Amarok
ContentsBRTableOfContents(3) |
attachment:IconsPage/amarok.png
AmaroK is a fully featured, bells and whistles music player for KDE. It is scriptable and themable; it has a 10-band equalizer, crossfade, visualizations, color schemes, a collection filter with a rating system. It supports iPod, iRiver and other mp3 players. It integrates with [http://www.last.fm/group/amaroK%2Busers last.fm]. It'll download CD covers from Amazon and metadata from [http://musicbrainz.org/ MusicBrainz] and burn tracks to CD (using [http://www.k3b.org/ k3b]). It even lets you choose the database type you want to use (SQLite3, MySQL, PostGreSQL)! AmaroK supports both the xine and gstreamer back-ends. For more information visit the [http://amarok.kde.org/ Amarok web site].
Installing Amarok under GNOME (Ubuntu)
attachment:IconsPage/apt.png To install AmaroK, install the amarok and amarok-engines packages.
- Note: Depending on your current system setup, the package manager may ask you to install some additional KDE/qt libraries.
AmaroK uses either the xine or gstreamer multimedia frameworks as its sound engine. The RestrictedFormats wiki page has more on how to configure either framework and how to add support for non-free media formats such as mp3.
Customizing AmaroK
If this is the first Qt application you have used under GNOME, you may notice unusually large fonts or other inconsistencies in the user interface. You can customize the look and feel of KDE applications by installing the KDE Control Center.
attachment:IconsPage/apt.png To use the KDE Control Center, install the kcontrol package.
To launch the KDE Control Center, press ALT+F2 and type
kcontrol
You will be presented with the following screen. This is how I've configured my fonts:
attachment:kcontrol.png
Feel free to change the look and feel as you like.
Configuring the Sound Engine
AmaroK uses aRts, the KDE sound engine, by default. Change the sound engine by going to "Settings" > "Configure amaroK" > "Engine". Change the engine to xine; gstreamer works, but for now, xine is superior.
- attachment:engine.png
Feel free to experiment with GStreamer and xine.
Using AmaroK
AmaroK is packed with features, including
- Last.fm integration
- On the fly lyrics
- Smart Playlist generation
- Mysql and SQLite database capability
And much more. For more information, see [http://amarok.kde.org AmaroK's website]
- attachment:amarok.png
ToDo
- The General Usage section in particular deserves expansion
References
[https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+bug/40510 Bug report of bad font sizes]
[https://launchpad.net/distros/ubuntu/+source/amarok/+bug/40514 bug report for easier MySQL or PostgreSQL backend installation]
See also
[https://wiki.ubuntu.com/InstallingKDE This wiki page] describes how to install KDE ot the "Kubuntu Desktop"