Previously, I have shared how to download hi-res music from Qobuz or Tidal. With a music collection on your storage, you can stream your own music instead of paying a music streaming subscription fee. In this post, I will show you all the possible methods to stream your personal music library.
You can host the music files on your storage, upload your music to music streaming services, or online cloud storage. You can choose any of the methods below accordingly.
Self-hosted
If your music files are stored on your local hard drive or NAS device, then the self-hosted method is more suitable. There are paid and free methods to help you stream your local music.
Plex
Plex is a popular application for hosting and streaming media files. You can store your music files on a desktop computer, Nvidia Shield TV Pro, or a compatible NAS device with the Plex Media Server program and then play the music through the Plex app. Plex is available on iOS, Android, and desktop web applications.
In addition, the Plex app allows you to stream music to Google Home speakers or cast to any Chromecast device.
Plex web app is free to use, even with Chromecast abilities, while the iOS and Android applications cost $5 to lift time restriction on viewing. Plex Pass, which costs $5 per month, $40 per year, or $120 for life, grants access to other features such as artist metadata, loudness leveling, track crossfades, and visualizations. This also gives you access to all of Plex’s applications without additional charges.
Plex Media Server is compatible with Windows, macOS, Linux, NVIDIA SHIELD, Netgear Nighthawk X10 router, many popular NAS devices. If you have any of this supported hardware, you can set it up and access your collection from anywhere via your home server, which also supports lossless audio formats like FLAC.
Jellyfin
Plex free is quite limited. If you don’t want to upgrade to Plex Pass, Jellyfin is a free alternative. Built on the now-proprietary Emby media server, Jellyfin is totally free and open-source. You may install the host software on your PC or on a server, and you’re ready to stream your music once everything is indexed.
When you’re out, Jellyfin allows you to download offline versions of your media files. What’s more, it supports Chromecast and airPlay. Kellyfin Server is available in Docker, Linux, Windows, and macOS. Jellyfin app is available on most TV, Mobile devices, and desktops.
Jellyfin doesn’t support cloud storage services. If you like the cloud storage feature with Jellyfin, you can use Rclone to sync files from your cloud drive to your PC or server automatically.
Subsonic Music Streamer
Subsonic is another program that allows you to stream your own music online for free. You can install and configure Subsonic on Windows, macOS, Linux, or Synology NAS. If you don’t like the setup process, you can get a pre-installed Subsonic server.
Subsonic comes with a highly configurable server interface with lots of options. You can configure the max bitrate on both WIFI and mobile connection to save data and enable preload songs option to ensure seamless playback. The best option I like is that you can give access to your friends to share music.
You start using Subsonic Music Steamer for free in a month. After that, you can pay only $1 a month to upgrade to Subsonic Premium to enjoy these extra features like video streaming, ads-free, personal server address, stream to Chromecast, cast to DLNA/UPnP compatible devices.
Music Streamer
Music Streamer is a music player that allows you to play all music over LAN. You can share your music folder on Windows PC or Mac and this program will scan and add all music to your collection. The best part about this program is that it comes with a comprehensive set of instructions for setting up your PC to share your music with it.
To download and install this media streamer app, you’ll need 21.8 MB of free capacity on your iOS device. When you first use the app, you’ll see a scan option that will automatically search for shared music files on your network and make them available for streaming on your iPhone.
It appears to be similar to most other music players you’ve seen. If you like, you may even make your own playlists. It has the standard play, fast forward, rewind, and shuffle controls, as well as album art if your music files have it.
Music Streaming Services That Allows Uploading
Previously, I uploaded many music files even audiobooks to Google Play Music. Since the service is down, there are a few music streaming services offer a similar feature.
YouTube Music
As the replacement for Google Play Music, YouTube Music also allows you to upload music and your uploaded music to Google Play Music is also available to play. However, it no longer allows you to play the music on Google Home or cast to any Chromecast compatible devices.
Apple Music
You probably are familiar with Apple Music. As one of the most popular music streaming services, it allows you to upload unlimited tracks to iCloud music library. This will not consume your iCloud storage.
You can upload music with the Music on macOS. On Windows, you should open iTunes and click Edit > Preferences. Under the General tab, select to turn on iCloud Music Library. After that, when you drag any music to iTunes, it will sync to your iCloud Music Library.
On macOS, you do the same with the Music app. You should also go to Settings > Music to turn on Sync Library on your iOS device. There is a workaround to save music to iCloud Music Library automatically. You can refer to the video below.
Online Digital Lockers
There are also dedicated online digital lockers that host your music for streaming on any device. Compared to music streaming services, they cost less or none at all.
IBroadcast
iBroadcast may be the best option if you simply want access to your uploaded music from wherever. It comes with a web player, Android, and iOS app. The free service allows you to upload an infinite number of files.
It supports Chromecast, Amazon Alexa, Apple Carplay, etc. Most, if not all, modern audio formats like mp3 and flac are supported. You can also use the MediaSync Lite app to sync your local music folder and back your music collection to the cloud.
iBroadcast is now working on a $3.99/month premium subscription with more extra features.
Media Leap
Media Leap is a new service that lets you to upload up to 1TB of your own music for free on their servers.The music may be streamed to up to five devices through a web app or mobile apps. If needed, you can always download them to phone storage for offline listening.
You can enjoy all the features for free including offline listening, metadata adjustment, search functionality, etc. You may join up for a $5 monthly subscription if you need more than 1TB of storage.
Media Leap allows the uploading and streaming of MP3, Ogg, and FLAC files. However, in comparison to the other services, Media Leap is rather new. A lot of features like casting are coming.
Cloud Music Player
Another way to stream your music is through cloud storage. If you have music stored on any cloud drive, you can use a cloud music player app to stream cloud music.
Astiga
Astiga is a web service that provides a simple interface for listening to music from your cloud storage. Once you’ve connected to cloud drives, it’ll automatically organize your music in a streaming service-like format.
Astiga is accessible for Android and the web. The free version only allows you sync your music once every 3 days. If you often add music to your cloud collection, the $4/month or $24/year premium subscription may be worth it.
EverMusic
Like Astiga, EverMusic is an app that connects to a cloud storage service or your own server and lets you stream your music files to your iPhone or iPad. The free only allows you to connect 3 cloud drivers only. If you want to connect more cloud drives, you need to pay a one-time fee of $3 to lift all restrictions and remove ads.
In addition, you can also play music stored in iCloud drive offline. In my opinion, EverMusic is the best cloud music player. However, it is only available for iOS.
CloudPlayer
For Anadroid users, CloudPlayer by doubleeTwist is the way to go. It lets you connect to your OneDrive, Dropbox, and/or Google Drive storage. Once connected, the app will organize recognized audio files in a library.
You can also sort the library by album, artist, playlists, genres, songs, or playlists. You may also listen to internet radio stations. If you don’t like the default light theme, you may change it, and there are several other customization choices if you don’t like some of the design selections or the default playback behavior.
More features, such as a 10-band equalizer, loudness leveling, gapless playback, Chromecast and AirPlay connectivity, and an ad-free radio experience, are available for a $7.99 in-app purchase.
Conclusion
These are all the possible ways to stream your own music. Instead of music stream services, you have more options for organizing your music. In whatever situation, you should find one solution that fits you. For me, I prefer Kellyfin since it is completely free to stream my own music and videos.
By the way, if you want to download high quality music, you should check our collection of FLAC music downloader sites.
I’m looking for an app to stream music from Google Drive storage to my Android devices. Almost every website I read mentions CloudPlayer as one of the top apps. But CloudPlayer hasn’t been updated since 2022, and GooglePlay won’t let me install it because it doesn’t support the current version of Android anymore.
Any idea if and when it will be updated?
I also tried CloudBeats, but that only plays from the “MyDrive” folder. My music is synchronised automatically, and stored on Google Drive under the “MyComputer” folder, which is invisible in CloudBeats (but perfectly accessible in the Google Drive app).