OStatic

When it comes to playing music, there is no shortage of software options, both open and closed. The race to gain users is a race to add features, and if KDE is your thing, then Amarok may be running your way.

After a rocky beginning, I've been able to do many neat things with my Black iPod Classic with 120 GB, but it hasn't been without its trials and tribulations. In this post, I'll write about the tools I use to sync music, add photos, and transcode videos to the correct format. Being a Kubuntu user, note that my bias is towards KDE tools. If you use others, please list them in the comments. As with many things on Linux, there's more than one way to do it. (Apologies to Larry Wall)

Those who know me well are familiar with my unhealthy dislike for all things Apple. Perhaps it's the way they attach DRM to everything they touch. Or maybe it's the cult of Steve. Or maybe it's because they make shiny, overpriced goods that they push to the gullible. Naturally, when my wife looked for something to give me on my birthday, she purchased an iPod. To her credit, she told me what she was thinking before the purchase, and I made a mad dash to Google to find alternative, friendlier devices. In all honesty, I couldn't find a better device for the money, and so an iPod it was.

Even though it's a point release, the latest Amarok comes with some major new features and all the benefits of the 2.2.0 release. Dubbed Weightless, the 2.2.1 release is full of bug fixes and polishing from 2.2.0 release as well as improvements to music management, podcasts, and the ability to update Amarok scripts.

Amarok is already speedy when processing large media collections, but this release includes a tweak to take it up a notch. In the past, Amarok would scan an entire directory -- including sub-folders -- when the main directory had changed. Now Amarok can just breeze through the main directory if the subdirectories haven't been modified, making it even faster. And it's plenty fast already: I've passed a 57GB collection through Amarok in just a few minutes.

Wikipedia pushes for Ogg Theora. Wikipedia?s move to support Ogg Theora for video uploads may be the last chance to break the proprietary video monopoly.

Amazon shows need for open eBook standards. The company violated the privacy of Kindle users when it remotely deleted copies of Orwell?s 1984 and Animal Farm from Kindle Readers.

An open alternative for Palm Pre iTunes users. How about the KDE Amarok 2 media player?

Open source and social media: community, collaboration, freedom. Open source is the natural platform for fast-evolving social media and social networking.

Whom does the Google Chrome OS really threaten? Could the real targets be you and your privacy?

?T-Mobile's next-generation Android phone, myTouch, coming up July 8th. The 3G phone is a big step for Android.

Why Ubuntu has become the flag bearer for Linux. It's not just because of Canonical's investment.

PostgreSQL version 8.4 is now out and available for download. Improvements to the open source database focus on administration and monitoring.

10 awesome features of Krunner in KDE 4. Here's a screenshot-driven tour.

Amarok music player 2.1: One step forward, two steps back. There are several improvements, but also several issues.

With clouds, license arguments become fog. Does it matter if you are using a license out there??

After 5 months of work, there's a new version of the Amarok music app. The playlist can now be customized to only show the information you care about, matching the way you use Amarok.

Unix turns 40: The past, present and future of a revolutionary OS. The future of the operating system is clouded, but its legacy will endure.

Intel buys Wind River: the end of the Wintel duopoly? Wind River is a leader in embedded devices, and will become part of Intel's strategy to grow its presence outside the traditional PC.

ARM: Android needs more work before it will sing on netbooks. Moblin and Windows Embedded CE may be in ARM's future, executive says.

U.K. considers emulating data.gov. The government is considering launching an open source data website, similar to the data.gov site launched by the U.S. government in May.

In the mood for picking up skills with some new open source apps and extensions? Here are five popular collections we've done on free applications, books, tutorials, and more:

7 Free Resources for Eye-Popping Graphics and Animation. From free clip art, to free web design templates, to a free desktop publishing app, to resources for animation in Blender, here are some gems.

6 Ways to Get Much More Out of GIMP. GIMP is a long-standing and hugely respected open source graphics program. Here are good ways to learn and optimize it, including a free online book.

OStatic's Firefox Superguide. The Firefox browser has one distint advantage over other browsers: thousands of useful extensions. You'll find the best ones here, and other Firefox goodies.

Over 35 Free, Essential Open Source Resources and Apps. This is our uber-roundup of open source applications and resources, divided into categories. It's packed with apps, tutorials, free online books, and more.

8 Free, Open Source Tools for a Better Digital Music Experience. Here you'll find how to put a new, slick open source OS on an old iPod, software apps that extend beyond iTunes, and how to maximize your musical experience on Android.

Sun CEO: Open source equals free advertising. By being freely distributed, our products build their own audiences, says Jonathan Schwartz.

Another 100,000+ week for Fedora 10. It's been gaining users at impressive rates.

How to install Google Earth 5.0 on Ubuntu. It's not available by default in the Ubuntu repositories, but here's how to manually get it going.

Round two of a long-time Windows user's switch to Linux. The second installment is here, and the first here.