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With the current confusion regarding if iTunes Match will allow the user to stream music or simply download it in the background (apparently it has now been reported that it just downloads it) plus the fact that us poor souls in Blighty probably won't even get to use the service until next year, I decided to look around for an alternative for my music streaming needs.

Obviously there are services such as Spotify that allows you to stream thousands of tracks to your phone. Unfortunately this service is not free and due to licensing issues might not have every track in your current music collection.

Luckily I stumbled across an app called AudioGalaxy that seems to cover almost all of my streaming needs. For those of you with long memories you may remember AudioGalaxy from the heady days of Napster. It was a service very similar to Napster in that it could help you locate music files that you didn't necessarily own. Obviously this was a highly illegal practice and anybody who partook in such a service deserves to have the back of their legs slapped several times and be sent to bed early with no supper or pursued mercilessly through the courts by the RIAA, it's a close call. Well, luckily AudioGalaxy have left such illegal naughtiness behind them and have instead moved into the personal music streaming business.

Essentially their app allows you to stream any music located on your home PC/MAC to your mobile device, assuming it's an Android or iOS device (sorry WinPhone 7) and the results are fantastic. The service supports many audio formats such as MP3, AAC, ALAC, FLAC, WMA and OGG.

AudioGalaxy is divided into two parts. One part is a server piece of software you download onto your PC/MAC that houses your music collection. The second part is the mobile application. After telling the server software what folders your music is stored in you should be able to effortlessly stream any of the music on your home system to your phone anywhere where you can get online. The process does require you create an account on the AudioGalaxy website but this is simple enough and to date I have received no spam from them, always a good sign.

The added bonus to this service is you can use their website and log into your account from 'any' PC/MAC and stream audio from your home computer. No more having to lug around all your music on your smartphone or an external HDD.

OK, the one problem is that you have to have your PC back at home turned on so the streaming will work. Fortunately I have a media server back at base and this allows me to use this excellent service without any problems.

In conclusion AudioGalaxy is a near perfect streaming service, especially if your base machine if left on for long periods of time while you are out exploring the world. If this is not the case then you may need to pack that HDD loaded with audio after all.

http://www.audiogalaxy.com/

For it's ease of use, services and value for money (did I mention it was free?) I have to award 4 Golden Bagels.

-Karl

Please feel free to follow me on Twitter: @claw0101

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Ewen Rankin

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