Active or Not!?!! Not willing to cont to pay for dead projec

[sgtevmckay]

Before I plunk down more money for this software, I want to know if is actively going anywhere.
I have a ton of suggestions and issues to report, but if not active into the future…pht

No point in Wasting my time

If no longer actively being advanced and supported, may as well dump it back into open source.
At least this way I could get Subsonic to work while I am in areas of no internet.
The internet requirement is old hat and unappreciated.

My registration is up in a week.
I have been considering just making the lifetime purchase
But
No response from programmer(s), no money!
I’ll just move onto another fork.
Would prefer not to, as I am willing to pay.

So, what’s the story here?

[bcrivers]

I think the developer gave up on this project long time ago. The developer last posted on this forum back in March 2021.

[J_T_W]

Subsonic is basically abandonware; it isn't open-source and there is no development or active support by the owner. You might consider moving off to a newer implementation. Both below suggestions run on multiple platforms, I'm a Windows guy so some of my supplemental info isn't as useful to non-Windows users.

If you're looking for a very lateral move, consider Airsonic Advanced https://github.com/airsonic-advanced/airsonic-advanced - It is in active development with frequent snapshot updates https://github.com/airsonic-advanced/airsonic-advanced/releases . Same feature set as Subsonic (API, Sonos, etc.) with updated code. As it is open source, you also get almost all the features Subsonic Premium gives you, but for free (see my last line). Minimal effort for installation (latest Java installed, then a command line shortcut to the war file - upgrades even easier with just a fast war file change).

If you're really more API focused, and looking just for a music streaming service (app over browser), you might consider moving off the Subsonic family of servers altogether. Check out Navidrome https://www.navidrome.org/ . That product is primarily to supply the API with a completely new back-end, and refocuses to just support audio (no video, podcast, internet radio, etc.). There is not yet built in support for Sonos, but you can find easy linking with something like Bonob https://github.com/simojenki/bonob. As with Airsonic Advanced, no subscription or fee to access the API. Navidrome does have a simplified web UI if desired.

Both products will need you to come up with your own DDNS solution for external access. Both support running as a service with something like NSSM https://nssm.cc/, and IIS works great as a reverse proxy if you wish to run them as SSL.

[sgtevmckay]

Thank you both for your input.
It is greatly appreciated.

Looks like Airsonic adv. is on my menu, but will be reviewing a number of options.
Quite a bit to choose from.

[demodulated]

Flawed as Subsonic may be, it still works for me. The reason I will probably renew my suscription again this year is that it's so cheap. According to my (likely incomplete) research nobody else offers a similar product with an Android app with Android Auto for just $1 per month.

[timlance]

I agree with demodulated. I am too ignorant/lazy to get the Subsonic variants working. I have tried Plex and Emby. Emby will do if need be but for the present Subsonic works fine. That plus the great iOS app, play:Sub, and I have my fingers crossed for the future, which is t say I'll re-up, too.

[sgtevmckay]

Thank you folks for the additional input.

Situation is most frustrating.
I would much prefer to stay with Subsonic, but I need to be able to work with an individual or team of programmers that I can work with, in order to lend my suggestions to and who can verify feasibility, and implementation.

It is looking like Airsonic Advanced is next on my menu, until it dies or if forked again, or Plex audio grows up a bit more, quite a bit more.

Most aggravating.

Additional comments and/or suggestions are welcome for the time being.

[chrisjx]

I would be for staying with subsonic if it was working.

I'm getting a big fat 503 error (with underlying database error) and I've posted in the most popular 503 error thread and documented what I've done to try to figure out what's gone wrong. I'm not a java person so I'm dead in he water without some kind of hints. And as far as I can tell, I never updated after the refresh to 6.1.6 install, never updated the OS. I know my kvm box restarted in a power outage, which has happened before, but never had an app actually stop working.

But crickets...

I looked at airsonic and it seems to be in a similar state. Feels like everyone is tired of fixing things.

Reading the 503 error thread looks like there have been issues with the database since 2018. Mostly people seem to reinstall the application only to have the system break again.

I used earlier versions for years and it worked great. I only updated based on the encouragement notifications in the app.

Very sad.

[Squabsy]

trouble is running your own music server is more and more niche these days developers start these projects and eventually realise they have a reasonably small but very demanding group of users all wanting slightly different features

[Boutros]

I rolled Subsonic/MusicCabinet/Madsonic for about 10 years and wanted SO BADLY to stick with Subsonic. But I finally made the jump to the Plex ecosystem about a year ago, and... I'm not too sorry. The Plexamp app is mindblowingly good on mobile, and even not too bad on desktop once you get used to it.

I still check in here every couple of months though, to see if this project comes back from the mostly-dead...

[n8ivetxn]

I also check in every few months to see if any new releases are provided but it's no longer a priority after I finally made the jump to airsonic-advanced after almost, I'm guessing here, a decade of running subsonic. Having purchased a lifetime key I figure I got my monies worth and have moved on. Airsonic-advanced runs on my new M1 macmini with updated Java libraires and Postgres (I'm using an Edge Release from June '22) while subsonic had a few problems scanning all of my content successfully on the new chassis. As long as the naming service is still valid I can reuse the custom URL offered in subsonic and do a little router work to forward the subsonic inbound port over to the airsonic port so there's no need to change the URL in my subsonic compatible apps. I guess we'll know if Sindre pulls the plug on the custom URL service when my apps refuse to connect. Best of luck in making your decision.

[KingOS]

I have a Subsonic lifetime licence, but switched to AirsonicAdv few years ago and havent been looking back... runs like a dream on mysql with a large music collection (Flac 16 and 24 bit)
A few videos also in mkv format ... works fine... Not using Sonos... But it does have (more) settings for it than Subsonic had

Doubt anyone would consider switching back to subsonic for a minute. They can coexist but why would you?

[acroyear]

I keep two subsonic servers running in parallel, but mostly because my organization system is totally different for my classical and soundtracks collection than my rock/pop/folk collections. For the classical, sorting by 'year' makes no sense unless i were to take each composer and date the music to when it was composed rather than the year the record was released or recorded...but sorting rock music alphabetically within an artist also is a bit of 'huh'?

Since i can't control that at the folder level, only at the server, I use two different servers.

[zzz0ned]

I have moved from subsonic to mediasonic but it is now abandonwaare too.

I think a good solution for everyone is Jellyfin. It's free, supported, and has apps in all flavors.

https://jellyfin.org/

[TomSr]

AirSonic works well