I spent a bunch of time importing music from the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu New Caledonia, and Papua New Guinea. I got far enough into it that I wanted to start listening to the newly ripped music both at home and when I was out and about. I have VLC on my phone that I use to play some music, but that meant I have to import each song to each device. I also want to remove myself from the algorithm-based services.
It felt like I was going backward, looking at local music storage and manually syncing. The internet I want isn’t centralized with a few services controlling what I see and hear. A decentralized internet would give me autonomy and control. So instead of loading up my music on an old MP3 player and yelling at the clouds, I did something better. I installed an open source web streaming service at home with an overlay VPN that gives me access to it on all my devices. No Spotify. No Apple Music. No algorithm deciding what I hear next.
Here is how it works:
I installed Jellyfin media server on my home debian linux desktop and imported all the music that I have. I installed the iOS app on my phone and pointed it to the media server. All my music was instantly available. It even has an offline mode. But since I have installed Nebula, I am able to get to any of my devices regardless of what network I am on. Nebula is very sweet. It isn’t a VPN that connects networks, but is an overlay network that connects any host you install it on to the same virtual network. There are clients for most platforms (including iOS and Linux) and is open source.
I am now living in a future where I have a network that has all my devices on it, controllable and accessible by me, without a cloud service pushing their crap to my devices. I am now looking at replacing my home automation, smart speakers, and even my phone so that I actually own my devices and the service they connect to. I am NOT going off the grid, but setting up my own grid in a decentralized way. You know, like the internet we helped build.
Imagine that.
