For this week’s Freeware Frenzy, I will be taking a look at SlimServer 6.1.1 by Slim Devices. Originally created for use with the Squeezebox music-over-network player, SlimServer can also be used to stream MP3s to any computer on your network with a program that supports MP3 streaming.

Installation
Upon installation, I was asked to choose a program directory, choose a folder to draw music from, a folder to look for and store playlists, and to choose automatic startup. I found the ReadMe file helpful, explaining how to setup SlimServer with or without a Squeezebox.

Use
SlimServer is quite simple to use. I chose Winamp as my streaming program because it is my everyday player. To stream music to another computer, simply point that computer to your host computers IP address. You may or may not need to open port 9000 on your router, SlimServer’s default port. To test, I jumped over to my office computer and pointed Winamp to http://localhost:9000/stream.mp3 , replacing localhost with my host system’s IP address. I then jumped to IE and browsed to the same address. Then SlimServer interface came up, showing all of the music stored on my host computer. I could then select any song I wanted, hit play on Winamp and bam, music streaming live over my network. Pretty cool I must say.

I won’t use the SlimServer myself, as I can just play the local files, but it does come in handy for every other computer on your network. No need to bother with moving the actual files from system to system if you have multiple computers. Or, as I am using it, it is helpful for other members of the house to listen to tunes. My office computer has a small hard drive, not practical for storing rips from hundreds of CDs. But I can stream everything from my other computer as needed.

Features
The SlimServer has some great features, the most obvious of which is its ability to quickly and easily stream your MP3s to any and every computer in your network. The SlimServer is also handy for virtual networking. You can dial in to your host computer, provided it is online with Slimserver running, from anywhere in the world. With a broadband connection this makes portable tunes possible.

SlimServer also allows you to connect to Shoutcast, RadioIO and Live365 for internet radio streams. When browsing your local music you can do so through Albums, Artists, Artwork, Genres, Years and Playlists. You can search your music folder for songs by title, artist, album, genre, length, year, bitrate, format or length, allowing you to find that perfect song in your collection easily.

The help files are very thorough, something I find especially great. They do an outstanding job of explaining features, setup, streaming, using your PC or a Squeezebox product and any other question you have. When I first tried using SlimServer over my network, I could not hear anything in Winamp, although the songs appeared to play. After a quick look in the help, I found that I needed to first browse to SlimServer in my web browser, before Winamp was able to play on that local machine. A frustration easily turned into satisfaction. Big thumbs up for that.

Conclusion
I was very pleased with SlimServer. It is a simple program that delivers excellent results. My favorite type of freeware app: Minimal setup time, easy to use, excellent help files, and only .14% Network utilization while streaming. Yes, point 14. I am sold on this program, even though it’s free! I am unable to find fault with it from my experience. I’ll rate it a 10/10. If you could use a program for streaming music around your network, grab SlimServer, you’ll be glad you did.  http://www.slimdevices.com/su_downloads.html