Jaco’s Random Writings

So I downloaded the new 0.7 BETA version of Songbird. They’re actually in BETA now. As Version 1 gets closer and closer to completion, I took a gander at 0.7. I have to say, I’m liking the direction this program is going in. It looks spiffy. It didn’t take very long to import my iTunes library either (4500+ songs). They must have added the new version of Mozilla’s Gecko, because the webpages loaded quickly (much faster than in 0.5 Alpha).

As a Mac user, I don’t have much as far as choices go for a Music Player that supports a wide variety of music formats (Never mind a Media Player with full library functionality). So far, Songbird supports MP3, Ogg Vorbis, and FLAC on all platforms along with the various proprietary formats associated with Windows and Apple. I don’t think it can play Apple Lossless yet (please?), which is a bummer. And I’m kinda bummed that it can’t play WMA files for the Mac. As for you Windows people, sucks to be you is you bought music off of iTunes. Hopefully they will cross-platform those formats.

The use of the Gecko engine allows for there to be many, many plugins. This is great, since it allows me to add the features that I would like. My biggest issue with iTunes is that it seems to get bigger and bigger with each release, adding features that I don’t use and thus turning into bloatware. I’ve actually stopped upgrading it. I’m still on version 7.2 (I upgraded from 6 because I wanted the iTunes Plus songs). I don’t buy TV shows. I don’t have an iPhone or iTouch, or even an iPod Video. But the plugin approach of Songbird means that I can either add all sorts of features on my own terms, or keep the program slim and clean without the extra features.

The ease of creating feathers (that’s the name for skins) for it is also very nice. I will eventually start creating my own feathers, as I feel compelled to skin the Hell out of anything that skin-able.

The other aspect of Songbird that I’m a big fan of is: The Mascot is a farting bird rocking out. I need not say more.

I’ve been tracking this since their first Developer’s Preview was launched. This is definitely something I’m going to continue keeping an eye on as development progresses. So check it out for yourself: Songbird