Questions.

Does yamsap change my music files?

No. Yamsap opens the folder you point it at for reading and never writes to it. Nothing is moved, renamed, retagged or re-encoded. Everything it works out about a record lives in its own database beside your music rather than inside it, so turning yamsap off leaves your library exactly as it was.

What does it cost?

$6.99 a month, or $5.99 a month if you pay for the year at $71.88. Both start with a 14 day trial. One subscription covers one server, and one server drives every room, speaker and phone in the house. There is no charge per zone or per person.

Is there a free version?

No. There is a 14 day trial that runs the whole product against your own library, which is the only honest way to judge a music server.

What happens if I stop paying?

Yamsap stops playing, and your music stays exactly where it has always been, in your folders, in your formats, openable by any other player. If you subscribe again later, your playlists, favourites and listening history are still there.

Does it need the internet?

Only to look up artwork, credits and biographies the first time it meets a record. After that, playing music works with the line unplugged. The server checks its subscription about once a day when it can, and keeps playing for a month without reaching us at all.

What speakers work with it?

AirPlay speakers and receivers from most manufacturers, found on the network automatically. A Mac, through the desktop app, out to whatever it is plugged into. iPhones and iPads. Any browser, on any machine, with nothing to install, which is how Windows and Linux machines play. DLNA renderers, such as WiiM and most network streamers. Chromecast does not work yet, and neither do Apple's own AirPlay receivers such as HomePod and Apple TV.

What audio formats does it play?

FLAC, ALAC, WAV, AIFF, MP3, AAC, Ogg Vorbis and Opus. If it is a common audio file, it plays. DSD is not supported yet.

Does it play at full resolution?

Yes. Audio leaves the server at the file's own sample rate, up to 24 bit, rather than being resampled down to a single rate. Where one zone's hardware cannot take the rate a file was made at, only that zone is brought down, and the other rooms carry on at full rate.

How big a library can it handle?

Tens of thousands of tracks without trouble. The first scan of a large collection takes a while because every record is identified and its artwork fetched, and everything after that is quiet and incremental.

Do I need to tag my music properly first?

No. Good tags are used where they exist, and where they are thin or missing yamsap identifies the release against public music databases and fills in the rest. A folder of untagged files still ends up with the right artwork, credits and artist page.

Do I need a NAS or a machine that runs all the time?

No. Any Mac or Linux machine will do, including one you already use for something else, and it only has to be awake when you want to listen. A MacBook you open in the evening is a perfectly good server. Leaving something on all the time matters only if you want music playing while nobody is at the keyboard, or want to reach your library from outside the house. It needs macOS, on Apple silicon or Intel, or Linux on amd64 or arm64.

Does it work with Spotify, TIDAL or Qobuz?

Not yet. Yamsap plays the music you own, and folding a streaming service into the same library is something we want to do rather than something today's build does. If most of what you listen to arrives from a service rather than off your own disk, that is worth knowing before you start the trial.

Can I use it when I am not at home?

Yes. Remote access gives your server an address of its own on the internet and the library opens there the way it does at home. Music plays on the device in your hand rather than the speakers back at the house. It is off until you switch it on.

Can I control it from my phone?

Yes. The iPhone app, or any phone browser, shows the whole library and controls any room. Choose the desktop in the office and the phone shows whatever that room is playing.

Does it work in the car?

Yes, through CarPlay. Recently played and recently added sit on the home screen as artwork and the rest of the library is one tap down.

Is there an Android app?

Not yet. Android phones can use the library through any browser in the meantime, including as somewhere to play.

Does it scrobble?

Yes, to Last.fm and ListenBrainz, if you connect an account. Plays are queued on disk until those services answer, so a service being down does not cost you the record.

Do I need an account to use it at home?

No. On your own network the library opens without a login. The subscription is held by the server, not by the people listening to it.

Can more than one person use it at once?

Yes. Each zone has its own queue, so two rooms can be playing different records at the same time and neither one interrupts the other. Everyone shares one library rather than having separate accounts.

How is it different from Plex?

Plex is a video product with music attached, and its music features live behind a separate app. Yamsap is only a music server, so the library reads like a record collection rather than a file browser, and playback to speakers around the house is the point rather than an extra.

Longer answers live on their own pages: what yamsap does with your library, devices and formats, and pricing.