One of the first things most people like to do when poking around the computer is to listen to some music. Linux is not like windows with one way to do this (Windows Media Player). There are dozens if not hundreds of ways to listen to music in Linux. Over time you’ll figure out which programs work best for you. You’ll probably find out that you like more than one for different reasons at different times. In ubuntu, under the applications menu you will find some installed be default under the heading “Sound & Video”. The default player for both sound and video in ubuntu is “Totem”.
I am going to list the programs I use most and the reasons why. If you are going to try any of these and they weren’t installed by default – install them yourself (for free!) by clicking on the “System” -> “Administration” -> “Synaptic Package Manager” heading. Just click “search” and type in the name of the program you want to install, and then “Apply” to get it installed.
Music Programs I use
Beep Media Player: I use Beep Media player (BMP) a lot. If you’ve ever used WinAmp in Windows – it’s exactly like that. You can even use Winamp skins on it. I like it because it’s small, easy to create and save playlists – it just works. I used Amarok for awhile, which seems a bit like iTunes – allowing you to manage your entire music collection. But Amarok was cumbersome and not intuitive for me.
Audacity: Audacity is a sound editor. If you want to trim the beginning or ending from a song, or merge sound clips together – this is a great tool.
EasyTag: You probably have MP3’s that have the tags all screwed up. This nifty little tool lets you not only edit them, but it can grab the right information right from the Internet and populate the tags for you if you want.
Streamtuner: Tool for finding and listening to Internet Radio stations.
SoundJuicer CD Ripper: This tool is for ripping CD’s to mp3’s for so you can have them on your computer. By default this only rips music to Ogg Vorbis or FLAC formats. But open up the help in preferences, and search for “mp3”. You’ll find instructions for setting up a new format to rip to mp3 if that’s what you prefer.
Serpentine: This is hands down the easiest tool and interface I’ve seen yet for burning just audio CD’s. Just add your songs and burn.
You’ll notice that the difference between Linux and Windows is that in Linux there is a tool to do just about anything you want – an individual tool. In Windows they try and make one tool (like Windows Media Player) do a thousand things. In Linux once you find the tools you like – just open what you want when you need it. It’s all about choice and preference, and it’s all free!
Please comment and add to this page what sound and music programs you use in Linux and why.
originally posted: 2006-01-19 01:14:47 -0400
