RSSSongbird 1.0 music player makes a landing
By Tim Conneally | Published December 3, 2008, 4:58 PM
The first complete version of open source desktop media player Songbird was released yesterday, combining the best features of popular players with the best of Web 2.0 content.
Songbird is a fully customizable media player that by default bears a strong resemblance to the design of iTunes. Of course, that is only the immediate impression the program gives off, as everything from the layout, to the color scheme, to the file format support can be changed according to the user's needs.
The user's library is listed like iTunes, complete with the left hand navigation bar with album art in the lower left corner. Like Winamp, SHOUTcast support is prominently featured, and the player itself has a built-in browser. Unlike either player, though, Songbird has a tabbed bar across the bottom of the player which fetches artist info from Last.fm, videos from a number of sites including YouTube and Yahoo, artist photos from Flickr, and upcoming show listings through Songkick.
While device support is still somewhat limited, (no Zune support, weak iPod support), desktop format support does include MP3, FLAC, and Vorbis on all platforms; WMA and WMA DRM on Windows; and AAC and Fairplay on Windows and Mac which can come from any number of USB mass-storage devices,
Plug-ins (or add-ons, as Songbird calls them) can customize the program's appearance, playback capability, content discovery, and Web browsing. They are Songbird's bottom line and make the program as dynamic as the individual user.
Version 1.0 supports Windows XP SP2 and Vista, OS X 10.5 and higher, or Linux i686 and x86/64.
Its a new entry in the media player/jukebox type of software and its open source. So that gives it a newsworthy consideration.
Also since its related to Firefox, it may garner more attention than other programs.
As much as I like Winamp, I am always interested in another program that might fit my needs better, Songbird could be it even though I don't think its all that different in many respects than Winamp, and some say it is missing a lot. It is new though so understandable to not be as full featured as it wants to be.
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This is about the third time there's been an actual news story about Songbird and I don't understand why that is. Is there something special about Songbird over all other software that it requires it's own news story? What's all that about?
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there's a lot to like. I'm sure it will be an iTunes killer soon - lets face it, beating iTunes isn't that hard, just have an application that doesn't add loads of extra services, doesn't use excessive ram, push crap software at you and responds quickly to mouse clicks.
on the downside, it has no modern iPod support, and it eats ram. when those two things are done, it could be brilliant.
When I can use this instead of the goddawful iTunes I'll be happy
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Meh, I like to organize my music by folders myself. F*** Songbird, iTunes, Media Monkey, WMP, etc. Just a simple media player like Winamp is good enough for me.
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Most people don't use these programs for simply playing music - they use them to organize podcasts, which WinAmp won't do.
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Isn't this what all of the anti-iTunes folks have been waiting for?
And the support is......... and the support is....????
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It really is a nice player. I find it doesn't use a lot of ram, at least about the same as Winamp for me.
It still lacks an equalizer and things like that but apparently they are coming due to the use of GStreamer now.
A ways to go to be as versitile as Winamp though.
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*cough* itunes...
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come now. With just a bit more effort you can get that hairball up!
On the other hand, if you put some mineral oil on your paws, you can lick it off and you should pass it with little problem.
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the skin is almost an exact replica of itunes...
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