What is your go-to activity when you can’t sleep? For some it’s reading a book or counting sheep, but for music and technology enthusiast Michelangelo Guarise, it’s Volumio.
Volumio is a free and open-source Linux Audiophile music player for embedded computers that, when paired with the Sitara-processor-powered BeagleBone Black, can transform an entire building into a connected audio center. Inspired by his passion for music, Guarise worked tirelessly on Volumio with the help of users worldwide.
What you have here is the result of sleepless coding nights, precious feedback from our users, and a pure, intense, visceral passion for music and technology, Guarise said.
In fact, Guarise cites passion as the only thing users need to have to be able to use Volumio. It can be downloaded for free and comes ready to start playing audio files immediately.
After the initial download, Volumio has to be flashed onto an SD card and connected through a network. Volumio can be downloaded with Windows, Macintosh or Linux systems. From there, users can go to volumio.local/ and use the WebUi to start listening.
Volumio is equipped to play all musicFLAC, MP3, WAV, AAC, ALAC and Musepack files are all compatible, in addition to streaming Internet radio. It can be controlled via WebUi from a smartphone, tablet or computer. BeagleBone Black supports the program well because of its large expandability and affordable price.
Guarise wants Volumio users to be able to sit back, relax and listen to their favorite tunes from anywhere in their house. Multiple BeagleBone Black platforms can be connected, allowing users to select from which device the music will be flowing. Simultaneous playback mode is going to be available soon, giving developers the chance to build an open-source multi-room audio system.
He gives credit to his fellow music and technology gurus who have worked on the open-source code. “This project relies also on tons of good code made by developers all around the world. What we did was just put it all together and make it act as one ecosystem, Guarise said.
Volumio hosts a blog and forum on its website for anyone working on the code and improving the project. It is always being updated to give users the best version.
Even though Guarise is studying psychology, he works endlessly with music. He has a mix of valve and digital amplifiers that he built himself during a few sleepless nights. His passion for music and technology inspires him to work on projects like Volumio and struggle to turn his volume down.
Complete Volumio features list:
– Ready to play: Flash it and youre ready
– Audiophile Quality: Bit-perfect playback
– FLAC, WAV, MP3, AAC, ALAC, PLS support
– Music libraries on Samba, NFS and USB drives
– Webradios support out of the box
– Control it via integrated Webui with PC, smartphone, tablet
– AirPlay capability
– Ramplay support
– DSD native playback
– Multiroom playback via Android App
– Output playback device selection
– Audio out via HDMI, USB, Analog Jack, S/PDIF, I2S
– Compatible with all UAC2 compliant USB DACs
– Wireless Nnetwork configuration
– Various resampling options, up to 32bit/384khrtz
For more information on Volumio or to download it, visit
http://volumio.org/.