Playing local media ....

[itsjustmeee]

I'm curious to know if there's a way to play my local media using Alexa. I'm aware that I can just send it via Bluetooth but I have all of my MP3s with my media center on my hard drive and I use Plex. From what I understand Plex is working on Amazon echo integration but I was just curious if there's any other way to play my local music from my hard drive before that becomes a reality.

[mike27oct]

Nope.  But, I would like someone to prove me wrong.  Right now, it's via BT, but that's not so bad or hard to do.  I can also use MY playlists to play the music this way.

[DParker]

It can be done, but it'll take some work.

https://m.reddit.com/r/amazonecho/comments/3c7knf/amazon_echo_controlling_plex_media_server_and/

[mike27oct]

Well, somebody seems to have done it, but I'd rather be listening to music and watching videos instead of futzing with all this just to make Echo control PLEX.  I have PLEX loaded onto my high-end WD My Cloud DL2100 NAS, with extra memory added to enable over-blown programs like PLEX to run at all on the NAS as an app, and at a decent speed to not be an issue (which it does).  I only put PLEX on my NAS so I could see and experience what some of the excitement was about it.  It was a tremendous letdown; even though I convinced myself to give PLEX a couple of more tries, I still could not see the advantage of it.

My problem with PLEX is it is completely over-blown and over-kill for what I want to do.  I do not have time to slog through music media to find stuff to play on my WDTV media player when a simple directory listing does the trick easily and simply.  Same can be said for movies.  The graphic-intense platform with all sorts of cover art and IMDB crap taking up NAS HD space and all is not for me.  I KNOW about the movie I am about to watch.  (Maybe for people who fill HD after HD with unknown stuff they constantly download via torrents really like this sort of graphic display; I don't, and don't do torrents, either.)

Basically, I want to locate a movie I have stored digitally on my NAS or elsewhere on my network,  AND start watching it in less than a minute, and PLEX doesn't let me do that; it wants me to slowly browse like I was at a video store or at a Tower Records bin.

And, to those who really like PLEX, I am happy for you; it is all yours to have!

[itsjustmeee]

I actually do like Plex. I travel a lot and it allows me to be able to easily stream my local media on my iPhone or iPad anywhere at anytime. I tend to use it less and less at home because there's so many other options. But it would be nice to have Alexa play any song from my 150 gigs of music files. I guess I'll just wait until Plex comes out with their official Echo integration.

[DParker]

...my 150 gigs of music files...

150 GB?  Do you have them in an uncompressed format or something?

[itsjustmeee]

...my 150 gigs of music files...

150 GB?  Do you have them in an uncompressed format or something?

Most are just MP3s with a higher sample rate but some are a lossless format. That's one of the great things about Plex and a Mac Mini as a media server. It can pretty much handle anything you can throw at it and convert it perfectly on the fly.  Also, AppleTV now has a free Plex app which integrates perfectly.

[mike27oct]

. . . I was just curious if there's any other way to play my local music from my hard drive . . . 

Yes, there are.  We have similar conditions; I have iPhone and iPad and almost the same amount of stored digital music on my home network that I can also access away from home.  I also have lots of stored m4v movies I can access as well.  Over the past few years I have been storing my media on my WD My Cloud NAS, and not on any other hard disks in the network any more.  I keep no media stored on my iThings, and am dependent upon accessing my home network from afar.  I also have a virtual cloud I can access via internet to stream from. For when there is no internet (or only poor quality internet) available, I have wireless drives that contain my media files.

Currently, I mostly access the My Cloud.  The NAS is on the home network 24/7, does not need a PC on, and is what many people are using for storage of media today.  Very accessible.  So, by using the WD companion app called My Cloud (as well) I can access the NAS from the phone or Pad to play music, video and photo media; either when at home or away.  My Cloud devices come in various price ranges, capacity and speed.

I also can access my home network via a router app.  My Asus app has an app called  AiCloud that can access all the drives and devices on my network with shared content.  Before I had a NAS, this is what I was using, and can still use.  It even accesses the My Cloud's contents.

My virtual Cloud is called Pogoplug, and I only have movie files in it I can access via the internet.  Last week while out of town I streamed a lot of movies to iPad for my little granddaughter to watch.

If you need anymore info about this ways to stream remotely, let me know.  I have other ways, too, but these are what I mostly use.

[itsjustmeee]

. . . I was just curious if there's any other way to play my local music from my hard drive . . . 

Yes, there are.  We have similar conditions; I have iPhone and iPad and almost the same amount of stored digital music on my home network that I can also access away from home.  I also have lots of stored m4v movies I can access as well.  Over the past few years I have been storing my media on my WD My Cloud NAS, and not on any other hard disks in the network any more.  I keep no media stored on my iThings, and am dependent upon accessing my home network from afar.  I also have a virtual cloud I can access via internet to stream from. For when there is no internet (or only poor quality internet) available, I have wireless drives that contain my media files.

Currently, I mostly access the My Cloud.  The NAS is on the home network 24/7, does not need a PC on, and is what many people are using for storage of media today.  Very accessible.  So, by using the WD companion app called My Cloud (as well) I can access the NAS from the phone or Pad to play music, video and photo media; either when at home or away.  My Cloud devices come in various price ranges, capacity and speed.

I also can access my home network via a router app.  My Asus app has an app called  AiCloud that can access all the drives and devices on my network with shared content.  Before I had a NAS, this is what I was using, and can still use.  It even accesses the My Cloud's contents.

My virtual Cloud is called Pogoplug, and I only have movie files in it I can access via the internet.  Last week while out of town I streamed a lot of movies to iPad for my little granddaughter to watch.

If you need anymore info about this ways to stream remotely, let me know.  I have other ways, too, but these are what I mostly use.

Thanks for the suggestions. I was an early adopter for Pogoplug. I moved away from it after I discovered Plex simply because it can play any type of file .... and because it's a great program that they've been constantly improving. My real question is whether all of these mp3s I have can be accessed with Alexa. From what I've read, about the only way at the moment would be to buy cloud space with Amazon and upload all of my files. I already have Dropbox Pro and tons of storage space with my web provider so the thought of getting more just doesn't make sense. I do know that Plex has been working on an official Echo release but who knows when that will show up. I guess I'll just live with Amazon Prime music until there's another option for Alexa to access my locally stored mp3s.

[mike27oct]

It's nice that PLEX can decode and play just about anything, but it is not a feature I need, having a WDTV to play movies of most any format on the TV.  I can play all my stuff at home, and for remote and portable drive use I make m4v versions of my DVD collection with handbrake.  The quality of the movies is excellent for the Pad, and even TV screens <50", so I am stock making these extra files.  I also have a PP Team account so my daughter can stream the movies from her PP account too for the kids.

I totally agree, it should not be rocket science for the Echo to access the home network so we can easily stream our music collections, but I really don't think Amazon wants to make it THAT easy so we can completely skirt buying their music or their Cloud.  One thing you can do, is to upload 250 of your music tracks to their cloud for free.  It did not take any time at all for iTunes to select the tracks randomly, but it did take a while to upload them all even with my fast broadband; the slowdown was with Amazon..  I only did it once to try the service.  I play from it from time to time, and will likely refresh the upload again.

One thing that has been handy is the new Amazon Tap battery portable "Echo" with BT stereo speakers, etc.  It was with us last week on vacation.  A great gadget for travelers.  I don't have to drag along BT speakers, anymore with the Tap that does Alexa tricks and more.

I still have a 160GB iPod with all my music files on it with room to spare, and the Tap makes it easy to either send the iPod music to Tap (via a tiny BT transmitter in iPod headphone jack) or a direct wire hookup from iPod to Tap (or another BT speaker).  I use this setup a lot when traveling.

Lots of ways to skin a cat.