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Songbird 1.0 is here!

anosou

By anosou,
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anosou Newbie

anosou

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EDIT: March 10th saw the release of version 1.1.1. It can be found at the same URL as usual, getsongbird.com.

Open source cross-platform (Windows, Mac OS X, Linux) mediaplayer and browser Songbird!

I've been following development since early beta stages and the songbird team is really creating a fantastic piece of software. Songbird has native support for MP3, FLAC, Vorbis formats and AAC at least, a good (and customizable) UI, support for mp3-players including iPods, watch folder feature, a built-in browser built on Mozilla-tech for light-weight (or heavy-weight in the future) browsing and a fantastic addon-system, almost identical to Firefox-plugins. It's also very Web 2.0 with intergrated last.fm support and multiple other addons coming up.

Keep in mind though, still a lot of stuff to sort out and add. The main feature is "playing the web" and thus most other stuff can still improve. Here's the list of stuff they are DEFINITELY adding: http://wiki.songbirdnest.com/Roadmap and I'm pretty sure there's a lot more coming.

I just imported my iTunes library and haven't started that goddamn app since then! I've started to use the browser a lot too, I'm actually posting this from Songbird right now 8-O I think it's convenient to have both these functions in an application. I know not everyone agrees but it's at least fantastic for searching for music downloads on the web or via internet-based music stores, this is what it was made for in the first place.

What's even more interesting is that I recently made a post to the Songbird developers regarding possible support for VGM-formats (.spc, .psf and so on) and they seemed very accepting of the idea! I got the advice to get some people supporting the decision so everyone, feel free to go to http://getsatisfaction.com/songbird/topics/support_for_chiptunes_and_video_game_music_formats and mention that you'd think this would be awesome! This could be the first open source, cross-platform good mediaplayer with support for VGM-formats! I've sent a few e-mails to developers of the winamp plugs in Chipamp and developer of Audio Overload Richard Bannister so I'm hoping some of them will help porting their codes as songbird plug-ins.

Anyway, enough of my babbling, try it out and tell me what you think! I mostly just want to raise awareness of this awesome alternative (and open source and cross-platform, did I mention that? :D) mediaplayer. Go, discuss!

For all of you who didn't realize I embedded links: http://getsongbird.com :nicework:

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anosou Newbie

anosou

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Does it have podcast support and load it onto iPods the same way iTunes does (has that nifty blue dot showing you what you have or have not listened to yet)?

I don't think so, no. I'm not sure though :/ My best advice is to ask at the forums and if not, ask them to add something similar! Because the podcast directories are Apple-property it would be kinda strange if Songbird got the right to use that from Apple :tomatoface:

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Shadow Wolf Newbie

Shadow Wolf

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One question. Does it have a watch folder function? Like, if I add music files to a folder on my computer, will it scan that folder every so many minutes and add them automatically if I tell it to? This is, to me, one of the very few things preventing iTunes from being a perfect piece of software. (Please save all iTunes flaming until after the ride.) That and a built in ability to rename your actual files according to ID3 tag while maintaining the file link. These things aren't hard, but I've never found an MP3 player that would do both. I tried Winamp, but I hate the way it handles ID3 tags. That's one thing about iTunes I adore, the respect for the awesome sorting power of an ID3 tag with a LOT of fields.

EDIT: Nevermind, watch folders are on the to do list. Once they do that, I will indeed be very interested in this piece of software.

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Red Shadow Explorer

Red Shadow

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Wow, i thought theyd never have a stable release out.

I found this thing a year or so ago when i was looking for an alternative way to load music onto my ipod instead of using itunes. It didnt do much of what I wanted then, though im sure things have changed since.

Thanks for the reminder that it exists!

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anosou Newbie

anosou

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I needs mah chiptune formats

if XMPlay wasn't already so awesome and supported .sid [integration with HVSC fuck yeah] and .vgm I'd switch, because I don't really like Winamp anymore... it's not good for huge libraries.

Follow the link I posted in OP to express your interest for Chiptune-formats. The developers will do it if enough people express interest!

Two gripes:

1) No repository

2) Can't continue to listen to music while restarting on account of new plugins (right?)

Otherwise cool! I've been using Amarok for a while but if this connects with my shuffle I'll probably switch permanently.

Thanks.

2) no, but since you shouldn't installing new plugins that often it's not a big deal for me. Do post it on the songbird website though and they might make it work!

It does connect shuffle according to the official iPod plugin :)

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Deathtank Explorer

Deathtank

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Wow they even have info on the remixers? :shock:

Taken from Songbird's artist info:

Another Soundscape started in 2006 when Mattias Häggström Gerdt discovered the art of stuff that make sounds. You know, music. Another Soundscape is also an active member of the OverClocked Remix community. He made two of the tracks for the OCR project Final Fantasy 7: Voices of the Lifestream and he's constantly working on new remixes.

You can find most of his remixes on his OverClocked Remix profile.

Mattias has been surrounded by musicians since he was born. With his father stationed at the Royal Swedish Opera and his mother working both as an opera singer, classic pianist and teacher he got in touch with music very early. He now plays numerous instrument including but not limited to piano, guitar, drums and bass. He's been known to use Propellerheads Reason 4 and Logic Pro 8 for most his work although he's constantly expanding his musical palette with software, hardware and instruments.

In his free time, Mattias is also trying his best to find opportunities to score any kind of video/computer game and is hard at work planning his future in the game audio industry.

You can get close and personal with Another Soundscape's musical taste here on last.fm. Just check out his user account ErrfTheCricket.

You're also welcome to visit the Another Soundscape website even though it isn't updated very often. Yet.

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DarkeSword Community Regular

DarkeSword

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Wow they even have info on the remixers? :shock:

Taken from Songbird's artist info:

Another Soundscape started in 2006 when Mattias Häggström Gerdt discovered the art of stuff that make sounds. You know, music. Another Soundscape is also an active member of the OverClocked Remix community. He made two of the tracks for the OCR project Final Fantasy 7: Voices of the Lifestream and he's constantly working on new remixes.

You can find most of his remixes on his OverClocked Remix profile.

Mattias has been surrounded by musicians since he was born. With his father stationed at the Royal Swedish Opera and his mother working both as an opera singer, classic pianist and teacher he got in touch with music very early. He now plays numerous instrument including but not limited to piano, guitar, drums and bass. He's been known to use Propellerheads Reason 4 and Logic Pro 8 for most his work although he's constantly expanding his musical palette with software, hardware and instruments.

In his free time, Mattias is also trying his best to find opportunities to score any kind of video/computer game and is hard at work planning his future in the game audio industry.

You can get close and personal with Another Soundscape's musical taste here on last.fm. Just check out his user account ErrfTheCricket.

You're also welcome to visit the Another Soundscape website even though it isn't updated very often. Yet.

It probably just pulls information from Last.FM's artist profiles. :P

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The Pezman Newbie

The Pezman

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Yeah, I've been keeping an eye on this player. I used to use Zoom Player on my PC, but ever since I switched I've been looking for a player that's quite as dynamic. And I think now it's coming into its own well enough to be the player.

The program icon even changed from a cracking egg to a yellow chick. Cute.

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anosou Newbie

anosou

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It probably just pulls information from Last.FM's artist profiles. :P

Yup, that's true. And convenient. I actually wrote all that ;)

Yeah, I've been keeping an eye on this player. I used to use Zoom Player on my PC, but ever since I switched I've been looking for a player that's quite as dynamic. And I think now it's coming into its own well enough to be the player.

The program icon even changed from a cracking egg to a yellow chick. Cute.

Hey, thanks for the support in the chiptunes question! the more interested the higher the chance they implement it.

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anthonium Newbie

anthonium

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I've tried songbird beta and found it to be a good app but I still prefer MediaMonkey. I feel it has a lot more features and is easier to use. You can find it here: http://www.mediamonkey.com/ if you wanna give it a try. If I hadn't found this I'd probably be using Songbird but to each his own. Just thought it was worth mentioning. I'll give the official release a try and see if I prefer it now. Thanks for the ifno.

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anosou Newbie

anosou

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I've tried songbird beta and found it to be a good app but I still prefer MediaMonkey. I feel it has a lot more features and is easier to use. You can find it here: http://www.mediamonkey.com/ if you wanna give it a try. If I hadn't found this I'd probably be using Songbird but to each his own. Just thought it was worth mentioning. I'll give the official release a try and see if I prefer it now. Thanks for the ifno.

As I probably mentioned, Songbird isn't "done" per say. They're still adding features and sorting out bugs but since this is the first non-beta version I thought it was worth pimping. I believe this WILL eventually become one of the best mediaplayers out there. Especially with VGM-format support (FOLLOW THE LINK IN MY SIG ALREADY!)

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anosou Newbie

anosou

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This made my morning - everything seems to work so far and i'm loving the add-ons

if it keeps this performance up i might just have a new media player.

The performance can only improve from here on out so at least keep it and update it once in a while ;)

and please guys: http://getsatisfaction.com/songbird/topics/support_for_chiptunes_and_video_game_music_formats

Take a minute to support this, even if you don't like Songbird, because it would certainly make Songbird more attractive to a lot of people and the VGM community will grow! Thanks.

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Moguta Newbie

Moguta

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I have high hopes for Songbird, and I do support the idea of it playing VGM chiptunes. However, AnSo, one significant roadblock I see to the official Songbird team implementing chiptune support is that no chiptunes come from legal sources.

Just as in WinAmp, if Songbird supports these formats in the future, I bet it will be from 3rd party plugins made on someone's free time.

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