Songbird 1.0

Recently the cross-platform music player Songbird released its milestone version 1.0.  Songbird’s aim is to provide a complete music experience. It boasts a built-in browser (based on Mozilla technology), a media-focused download manager, a library importer (handy for iTunes libraries), ShouCast and Last.fm scrobbling integration, and support for almost every audio format. Best of all, as an open-source project, Songbird is freely extensible, so you can install add-ons that add new functionality, like iPod support, album art management, Hype Machine integration, skins, etc. I’ve been following the project for a couple years now, and Songbird 1.0 is definitely worth a look.

Songbird takes a similar approach to media functionality as iTunes, throwing in as many features as they could manage. The layout and format are reminiscent of iTunes, which most users will appreciate. It is designed to be your one-stop shop to find, listen to, and manage your music. But Songbird’s open principles are a far cry from Apple’s proprietary media philosophy.

Using Songbird is pretty easy. It’s a snap to create smart playlists, add album art, or edit tags. But where Songbird excels is finding new music. For example, you can integrate the SeeqPod music search engine into the program, letting you search for and download tunes from the web with just a couple clicks. Several other music search engines (like Skreemr) are also included in the search bar. The many Songbird add-ons also provide great album art management, song lyrics, artist bios, YouTube videos, and concert ticket information.

The Songbird project is still relatively new. Version 1.0 represents a much more mature program, with better memory management, file support, and stability.  This is due in part to the use of GStreamer on the back end. Users should be warned, however, that Songbird can still be a memory hog. It has gotten a lot better since the previous 0.7 release, but in my opinion this is where Songbird has the most room for improvement.

New add-ons for Songbird 1.0 are constantly released by the community, so the program will only become more useful. Even if you don’t use it as your primary music player, you should give Songbird’s complete music experience a try.

Songbird 1.0 – http://www.getsongbird.com/