OStatic

Last month, I took a brief tour of the pre-release Songbird music player. Songbird is a cross-platform media player based on Mozilla code. This week, the Songbird project released the finalized 1.0 version of the player.

The pre-release versions of Songbird featured iPod support, Last.fm scrobbling, SHOUTcast radio, plugin extensions, and a localized concert discovery service. The 1.0 release adds one more feature to its default list -- MashTape -- and turns an ambitious eye toward the future.

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.

One of the keys to the success of Firefox, the popular open-source browser produced by the Mozilla Foundation, is its extensibility. Earlier this summer, the Mozilla Foundation sponsored a contest, dubbed Extend Firefox 3, that offered prizes to the best add-ons that developers would submit. Last week, contest judges announced the winners.