This evening I was able to find some time to install a new plugin for Plex which I think has just become one of my favorites. It was written by Billie Joe and is called The Live Music Archive plugin. Basically, the application provides a Plex-like front end for the Live Music Archive which features live music from acts such as The Grateful Dead, Yonder Mountain String Band, moe., Disco Biscuits, and String Cheese Incident. From my understanding, the Live Music Archive is a cooperative community effort between etree.org and The Internet Archive to make available quality lossless versions of live concerts for everybody to enjoy. With the the vast amount of music available (1739 moe. , 1114 String Cheese Incident, and the ungodly 6967 Dead shows!), there are bound to be some hidden nuggets (pun intended) in the Archive.
The plugin is installed as any other Plex plugin and accessible afterward in the “Music” menu selection. Next, you can pick from “Staff Picks”, the”Most Downloaded Shows”, “The Most Downloaded Shows Last Week”, search for an Artist, or simply Browse to your heart’s delight. Once the streaming begins you are treated to the typical Plex music visualizations. In my experience, the plugin functioned as designed and was very responsive and snappy to all of my commands. My only gripe would be the fact that the Internet Music Archive does not have access to concerts from Phish or Widespread Panic. I am sure this is due to an unwillingness by Trey and the boys as well as John and company to allow fans to post live audio because they want everybody to purchase their soundboard copies from their own online ventures. Regardless of some bands’ stinginess, this is a sweet app which I know will get a fair (ha, who am I kidding – A TREMENDOUS) amount of usage in my household.
Popularity: 16% [?]
