It’s time for a rad revival and leading the charge is Rhythmbox, which today earns the venerable title of Rad. In a recent post I mentioned some of the troubles I’ve had with media playback in Ubuntu but after a recent comment by Peter Lamb I decided it was time to talk about a success. Rhythmbox was originally designed to be an iTunes look alike music player for Linux, as we all know Apple aren’t going to port iTunes any time soon. But it has progressed with every release to take on a distinct flavour of its own.
Just in case you’re wondering, I don’t love it because it looks like iTunes, in fact the reason for my affection is on the contrary. I find iTunes to be a good application at what it was designed for: to support and sell iPods (which I have), music and to create a whole media ecosystem; to this end it has been a success. But I have other requirements than just the well being of Apple share holders. I want to choose from a wider variety of music formats (MP3, AAC, OGG, FLAC etc.) for ripping and listening, I want to listen to a broader range of music & try new technologies (Last.fm etc.), and I want it on Ubuntu.
I have been really starting to enjoy Internet radio of recent times listen to everything from Iranian traditional sonati to my own customised feeds from Last.fm. On that last note, Last.fm is far more practical to use in Rhythmbox as you don’t need to open your web browser to enjoy your favourite music; it’s also a great way to find new artists, albums or tracks that you might like.
Now of course I live in the real world where iPods rule the day, I even own and regularly use one and this is where I think Rhythmbox slots in nicely. I can actually use my iPod on both Mac OS X with iTunes and Ubuntu with Rhythmbox. All I do is plug my iPod into my laptop, Ubuntu recognises it (Mac format and all) and offers to open it in Rhythmbox. Rhythmbox then allows me to neatly access all my music and podcasts then and there, much the same as iTunes, I copy or just listen directly. I don’t use Rhythmbox for managing my iPod, and there are some limitations, but this arrangement works perfectly for my needs.
The last thing I’d say about Rhythmbox is that it’s not an iTunes killer, but it gives me a whole lot that iTunes can’t. The other thing is that it keeps getting better. If something is missing or a bit buggy in this release I can wait for the next, or even file a bug report online to get things started, and over time it just keeps improving; that’s open source for you.