{"slug": "subsonic", "name": "Subsonic", "category": "media", "category_name": "Media and creative", "description": "", "recommenders": 4, "commenters": 7, "warners": 0, "score": 3.579, "rising": -1.31, "first": "2026-01-06", "latest": "2026-10-16", "why": "Now using Nextcloud and Subsonic to stream music to my phone etc.", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 4, "neutral": 3, "compare": 1, "warn": 0}, "spark": [0, 0, 2, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "Now using Nextcloud and Subsonic to stream music to my phone etc.", "kind": "", "icon": true, "domain": "subsonic.org", "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://www.subsonic.org", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["Subsonic"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 770077938, "item_id": 48129871, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48129871", "by": "komali2", "date": "2026-05-13", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Same for subsonic, why reinvent the client server protocol there when it's already solved?", "excerpt": "I was responding to your comment that nerds should reclaim software that's overwhelmingly professional and pre packaged by sharing that there already is FOSS software for the categories you listed, which imo represents nerd reclamation. Audiobookshelf has a native android app, not sure about desktop, I only use it on Android. Anyone can build a TUI sure but why try to rebuild the whole mpd client/server stack that le", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "The Emacsification of Software"}, {"id": 770073793, "item_id": 48129612, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48129612", "by": "komali2", "date": "2026-05-13", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "500 different subsonic clients, many of which are good", "excerpt": "Many of them have been reclaimed. Check out the \"awesome self hosting\" GitHub repo. Podcasts: audiobookshelf Music: 500 different subsonic clients, many of which are good. Or some fun tuis Feed readers: lol, more than there are grains of sand in Torvalds' flippers Note taking: again innumerable, also, just use nvim or emacs of course Chat: tons of very good self hosted options that can save orgs thousands a month. Ra", "context": "", "use_case": "Music streaming server", "switched_from": "", "story": "The Emacsification of Software"}, {"id": 758913074, "item_id": 47432067, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47432067", "by": "totallygeeky", "date": "2026-03-18", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "so it's compatible with anything that supports that family of services", "excerpt": "For anyone looking for a spotify alternative, please join me in making a better, self-hosted spotify! 1.) Buy music when you can, and when you can't, pirate! 2.) Run Gonic(1)! (or whatever you want, I'm not in charge of what you do at the end of the day, but Gonic is a.) very light, and b.) a subsonic(2) server, so it's compatible with anything that supports that family of services) 2a.) How you run it is up to prefe", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Spotify playing ads for paid subscribers"}, {"id": 745813729, "item_id": 46613358, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46613358", "by": "campfireman", "date": "2026-01-13", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Now using Nextcloud and Subsonic to stream music to my phone etc.", "excerpt": "I experienced a similar renaissance! Now using Nextcloud and Subsonic to stream music to my phone etc. Wrote a little article on my blog: https://blog.ture.dev/posts/goodbye-spotify-and-yt-music/", "context": "", "use_case": "music streaming to phone", "switched_from": "Spotify", "story": "AI Generated Music Barred from Bandcamp"}, {"id": 744249264, "item_id": 46515579, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46515579", "by": "biotinker", "date": "2026-01-06", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "The Subsonic API is pretty fantastic and the apps that support it are full-featured.", "excerpt": "The Subsonic API is pretty fantastic and the apps that support it are full-featured. The Jellyfin app, while completely capable of streaming music, is far far less feature-ful. Personally I use Gonic rather than Navidrome, because I don't care about a web UI, but if you go to the Navidrome website and look at the \"Apps\" page it lists every Subsonic API compatible app. There's a lot.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "State of the Fin 2026-01-06 \u2013 Jellyfin"}]}], "caveats": [], "who": [{"by": "internet_points", "context": "parent", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46717359", "date": "2026-01-22"}], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["streaming music server", "music streaming server", "curating music for kids", "music streaming to phone"], "compared": [{"slug": "navidrome", "name": "Navidrome", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "audiobookshelf", "name": "Audiobookshelf", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "gonic", "name": "Gonic", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48118727", "title": "The Emacsification of Software", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50109715", "title": "What I self-host", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49932048", "title": "Why media fans want to escape algorithms with CDs, DVDs and vinyl", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48718840", "title": "Tidal AI Policy", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47428391", "title": "Spotify playing ads for paid subscribers", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46705676", "title": "2 years building a kids audio app as a solo dev \u2013 lessons learned", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {"recommend": 2, "neutral": 1}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-06": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {}, "2026-10": {"neutral": 1, "compare": 1}}, "versions": [], "version_unnamed": 0, "family_ref": null, "runs_on": null, "lines": [], "quotes": [{"id": 801880721, "item_id": 50117545, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50117545", "by": "antihero", "date": "2026-10-16", "version": null, "stance": "compare", "quote": "It replaces (but is fully compatible with) navidrome/subsonic", "excerpt": "If we're plugging stuff, here's my little ecosystem I've been working on for about 8 months. It replaces (but is fully compatible with) navidrome/subsonic, iOS client, macOS client, tvOS client (with modern QR/code based login flow), WebUI, and soon, Android clients. Also supports local libraries. Has neat stuff like remote-controlling other clients (zero conf/mdns/server relayed), modern user management (invite link", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "What I self-host"}, {"id": 798916210, "item_id": 49932263, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49932263", "by": "pkthunder", "date": "2026-10-02", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "over Subsonic[2]", "excerpt": "I\u2019d love to. I\u2019m working off memory right now, but it\u2019s nothing fancy. I\u2019ve got abcde[0] set up to handle the digitizing, navidrome[1] is set up to serve the content from a home lab server/NAS over Subsonic[2]. Play:Sub[3] is an iOS application that works with Subsonic. Just an audio receiver at this point, the app lets me \u201cjust play something\u201d which is quite nice. Can \u201cplay a random album\u201d for example. Tailscale jus", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Why media fans want to escape algorithms with CDs, DVDs and vinyl"}, {"id": 779576401, "item_id": 48723525, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48723525", "by": "totallygeeky", "date": "2026-06-29", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "something like a subsonic compatible server will offer a wide variety of options", "excerpt": "There are a couple different solutions, depending on where you have your music. For organizing, as another user suggested, Picard is your friend. You point it to your collection and can have it move and correct file tags all in one go. It even has default naming scripts for folders so it will go [Album Artist]->[Album], and if that doesn't suit your fancy you can edit the script however you'd like. If where you store", "context": "", "use_case": "Streaming music server", "switched_from": "", "story": "Tidal AI Policy"}, {"id": 770077938, "item_id": 48129871, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48129871", "by": "komali2", "date": "2026-05-13", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Same for subsonic, why reinvent the client server protocol there when it's already solved?", "excerpt": "I was responding to your comment that nerds should reclaim software that's overwhelmingly professional and pre packaged by sharing that there already is FOSS software for the categories you listed, which imo represents nerd reclamation. Audiobookshelf has a native android app, not sure about desktop, I only use it on Android. Anyone can build a TUI sure but why try to rebuild the whole mpd client/server stack that le", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "The Emacsification of Software"}, {"id": 770073793, "item_id": 48129612, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48129612", "by": "komali2", "date": "2026-05-13", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "500 different subsonic clients, many of which are good", "excerpt": "Many of them have been reclaimed. Check out the \"awesome self hosting\" GitHub repo. Podcasts: audiobookshelf Music: 500 different subsonic clients, many of which are good. Or some fun tuis Feed readers: lol, more than there are grains of sand in Torvalds' flippers Note taking: again innumerable, also, just use nvim or emacs of course Chat: tons of very good self hosted options that can save orgs thousands a month. Ra", "context": "", "use_case": "Music streaming server", "switched_from": "", "story": "The Emacsification of Software"}, {"id": 758913074, "item_id": 47432067, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47432067", "by": "totallygeeky", "date": "2026-03-18", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "so it's compatible with anything that supports that family of services", "excerpt": "For anyone looking for a spotify alternative, please join me in making a better, self-hosted spotify! 1.) Buy music when you can, and when you can't, pirate! 2.) Run Gonic(1)! (or whatever you want, I'm not in charge of what you do at the end of the day, but Gonic is a.) very light, and b.) a subsonic(2) server, so it's compatible with anything that supports that family of services) 2a.) How you run it is up to prefe", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Spotify playing ads for paid subscribers"}, {"id": 747477746, "item_id": 46717359, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46717359", "by": "internet_points", "date": "2026-01-22", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I used Subsonic for a while as a simple way to curate music for kids and keep them off Spotify", "excerpt": "This looks very nice, I love that you're making a real solution to avoid the dark patterns of companies like Spotify. I used Subsonic for a while as a simple way to curate music for kids and keep them off Spotify, but eventually my oldest got past the \"listen to the same album over and over again\" stage, and adding everything to Subsonic became a chore, so we succumbed to giving her an account. Yet I really don't lik", "context": "parent", "use_case": "curating music for kids", "switched_from": "", "story": "2 years building a kids audio app as a solo dev \u2013 lessons learned"}, {"id": 745813729, "item_id": 46613358, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46613358", "by": "campfireman", "date": "2026-01-13", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Now using Nextcloud and Subsonic to stream music to my phone etc.", "excerpt": "I experienced a similar renaissance! Now using Nextcloud and Subsonic to stream music to my phone etc. Wrote a little article on my blog: https://blog.ture.dev/posts/goodbye-spotify-and-yt-music/", "context": "", "use_case": "music streaming to phone", "switched_from": "Spotify", "story": "AI Generated Music Barred from Bandcamp"}, {"id": 744249264, "item_id": 46515579, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46515579", "by": "biotinker", "date": "2026-01-06", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "The Subsonic API is pretty fantastic and the apps that support it are full-featured.", "excerpt": "The Subsonic API is pretty fantastic and the apps that support it are full-featured. The Jellyfin app, while completely capable of streaming music, is far far less feature-ful. Personally I use Gonic rather than Navidrome, because I don't care about a web UI, but if you go to the Navidrome website and look at the \"Apps\" page it lists every Subsonic API compatible app. There's a lot.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "State of the Fin 2026-01-06 \u2013 Jellyfin"}]}