Linux Open Source Audio Players | Comparison tables

Link	Nightingale	Guayadeque	XBMC	Clementine	Rhythmbox	Exaile	Banshee	Quod Libet	gmusicbrowser	Listen	JaJuk	aTunes	Amarok 2.x	Amarok 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
Excerpt	Nightingale 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 framework	XBMC 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 1.4	An 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 GNOME	Organizes 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 Java	An audio player with many exciting features
Pros
Cons	crashes too often (on my PC at least) :(
Reviewed version	1.11.1 (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
ReplayGain	Yes option: Album/Track	Yes option: radio/album/off modes and preAmp		Yes options: pre-ampli and Radio/Album modes	Yes [plugin] options: pre-ampli and Radio/Album modes	Yes usual options	Yes no options	Yes options: pre-ampli and default ampli	Yes	No Not seen in preferences...		No Not seen in Preferences...	Yes option: Album/Track	No External script - not stable
Transitions		Yes options: in and out lenghts, in volume, in start => graphical view :)		Yes configurable	Yes option: length	- Only using unstable "unified" sound engine	No	No	No	Yes		Yes	- Only on Stop	Yes options: Transition [NO (blank length) OR YES (length, always OR auto change only OR manual change only). FadeOut [NO OR length]
Gapless		Yes configurable		No	No	- Only using unstable "unified" sound engine	Yes no options	No	No	No			No	No
Equalizer		Yes Presets & Custom		Yes Presets & Custom	- 3rd party plugin (not easy to install)	Yes Presets & Custom	Yes Presets & Custom	Yes plugin	Yes	Yes plugin		No	Yes	Yes
Navigator
Mode de navigation		Many 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 out	Chained 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)
File		Yes		Yes Library only	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes Library only	No		Yes Libary only	Yes	Yes
Cover Navigator		Yes		No but there is a cover manager that can replace, though not handy	No	Yes	- Slows down app a lot, but it can be disabled	Yes	Yes	No		No	No but there is a cover manager that can replace, though not handy	No but there is a cover manager that can replace, though not handy
Local Library
Multiple folders		Yes		Yes	- Yes, but not easy to manage. Use gconf-editor: apps > rhythmbox > library_locations	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Watch folders		- can only scan at startup (option) or manually		Yes	- Only new files	No	Yes plugin	- Only startup scan (option) or manual scan	- can only scan at startup (option) or manually	Yes			Yes	Yes
Statistics		playCounter, lastPlayed, added, rating		playCounter, lastPlayed, score, rating, skippedCounter	playCounter, lastPlayed, added, rating	playCounter, lastPlayed, added, rating	playCounter, lastPlayed, score, rating, skippedCounter, lastSkippedDate	playCounter, added, lastPlayed, skippedCounter, rating	playCounter, lastPlayed, score, rating, skippedCounter, lastSkippedDate	playCounter, lastPlayed, added			playCounter, lastPlayed, firstPlayed, score (optional), rating (optional)	playCounter, lastPlayed, score (optional), rating (optional), added
Playlists
Playlists		Yes		Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes			Yes	Yes
Smart		Yes		Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes			Yes	Yes
Dynamic		Yes 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 !?	Yes	No	Yes	- No options !? what source ?			Yes	Yes
Queue		Yes		Yes separate window.	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes			Yes	Yes separate window.
Tags
Editor		Yes		Yes	No Updates only database, not files.	Yes	Yes	Yes Full-featured	Yes	Yes		Yes	Yes	Yes
id3 version		2.4		2.4	N/A	2.4	2.3	??	2.3 (default) OR 2.4	??		2.3	??	2.4
Auto tag tools		Yes 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 uppercase	No cover and metadata (plugins - no options) + BPM detection (built-in)	Yes From path only. MusicBrainz, CDDB, cover search plugins	- Probably with plugins	No		Yes NOT configurable. No choices displayed. Not handy.	Yes MusicBrainz, Filename	- MusicBrainz but seems outdated
Scrobbler
Last.fm		Yes		Yes	Yes plugin	Yes plugin	Yes plugin	Yes plugin	Yes plugin	Yes			Yes plugin
Libre.fm		Yes		No	Yes plugin	Yes plugin	No	Yes plugin	No	Yes			No maybe a plugin
Informations
Lyrics		Yes many sites		Yes many sites	- ==> TBD !!!	- Lyrics Fly only (does not work well)		- Only on a separate window	Yes	Yes			Yes	Yes
Biography		Yes last.fm		Yes many sites incl. wikipedia, last.fm, ...	Yes last.fm	No		No	Yes	Yes wikipedia			Yes Wikipedia	Yes wikipedia
Photos		- only one from biography		Yes	No	No		No	No	- Only one from biography			Yes	- Only one from biography
Online sources
Radio		Yes		Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes plugin	Yes	No			Yes	Yes	Yes
Podcasts		Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes plugin	Yes	No	Yes Balado		Yes	Yes	Yes
Jamendo		Yes		Yes	Yes plugin	Yes plugin	No	No	No	Yes plugin			Yes	No
Magnatune		Yes		Yes	Yes plugin	No	No	No	No	Yes plugin			Yes	No
Last.fm		No		Yes	Yes	No	Yes	No	No	Yes			Yes	Yes
Libre.fm		No		No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No			No	No
Others				icecast, somaFM			Plugins: eMusic, Ubuntu One, Amazon, Internet Archive, Miro						Librivox.org, Amazon
Other features
Plugins		No		No	Yes Most features are plugins	Yes		Yes	Yes	Yes			Yes	- Plugin system not very stable
Visualisations		No		Yes	No	No		No	No	Yes plugin			No	Yes
Karaoke		No		No	No	Yes plugin	No	No	Yes	No		No	No	No
Exclusive		Configurable Web links, commands and "copy To". Configurable shortcuts.		Wii Remote control, Transcoder	Add. 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 shortcuts		Gnome Multimédia shortcuts		Gnome multimedia shortcuts OR configurable shortcuts	==> TBD !!!	Gnome multimedia shortcuts (plugin)	Multimedia shortcuts (plugin - not reviewed yet ==> TBD)	Gnome multimedia shortcuts	Configurable, 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) integration		Yes		Yes OR Custom OSD	Yes	No Custom OSD		- No OSD, but appears in Volume control (plugin)	- No OSD, but appears in Volume control	No Custom OSD			Yes OR Custom OSD	No Custom OSD
Other systems
Windows		No	Yes	Yes	No	- dev	- beta-quality technology preview	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	- with KDE for Windows (dev)	- with KDE for Windows (dev)
macOS		No	Yes	Yes	No	- dev	- beta-quality technology preview	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	- no official support	No
Technical details
License		GNU GPL	GNU GPL	GNU GPL	GNU GPL	GNU GPL	MIT	GNU GPL	GNU GPL	GNU GPL	GNU GPL	GNU GPL	GNU GPL	GNU GPL
Programming language		C++ (wxWidgets)	C++, Python	C++ (Qt)	C	Python (GTK+)	Mono C# (Gtk#)	Python (GTK+)	Perl	Python	Java	Java	C++ (Qt)	C++ (Qt)
Database		Sqlite (~/.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 Playlists		in database (how?)												XSPF (XML) in ~/.kde/share/apps/amarok/playlists/
Dynamic Playlists		N/A
Smart Playlists		in database (how ?)
Audio Engine		gstreamer		gstreamer	gstreamer	gstreamer. What is "Unified" one ? ==> TBD !!!	gstreamer		gstreamer OR mpg321/ogg123/flac123/amixer OR mplayer			mplayer for all environments, xine for Linux systems	gstreamer	xine
id3 library		TagLib		TagLib	N/A	==> TBD !!!	taglib-sharp		homemade (done by gmusicbrowser author)			JAudiotagger	==> TBD !!!	TagLib
Distribution
Ubuntu software-center		Yes	No But a PPA exists on official website	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes Default application	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No But a debian package exists on official website	Yes	Yes Using a PPA: http://raphael.camus.free.fr/wiki/index.php?title=Amarok
Ubuntu one-click install		apt://guayadeque		apt://clementine	apt://rhythmbox	apt://exaile	apt://banshee	apt://quodlibet	apt://gmusicbrowser	apt://listen	apt://jajuk		apt://amarok
External Information
Website		guayadeque.org	xbmc.org	clementine-player.org	gnome.org/...	exaile.org	banshee.fm	google.com/...	gmusicbrowser.org	listen-project.org	jajuk.info	atunes.org	kde.org/en	kde.org/en
Wikipedia			wikipedia.org/...	wikipedia.org/...	wikipedia.org/...	wikipedia.org/...	wikipedia.org/...	wikipedia.org/...		wikipedia.org/...		wikipedia.org/...	wikipedia.org/...	wikipedia.org/...
Ubuntu-fr		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/...	ubuntu-fr.org/...