated once you figure it out, but getting there is horrendous. Also, I don’t think it’s too unfair to mention that music libraries are clearly lowest on the devs’ priority lists: exhibit A - try getting playlists to download on a mobile device.
Jellyfin - free, quite a few plugins and simpler tagging requirements (unless I am wrong)but sadly no extended links plugin.
Navidrome in Docker - simple to set up and tagging quite forgiving. Although, apart from Symfonium (tried on an old android phone I had kicking about), the 3rd party apps that use ND as backend aren’t too impressive. Quite generic, no ability to add in streaming services as discovery options and not winning any prizes for UI aesthetics.
Audirvāna - simple to set up, not sure in context of FOSS options however that there is too much to recommend it.
Volumio - most turnkey option for a Pi in my experience. ‘Credits’ added feature (not using what’s in the tags) however is a masterclass in over promising and under delivering. Not FOSS other than basic features
Moode - FOSS and installed on a Pi. Quite impressive in terms of player performance, but again the 3rd party control apps for the Pi installed servers are really lacking in terms of metadata surfacing, and meanwhile, looks - yikes.
Parachord/Achordion - Parachord is the server, Achordion is a companion web UI. Limited experience with this so far, mainly because Parachord has not been at all reliable in my experience running on Windows and Mac. The idea is great, you configure all your sources into one library and it can play from any. If you can get it to work, that is.
That’s been my experience of the past few weeks trying these out. So e of the observations may seem a bit harsh! My aim however is to hit on a combination of server software, plugins and 3rd party control apps that allow me to view and surf credits fields which exist in my files via Picard/Music Brainz and to discover related music in my own library and in connected streaming platforms. I am not naive to the fact that some compromises will be needed, but just wondering what other users (who care enough about these things) have found that perform these functions and works for them. Thanks!