With Lidarr being not very functional due to the Unable to communicate with LidarrAPI - Lidarr API “Internal Server Error” 500 | Invalid response received from LidarrAPI | HTTP Request Timeout · Issue #5498 · Lidarr/Lidarr I have been thinking about getting rid of it altogether. I have only started using it recently and don’t like it.
What I use Lidarr for:
- Find metadata for music
- organize files in a consistent way base on metadata
- obtain album art
- create .nfo or other files
- Identify desired music and instruct download utility to get it (this is optional for me— I can handle myself if needed)
- Do the above via a web interface which can be browsed nicely
I don’t like about Lidarr:
- The not-really-open-source nature of it, e.g. this current problem, where you are reliant on their external server to run your own home server. I feel this might be a more pervasive issue in the Arrs but not sure of all the implications
- How unsupported it is to include work that the lidarr servers don’t know about. There will never be a metadata database which includes all music. There is just too much music in the world!
- no audiobook/podcast support
I also have Jellyfin going for the actual serving/streaming of the music. Am not sure if it is able to fully manage the metadata and files?
Lots of options in the awesome-selfhosted list.
I could use a linux desktop app if it was better than a selfhosted server.
Thoughts?
Aren’t you then just preserving some random music ripper’s organizational preferences or default settings?
Either way I don’t see any issues with adding more tagged information. More information always more good 😁
Yes, random rippers preferences. The issue is that if you modify the file you lost traceability. And if you want to share the same files with a group of people you want the files to be static. The information can be out of the audio file, the sidecard I mentioned before. In photography it is used xmp format for sidecar. It seems that could be used this format for music too, I have to check it.
In a physical archive, effort is made to retain as much original relation between the materials as possible. The order of books on a shelf, items placed inside other items, etc. If there is an envelope containing a bunch of press clippings, notes, photos etc, you don’t disassemble it to be filed by date and type, completely apart from each other. You keep them together, in order.