Obsequeium is a networked MP3 Jukebox for Linux. It is a networked jukebox because combining the power of the network with the power of digital music allows the creation of a shared personal music experience. A single user jukebox allows one user to access their own music collection on their own machine. With the use of an Obseqieum server many people can contribute to and access a shared digital music archive.

Obseqeueum was originally intended to be a digital radio station, where many tasks such a station ids could be automated and many people from around the globe could contribute to the broadcast, without having to be physically present. However, the general nature of the system will allow it to be radio station and a shared music server.

The Obsequeium server runs as a daemon and has no user interface. The server is controlled via a series of web pages where the user can browse music and create and manage playlists. Music can ripped and encoded with the supplied scripts and then submitted to the server over the network. The server has a playlist called the Play Queue which tells the server what to play. The song on top of the list is currently playing -- once that one is done the server moves on to the next.

The music is broadcast via RTP/multicast onto the network. Using Zinf or the cool ucLinux hardware player, anyone on the network can tune in and play the RTP/Multicast MP3 streams. The sys admin of the Obs server has control over how far the multicast stream travels, to make sure that precious bandwidth is not gobbled up. With multicast, many people can tune in and listen to the stream without eating up more bandwidth.

Obseqiquem can also be set up to broadcast via SHOUTcast/icecast which allows the user to use any HTTP/MP3 streaming capable player, such as Sonique, XMMS or Winamp.

This first version of Obsequieum is basically a multi user streaming jukebox. However, this presents the foundation for more advanced projects such as the globally programmed radio stations with DJs scattered all over the globe. Obseqeieum would also be very useful for office/home environments where people would normally share CDs. A server can be set up to run Obseiqueum and then people contribute music to the server. Beyond this, multiple Obs servers could aggregrate the content transparently to make them seem as one big server, while all the content would transparently be managed between the servers.

The possibilities are endless. Feel free to explore this project and contribute if you care. If you have an idea that might be suited for Obsequieum, please drop me a line. This project has been written by Robert Kaye and Kevin Murphy. This project is released under the GPL and its development has been sponsored by emusic.com.