Network Music Remote Control
 

What I'd like to be able to do:

Open files in Winamp from a remote computer.

What I have:

Router -> Hub -> 2 computers.

I'm working 90% of the time on Computer#1 and the music is on Computer#2.

EDIT

Just tried WAWI.

It allows me to control and browse, but won't let me use custom commands, turn shuffle on/off ... stuff like that.

Any suggestions ?

I think a remote control PC program such as NetSupport Control would do the trick. I'll upload it if you want to give it a shot.

Looked a bit on their site, and it sounds neat indeed. Just fear it could be a bit ressource heavy. At any rate, it would be nice indeed to give it a shot. =)

Wait, I am assuming that you want to be working on computer #1 and open files on computer #1 to listen to, but the files are on computer #2. This is the only thing that makes sense to me in the context. If this is the case, why don't you share your music folder on computer #2 and then map it on computer #1 as a network drive? If that isn't the case, then I am pretty confused about what you are trying to accomplish and why.

I want to control a comp#2 Winamp install playing files on comp#2 from comp#1.

Comp#1 and comp#2 are in the same room (our apartment is basically one big room + bathroom/kitchen) but still quite far from each others.

I want to keep the music files and player on comp#2 because of stability issues, mostly. None of my comps are killers, and I use resource heavy programs quite often.

Tested AjaxAmp earlier, and it works fine. I'd still want something that allows me to rate songs and use my random album plugin.

You may want to consider switching the os on comp2 to linux, using mpd (music player daemon) or xmms2 as music server. I'm running mpd on a 450MHz machine.

You can let mpd provide a web-interface, or you can use a GUI client on your local machine to control it. It's really nice and no need for VNCs and such stuff.

What russ is saying is why not make a local network between your two computers and then just play the music off of Computer 2's shared directory but through Computer 1's copy of Winamp.

All it takes is switching a few workgroups in Windows and enabling a bit of filesharing.

The only reason I can see not to do this is if Computer 2 has much better speakers than 1 or something.

Thanks, but call me unadventurous or something but switching to Linux isnt really an option for me. ^_^;

Tried the demo version earlier and it indeed seems way too complex for what I'm trying to achieve. =)

Additional Spam:
Because I have a 10MB hub mostly, and that this sound like an unstable situation.

I could be wrong though. Am I ?

I thought your hifi-system was hooked up to computer number 2?

And I think you overestimate the work that has to be done to get a Linux system running on that machine. You don't even need a video card to use it (so no need to configure it).

It's just installing the base system, ALSA drivers for the soundcard, installing MPD and setting up the music directory, maybe an Apache webserver for the webinterface and that's it.
Maybe Samba for easy file transfers from and to Windows machines.

Hi-fi system is on comp#2, yes.

And comp#2 shall remain on XP for various reasons, including the fact my wife uses it for her occasional web browsing. =)

Oh well. I've uploaded the program here already just in case you want to give it another try. From what you've said thus far, the extent of control you want over your Winamp seems more than what typical remote music player programs can do.

I'll give it another try then. Would you mind describing how you think I should use it ? Maybe I just don't understand how it works.

It's essentially allowing you to control another PC through your own. The software opens up a window with a view of the screen of the other PC, and you can control mouse movements and keyboard entries accordingly as well. Of course, this is just one of the basic things the software allows you to do.

Giving it another try now, but I must admit I have a hard time making it work. =/

Hmm. What's the problem you have? I managed it fairly quickly. Remember that you have to install the client on the PC you want to control. Post here or PM me if you need help.

A 10mbps hub really shouldn't be much of a bottleneck at all, that's still the ability to transfer at 1.2 megs/sec, so unless you're running lossless or anything it shouldn't be a any sort of real delay at all (and I think Winamp can stream files as they're loading, as well).

Alternatively, as much as I hate to suggest it, you could put iTunes on each computer and allow them to share their music on the network (and I think it might even be on by default). Then you can browse/play Computer 2's music with no more difficulty than your own.

If your hifi system is hooked up to Computer 2 then all of this stuff is probably wasted because I could see why you'd much rather be playing it through there.