by MikeC » 20 Aug 2019, 16:59
I don't think you are being unreasonable to question this. I like the idea of a headless music player very much. Just in case, I keep clone copies of my sd cards in case this website fails for some reason. After the "dirble" incident, I realized just how vulnerable this setup can be, and my backups would not be of any help.
Fortunately for me, my systems are quite simple. I keep permanent Raspberry Pi's on two music systems, and have only seasonal need for a 3rd portable Pi. I have very limited use for the AP mode (Although I find it impressive when I do use it).
What I have done is prepare a Raspbian Buster Lite sd card for each device. I use VLC and VLC remote to listen to music. Even though it is really overkill just to listen to music, this setup has 3 advantages over RuneAudio:
1. It is much easier to listen to higher definition web radio with VLC.
2. (Don't shoot me on this) It actually sorts the music in the order I intended, no mysterious MPD "album title priority" sort.
3. No two hour catalog update sessions - I have a very large recording collection.
Since I really like RuneAudio, it is still setup on two units. I'm testing VLC on the 3rd.
I think it would help RuneAudio in general if they could keep a simple working download available. Something that does not require a git pull, or a modified host file, to play local music. Then they could add on options like: Spotify, Web Radio, UI Enhancements as needed. The host file issue should be temporary, but I think they lose a lot of potential users when a git pull is required.
Mike C
