MusicBee Linux Ultimate Setup Guide by COLVDV

A definitive guide to setting up MusicBee on Linux under Wine, including remote library sync using Syncthing. Open an issue if any questions and I can make clerical edits where needed.

Steps:

1. Install Wine & Winetricks

In the terminal, run sudo apt install wine winetricks (sudo dnf install wine winetricks on Fedora).

2. Install MusicBee Dependencies

winetricks -q dotnet48 gdiplus allfonts wmp11

3. Install MusicBee

A. Download MusicBee Installer

B. Extract MusicBeeSetup_3_6_Update1.zip archive. Navigate to the extracted folder in terminal:

cd ~/Downloads/MusicBeeSetup_3_6_Update1/

C. Install MusicBee

wine MusicBeeSetup_3_6.exe

D. Follow the prompts in the installer using the default settings.

4. Configure Wine Drives

A. In terminal, run winecfg. Navigate to "Drives" tab in the window that opens.

B. Map Drive D: to your Linux Music Library location (example: ~/Music)

5. Configure MusicBee Libraries

A. Configure Library Organization settings if needed. Edit > Edit Preferences > Library

B. Designate a folder on your machine for library export (~/Music-Sync) if you plan to sync your library to another device, such as with Syncthing (see Step 8).

C. Go to Edit > Edit Preferences > Devices and Add Virtual Device. Point this to the Music-Sync folder we just created.

6. Add Additional Media Playback Support (.m4a, .aac, etc.)

A. Download bass_aac24.zip and Nero Codecs for .m4a & .aac support.

B. Extract archive and put bass_aac.dll in MusicBee install directory (example: ~/.wine/drive_c/Program Files (x86)/MusicBee). Extract the Nero Codecs and move the .exe files that are located in the win32 folder to your MusicBee Codecs folder (example: ~/.wine/drive_c/Program Files (x86)/MusicBee/Codec).

7. Add & Configure MPRIS for Linux Media Playback Reporting & Playback Controls Support

A. Download the latest release (.zip) of mprisbee-bridge (0.3) and mb_MPRISBee (0.2).

B. Extract the archives;

a. Move the contents of the mb_MPRISBee folder to your MusicBee Plugins folder (example: ~/.wine/drive_c/Program Files (x86)/MusicBee/Plugins).

b. Move mprisbee-bridge to your MusicBee install directory (example: ~/.wine/drive_c/Program Files (x86)/MusicBee).

C. Download and configure the launch script and then move it to your home directory.

D. Test the launch script & ensure that the plugin is working: sh ~/start-musicbee.sh.

E. After confirming that it is working, let's modify MusicBee's .desktop launcher file (~/.local/share/applications/wine/Programs/MusicBee/MusicBee.desktop) to handle the script.

8. Configure Syncthing for Remote Library Sync

A. Install Syncthing on all devices that will be using it.

Linux: sudo apt install syncthing (sudo dnf install syncthing on Fedora)

B. Open Syncthing Web-UI & configure sync for Music-Sync folder that we created in step 5B.