# Music Player Daemon

10 Hacker News commenters recommended Music Player Daemon and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 5 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Lightweight, fast music server you can control over the network, with many clients. Common caveat: a DIY setup needing a separate server and client.

## Why people recommend it

- Works with many GUI and terminal clients (3 comments): "I can use a mega-complete GUI for MPD that makes Foobar2k blush." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45969661)) "I still like the plainness of MPD + ncmpcpp." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46776984)) "for local playback I like ncmpcpp with MPD" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46778006))
- Plain, simple, rarely needs changing (2 comments): "I hated it at first, but gave up and nowadays I feel it's good enough not to change anything." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46788596)) "I still like the plainness of MPD + ncmpcpp." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46776984))

## What people warn about

- Needs separate server and client setup (1 comments): "it has good flac/cue support ... but you have to set up the mpd server first, then choose a client, and it can be a pretty DIY experience" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46223270))
- Hard to like at first (1 comments): "I hated it at first, but gave up and nowadays I feel it's good enough not to change anything." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46788596))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Winamp](https://hackerapproved.com/p/winamp.md): 60 recommend
- [iTunes](https://hackerapproved.com/p/itunes.md): 55 recommend
- [foobar2000](https://hackerapproved.com/p/foobar2000.md): 54 recommend
- [Plexamp](https://hackerapproved.com/p/plexamp.md): 31 recommend
- [Audacious music player](https://hackerapproved.com/p/audacious.md): 17 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Music Player Daemon", https://hackerapproved.com/p/mpd/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).