Klipspringer is a collection of software that I’ve been using (and kept developing) since 2014 for playing the collection of music files I got from ripping my CDs (and have since expanded by buying music online). It controls playing audio files (primarily FLAC files) on the server side (the computer connected to the stereo) via a simple web interface that can be accessed from any device connected to the same network. The server is a Javascript program that runs in Node.js. When triggered via the web interface, it starts the actual audio file player, written in Java, and the web interface then continues to control playing with buttons for pause, play, rewind, etc. The server can also be triggered to start playing some live radio channels streamed over the internet and CDs from a connected drive, and (if it’s run on a GNU/Linux system) can take commands from some other input devices, such as a remote control.
When I transferred the contents of all my CDs to a disk, I created Klipspringer for playing the music files on my stereo from a little computer (an Intel NUC) I placed on my stereo shelf to replace the CD player. The idea is that this computer is connected to the music disk and to the DAC in the stereo, and runs an HTTP server that can be accessed from any other computer or smartphone on the local network to pick and play music.
Sure, I could have used some existing system, but those things tend to be bloated and not do exactly what you want. It’s more fun to spend time on writing code than on trying to configure a system into what you want, and it’s nice to have total control.
I run the same software on other computers that access the music disk via NFS, so I know it works on Ubuntu, Raspbian, and Mac OS. I also incorporated live radio playing via SR‘s internet streams.
I named it after a character in The Great Gatsby, very insignificant in Fitzgerald’s novel, but frequently seen in Baz Luhrmann’s fantastic movie version playing the organ that can be heard around Gatsby’s palace.
Update: This post was abbreviated in April 2023, when Klipspringer went to version 3, with substantial changes to both the code and this website. There is now a guide, a collection of pages, as the primary source of information, with the blog as a complement.