Subsonic - Download

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Softonic Rating:: Excellent:9/10
License:: Free (GPL)
Added:: January 11, 2008
Publisher:: Website
File size:: 19.9 MB
Downloads:: 127

DownloadFree (GPL)

“Excellent free streaming media server”

by Elena Santos

If you've never had a media streaming server before, Subsonic is probably an excellent choice to take your first steps.

This application includes just about anything you need to turn your home computer into a fully-featured media streaming server. You may still need to install some missing codecs but in general terms, starting Subsonic is just a question of launching the Windows service and opening your web browser.

As an admin user, you'll be able to configure every single detail about your server, such as folders to be included in the media menu, user accounts and security settings, to name a few. As a common user, you have also plenty of features available, from downloading music files to rating songs - all depending on the permissions given by the admin. The whole procedure is done via web, while the streamed media can be played with an array of media players including Winamp, Windows Media Player and iTunes. You can even make Last.fm register what you're listening to in Subsonic.

On the downside, and despite the simplicity of the program, I still had some problems to perform certain tasks especially in playlist management. Even worse, I couldn't find any help about it.

With a tool like Subsonic - and some spare time to configure it properly - you'll be able to turn your standard home PC into a professional media streaming server.

Languages:

English, Spanish, Chinese Simp, Gallego, Italian, Swedish

OS requirements for Subsonic:

OS: Win95/98/98SE/Me/2000/NT/XP/2003/Vista

Minimum requirements:

Java 5.0

Pros

Includes everything you need to start the server
Works with popular media players
Lots of features for both administrators and common users

Cons

Configuration takes a while

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From the publisher of Subsonic

Subsonic is a free, web-based media streamer, providing access to your entire music collection wherever you are. Use it to share your music with friends, or to listen to your own music while at work. You can stream to multiple players simultaneously, for instance to one player in your kitchen and another in your living room.

Subsonic is designed to handle very large music collections (many thousand albums). It uses a combination of directory structure and tag parsing to organize the music. Although optimized for MP3 streaming, it works for any audio or video format that can stream over HTTP (for instance AAC and OGG). By using transcoder plug-ins, Subsonic supports on-the-fly conversion and streaming of virtually any audio format, including WMA, FLAC, APE, Musepack, WavPack, Shorten and OptimFROG.

If you have constrained bandwidth, you may set an upper limit for the bitrate of the music streams. Subsonic will then automatically resample the music to a suitable bitrate.

In addition to being a streaming media server, Subsonic works very well as a local jukebox. The intuitive web interface, as well as search and index facilities, are optimized for efficient browsing through large media libraries. Subsonic also comes with an integrated Podcast receiver, with many of the same features as you find in iTunes.