That will be a host problem either with your windows server or the MA host. The connection is done at OS level not at the application (MA) level.
Hello all
I love the idea of MA. Thank you for this effort.
I have 2 HTPCs with very decent audio equipment and 3 pcs with local speakers. All pcs on same lan.
My HA is a vm on proxmox and my media is stored by turenas again as vm on proxmox
I may be missing the point, however i do not see how i can play my media regardless of the pc on that pc default sound player.
I understand that this will not work with echo. However if MA plays through the pc default sound this should not be an issue.
I can see many automations i could implement (wake up, welcome home etc)
Am I missing something or is this functionality missing.?
I would suggest that this would have been the first path to play media.
Thank you for your response and your help.
Sorry Iâm too illiterate to tackle something like this.
It looks to me that this is an additional player/streamer. This adds no value for me to my to my question. This would be just an other plugin .
So many individuals are posting similar solutions however i feel that this only complicates the issue.
I am using jellyfin as my music manager/player
The developer of MA should have developed this integration (to default sound device from the start.
All pcs be them windows android ios or linux have by default a (al be it poor) sound driver. The user will then pick a sound card to suite A) their requirement and B) their pc. All the necessary drivers for that card and that PC are installed on the os of that pc.
Regardless thank you for your help
A soundcard doesnât play music on itâs own. You need media player software.
Squeezelite is universal, high quality playback software. It will do exactly what you ask for.
As for
What arrogant crap. People who say âthe developers should make it work like thisâ, but canât or wonât install some software to do exactly that, piss the community off.
Oh but perhaps the devs should have ignored the great open source software that is squeezelite and written their own. Thatâs not how open source works. Built on the shoulders of Giants.
3 Likes
Thank you for your response
Iâm trying to install squeezelite in HA. This will be for me a long learning curve.
Iâm stuck on how to configure it in MA. If HA is on a server and MA is an addon, then for each pc one must configure a music player. Then on the client when HA is opened MA would play on that clientâs sound card
If you mean that i sounded arrogant then sorry. I just thought that my comment would have been taken as constructive
No it didnât come across as constructive.
Once you add the squeezelite client MA will detect it automatically and you can stream to it.
Thank you for this input.
I was not aware i had to install squeezelite on each pc.
I did install it on my windows laptop and i added my credentials for my HA under the host library. I get
cannot connect to lms telnet on port 9090
In ma in ha the music player Slimproto (Squeezebox players) it is enabled and shows default ports
classic: 9090
jason-rpc: 9000
slimport: 3483
I tried this on a pc with echo and on my htpc connected to my amp via an m-audio 1010lt
with same result
In HA addon store there is squeezelite, squeezelite2 and squeezelite3. I installed the first one
sorry to ask, what am i doing wrong?
You shouldnât be adding any credentials to the squeezelite client. It just runs and then MA can see it
Again I direct you back to here I Want To Stream To - Music Assistant Go through the various links and tutorials there and then come back if necessary.
I came across this topic by chance and was immediately interested in the possibilities.
I would mainly like to use it to be able to play my local music collection on my phone.
In order to be able to link my local music collection to MA, I would like to know if this is possible by putting this collection on a USB stick and putting it in my mini PC where HA is running.
Will this work or do I really have to put the music on the internal drive of the mini PC?
Thanks
Why would you use a usb stick instead of the miniPC, you dont have enough space?
Probably would work on the usb, but is much better on the pc.
You can do a little test and find out 
The mini PC only has 128GB of disk space and my music collection is much more than that.
Iâm going to try it out this afternoon to see if it works or not.
Yes you will use the local disk provider.
First of all, I would like to express my sincere appreciation for the Music Assistant project. The ability to integrate multiple music services into Home Assistant and control playback across various devices is truly impressive. The potential of this add-on is remarkable, and Iâm excited about its continued development.
However, as a blind user relying on NVDA on Windows and TalkBack on Android, Iâm facing significant accessibility challenges that make Music Assistant very difficult to use. Here are the key issues Iâve encountered:
-
Player Selection: The interface elements responsible for player selection are completely inaccessible, making it impossible to choose or switch between different playback devices.
-
Panels and Menus: Accessing functionality in the right-side panels (such as adding new services) is impossible. These overlay panels and their contained functions remain hidden from assistive technology.
-
Cover Descriptions: In the mobile app HAC, album artwork is announced as meaningless sequences of numbers (like â157353278918234378912345912345â) instead of descriptive alt text, making it impossible to identify the content.
-
Button Labeling: Throughout the interface, numerous buttons lack proper ARIA labels. They are simply announced as âbuttonâ without any indication of their function or purpose.
-
Playback Controls: On the player screen, while the progress bar, artist name, and track title are properly readable, the essential playback controls (previous, play, next) remain undetectable by assistive technology.
For perspective, I would rate Home Assistantâs general accessibility at 8,5/10, while Music Assistant currently sits at around 3,5/10. In comparison, services like Spotify and YouTube Music have excellent accessibility, with properly labeled controls and fully accessible interfaces.
I understand that implementing accessibility features requires additional development effort, but making Music Assistant accessible would greatly benefit the visually impaired community within Home Assistant users. Proper WCAG compliance, including:
- Accessible dropdown menus and modal dialogs
- Proper ARIA labels for buttons and controls
- Meaningful alt text for images
- Keyboard navigation support
would make a significant difference.
Environment details:
- Music Assistant Server version: 2.3.3
- Installation type: Home Assistant add-on with integration
- Screen readers used for testing: NVDA (Windows) and TalkBack (Android)
Iâm happy to provide more detailed feedback or assist with testing if that would be helpful. Music Assistant is too good a project to remain inaccessible to screen reader users.
Thank you for your attention to this matter. I look forward to seeing accessibility improvements in future updates.
7 Likes
@edigorn I apologise that the project has not been able to meet the needs of the visually impaired. I am not sure if we have much expertise in the dev team in this area but I will ask. In order to track this I have recreated your post as an issue which is here https://github.com/music-assistant/hass-music-assistant/issues/3239
Unfortunately I do not know how long it will take to address your requirements. I appreciate you taking the time to bring this to our attention and your encouraging words about the project. You can add further comments directly to the issue.
7 Likes
Okay, I have searched everywhere but I have not been able to find a good solution for this.
My goal is to have MA play a specific playlist when I activate one of my scenes in HA.
I was hoping there would be as simple of a solution as just selecting and adding a device in the scene (the device being a Playergroup in MA) and selecting the playlist for it to start playing like I would if it was just a normal single speaker using HAâs media player.
Does anyone have a good solution for this?
I donât use scenes but seems like you can have an automation that is triggered âsomehowâ and that then has two actions, one to activate your scene and the other to play the playlistâŚ.
Thank you @OzGav for creating the GitHub issue and addressing this concern. I really appreciate the quick response and your openness to improving accessibility.
Given the capabilities of Music Assistant, Iâm confident that implementing accessibility features is well within the teamâs capabilities. While it does require some knowledge of accessibility principles, the implementation itself follows straightforward patterns:
- Images & Media
- Add descriptive alt text for album covers (e.g., âAlbum cover: Dark Side of the Moon by Pink Floydâ instead of numeric sequences).
- Decorative elements can have empty alt=ââ to be properly ignored.
- Interactive Elements
- Ensure buttons have clear labels (e.g., âPlayâ, âPauseâ instead of just âbuttonâ).
- Make toggle buttons announce their state (e.g., âShuffle play: onâ, âShuffle play: offâ.
- Navigation
- Ensure keyboard navigation works for all interactive elements.
- Make modal dialogs accessible using proper aria-modal attributes.
These improvements can be implemented gradually, and most modern frontend frameworks include accessible components by default - itâs often just a matter of using them correctly.
The WAI-ARIA Authoring Practices Guide (ARIA Authoring Practices Guide | APG | WAI | W3C) provides great examples and patterns if you need them.
Iâm happy to provide more specific technical guidance or testing feedback as you work on these improvements. Building with accessibility in mind from the start will make Music Assistant even better for everyone.
4 Likes
Hi there,
I plan using MA and want to connect to my minidlna server which is found and added to HA. I can play music over media point in HA, but Iâm unable to add it to MA. What autodetect means in this case, can I add it manually ( there seems to be no posibillity under settings).
Micha
To use your music with MA you should make the source music files available on your network and use the Filesystem (Remote Share) provider.