Local and network folders

Milkbeat plays music from the TV's own storage, USB drives and network servers without any plugin or streaming account. Every source is read-only: Milkbeat never changes your files.

Add a local or USB folder

1. Open Settings → Music folders.
2. Select Choose local folder.
3. If needed, allow storage access: Android 10 and older show a read-storage permission prompt; Android 11 and newer open Android's All files access settings. Select Milkbeat if Android shows a list of apps, then enable access and return to Milkbeat.
4. Choose the TV's storage or a mounted USB/SD drive. Use the remote to open folders, then select Choose this folder.
5. Open Library → Folders and select the saved source.

Storage permission is not requested at startup or just by opening Settings. It is requested only when selecting Choose local folder. The browser runs inside Milkbeat and supports D-pad navigation, Back and Refresh. Milkbeat reads the selected folder; it does not modify your music. Android's permission covers more than the selected folder: on newer versions, all-files access also permits writes, although this browser only reads.

If permission is denied, network folders and the rest of Milkbeat remain usable. Storage permissions opens Android settings to retry. Alternatively, Use Android folder picker uses the device's system picker to grant access to just one folder. Previously saved system-picker sources continue to work.

A USB drive must be mounted by Android. Select Refresh after connecting a drive. Moving or disconnecting storage can make a saved source unavailable; reconnect it and refresh. Device firmware controls which mounts are accessible. Symbolic links that leave the selected folder or lead back to an ancestor are not followed. Multiple aliases of the same file or directory appear once.

Add an SMB share

Open Settings → Music folders → Add SMB share.

Field	Enter
Name	A label for this source
Server	The hostname or IP address, without smb://
Port	Usually 445
Share name	The exported share's name, such as Music
Folder within share	Optional path beneath that share; leave empty for its root
Guest access	Enable only when the server permits guest access
Username / Password	The account the server accepts when guest access is off
Domain	Optional; use it only if your server requires one

Select Test access. When access is confirmed, select Save. Testing alone does not save the source. Opening a saved source shows the same editor with Back at the top and Remove folder at the bottom. Milkbeat supports SMB 2/3 and reads files without modifying the share. The password field has a Show/Hide control; leaving an existing saved password unchanged keeps it.

Add a WebDAV server

Open Settings → Music folders → Add WebDAV server. Nextcloud, ownCloud, Synology, QNAP, Apache and rclone serve webdav work.

Field	Enter
Name	A label for this source
Server URL	The full address of the music folder, such as https://nas.local/webdav/Music or https://cloud.example.com/remote.php/dav/files/you/Music. Do not put a username or password in the URL
Anonymous access	Enable only when the server allows access without an account
Username / Password	The account the server accepts when anonymous access is off

Milkbeat signs in with HTTP Basic authentication. With an http:// address the username and password travel unencrypted, and the editor warns you; prefer https:// unless the server is on a network you trust. Servers that require Digest authentication or use a self-signed certificate are not supported.

Add an SFTP server

Open Settings → Music folders → Add SFTP server. Any server that offers SSH file transfer works, including most NAS devices and Linux machines.

Field	Enter
Name	A label for this source
Server	The hostname or IP address
Port	Usually 22
Folder path	Optional. A path starting with / is absolute, such as /srv/music; otherwise it is relative to the account's home folder
Username	The SSH account
Sign in with a private key	Off: sign in with the password. On: select Choose private key file and pick an OpenSSH, PEM or PuTTY key; the password field then holds the key's passphrase, if it has one

The first Test access or Save only fetches the server's key fingerprint, for example ssh-ed25519 SHA256:…; your password or key is not used yet. Compare it with the server's own fingerprint (ssh-keygen -lf /etc/ssh/ssh_host_ed25519_key.pub on the server). If it matches, select Test access to sign in or Save to trust it. Milkbeat refuses to connect if the server later presents a different key. If you replaced or reinstalled the server, select Forget server key and confirm the new fingerprint the same way.

Add an NFS export

Open Settings → Music folders → Add NFS export. NFS versions 3, 4.0 and 4.1 are supported. A server that also offers NFSv4.2 works over 4.1; one that accepts only 4.2 does not.

Field	Enter
Name	A label for this source
Server	The hostname or IP address
Port	Usually 2049
Export path	The exported folder, such as /volume1/music. For an NFSv4 server that exports a pseudo-root, / works too
Folder within export	Optional path beneath the export
NFS version	Automatic tries 4.1, then 4.0, then 3. Choose a fixed version if your server needs one
User ID / Group ID	The numeric IDs Milkbeat presents to the server. 0 is usually mapped to an anonymous user by the server; use the IDs of an account that can read the music if files are not world-readable

The export must accept connections from non-privileged ports, because Android apps cannot use ports below 1024. On Linux add insecure to the export's options in /etc/exports; on Synology and QNAP enable Allow connections from non-privileged ports. Without it, Test access reports that the server only accepts privileged ports.

Network folders are read-only: Milkbeat never changes files on the server. Names that contain : are supported on WebDAV, SFTP and NFS. Symbolic links inside SFTP and NFS folders are not followed, because their targets can lie outside the configured folder; set the folder path to the real location instead.

Browse and play

There are two ways to play folder music:

• Library → Folders browses a source folder by folder. Select a source, then a folder; Back to folders returns to the list and Refresh reloads the listing. Select a track to play it, or Play folder to queue the music in the current folder.
• The Local library tab organizes the same files by their tags into artists, releases, playlists, genres, labels and years.

Embedded title, artist, album, duration and cover art load in the background for visible or playing tracks. MP3, FLAC and M4A have been tested, including seeking and embedded artwork; other formats depend on the device's codecs. Files without readable tags fall back to their filenames.

Local audio always plays from its file. With an enabled YouTube plugin, Milkbeat matches the first queued song's title, artists and duration in the background only to seed radio; it never swaps the local file for a stream. Without the plugin, a connection or a match, the local queue still plays.

The local library index

The Local library keeps a persistent index of your folders' tags. A scan starts when you add, edit or remove a source, and when Milkbeat starts with an index more than six hours old; it reads only the files that changed. While it reads files, the tab shows Indexing your music library with a file count, and Android shows a Scanning music folders notification. Rescan library in Settings → Music folders starts a scan straight away, for example after retagging files on the server. The Folders browser itself uses a bounded in-memory cache.

Refresh, edit or remove

Use Refresh in a folder to reload its listing and metadata. Open the source in Settings → Music folders to edit it, or select Remove folder. Removing a source deletes Milkbeat's configuration and its saved password or key, never the music on the device or server.