Install the package mpd via APT:

apt-get install mpd

When installed this way, MPD by default looks for music in /var/lib/mpd/music/; this may not be correct. Look at your /etc/mpd.conf file...

Download the source tarball from the MPD home page and unpack it:

tar xf mpd-version.tar.xz
cd mpd-version

Make sure that all the required libraries and build tools are installed. The INSTALL file has a list.

Now configure the source tree:

./configure

The --help argument shows a list of compile-time options. When everything is ready and configured, compile:

make

And install:

make install

Using systemd, you can launch mpd on demand when the first client attempts to connect. Create two files in /etc/systemd/system/; first mpd.socket:

[Socket]
ListenStream=/run/mpd.socket
ListenStream=6600
[Install]
WantedBy=sockets.target

Now create mpd.service:

[Unit]
Description=Music Player Daemon
After=sound.target
[Service]
ExecStart=/usr/bin/mpd --stdout --no-daemon

Start the socket:

systemctl enable mpd.socket
systemctl start mpd.socket

In this configuration, mpd will ignore the bind_to_address and port settings.

When you play local files, you should organize them within a directory called the "music directory". This is configured in MPD with the music_directory setting.

By default, MPD follows symbolic links in the music directory. This behavior can be switched off: follow_outside_symlinks controls whether MPD follows links pointing to files outside of the music directory, and follow_inside_symlinks lets you disable symlinks to files inside the music directory.

If a music directory is configured, one database plugin is used. To configure this plugin, add a database block to mpd.conf:

database {
    plugin "simple"
    path "/var/lib/mpd/db"
}
      

The following table lists the database options valid for all plugins:

To configure an input plugin, add a input block to mpd.conf:

input {
    plugin "despotify"
    user "foo"
    password "bar"
}
      

The following table lists the input options valid for all plugins:

Most decoder plugins do not need any special configuration. To configure a decoder, add a decoder block to mpd.conf:

decoder {
    plugin "wildmidi"
    config_file "/etc/timidity/timidity.cfg"
}
      

The following table lists the decoder options valid for all plugins:

Encoders are used by some of the output plugins (such as shout). The encoder settings are included in the audio_output section.

Audio outputs are devices which actually play the audio chunks produced by MPD. You can configure any number of audio output devices, but there must be at least one. If none is configured, MPD attempts to auto-detect. Usually, this works quite well with ALSA, OSS and on Mac OS X.

To configure an audio output manually, add an audio_output block to mpd.conf:

audio_output {
    type "alsa"
    name "my ALSA device"
    device "hw:0"
}
      

The following table lists the audio_output options valid for all plugins:

Filters are plugins which modify an audio stream.

To configure a filter, add a filter block to mpd.conf:

filter {
    plugin "volume"
    name "software volume"
}
      

The following table lists the filter options valid for all plugins:

Playlist plugins are used to load remote playlists. This is not related to MPD's playlist directory.

To configure a playlist plugin, add a playlist_plugin block to mpd.conf:

playlist_plugin {
    name "m3u"
    enabled "true"
}
      

The following table lists the playlist_plugin options valid for all plugins:

After you have installed, configured and started MPD, you choose a client to control the playback.

The most basic client is mpc, which provides a command line interface. It is useful in shell scripts. Many people bind specific mpc commands to hotkeys.

The MPD Wiki contains an extensive list of clients to choose from.

The "music directory" is where you store your music files. MPD stores all relevant meta information about all songs in its "database". Whenever you add, modify or remove songs in the music directory, you have to update the database, for example with mpc:

mpc update

Depending on the size of your music collection and the speed of the storage, this can take a while.

To exclude a file from the update, create a file called .mpdignore in its parent directory. Each line of that file may contain a list of shell wildcards.

The queue (sometimes called "current playlist") is a list of songs to be played by MPD. To play a song, add it to the queue and start playback. Most clients offer an interface to edit the queue.