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Is there a way to listen to DLNA server music from Ubuntu?

It seems redundant to me to have full-scale library based music software on the computer while there is already library based solution in the media center I have.

3 Answers 3

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After much searching on the internet without any real help I found the answer myself.

In Ubuntu 14.10 the default media player Rhythmbox can be used as a music client to access DLNA server. The only problem is that not all necessary files are installed by default.

There are just few steps to take:

  1. Enable Grilo DLNA client in Rhythmbox. Go to Tools -> Plugins and make sure that "Grilo Media Browsing" (or similar) is enabled.
  2. Install Grilo plugins. Open "Ubuntu Software Center", search for "grilo-plugins" and install package "grilo-plugins-0.2".
  3. You are done now. Open Rhythmbox and should already see your DLNA server in the left column. You can browse it and play your music. If you do not see it, try clicking little "+" sign on the bottom left and then "Find new devices" (or similar). See picture below. Small toolbar at the bottom left side
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  • Advantages are wide media support in Rhythmbox (e.g. no need to transcode FLAC on media server), common controls (media keys support), etc. The problems I encountered so far are messy display of multi-volume albums and bug that makes "pause" feature ineffective, using "mute" instead or closing the app.
    – okolnost
    Dec 3, 2014 at 9:03
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    I followed everything but I don't see Grilo under Plugins.
    – emrecnl
    Nov 22, 2015 at 17:03
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    I know this is rather old but are you still using this? Because I am couldn't see Grilo or something similar in the plugins list initially, and neither after grilo-plugins-0.2. Do I need to install something else for it to show up in Rhythmbox?
    – foxite
    Dec 31, 2015 at 18:01
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    I do not use it a lot since I found Ubuntu DLNA somewhat mediocre (using Kodi with phone instead). But I still have plugin working on my Ubuntu desktop. And I see there are several packages found when looking up Grilo keyword. I think you need two things (at least): "rhythmbox-plugins" package (provides Grilo Media Browser among others) and Grilo (libgrilo and grilo-plugins - which installs grilo-plugins-base and grilo-plugins-extra). I am not sure you really need all this, but this is what I have installed and I see my DLNA server in Rhythmbox. Maybe give it a shot...
    – okolnost
    Jan 4, 2016 at 23:34
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    In Ubuntu 18.04 the default media player Rhythmbox can be used as a music client to access DLNA server. The only problem is that not all necessary files are installed by default. There are just few steps to take: Enable Grilo DLNA client in Rhythmbox. Go to Tools -> Plugins and make sure that "Grilo Media Browsing" (or similar) is enabled. Install Grilo plugins. Open "Terminal", type "sudo apt-get install grilo-plugins-0.3". You are done now. Open Rhythmbox and should already see your DLNA server in the left column. You can browse it and play your music. If you do not see it, try clicking litt
    – Terry Dow
    Apr 22, 2019 at 23:20
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Here is how I configured Rhythmbox to work as a DNLA client in Ubuntu 20.04.

  1. Open Rhythmbox
  2. Open the "hamburger" menu, the three stacked lines segments in the top bar on the Rhythmbox window
  3. Select "Preferences" from the dropdown menu
  4. In the popup window select the "Grilo media browser" option and click the "Close" button.
  5. At this point, the name of my DLNA server appeared in the leftmost panel under the heading shared, and I was able to browse and play my files.

I believe the package "rhythmbox-plugins" is required, and it was already installed. I don't know if it was installed by default, or if I installed it sometime in the past.

By the way, the answer for Ubuntu 14.04 instructs you to go to the Tools->Plugins menu option, but in Ubuntu 20.04 there doesn't appear to a 'Plugins' option under 'Tools'.

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VLC players works great with DLNA. It's mobile app works too BTW. It can play both music and videos. Open VLC, Local network Universal Plug'nPlay

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