Ampache

Infobox Software
name = Ampache



caption = P
author = Karl Vollmer
developer = [http://ampache.org/team.php Ampache Team]
released =
latest release version = 3.4.3
latest release date = August 30th, 2008
latest preview version = 3.5-Alpha1
latest preview date = N/A
operating system = [OS Independent]
platform =
language =
genre = streaming media / file manager
license = GNU GPL/LGPL
website = [http://www.ampache.org www.ampache.org]

Ampache is a free software Web-based Audio file manager / web Media Server. The name is a play on the two words Apache and Amplifier. It was originally written to take advantage of Apache's Mod_mp3 but has since been adapted to use its own streaming method [cite web|title=Streaming the Ampache Way - PHPSO Magazine Article|url=http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://es.phpsolmag.org/products/articleInfo/86 ] . Ampache's Mascot is a squirrel called [http://ampache.org/fraz.jpgFraz] . It was originally drawn by Kirsten Petersen and later digitized by Ben Shields. In 2008 Fraz was redesigned by Agnès Champavier [cite web|title=New Logo|url=http://ampache.org/blog/index.php?/archives/47-Ampache-3.4-Stable-Released-and-a-new-Logo.html]

History

Ampache is one of the oldest Applications of its kind that is still actively developedFact|date=April 2008, having been released in 2001. Its original author, Scott Kveton went on to create the OSUOSL at Oregon State University and passed off Developmental lead to Karl Vollmer who has been responsible for it since early 2003.

Development Goals

Ampache's goal is to allow access to a persons music from anywhere in the world. It is written specifically for private / small group implementations but does allow an admin to enable public registration. Ampache primary objective is to maintain a simple, secure and fast web front end that will run on almost any hardware and any platform that supports PHP. It is also written to accommodate music collections in excess of 2 Terabytes. The largest known Ampache instance was in excess of 3 Terabytes of musicFact|date=August 2008.

Extensions / APIs

Ampache also provides an API for pulling out meta data in the form of XML documents. There are many methods supported in the API in which to access Ampache data. Originally created for use with Amarok2, but can also be used to create other front-ends to Ampache. Access to the API is controlled by internal Access Control Lists and currently all requests have a 5000 result limit for performance reasons. The following applications are known to have plug-ins that use [http://trac.ampache.org/wiki/XmlApi Ampache's XML API]

* Amarok (2.x)
* [https://coherence.beebits.net/wiki Coherence] (UPNP A/V MediaServer)
* [http://quickplay.isfound.at Quickplay]
* Rhythmbox (Plugin)
* Terratec Noxon iRadio

Publications

Ampache has been featured in numerous online blogs and technical articles. One of the more notable was the O'Reilly book Spidering Hacks which tested the security of online applications. Ampache was found to be immune to standard spidering hacks as described in the O'Reilly article, and it has continued that trend by focusing on security during its development. The [http://trac.ampache.org/wiki/CodePhilosophy Code Philosophy] listed on Ampache's wiki specifically lists security as one of those most important considerations during application development.

Distros with Ampache packages

* Debian
* Ubuntu
* Gentoo
* SUSE
* Mandriva
* FreeBSD

Version history

References

External links

* [http://www.ampache.org Ampache official website]
* [http://www.onlamp.com/pub/a/apache/2001/06/12/mp3.html O'Reilly ONLamp.com]
* [http://www.novell.com/products/linuxpackages/suselinux/ampache.html SuSE Novell]
* [http://www.phpsolmag.org/prt/view/php-solutions.html PHP Solutions]
* [http://linux.softpedia.com/get/Multimedia/Audio/Ampache-355.shtml SoftPedia]
* [http://freshmeat.net/projects/ampache/ Freshmeat]