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Linux Open Source Audio Players

5

Comparing open source audio players with a library management running on Linux systems.

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NightingaleGuayadequeXBMCClementineRhythmboxExaileBansheeQuod LibetgmusicbrowserListenJaJukaTunesAmarok 2.xAmarok 1.4
Overall rating
no rating
5.0/5 1 rating
5.0/5 1 rating
3.7/5 3 ratings
3.0/5 2 ratings
3.5/5 2 ratings
3.5/5 2 ratings
5.0/5 2 ratings
3.0/5 1 rating
4.0/5 1 rating
no rating
2.0/5 1 rating
2.0/5 1 rating
5.0/5 1 rating
ExcerptNightingale chirps your favorite tunes! A beautiful interface with a wide range of supported audio formats, all with multi-platform support! [Notye: Songbird's fork ! (now that Songbrid's development is closed on Linux)]Guayadeque is a music management program designed for all music enthusiasts. It is Full Featured Linux media player that can easily manage large collections and uses the Gstreamer media frameworkXBMC is an open source digital media hub designed to be a media player for the living-room TV. Its graphical user interface allows to easily manage video, photos, podcasts... using a remote control.A cross-platform music player inspired by Amarok 1.4An integrated music management application, originally inspired by Apple's iTunes.A music player and manager written in Python. It incorporates automatic fetching of album art, lyrics fetching, Last.fm scrobbling, support for tabbed playlists, many portable media players, internet radio such as shoutcast.A music and video player which can manage your podcasts, Internet radio and keep your portable device loaded with good stuff.An audio player designed around the idea that you know how to organize your music better than we do.An open-source jukebox for large collections of mp3/ogg/flac/mpc/ape files, written in perl.A music management and audio player for GNOMEOrganizes and plays music. It is a full-featured application geared towards advanced users with large or scattered music collections.A full-featured audio player and manager, developed in JavaAn audio player with many exciting features
Pros
Conscrashes too often (on my PC at least) :(
Reviewed version1.11.1 (Ubuntu 12.04)0.3.1-1639 (Ubuntu 11.10)0.7.1 (Ubuntu 11.10)2.90.1 (Ubuntu 11.10)0.3.2.2 (Ubuntu 11.10)2.2.0 (Ubuntu 11.10)2.3.2 (Ubuntu 12.04)1.1.9 (Ubuntu 12.04)0.6.5 (Ubuntu 11.04)1.9.1 (Ubuntu 11.04)2.0.1 (Ubuntu 11.04)2.5.0 (Ubuntu 12.04)1.4.10 (Ubuntu 11.04)
Player
ReplayGainYes option: Album/TrackYes option: radio/album/off modes and preAmpYes options: pre-ampli and Radio/Album modesYes [plugin] options: pre-ampli and Radio/Album modesYes usual optionsYes no optionsYes options: pre-ampli and default ampliYesNo Not seen in preferences...No Not seen in Preferences...Yes option: Album/TrackNo External script - not stable
TransitionsYes options: in and out lenghts, in volume, in start => graphical view :)Yes configurableYes option: length- Only using unstable "unified" sound engineNoNoNoYesYes- Only on StopYes options: Transition [NO (blank length) OR YES (length, always OR auto change only OR manual change only). FadeOut [NO OR length]
GaplessYes configurableNoNo- Only using unstable "unified" sound engineYes no optionsNoNoNoNoNo
EqualizerYes Presets & CustomYes Presets & Custom- 3rd party plugin (not easy to install)Yes Presets & CustomYes Presets & CustomYes pluginYesYes pluginNoYesYes
Navigator
Mode de navigationMany and configurable (you can save display presets): Chained lists (configurable) AND/OR TreeView (many modes) AND/OR sources ...TreeView (up to 3 levels among album, artist, albumartist, genre, year, filetype, albumyear, composer)Chained lists (Limited to Artist/Album OR Genre/Artist OR Genre/Artist/Album)TreeView (Limited to Artist, Album, Genre/Artist, Genre/Album, Year/Artist, Year/Album, Artist/Year-Album)Chained lists (Artist/Album only), but album can be displayed as text or image (by default)Chained lists (Grouping/Genre/Artist/Album)Many CONFIGURABLE modes !! Check it outChained lists (Artist/Album OR Genre/Artist OR Genre/Artist/Album)TreeView (Artist/Album OR Genre/Artist/Album OR Album OR Year/Artist/Album OR FileSystem)TreeView (up to 3 levels among album, artist, genre, artistalbum, composer, label)TreeView (up to 3 levels among album, artist, genre, year, albumyear, composer, label)
FileYesYes Library onlyNoYesNoYesYes Library onlyNoYes Libary onlyYesYes
Cover NavigatorYesNo but there is a cover manager that can replace, though not handyNoYes- Slows down app a lot, but it can be disabledYesYesNoNoNo but there is a cover manager that can replace, though not handyNo but there is a cover manager that can replace, though not handy
Local Library
Multiple foldersYesYes- Yes, but not easy to manage. Use gconf-editor: apps > rhythmbox > library_locationsYesNoNoYesNoYesYesYesYes
Watch folders- can only scan at startup (option) or manuallyYes- Only new filesNoYes plugin- Only startup scan (option) or manual scan- can only scan at startup (option) or manuallyYesYesYes
StatisticsplayCounter, lastPlayed, added, ratingplayCounter, lastPlayed, score, rating, skippedCounterplayCounter, lastPlayed, added, ratingplayCounter, lastPlayed, added, ratingplayCounter, lastPlayed, score, rating, skippedCounter, lastSkippedDateplayCounter, added, lastPlayed, skippedCounter, ratingplayCounter, lastPlayed, score, rating, skippedCounter, lastSkippedDateplayCounter, lastPlayed, addedplayCounter, lastPlayed, firstPlayed, score (optional), rating (optional)playCounter, lastPlayed, score (optional), rating (optional), added
Playlists
PlaylistsYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes
SmartYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYesYes
DynamicYes Called "Smart mode": auto-fills queue with a given playlist (you can exclude another playlist too)Yes- But when the queue is empty auto plays a file from the navigator (selected artist/album/genre)- No options !?YesNoYes- No options !? what source ?YesYes
QueueYesYes separate window.YesNoYesYesYesYesYesYes separate window.
Tags
EditorYesYesNo Updates only database, not files.YesYesYes Full-featuredYesYesYesYesYes
id3 version2.42.4N/A2.42.3??2.3 (default) OR 2.4??2.3??2.4
Auto tag toolsYes MusicBrainz (artist/album names) + covers (Google, Amazon, last.fm OR Discogs) + lyrics (several choice)Yes MusicBrainz (audio print) + covers (Last.fm)- With some plugins only- Only convert first letter uppercaseNo cover and metadata (plugins - no options) + BPM detection (built-in)Yes From path only. MusicBrainz, CDDB, cover search plugins- Probably with pluginsNoYes NOT configurable. No choices displayed. Not handy.Yes MusicBrainz, Filename- MusicBrainz but seems outdated
Scrobbler
Last.fmYesYesYes pluginYes pluginYes pluginYes pluginYes pluginYesYes plugin
Libre.fmYesNoYes pluginYes pluginNoYes pluginNoYesNo maybe a plugin
Informations
LyricsYes many sitesYes many sites- ==> TBD !!!- Lyrics Fly only (does not work well)- Only on a separate windowYesYesYesYes
BiographyYes last.fmYes many sites incl. wikipedia, last.fm, ...Yes last.fmNoNoYesYes wikipediaYes WikipediaYes wikipedia
Photos- only one from biographyYesNoNoNoNo- Only one from biographyYes- Only one from biography
Online sources
RadioYesYesYesYesYes pluginYesNoYesYesYes
PodcastsYesYesNoYesNoYes pluginYesNoYes BaladoYesYesYes
JamendoYesYesYes pluginYes pluginNoNoNoYes pluginYesNo
MagnatuneYesYesYes pluginNoNoNoNoYes pluginYesNo
Last.fmNoYesYesNoYesNoNoYesYesYes
Libre.fmNoNoYesNoNoNoNoNoNoNo
Othersicecast, somaFMPlugins: eMusic, Ubuntu One, Amazon, Internet Archive, MiroLibrivox.org, Amazon
Other features
PluginsNoNoYes Most features are pluginsYesYesYesYesYes- Plugin system not very stable
VisualisationsNoYesNoNoNoNoYes pluginNoYes
KaraokeNoNoNoYes pluginNoNoYesNoNoNoNo
ExclusiveConfigurable Web links, commands and "copy To". Configurable shortcuts.Wii Remote control, TranscoderAdd. 3rd plugins exist. Check website. Not always easy to install.Video, BPM computing (plugin), import Rhythmbox, AmaroK, iTunes (plugin), Audio books (plugin),Regex-based search. Tag editing allows to edit all kind of tags, though not that user-friendly.Interface highly customizable. ReplayGain analysis.?
Global shortcutsGnome Multimédia shortcutsGnome multimedia shortcuts OR configurable shortcuts==> TBD !!!Gnome multimedia shortcuts (plugin)Multimedia shortcuts (plugin - not reviewed yet ==> TBD)Gnome multimedia shortcutsConfigurable, homemade?"Win"+ shortcuts by default. Configurable. Did not manage to make multimedia keyboard to work."Win"+ shortcuts by default. Configurable. Did not manage to make multimedia keyboard to work.
Ubuntu (gnome) integrationYesYes OR Custom OSDYesNo Custom OSD- No OSD, but appears in Volume control (plugin)- No OSD, but appears in Volume controlNo Custom OSDYes OR Custom OSDNo Custom OSD
Other systems
WindowsNoYesYesNo- dev- beta-quality technology previewYesNoNoYesYes- with KDE for Windows (dev)- with KDE for Windows (dev)
macOSNoYesYesNo- dev- beta-quality technology previewYesNoNoYesYes- no official supportNo
Technical details
LicenseGNU GPLGNU GPLGNU GPLGNU GPLGNU GPLMITGNU GPLGNU GPLGNU GPLGNU GPLGNU GPLGNU GPLGNU GPL
Programming languageC++ (wxWidgets)C++, PythonC++ (Qt)CPython (GTK+)Mono C# (Gtk#)Python (GTK+)PerlPythonJavaJavaC++ (Qt)C++ (Qt)
DatabaseSqlite (~/.guayadeque/guayadeque.db)Sqlite (~/.xbmc/userdata/Database/MyMusic7.db)Sqlite (~/.config/Clementine/clementine.db)XML (~/.local/share/rhythmbox/rhythmdb.xml)Exaile's custom binary file (~/.local/share/exaile/music.db)Sqlite (~/.config/banshee_1/banshee.db)Custom, non-relational binary file (~/.quodlibet/songs)Custom INI/Tab separated file (~/.config/gmusicbrowser/gmbrc)Undefined, maybe "proprietary" binary file ? (~/.config/listen/songs.db)XML (~/.jajuk/collection.xml)XML (~/.atunes/repository.xml)Sqlite (default) (~/.kde/share/apps/amarok/collection.db) or MySQL (on demand)MySQL or Sqlite (~/.kde/share/apps/amarok/collection.db)
Static Playlistsin database (how?)XSPF (XML) in ~/.kde/share/apps/amarok/playlists/
Dynamic PlaylistsN/A
Smart Playlistsin database (how ?)
Audio Enginegstreamergstreamergstreamergstreamer. What is "Unified" one ? ==> TBD !!!gstreamergstreamer OR mpg321/ogg123/flac123/amixer OR mplayermplayer for all environments, xine for Linux systemsgstreamerxine
id3 libraryTagLibTagLibN/A==> TBD !!!taglib-sharphomemade (done by gmusicbrowser author)JAudiotagger==> TBD !!!TagLib
Distribution
Ubuntu software-centerYesNo But a PPA exists on official websiteYesYesYesYes Default applicationYesYesYesYesNo But a debian package exists on official websiteYesYes Using a PPA: http://raphael.camus.free.fr/wiki/index.php?title=Amarok
Ubuntu one-click installapt://guayadequeapt://clementineapt://rhythmboxapt://exaileapt://bansheeapt://quodlibetapt://gmusicbrowserapt://listenapt://jajukapt://amarok
External Information
Websiteguayadeque.orgxbmc.orgclementine-player.orggnome.org/...exaile.orgbanshee.fmgoogle.com/...gmusicbrowser.orglisten-project.orgjajuk.infoatunes.orgkde.org/enkde.org/en
Wikipediawikipedia.org/...wikipedia.org/...wikipedia.org/...wikipedia.org/...wikipedia.org/...wikipedia.org/...wikipedia.org/...wikipedia.org/...wikipedia.org/...wikipedia.org/...
Ubuntu-frubuntu-fr.org/...ubuntu-fr.org/...ubuntu-fr.org/...ubuntu-fr.org/...ubuntu-fr.org/...ubuntu-fr.org/...ubuntu-fr.org/...ubuntu-fr.org/...ubuntu-fr.org/...ubuntu-fr.org/...
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Compare Amarok 1.4 vs Amarok 2.x vs Banshee vs Clementine contre Rhythmbox vs Listen vs aTunes vs Quod Libet
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Apr. 17th 2017 9:17:23 PM
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