While many have moved into the world of streaming music, some still keep the digital music collection they’ve built up over the years. And due to regional restrictions, some can’t access streamed music.
With streaming apps, you can easily cast to Chromecast. All you have to do is press a button in apps like Rdio or Pandora and the music will start playing on your TV. Local media is a completely different beast.
If you have a large music library on your PC and a lot of music on your Android/iOS device that you want to stream to Chromecast in some way, I have several solutions.
Chromecast doesn’t advertise itself for playing local content, but Chromecast can. You see, Chromecast is hackable. With the right combination of tools, you can play 320 kbps MP3 files on loud speakers attached to your giant TV in no time.
1. Use Google Play Music
If you live in the US or another supported country, you should really just use Google Play Music. The service lets you upload up to 20,000 songs from your personal collection to the Google cloud – all for free. You can then stream those songs to the Google Play Music app for iOS and Android, or on the web.
Both the iOS and Android apps have Chromecast support. So while the Android app won’t stream the songs you have locally to your Chromecast, it will for the ones you have in the cloud.
If it’s supported in your area, I can’t recommend it enough.
2. Use Plex for PC and Mac
Plex is a media center with lots of Android and iOS control apps. You basically create a media server on your PC/Mac and add your entire music library (you can also do this for movies and TV shows) to Plex.
Now that the media server is running and you’re on the same Wi-Fi network, you can use the official Plex app or one of the myriad other third-party apps to stream media to the above devices. And of course, that exploit Cast will send the media to your TV. Once all media is uploaded and scanned, open Plex on your PC/Mac and browse through the media. ONE Cast button will allow you to cast media directly to Chromecast. No iOS or Android control app required.
More about Plex: For how to set up Plex Media Server, visit our guide. But this is a quick run down.
Step 1: Choose Music from More library menu.
Step 2: After selecting Add folder optionally, navigate to your root directory Music collection folder and select Add.
The media will now be scanned and cataloged.
You can then play anything from the Media Server interface to your Chromecast, or by using one of the apps listed below.
iOS:
- Plex ($4.99)
- Buzz Player ($3.99)
Android:
- Plex ($4.99)
- bubbleUPnP
- LocalCast
- AllCast
3. Cinch for iOS
Cinch ($1.99) for iOS is a simple, ad-free app that lets you cast your entire music collection from your iOS device to your Chromecast. If you have playlists, they will also show up here.
4. AllConnect for Android
AllConnect is like Cinch but for Android. It supports streaming local music, pictures and videos to Chromecast easily.
5. Shuttle+ Media Player for Android
While AllConnect is good for basic playback, the Shuttle+ Media Player gives you a lot more for $1.75. It allows you to create playlists, import metadata, integrate lyrics, and more. And all of this can be streamed to Chromecast with the push of a button.
6. AllCast, LocalCast or BubbleUPnP for Android
AllCast, LocalCast and BubbleUPnP are all-in-one media streaming apps. They can all act as endpoints or controllers for media stored on Plex or on shared folders on your PC.
All of them can let you stream locally stored music. LocalCast will even let you create playlists on the fly. AllCast allows you to sign in with Dropbox and Google Drive. So you can stream music that you have stored in one of those cloud accounts.
All three apps are free but ad-supported. You can pay to remove ads and get premium features. And in the case of AllCast, to remove the logo repeatedly during media transfer.
How do you listen to music?
Are the ideas above enough to get your content from your PC/phone to Chromecast or other connected devices like Apple TV? Or have you found something better? Let us know in the comments below.
Categories: How to
Source: thpttranhungdao.edu.vn/en/
