MP3 player with an externall hard drive

[mousematt]

Hello,

Looking for some help with a project and wondered if I could get some advice.

I have read lots of threads but not got the answers I was hoping for.

I currently have a large number of MP3 on an external hard drive following the demise of my last PC and I am looking for a way of being able to listen to those MP3s on my Hi-Fi without the need for a conventional PC.

Would the Pi be able to do this? Can I plug the external hard drive into the Pi and programme it to play all the tracks on the hard drive on shuffle? Would I be able to add a small display to the Pi to be able to select which albums I want to play?

Sorry for all the questions but hope someone will be able to help me out.

Thanks

[ghans]

MPD (Music player daemon) can easily do this. If all devices are on the same network , you can remotely control it via Laptops, iPhone and Android apps.

The display part will propably be a bit more complicated. Addtionional complexity for a touchscreen , especially small and cheap ones.

ghans

[default_user8]

Here's a tutorial to do what ghans suggested:
http://lesbonscomptes.com/pages/raspmpd.html

[mousematt]

Thanks default_user8 and ghans.
Really helpful responses