[laleck]

To the author's point about not wanting to always run a music server like Plex or Jellyfin.

In Plexamp, browsing is heavily restricted in offline mode and very "flat." Downloaded albums, artists, and playlists are respectively grouped in a single list in the downloads tab. Clicking on any collection gives you a big list of songs with no further filtering or searching available.

Independent apps like Prism for Plex and Manet for JellyFin offer more iPod-like offline experiences with multiple layers of browsing and searching downloads. Prism syncs back changes (ratings, playlists) to Plex once server connectivity is restored. Though, Prism does not offer transcoding to save storage like Plexamp does.

I think these companion apps solve the major weakness of server based music hosting and offer an easier and more flexible alternative compared to the set up in the linked article.

> There is no good reason why my iPhone shouldn’t let me play local music.

I imagine this is a combination of low user demand, Apple's "walled garden" mentality, and Apple's perverse incentive to nudge people into paid Apple Music subscriptions.