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Is there a way to "create" an Ubuntu server that allows to stream all my music to my Airport express? With the possibility to manage it through my MAC and iPhone? And if i disable anything, except the Airport and the Ubuntu machine, it still play's?

Thanks.

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It is technically possible to stream audio to an Airport Express device from a server but there are so many limitations that you probably dont want to go through the pain of installing this.

The recommended way to get audio streaming without issues is to have the media player (presumably iTunes) and the streaming running both on Apple systems. They do use a proprietary non-open streaming protocol which causes issues and makes things needlessly complicated, esp. when it comes to controlling from an iPhone or a Mac.

The way to acchieve this with least headaches is to have your Ubuntu as a file server for audio files to be accessed from the MAC. Only then you will probably be able to get a smooth, uninterrupted and lagless streaming experience, fully controllable from the Mac.


Nevertheless here's a very basic outline of steps to take to stream audio to an Airport Express from an Ubuntu server:

  • Install ALSA, and Pulse Audio including tools on the server.
  • Install and load the pulseaudio-module-raop.
  • Load your Airport Express to the RAOP module with the following command:

     pactl load-module module-raop-sink sink_name=RAOP sink_properties=device.description="AirportExpress" server=<IP_of_AEX>:<Port>  
    

    Replace <IP_of_AEX> with the IP you assigned to the Airport Express, and optionally give a <Port> (defaults to 5000)

  • Make this sink your default:

    pacmd set-default-sink RAOP
    
  • Run and control a command line media player through SSH from the MAC (or iPhone if you have an SSH client installed there).

Note that when you do not run the server but a desktop flavour of Ubuntu your approach to this will be different:

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