moOde Installation and Setup on Raspberry Pi

Get moOde up and running on your Raspberry Pi (with Bluetooth, Spotify Connect and AirPlay).

moOde is my go-to software for turning a Raspberry Pi into a true high quality audio streamer. I’ve used it for a few projects and this is my standalone guide to setting it up.

Read First: If significant time has passed since 5th December 2023, this guide may be out of date. Guide is based on macOS but similar steps will apply to other operating systems.

Please read the entire guide before following the steps. It assumes you are using a USB/HAT connected audio output device.

Note: I have confirmed that the following steps work on Raspberry Pi Imager v1.8.1 and moOde v8.3.6 which are the latest versions per the date above. Ignore any lower version numbers you see in screenshots.

Note 2: As at 18/05/2024 the Raspberry Pi 5 is now supported using 64-bit Bookworm.

Step 1 – Writing to SD

To write the SD card, you’ll need Raspberry Pi Imager. Install it if you haven’t done so already.

Insert SD Card into your computer.

Open Raspberry Pi Imager:

Click “CHOOSE DEVICE” then “NO FILTERING”.

Click “CHOOSE OS”, then “Media player OS”, then “moOde audio player”:

Click the version based on your Raspberry Pi Device:

• 64-bit Bullseye if using 3B, 3B+, 3A+, 4, 400, CM3, CM3+, CM4, Zero 2W
• 32-bit Bullseye if using 1B, 1B+, 1A+, 2B, Zero, Zero W

Click “CHOOSE STORAGE” then your SD Card.

Click “NEXT”.

Click “EDIT SETTINGS”.

• Tick box and set the hostname to your preferred name for the speaker on your network. I used “moodespeaker“.
• Tick box to set username and password. Use a secure username and password. I used the insecure “kavi” and “kavi” in this example.
• If you are connecting via WiFi, Tick box and add in your SSID (WiFi name) and password. Set Wireless LAN country (ZA in my example).
• Tick box and Set locale settings to your time zone (Africa/Johannesburg in my example).

Click “SAVE” then “YES”.

It’ll warn you that all data will be erased, click “YES” (if you are sure you selected the correct storage device).

You may be prompted for your administrator or account password for your computer, fill it in and continue.

moOde will be downloaded and written to your SD card.

Remove the SD card, insert it into your Raspberry Pi and connect the Pi to an appropriate power supply (and via ethernet to your network if not using WiFi). Don’t connect anything else to your Pi for now. It should begin booting up once power is connected.

Step 2 – Verify moOde is running and connected to network

If you have a network that notifies you when new devices connect, wait for this to happen:

If you don’t, wait a few minutes for your Pi to boot up and connect to the network.

Type in <your hostname>.local (I used moodespeaker as hostname) into your favourite browser. If the Pi has not booted up yet, you may get a “server not found” error. Refresh the page until you see this:

Click on any of the streaming sources on the left. If it starts playing, we’ve verified that moOde is up and running, is connected to your network and has internet access. You won’t hear anything playing because that’s not connected and set up yet.

Note: If you don’t see any streaming sources, click on “Tap on cover art to switch to the Library”, then again on the cover art (moOde logo). You’re now in the Library. Click the Library drop down in the top left, then Radio. Click once on any station. Click “Tap on the Playbar to switch to Playback”. Click on it again to return to the playback view. You should then see your station playing.

Step 3 – Audio Output Setup

Now we need to get audio out of the Pi.

Shutdown your Pi (m in top right > Power > SHUTDOWN) and wait a minute before removing power (and if used, ethernet) from your Pi.

Attach your USB DAC or HAT to your Raspberry Pi and the output of your DAC/HAT to the rest of your system. Then connect power (and if used, ethernet). Note that some HATs require their own power supplies and power the Pi via the HAT. If this is the case, do not also connect power directly to the Pi.

Once again, browse to <your hostname>.local, clicking the m in the top right, Configure and Audio:

For USB DAC:

Under “Output Device”, choose your device from the list and click “SET”:

For HAT:

Under “Named I2S Device”, choose your device from the list and click “SET”

Now that your output device has been chosen, click the home icon in the top left to return home. Play a radio station and confirm that the audio is working. The volume control is set to zero by default, click the + to increase the volume until you can hear the sound.

Step 4 – Bluetooth, Spotify and AirPlay

Access the settings for Renderers (m in top right > Configure > Renderers)

Turn on the relevant option and wait for a “Settings Updated” popup then change the name if desired and click “SET” next to it.

There may be a longer wait when setting AirPlay 1 as the AirPlay protocol. Just wait at this screen and it’ll eventually complete and show a “Settings Updated” popup.

To use AirPlay 2, you’ll need a Raspberry Pi 2 / 2W or more powerful (Ref).

Confirm your renderers are working correctly by connecting (via Spotify/AirPlay/Bluetooth) and playing audio.

Summary

You’re all set up! Time to enjoy your very own DIY high quality audio streamer. To see how I’ve used moOde, have a look at my projects by clicking here.

If you have any questions/would like to share your experience with moOde leave a reply below. To receive an email when I publish a post, subscribe here.

(Featured image remixed from this photo)