Audiogalaxy
Audiogalaxy streams all the music saved on your local home computer, for as long as the latter is turned on. Other functions like the usual shuffle, skip, delete, and create playlists.
- The server and the Android client are non commercial (Free)
- The server is not written in Java and takes a fair amount of memory
- It isn't necessary to open router ports to access the music, although this means it's technically less secure, as data goes through Audiogalaxy's servers.
- The Android client can leap into any part of the song at any time, whether it's been downloaded or not - i.e. true streaming
- Headset controls in the most recent client version
- Much better collection shuffling - shuffles the whole collection and starts playing right away until its end
- Playlist is support.
The Worst
- A very limited server interface with nearly no options
- The server seems to be truly CPU intensive while scanning media
- Windows and Mac only - no Linux
- Cannot browse your library on the client by directory structure, so you have to know either the artist or the album name, or use search
- Very basic bit rate limiting support, there is only 1 setting called "High Quality Audio" which can be turned on or off
- While it's possible to switch users to play media from more than on server, it's completely impractical, so if you have more than 1 media server, Subsonic is a much better choice
Subsonic
The Best
- Available for Windows, Mac, and Linux, thanks to Java portability
- A highly configurable server interface, with many options
- The server is relatively facile on the CPU while scanning media
- Easily configurable client cache size (e.g. set it to 2GB, and it will cache the last played 2GB space of music)
- Support for multiple servers (up to 3) on the Android client - switch between them in 2 clicks
- Headset controls, though they can't be disabled, which is harassing
- Configurable ability to limit max bit rate on both WiFi and mobile connection in case you get skips or want to cut down on traffic
- Easy to browse the library on the client, particularly if you want to use your directory structure
- Playlist is support
- Collection shuffling runs very well (via the Shuffle All button). Don't confuse this with the Random button, which pulls up a random list of albums
The Worst
- The Android client is free but after 30 days requires you to register the server with a minimum 10 Euros donation
- The positives of Java are also its negatives - the server is written in Java and takes a large space of memory (400MB+ for my collection)
- You need to open router ports to access the music, although this technically means it's more secure because no data needs to flow through Subsonic's servers. However, I am still putting this as a con because to most users, ease of use is what matters
- The Android client cannot jump to any part of the song unless it has already pre downloaded the media in full (e.g. progressive download and not true streaming)
