Amarok vs Rhythmbox

Posted by Keith Sun, 16 Mar 2008 18:32:00 GMT

Now that you can’t use iTunes, what do you do now?

In this day and age, for many the choice of music player is often more important than writing application!

Since switching over to Linux 18 months ago, I’ve been a big a Rhythmbox fan, but have just switched to Amarok, and here’s why.

Rhythmbox

Switching from Linux to Windows is a pretty big step which is made easier by finding tools that clone the ones that you are used to. For many, that means finding something that looks and acts like iTunes - and Rhythmbox is it!

Apart from iPhone support, and the iTunes music store, everything is where you expect it to be, and acts accordingly. The view is clear, easy to navigate, fast and reliable.

It’s pretty amazing how iTunes has set the standard for how a music player should look and act.. but think about it for a minute, what iTunes does is help you find the music you are looking for, whether it is your favorites, a specific band or specific tracks.

In some ways I find that limiting, and that’s a major reason why I now like Amarok. My perception with Rhythmbox is that when I use it I only listen to music that I decide to listen to.. it’s very good at helping me find what I WANT to hear.

Amarok

For someone who has been indoctrinated by iTunes to what a music player SHOULD do, Amarok is very confusing. The application is divided into two side by side panes with the right one being your current playlist. The left pane allows you to scroll through your music, or find stuff by genre. At first it’s frustrating.. you click something on the left expecting to suddenly hear it, but instead, it gets added to the current playlist.. Hmm. Do I like that? At first I didn’t, but when you change your way of thinking - it’s very very cool.

My entire way of thinking about listening to music has changed from instant gratification to spending some time up front lining up a load of stuff that might last me the day.. I like it. While you CAN do this with Rhythmbox, it’s simply not the way it’s designed to be used.

Amarok has really changed the way I think about listening to music. The highly visible left pane ( even though it’s not unlike the artists list in Rhythmbox ) leads me to different music. I find myself listening to more of the stuff that I’d forgotten I had, and enjoying my collection more.

Some Amarok features worth mentioning

Up front, I have no doubt that some of these exist in Rhythmbox, that’s not the point.. the point is that I use them now as part of this new way of listening to music.

Short Cut Keys

I’m dumping much more stuff into my playlist now, and I’m not going to like it all. I like the WindowsKey B ( next track ) short cut key and I use it alot.

CD Burning

I’ve always found the iTunes / Rhythmbox method of CD burning really clunky.. having to create a playlist for the purpose of burning. Well, with Amarok, the entire playing experience revolves around a “current” playlist, so creating a list of stuff to burn, and burning is much more intuitive.