Songbird 0.7.0
If you’re at all like me, you probably listen to music while you do almost anything on the computer… From surfing to designing to playing games, I’ve always got a soundtrack of some sort playing.
Of course, music is great but how about music players? Sure there’s iTunes and Windows Media Player, but come on. It’s iTunes and WMP. They’re either bloated with too much stuff you’ll never use, protected to the point of impenetrability, or completely useless for anything but music.
I’d tried using WinAmp, which was interesting, but it was just a little too spartan for my tastes, and I always felt like I was using a second-rate program.
About a year ago, I heard about the Songbird beta. I downloaded it, shrugged, and uninstalled it. However, a couple of weeks ago, I heard that Songbird was coming close to a 1.0 release, so I decided to try it again.
Version 0.7.0 is amazing. It will play any music file on your computer. And I mean any music file. Yes, even protected iTunes and Windows Media Player DRM tracks.
Songbird combines the best of both the iTunes and WMP worlds. It has a simple, elegant, interface reminiscent of WMP, but certain features like the player and the mini-player are straight out of iTunes.
Since Songbird is based off of the Mozilla engine, it also supports a ridiculous amount of add-ons, extra programs that you can install right into Songbird to enhance your experience. Add-ons like “Lyrics” show the lyrics to the song you are currently listening to, while add-ons like “MediaFlow” add an iTunes-like jukebox-left-to-right viewer for your albums.
Aside from extra add-ons, you can also download “Feathers” (themes) for Songbird, which are pretty awesome and come in a wide variety.
One of my favorite features of Songbird is the “Concerts” section. This section is automatically listed on the side right alongside the “Library” and “Downloads” links. You simply input your City, Province, and Country, and Concerts automatically alerts you if any of the Artists in your Library are coming to your area! It’s a great feature that helps you keep track of those bands you just can’t miss!
Overall, Songbird provides an exceptional musical experience and while it does not support video, yet, it is still the alternative to the mainstream music player.
