iPeng for Android

Recently I ran into problems running picoreplayer and LMS. I had heard of competing streamer software like Roon and Volumio and gave them a try. Afterwards I was disappointed in their interfaces and returned to the original setup using Ipeng. Nothing even comes close for functionality and playback options. It’s simply the best you’ll ever need

I recently set up a piCore Player with Allo Digione HAT, and I use iPeng exclusively to access my music library. Having never used Roon or anything similar, I have nothing to compare it to except itself. So far, it’s a joy to use. I was surprised to find that it displays additional data that I know didn’t come from the CD metadata. For example, you can find pull up individual tracks under the name of the artist who wrote them (example: search for Dan Wilson and you can pull up the songs he wrote for Adele). I can’t evaluate some of the deeper features, of which there appear to be many, because my needs are not complex. But suffice to say, I love the flexibility and ease of use, and hope the developer continues to support it for a long time to come.

I have been using iPeng for years and love it. I literally haven’t touched my stereo in months. I use LMS and Squeezelite on a Raspberry Pi connected to a digital input on my stereo. Another reviewer mentioned piCorePlayer which also works very well. Sound is excellent. I can control the stereo from any Android or Mobile that is handy. Recent versions of LMS will extract all metadata from iTunes music files to show album art, details like author/performers etc. I tried other music servers like Roon and Volumio and found their UI clunky in comparison to iPeng. If you are looking for hardware to run LMS and Squeezelite and connect to your DAC or receiver check out Allo’s product line.

Had an unconscious SqueezeBox Boom for a couple of years. Remote was misplaced and Logitech stopped supporting their app. Asked some buds how were they controlled their SqueezeBox music system libraries they said with iPeng⁉️ Went looking in the App Store and there it was with the lil blue penguin. I purchased downloaded loaded my existing SqueezeBox account information and I was up and running in under 5 minutes on my Android and Mobile. Flawless install and integration wish I found iPeng sooner !

I generally enjoy iPeng, but mostly because it’s the best thing about a unique (and dying) music ecosystem. For all its many, many flaws (wonky volume control with multiple devices, confused album cover display, ability to destroy a meticulously crafted playlist with a single misclick), it really is a unique piece of software that keeps the Squeezelite community relevant. There are two very big flaws that hold it back, though. First, Google saddled the app with a 17+ rating, so it gets swept up in any reasonable parent’s parental control settings for apps. And, for some reason, you can’t whitelist it. This is asinine. Secondly, as iOS 14 makes blatantly clear, iPeng is reading your clipboard. I cannot fathom why my music app needs to see my clipboard ... unless it’s feeding an advertising network. Unnecessarily creepy. If I wanted to be spied on all the time, I’d use Spotify or Pandora.