Amged Rustom

Streaming Music and Videos with GNUMP3d


GNUMP3d

I have been trying different streaming servers the past few days for a project I'm working on. Out of the ones I tested so far none was as easy to install and configure as the GNU Streaming MP3 / Media Server (GNUMP3d). So I thought I should write post about it for those who are thinking of running a streaming server at home or on their web servers.

Because GNUMP3d was developed in Perl, it could be run on most platforms. Its website has instructions for installing it on Linux, Windows (as an application or service) and Mac OS X. The website also mentions that it is for MP3 and OGG file formats, but I didn't find any trouble with media files that have their codecs installed. Although I have it installed for testing on a web server and I access it through the Internet, I still am not sure if it will work on a production server or not.

GNUMP3d

Installing GNUMP3d on Linux

As I said before, installing and configuring GNUMP3d is very easy. The instructions below should work with most Linux distros.

  1. Download it from http://www.gnu.org/software/gnump3d/.
  2. Create a folder and extract the files in it.
  3. Change to that folder and run the following command:
    sudo make install
    Which will ask you for your password or the root's (depending on which distro you have installed).
  4. Create a folder for your media files and copy them there or create symbolic links (symlinks) of the folders you have them in. I found the symlink idea much better because I didn't want to move them to a new location.
  5. Open /etc/gnump3d/gnump3d.conf with a text editor and look for the following line:
    root = /home/mp3
    And set it to the location of your media files.
  6. Now everything is set, to run the program just enter at the command-line:
    sudo gnump3d

Accessing the Media Files using a Browser

To start watching your videos and listening to your music use your browser to browse port 8888 of the PC you have GNUMP3d installed on, for example http://localhost:8888/ if you are using it from the same PC you it installed on.

I'm still working on finding a streaming server with the perfect combination of features and ease of use. And as I test more of them I will post about my experience. If you tried GNUMP3d or any other streaming server you think is worth mentioning please let me know.