What would be the easiest self hosted way to share a music collection privately?
I am thinking of just granting guest access to the nas folder via wireguard or a simple caddy instance but also more sophisticated versions.
It would be good (but not a must) to have a search feature enabled.
Any recommendations?
Sharing over LAN or Internet? To desktops, mobile devices? For file sync or streaming?
Over the internet for file sync. Desktop devices.
Then I would approach it as just regular file syncing. Syncthing is probably the most popular piece of software, though I haven’t used personally used it over the Internet.
If you don’t want to sync every file, perhaps your NAS has a native desktop file sync client? Or I’d run something basic like Filebrowser and let them download the individual files/folders they want, though it doesn’t do syncing.
Syncthing!
This is the correct answer
Imho easy mode is just throwing it on Plex and making sure your port is set up on your router for external access, then just sharing your music folder in Plex.
No need for a domain or anything
Plex should not be accessed externally using a port forward. Always use app.plex.tv as it prevents unauthenticated users from seeing the instance.
If I don’t port forward, my friends that I’ve shared with can’t see the instance
You do not need to port forward to share a Plex instance over the Internet. App.plex.tv manages the inbound connections automatically. All you need to do is manage invites to your friends. They log in with their email/password or with Google SSO to app.plex.tv and your content will be available over a secure connection with no port forwarding.
Good to know, I’ll turn it off when I get home from work, thanks