Songbird's Quest to Be a Music Player of a Different Feather

by Kristin Shoemaker - Nov. 07, 2008Comments (4)

There is one universal truth in desktop computing, regardless of operating system: There are more music players out there than you'd be inclined to try (never mind use) on a regular basis. Some focus on the simpler, basic functions, and others strive for improved music and media management and delivery. A few of these players achieve their goals and gain a loyal user base. More fall short and get lost in the noise. New music players, then, need something distinctive (that's well developed and delivered) to draw new users, and keep them coming back.

Songbird is still in beta, but nearing the milestone 1.0 status. A few months ago, it showed promise, but not enough was there to be able to predict how much of that promise would translate into a strong application. The 0.7.0 beta release reveals more of Songbird's strengths, and suggests that the player is able to rise above the noise.

Songbird's tagline is that it's the "open source music player." It is open source, but so are many others. It isn't what sets it apart. I think Aaron Boodman (from Greasemonkey) describes it better (and makes it relevant to more people) when he says that "Songbird promises to be the Firefox of media players."

Songbird is cross-platform, with Windows, Linux and Mac versions, as well as contributed builds for a number of Linux flavors, Mac PPC, and openSolaris. In many ways it already is the Firefox of media players. It uses code contributed by the Mozilla project, and installing, setting up, and adding extensions to Songbird should feel very familiar to any one who's used Firefox.

 

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The power of familiarity can't be underestimated, but Songbird's strengths don't merely rest on the shoulders of Firefox. The actual "music player" seems quite basic right out of the box. Then, it's probably a waste of effort (and not wise) to get overly creative with buttons and functions that have an expected behavior. "Play," "pause," and "shuffle" should do what they promise and nothing more. At heart, Songbird plays music. It's the delivery and ability to extend and customize the presentation that makes it something more.

Songbird offers Last.fm support, SHOUTcast streaming, smart (dynamic) playlists, and syncing and connecting with iPod devices. Some of the add-ons that are offered on set up (and are easily disabled there as well) are developer-specific tools, and an extension that notifies you of any upcoming local shows by the artists in your music library.

I find that importing my music into new players never quite works as I'd like. Songbird was close, very close, to importing the whole collection without a hitch. It located my music folders automatically, and began importing. It seemed to indicate it wasn't indexing duplicate files (of which I have too many), but when the library loaded the duplicates were there. Still, the tags and metadata came through without issue, and the music was at least all discovered.

Much of my album art needed to be added manually -- but not all of it. The Album Art Manager extension makes this an easy process. There is also the ubiquitious "Coverflow" type of extension available so that you can browse your collection more interactively.

 

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Layout can be customized, resized, and new themes can be installed. The extensions I've installed make Songbird shine. The LyricMaster extension, while not perfect (remastered songs seem to throw off its lyric search), is fast, and calls on an extensive database of seemingly accurate lyrics.

Songbird, of course, is a work in progress (and welcomes contributors, whether they want to develop add-ons, hack and test the player, or merely spread the word), but as it approaches the 1.0 release, it is starting to become something a little different, and little more distinctive than the other players in the flock.


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4 Comments
 

A comparison to other player seems like an essential part that was left out! Especially if it seeks to be "a Music Player of a Different Feather", how does it compare in features, easy of use, stability, etc to Amarok??


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Personally I believe Exaile is the best player, followed by Amarok and then Banshee


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I recently came accross your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I dont know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.


Barbara


http://www.ipodepot.info


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At adelph.us we believe that Artist should have the best tools available to connect with their fans and to distribute and sell their music. We think that artist should have an easy way to build a fan base and to allow their fans to also be rewarded for spreading the word and the music.


With adelph.us the artist owns the content. With adelph.us the artist controls the price. With adelph.us the artist can generate interest as well as sells.


The adelph.us music store gives artist the ability to easily upload and sell thier content to thier fans as well as to the entire adelph.us community


Adelph.us stores gives artist many advanced services that can only be found on adelph.us.


With the adelph.us music store Artist have the option of using the “Pay me what you want” option. Using this option the artist can set a minimum price for thier song; however if members wish they can pay more.


All music that is added for sell on adelph.us is automatically re-sellable by any adelph.us member. The default reseller commission is 5%. Artist have the ability to increase the amount that members receive for reselling their music. This is a great way for artist to create multiple sellers for their music as well as a way to reward fans that help spread the words and the music.


All pricing in the adelph.us music store is dynamic. This means that if you change the price of your music it will change everywhere on adelph.us that your music is begin resold.


The adelph.us music store also gives Artist the ability to easily pay rights holders and band members in real time as the music is sold. Using the “Payee” option artist can enter in the amount that they would like to pay a “Payee” and each time a track sells the payee will receive the entered amount. You can have an unlimited amount of payees; and payees can also be friends, or groups.


The adelph.us music store has been built using technology from SongBird Songbird is a free and Open Source media player that works with most music devices.


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