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View Full Version : Have you used SongBird?



VitaLiNux
August 3rd, 2008, 01:33 AM
Hello, guys/gals!

I have tested this multimedia program called SongBird, which I happened to find it one day when I decided to check Linspire. Well, all I have to say is that it's very promising!

It's still kind of buggy for me, but one day it'll be one of the best multimedia player / browser around! Here I got a screenshot of this cutie program. Also I noticed that it's made by the Mozilla Foundation.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3225/2726850060_18e7e545ee.jpg?v=0
http://www.flickr.com/photos/26622296@N03/2726850060/

What makes me wonder why there are always discussions about whether Banshee or Amarok or RhythmBox is the best media player, but I've heard no mention of SongBird anywhere. I'd want to know why.

JeffoOfMetal
August 3rd, 2008, 01:38 AM
Yeah, Songbird is really coming along nicely. It's definitely very promising. The idea of merging a browser and music player is a great idea. I guess it's not getting much recognition because it's not as popular as Amarok and Rhythmbox and Banshee.

Superkoop
August 3rd, 2008, 01:41 AM
I've used Songbird quite a bit, (made a few feathers for it also), but it's still pretty beta. Lots of features aren't in it yet, and it's just not ready as a default media player, like others are. And it is rather heavy on the system resources still, (rhythembox is at 59mb atm, where as Songbird is always as high as firefox, without even browsing the web).

By 0.8 or later, as long as they have the ram usage down to sub-75mb, and they have a majority of the features in, it should be ready to be used as a default media player. (I am guessing this will be by mid 2009 based on their current development progress)

nick09
August 3rd, 2008, 01:42 AM
I have used it. Its has better functionally with ipods. I got my 80GB classic working with it easy as pie.

OutOfReach
August 3rd, 2008, 01:42 AM
It does look very very promising and yes I have tried it out but it cleared some of my song's names (and I have a suspicion that It deleted some of them) so... I didn't want to take any risks so I went back to Rhythmbox until Songbird gets solid.

DishBreak
August 3rd, 2008, 01:54 AM
I've used it a few times. It's definitely a good player. Looks pretty, too--something I can't say for rhythmbox. I remember the install being somewhat odd, and that I had to track down a script that would wget the files and perform the needed tweaks to get it to run on Ubuntu...is it in the repos now?

nick09
August 3rd, 2008, 02:02 AM
No but it is easy to install.

SunnyRabbiera
August 3rd, 2008, 02:15 AM
Yeh i have my eye on songbird, a lot of potential in it for sure.

kk0sse54
August 3rd, 2008, 02:32 AM
I use it exclusively for my media purposes in both Linux and Windows. I do agree though that there are still bugs and its still very much in beta but for me it has worked a lot better than most media players I have tried in Linux. My biggest problem is that the performance of it in Slackware just isn't up to par as the performance in Ubuntu and that whenever there is an add-on update I have to restart my entire machine.

Islington
August 3rd, 2008, 02:46 AM
a lot of features that work in windows dont seem to exist for linux. :(

TBOL3
August 3rd, 2008, 03:10 AM
I used to use it, but it didn't have enough features for me. But it is nice, or will be in a few years.

speedwell68
August 3rd, 2008, 04:29 AM
I have been using it as my main MP3 player for a while and I think it rocks. I only use the browser for bits and bobs, but it is very useful having that function there. I am really hoping they bring in audio CD support.

voteforpedro36
August 3rd, 2008, 04:35 AM
I've used it before, but not for a couple versions now. Is there some kind of an alarm for it (I like waking up to music...)?

FuturePilot
August 3rd, 2008, 04:55 AM
I've tried it before, but it's too bulky and heavy on resources and I really don't need a web browser in my media player.

And yes, there seems to be a lot of addons and stuff that are Windows only.:(

mrgnash
August 3rd, 2008, 06:44 AM
Songbird is coming along nicely, but I think that it's more of a lifeline to those poor Windows users who don't have great programs like Rhythmbox, Banshee, or Amarok (yet). For me, it can't yet compete with any of the aforementioned players on the GNU/Linux platform.

kiisu
August 31st, 2008, 01:02 AM
I quite like Songbird -> I used years ago, when it was on its first release, but this was on my Mac before I knew much about linux or the underbelly of computing.

I have to say that although it looks much more polished (just installed 0.7) I haven't had that much trouble getting a program up and running since my first few weeks in the Linux-sphere. Took me the last couple of weeks to get it going, trying occasionally, giving up, returning ....

If the developpers can work a little better support into the mix for newcomers they'd be more likely to raise the number of users and get the word out.

Otherwise, I love the look and feel and it really integrates with my system overall.

Mateo
August 31st, 2008, 03:14 AM
No tray icon + no automatic cover art downloads = no thanks.