DefaultMediaPlayer

Revision 17 as of 2015-03-30 18:01:19

Clear message

Desired Features

Here we do a simple comparison of some known and popular media players for linux, most of them are in the repos, the set of minimal desired functions are:

  • Having a functional media library
  • Having the ability to handle large libraries
  • Having a separated playlist (or queue) from the media library
  • Having the ability to search the media library without affecting the playing list
  • Having the ability to browse/play all albums by artist
  • Having the ability to browse/play all artists on album
  • Having a sensible default sort order (artist, album, disc, track)
  • Having the ability to search the playing list to rapidly jump to a song
  • Having the possibility to save playlist to share them or backup them
  • Having the possibility of playing podcasts or other streams formats
  • Having MPRIS support (for sound indicator integration)

Other considered characteristics are the installed size, toolkit and presence in the repos.

Note: I have only regularly used Rythmbox and Banshee. Rows for other players reflect what I was able to figure out in the first 15 minutes - 1 hour attempting to use them, and may be incorrect. They should however reflect the new user "out of box" experience rather well - ali1234.

Software

Music library

Large libraries

Playlist separated from music library

Search without affecting playlist

Browse albums by artist

Browse artists by album

Sensible sort

Jump to song

Save playlist

Streams & Podcasts

MPRIS

Installed size

In repos

Toolkit

Note

gmusicbrowser

(./)

(./)

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(X)

?

(X) 1

(X)

(X)

(./)

?

(./)

Gtk+

Has many broken layouts. Has buttons and menu items which hide all your music with no obvious way to get it back.

Rhythmbox

(./) 2

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(X) #1437020

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?

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Gtk+

Default in Ubuntu; strong support.

Banshee

(./)

(./)

(./)

(./)

(./)

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(X) #1437023

(./)

(./)

(./)

?

(./)

Gtk+

Brings Mono dependency.

Exaile

(./)

(./)

(./)

(./)

(./)

(X)

(./)

(./) 3

(./)

(./) 4

(X)

?

(./)

Gtk+

Can't play without making a playlist.

Audacious

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(./) 5

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(X) 6

(X)

(X)

(X) 7

(X) 8

(./)

(X)

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?

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Gtk+

Very fast, slick UI.

QuodLibet

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(./) 9

?

(./)

Gtk+

Audacious

Banshee

Exaile

gmusicbrowser

QuodLibet

Rhythmbox

Music Library

(./)

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Import Time

2m 41s

10m 2s

5m 45s

23m 27s

9m 40s

13m 18s

Separate Playlist

(./)

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Search without Playing

(X)

(./)

(./)

(./)

(./)

(./)

Browse Albums by Artist

(X)

(./)

(./)

(./)

(./)

(./)

Browse Artists by Album

(X)

(./)

(X)

(X)

(./)

(./)

Sensible Sort

(X)

(./)

(./)

(./)

(./)

(./)

Jump to Song

(X)

#1437023

(./)

(X)

(./)

#1437020

Save Playlists

(./)

(./)

(./)

(X)

(./)

(./)

Internet Radio Streams

(X)

(./)

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(X)

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Podcasts

(X)

(./)

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(X)

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MPRIS 2.0 Support

(./)

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(X)

(./)

(./)

(./)

  1. Not available in Shimmer layout. (1)

  2. Multiple libraries via dconf editing only (2)

  3. Fixed in Vivid. (3)

  4. Radio streams only. (4)

  5. INCREDIBLY fast import. (5)

  6. Can only see artist/album results. Attempting to view individual song results changes current playing track. (6)

  7. Can't sort or filter the library view at all. (7)

  8. Jumps to the wrong song and changes the current playing song. (8)

  9. Needs a plugin which is currently not enabled by default. (9)