FOSSwire

In a continuation of my last post, I'm going to check out a few more music players. Again, these are development versions, and they might be different from the current stable versions.

JuK (KDE)

JuK seems to be another popular player for KDE. The easiest way to describe it would be having the interface of Amarok with the feature set of Rhythmbox. It basically plays music and lets you organize your library, and that's it. There isn't any plugin support, so if you don't like the features it has you cannot do much with it. That said, JuK has an easy, intuitive interface and is a great way to just listen to your music without all of the thrills of other players.

Quod Libet (GNOME)

At first glance, Quod Libet seems to be just another simple music player. However, that is all changed when you open the Plugins dialog. Quod Libet comes with over 30 plugins to activate, ranging from a tray icon to a music alarm clock. It has multiple views, such sa Paned Browser and Internet Radio, so there is always a new way to look at your music. It comes bundled with Ex Falso, a tag editor accessible as its own application and from within Quod Libet.

2 more players after the jump.

Noatun (KDE)

Noatun seems to be very simple on the outside, however most of its functionality is in the menus. It uses a multi-window interface, and there are a few plugins to get you started. It has a few more features than JuK while having a less obvious interface. It is another good music player for just listening.

Listen

Listen seems to be a good player if you have a widescreen monitor: the interface extends horizontally. It seems to be a player that is very tightly integrated with web services; if you cut out your connection you lose a bunch of features. It has the right amount of features for any user, however it lacks plugin support. I wasn't able to test these web features much either, since I was using an unstable version that crashed every time I tried. This player seems to have a bright future in store.

There are a lot more music players out there than the 8 I reviewed. I encourage you to try them all out and submit your opinions.

My personal preference? Rhythmbox. The primary reason I use it is because it comes with GNOME and it does what I want. After looking through all of these (and more) I might have to change.

For now, I'm removing the other music players on my system. I'm tired of seeing these constantly:

This article was originally posted on YouMakeMedia, however it is suitable for FOSSwire readers as well so we decided to post it. Some of the things referenced in the article are slightly old - it was written in October 2006, but the tutorial is timeless.

Be sure to check your local laws and regulations before you continue!

Linux users are often slighted when it comes to media tools. Macromedia/Adobe's shameful implementation of Flash 7 is one example (though Flash 9 is due out in January). When trying to watch a YouTube video this makes for some very difficult viewing, because the video and audio become out of sync.

Fortunately, we have a fantastic tool in FFMPEG. FFMPEG is a collection of free software for recording, transcoding, and streaming digital video and audio. It is a fantastic tool for Linux users who need to convert.

Of course, being able to convert to MPEG only works if you have an FLV. If the video is natively in SWF form (e.g. it doesn't use an FLV embed) you are out of luck, Linux users. To download your FLV, use a site such as VideoDownloader. You can also usually tell if the video is an FLV if it uses a player similar in style to the one available at Jeroen Wijering's site.

I'm on Ubuntu Linux (6.06) and FFMPEG is already installed. It's best to check again though. You can open up the Synaptic Package Manger and search for "FFMPEG". If it's checked, you've got it. If not, install it! While you're there, you'll want to install nautilus-open-terminal as I reference this in the tutorial.

Now navigate to your home folder (using Places > Home) and create a new folder for "My Videos" (or whatever you want to call it). This is important because Nautilus-open-terminal won't pick up your standard home folder. Move your downloaded FLV into this folder, and make sure it has a good name (I recommend video.flv for ease). Note that YouTube videos always are named get_video.htm, but you'll want to change this to an flv extension!

Now right click somewhere in the folder and select "Open in Terminal". This will launch a terminal specific to that folder. Edit the below code to suit your needs, paste into Terminal, and press enter.

Ubuntu users might need Sudo, might not. I usually use it out of habit so I'm not positive if it's required or not.

ffmpeg -i video.flv -ab 56 -ar 22050 -b 500 -s 320x240 test.mpg

The script, in this order:

1. Launches FFMPEG
2. Opens your FLV (change to suit yours)
3. -ab : Sets the audio bitrate. Without this, it'll be set to the default of 64kbps
4. -ar : Sets the audio samplerate. Default is 44100hz
5. -b : Sets the video bitrate. Default is 2000kbps
6. -s : Sets the size. Default is 160x128px
7. Outputs to the filename you enter (change to suit your needs)

When I tried this, I changed nothing and got fairly decent video quality but the audio lacked. I'd definitely recommend tweaking the settings a bit to improve quality. You'll probably want to at least double the audio bitrate, although the samplerate is fine by default.

Quick disclaimer: These reviews are based off of the latest development releases and may not reflect their current stable versions accurately. Any bugs and crashes will be ignored in these reviews.

As long as we have music, there will always be many players to support it. Linux is no exception, and today we're going to look at some of the top contenders for both GNOME and KDE. Some music players may be grouped together due to their similarities.

Rhythmbox (GNOME)

If you haven't heard me write on and on about Rhythmbox yet, then you have missed quite a bit. Rhythmbox is the media player shipped with GNOME. It is a very popular player, and even though it looks simple on the outside it can do everything you need it to. It has a "Party Mode" view built in that makes Rhythmbox only allow adding songs to the queue (and not change the current song), which can make it perfect for parties, as the name suggests. More recent builds of Rhythmbox have visualization support. It has all of the typical player features such as podcast fetching, but also allows you to shop through the Magnatune and Jamendo stores along with DAAP (iTunes) music sharing though the use of plugins.

Amarok (KDE)

Amarok is to KDE as Rhythmbox is to GNOME: it ships with it. That is not to say that they are similar, however. Amarok is a music player for someone who wants complete control over their audio. From the equalizer to the cover manager, Amarok really has it all. The interface can be a little overwhelming for new users, but it offers a wizard for first-timers. Amarok supports the Magnatune store as well as visualizations, sharing, podcasts, scripts, ... well, you get the point. If you are a KDE user and do not love Amarok, then something is seriously wrong.

Exaile (GNOME)

If you are a GNOME user who likes a clean system without KDE dependencies (Amarok brings part of KControl with it) then you do have a reason to not like Amarok. Exaile is your solution. It is a media player that is essentially Amarok for GNOME, although it is not based off of it. It has all of the core features that made Amarok popular, like the easy to use equalizer and the interface in general. It is missing some features such as the Magnatune store, but it still has everything you need while keeping it relatively simple. Exaile even has a plugin downloading system (very similar to APT) built-in, so installing plugins is just a few clicks away.

Banshee (GNOME)

Banshee is essentially Rhythmbox with a Helix backend and a few interface changes. The most notable is the excellent Last.fm integration - Recommended artists and related songs appear at the bottom of the window. Banshee also supports audio CD importing. The only strange (and ironic) thing I found was that its "Mini Mode" has bigger fonts and images than the main interface. If you are looking for a change from Rhythmbox but do not want to venture too far, Banshee should be your first choice.

We've only scratched the surface of all of the media players out there. Stay tuned for more.