Introduction: Easy Raspberry Pi AirPlay Music Server With Forked-Daapd

The new Raspberry Pi 3 now includes a wifi chip making it easier than ever to use for home automation projects. I have a big music collection that won't fit on a smartphone, but don't want to leave a dedicated computer running all the time just to access it. Recently bought a few first generation Airplay speakers off eBay (Philips Fidelio AD7000W/37 was $180 in 2011 and now goes for about $30), and wanted to figure out a way to stream to them via the Pi. I first tried Kodi, then Mopidy, then regular MPD using PulseAudio/Raop, but had no success. I finally found Forked-Daapd and was up and running in about 30 minutes. Now I have the Pi shoved in a corner connected to my external hard drive serving up sweet music 24/7 without taking up valuable desk space. As an added bonus, the Apple Remote app easily syncs making you feel like you are playing your local music library, and there is even support for Spotify!

Step 1: Required Hardware

Raspberry Pi 3 Model B - $35

8GB SD Card

Step 2: Required Software

Raspbian Jessie

Installation Guide

I don't think we need another instructable Raspberry Pi project that starts off teaching you how to install the operating system so I'll just leave you those links. All you really need to do once your SD card is ready is boot up and connect to your wifi network.

Step 3: Install Forded-Daapd

From this thread:

Install

  1. If you use Jessie then add this line to /etc/apt/sources.list "deb http://www.gyfgafguf.dk/raspbian jessie/armhf/"
  2. If you use Wheezy then add this line to /etc/apt/sources.list "deb http://www.gyfgafguf.dk/raspbian wheezy-backports/armhf/"
  3. Run "sudo apt-get update" and then "sudo apt-get install forked-daapd"
  4. Edit the config file /etc/forked-daapd.conf to point to your music directory or network share drive and (re)start the server with sudo /etc/init.d/forked-daapd restart

Optional - how to add support for Spotify

  1. Add "deb http://www.gyfgafguf.dk/raspbian stable main contrib non-free" to /etc/apt/sources.list
  2. Run "sudo apt-get update" and then "sudo apt-get install libspotify-dev"
  3. Restart forked-daapd and enter credentials as described in the instructions.
  4. Check the log to see how it is working. It should start loading your playlists.

More in depth instructions here.

Step 4: Pair Apple Remote

Install Apple Remote on your iPhone/iPad

Pair remote app with pi by running this script.