The best part about Ampache, (besides being able to stream you entire music collection anywhere in the world) is to stream it to a variety of devices- not just your computer. I’ll show you how to stream music from your Ampache server to your iPod//iPad/iPhone, WebOS, and Android devices. If your gadget isn’t listed that’s fine, there’s surely a way to connect to your server (like in a web browser). What we’ll need here is the following:
- Hostname (or IP address) of your Ampache Server
- Username
- Password
WebOS
1.) Open the App Catalog and search for Ampache on your phone.
2.) Then click the Download for free button.
3.) Wait for the application to download, it shouldn’t take long at all.
4.) Next click the Ampache Mobile icon to launch the program.
5.) Click the Preferences button so that we can configure our Ampache server.
6.) Enter a nickname so that you can easily identify the server. Then enter the hostname you setup previously (or IP) along with your account username and password. Click the Test Connection button when finished. If all goes well you shouldn’t see any errors. Perform a back swipe gesture to return to another screen.
7.) Next, set your startup account to the one that you just setup. This way, each time Ampache mobile loads it will connect to this server.
8.) Perform a back swipe until you get to the main menu. You’ll see your list of servers like above. Tap a server to connect to it.
9.) It’s easy to setup a playlist. You can browse by artist, album of songs just to name a few. Tap on a category to view the associated music.
10.) Tap the plus sign to add a song to your queue.
11.) Once you’ve hit the play button you’ll see that the song will start playing. The dark progress bar is the buffered part of the song. The blue progress bar shows the part of the track that has been played already.
12.) Tap the CD icon in the top right hand corner (underneath the battery and cell bars indicator) to view the “Now Playing” screen with album art.
iOS
1.) Open up the App Store and search for Ampache. Tap on iAmpache.
2.) Download and install the application.
3.) Once installed, tap on the icon to open it.
4.) Since this is the first time we’ve launched the program, we need to setup a server in the Settings app on the iPod/iPad/iPhone.
5.) Scroll down and open up iAmpache settings.
6.) Enter your server hostname (or IP), along with your username and password. Then close the settings app and open iAmpache again.
7.) You can browse by artist or genre, even playlists that you’ve created. Tap on a category to view the music.
8.) I decided to browse by genre. Select a genre by tapping on it.
9.) I then selected The Fugees. I can drill down even further by tapping the album name.
10.) Once selected, the song will begin to play. The player looks a lot like the built in iPod player. Unfortunately my iPod is a second generation so I’m not sure how well this works with the new multitasking features introduced in iOS4.
Android
1.) Begin by searching for Amdroid in the App Market. Or you can be really slick and download it from the web store on your computer at http://market.android.com
2.) Once you have the app loaded, hit the menu button on your phone and click Settings when it pops up.
3.) Here is where you can configure your server settings. Tap Ampache Url.
4.) Enter the full path to your ampache server, including the directory you installed it in. Also go back and enter your username and password.
5.) Once you’ve connected to your server, you can begin building a playlist. Tap Artists to browse by artist.
6.) Next, tap an album to view songs.
7.) Once you’ve located a song you want to hear, tap it to queue it to your playlist.
8.) You can also browse by “Tags” (which in my case is genre).
9.) To search for a specific song/artist/album, tap the menu button on your phone when at the home screen. Then hit Search. Type your search query and hit the magnifying glass.
10.) Search results will show up in a list and you can tap each song to add it to your playlist.
11.) The Now Playing popup from the main screen will take you directly to your current playlist when tapped. Advance through songs and play/pause tracks on this screen.
There you have it! We’ve successfully setup a streaming music server that can be accessed from anywhere in the world, from your computer to your smartphone to your iPod. Now you’ll always have your media wherever you go. If you’re feeling generous enough you can even create accounts for your friends and family so they can get in on the action too. Think of it as your custom streaming radio station- without any popups or ads. Enjoy it!
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