Access/play musicbee library through kodi box?

[baldrick]

Hi all,

A quick newbie question that has me scratching my head.  Is there any way to access (and play) my musicbee library through a kodi box?  I've been searching but can't seem to find the answer.

Set up is as follows:

All music is on a NAS

- Musicbee (and iTunes) library files on the same NAS

- Musicbee and iTunes interface / programmes on office PC

- In the spare room, I have a TV and sound system and a networked android / kodi box that I don't use for anything. 

What I'd like to be able to do is access and play my music library in the spare room through the kodi box, as it's just sitting idle.  I don't need to edit the library, upload music or record play counts or anything like that - I just want to be able to play my music and playlists.

Any thoughts?

Cheers,

B

[phred]

If the kodi box is UPnP/DLNA then you might be able to use the UpnP/DLNA plugin. I say "might" because while the plugin is no longer supported, it has worked for some people. If you try it and you have questions, please post them in the plugin's thread. I also suggest reading the entire thread before you attempt to use it.
https://getmusicbee.com/forum/index.php?topic=14277.0

[frankz]

You can export your playlists in m3u and then have Kodi scan your music files and whatever folder your exported playlists are in.  That's probably the easiest most reliable way.  I had this set up a while ago and it works fine.

You could also do as phred suggests and use the hit-or-miss UPnP/DLNA plugin, which will serve up your library as it exists with all of your library data.  That's a valid workable solution, but if you're just interested in listening to your music and playlists on Kodi it seems like slight overkill for what you're looking to accomplish.  Plus you'll have to transcode to WAV to level volumes across tracks and crossfade and things like that, which I think Kodi will do natively.

I have a Windows 10 HTPC hooked up to each of my media centers, so that's my actual suggestion.  You don't need to go that far, though.  There are cheap Windows 10 boxes and even sticks (under $100) where you could install Kodi and MusicBee and other low-intensity programs (i.e. not things like Photoshop or office) and stream whatever.  That's, also, probably overkill since you already have a streaming box, but something to keep in mind when it's time to upgrade.

[baldrick]

Thanks both. Will take a look at the thread and, if that fails, will try the playlist method. Less ideal as, presumably,  I'll have to update it each time I add new music, but might be more straightforward as you say.

Cheers

B

[captain_paranoia]

If you want to access the MusicBee database, you'll have to have MusicBee running, and access MB's DLNA/UPnP Server in Kodi.

If all you want to do is to be able to access your media files in Kodi (the same ones MB accesses), then point Kodi at the SMB drive on your NAS, and get it to create its own database.

It dpends on what you have in mind for the meaning of 'library'; it can mean just the collection of media files (SMB), or it can mean a database of pointers to the collection of files (DLNA).

[frankz]

Thanks both. Will take a look at the thread and, if that fails, will try the playlist method. Less ideal as, presumably,  I'll have to update it each time I add new music, but might be more straightforward as you say.

Cheers

B

IIRC, Kodi rescans your library, music files and playlists, each time you open it.  So, if you set MB to auto-export each of your playlists, there should be no intervention needed on your part.

The UPnP/DLNA plugin works fine, too, except every once in a while in some peoples' experience it will go crazy and start sucking down system resources for no identifiable reason eventually crashing MB.