Fellow users i have come in a time of extremely specific need.
I would like to host my personal music list for a few friends and for the sake of my brain id like some extra features for it, if its at all possible with these requirements:
Play audio and video files.
Allow me to see usage statistics ( how often a file has been used or downloaded).
Show and or highlight files that have been recently added.
Of course a clean interface.
If something like this exists i would highly appreciate any solution (right now im using mega).
It sounds to me like what you’re looking for is your own media server, except the files need to be hosted in the cloud. I’m not aware of a service which will let you do this, but I seem to recall Plex being able to stream files from Google drive. I haven’t used Plex in years so I don’t know if this is still the case. It is perhaps also worth looking into Jellyfin or Emby.
If none of these services allow streaming from the cloud, perhaps it is worth setting up your own server. If all you want is hosting and streaming music files, it shouldn’t require too much investment even if your files are in FLAC format. Perhaps you even have sufficient space as is, if so all you’d need is to download and set up one of the services mentioned above (Jellyfin is my personal favorite, and the only one that is free and open source). As for your other requirements, I believe all three of them offer statistics and download features; if not out of the box, then with plugins.
Edit: it occurred to me since all you want is music streaming, something like Navidrome would be a better solution than Jellyfin or Emby. However, I am not entirely sure Navidrome offers tracking. The dev is quite active on Reddit and Git, so you could ask there.
Update: I was trying to get Jellyfin working, for myself it works so far without any mayor problems.
However i seriously do not understand how to make it able to let someone remote access it.
The official guide uses caddy, im lost the same way as i am in the arch wiki.
there are some unofficial guides claiming to make it easier, which also require higher knowledge i do not have.
Navidrome seems to not support video files as far as i was able to find out.
Further help with remote accessing for jellyfin would be appreciated.
I’m afraid I cannot help you with this. I don’t use remote access, and the process seem to be a lot more complex than opening ports. With that said, here are two options to solve your problem:
Ask for help on the Jellyfin subreddit or Github page. The devs are active there and often provide help.
Replace Jellyfin with Emby. This is the simpler solution; remote access with Emby should work out of the box, and if it doesn’t, at most it would require opening up a port in your router (search for opening port + router brand).
Going with Emby also means you have access to their support forum and knowledge base here if you need more help. For someone with less experience setting up a home server, this is invaluable. The devs are kind, and most of the time respond quickly.
The difference between the two services are minimal, and both are based on the same source code. Having said that, some parts of Emby are closed source, and require a premiere subscription or a one time unlock fee to use. It is therefore worth looking over at their premiere page to see what functions you need. For a more in depth view of what is free and what requires a subscription or fee; see this matrix.
edit: I don’t think it is listed in the matrix, but some paid applications, like Android TV, can be unlocked with a small one time fee rather than require a continuing subscription.
i am unable to get emby even started, let alone give it access to folder.
but thank you for your continued help.
looks like i have to keep using mega as its the only one that actually works.