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Songbird (software)

 

 
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Songbird (software)
 
 
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Songbird is a free softwareFree software

Free software, as defined by the Free Software Foundation, is software which can be used, copied, studied, modified and redi...
 media player and web browserWeb browser

A web browser is a software application that enables a user to display and interact with text, images, and other informatio...
 developed by a group known as Pioneers of the Inevitable (with members who previously developed for both WinampWinamp

Winamp is a multimedia player made by Nullsoft and eventually acquired by America Online....
 and the Yahoo! Music Engine), with a stated mission "to incubate Songbird, the first Web player, to catalyze and champion a diverse, open Media Web."

Songbird runs on Mozilla's XULRunnerXULRunner

XULRunner is a product in development which will serve as a runtime environment for XUL applications....
 platform, thus capable of running on Microsoft WindowsMicrosoft Windows

Microsoft Windows is a family of operating systems by Microsoft....
, Apple Mac OS XMac OS X

Mac OS X is a line of proprietary, graphical operating systems developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Computer, the latest ...
, Solaris and LinuxLinux

Linux is a Unix-like computer operating system....
. On the Windows and Macintosh platforms, Songbird utilizes the VideoLAN ClientVLC media player Overview

VLC media player is a free and open source media player distributed under the GNU General Public License made by the VideoLA...
 for media playback. For Linux & Solaris, Songbird utilizes the GStreamer media frameworkGStreamer

name = Gstreamer| logo = | latest_release_version = 0.10.10...
 instead of VideoLAN. The QtraxQtrax

Qtrax is a service promising an advertiser-supported legal P2P music jukebox, with free downloads for its users, as well as...
 client is based on Songbird.

Features

As of version 0.6, current features are:
  • Cross platform compatibility with Windows 2000, XP, Vista, Mac OS X (PPC, Intel), Sun Solaris x86 and Linux (Intel).
  • Ability to play multiple audio formats, such as MP3MP3

    MPEG-1 Audio Layer 3, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a popular digital audio encoding and lossy compression form...
    , AACAdvanced Audio Coding

    Advanced Audio Coding is a standardised, lossy digital audio compression scheme....
    , Ogg Vorbis, FLAC and Windows Media AudioWindows Media Audio

    Windows Media Audio is a proprietary compressed audio file format developed by Microsoft....
    .
  • Able to play Apple FairPlayFairPlay

    FairPlay is a Digital rights management technology created by Apple Computer, built in to the QuickTime multimedia technolog...
    -encoded audio on Windows and Mac platforms via hooks into QuickTimeQuickTime

    QuickTime is a multimedia framework developed by Apple Computer, capable of handling various formats of digital video, media...
     (authorization takes place in iTunes).
  • Able to play Windows Media DRMWindows Media DRM

    Windows Media DRM is a digital restriction management service for the Windows Media platform....
     audio on Windows platforms.
  • A skinnableFacts About Skin (computing)

    In computing, skins and themes are custom graphical appearances that can be applied to certain software and websites i...
     interface, via feathers.
  • Media files stored on pages viewed in the browser show up as playable files in Songbird.
  • Built-in RSSRSS

    RSS is a three-letter acronym that can stand for a wide variety of terms. ...
     subscription and MP3 file downloadMusic download

    A music download refers to the transferring of a music file from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local co...
    .
  • The ability to subscribe to MP3 blogs as playlistPlaylist

    In its most general form, a playlist is simply a list of songs....
    s.
  • User-created bookmarks.
  • Ability to build custom mixes.
  • Ability to scan the user's computer for all audio files and add them to a local library.
  • A configurable and collapsible graphical user interfaceGraphical user interface

    A graphical user interface , is a particular case of user interface for interacting with a computer which employs graphical ...
     similar to iTunesITunes

    iTunes is a digital media player application, introduced by Apple Computer on January 9, 2001 at MacWorld Expo in San Franc...
    , and miniplayer mode.
  • Keyboard shortcuts & media keyboard support.
  • Automatic updates.
  • eMusicEMusic

    eMusic is an online music store that operates by subscription....
     integration using the eMusic Integration pluginPlugin

    A plugin is a computer program that interacts with a main application to provide a certain, usually very specific, functio...
    .
  • Insound.com and HypeMachine integration.
  • Microsoft MTPMedia Transfer Protocol

    The Media Transfer Protocol is a set of custom extensions to the Picture Transfer Protocol devised by Microsoft, to allow th...
     compatible device support.
  • Edit meta-data tags and save back to file.

Extensions

Users can add features and change functionality in Songbird by installing extensions. Community coded extensions are available on Songbird's addons support page. Known community designed extensions are: Qloud Tagging & Search, eMusicEMusic

eMusic is an online music store that operates by subscription....
 Integration, iTunesITunes

iTunes is a digital media player application, introduced by Apple Computer on January 9, 2001 at MacWorld Expo in San Franc...
 Importer, iPodIPod

The iPod is a brand of portable media players designed and marketed by Apple Computer....
 Device, Artist Tracker, Library File Organizer, Audioscrobbler Notifier, WikipediaWikipedia

Wikipedia is a Web-based free-content multilingual encyclopedia project....
 Artist Display, SHOUTcastSHOUTcast

SHOUTcast is a multiplatform freeware audio streaming technology, developed by Nullsoft....
 Radio Directory, UnPlug, Adblock PlusAdblock

Adblock is a popular content-filtering extension for the Mozilla Firefox and Mozilla Application Suite web browsers....
, Taglib metadataMetadata

Metadata are data that describe other data....
 handler and Minimize-to-Systemtray, and ChatZillaFacts About ChatZilla

ChatZilla is an IRC client, written in XUL and JavaScript for Mozilla web browsers....
.

Skins

SkinSkin (computing)

In computing, skins and themes are custom graphical appearances that can be applied to certain software and websites i...
s are referred to as "feathers" in Songbird, and give users and artists the ability to change the look of Songbird via an extension which generates a default skin. Then with the knowledge of CSSCascading Style Sheets

In computing, Cascading Style Sheets is a stylesheet language used to describe the presentation of a document written in a m...
 (and optionally XULXUL

XUL, the XML User Interface Language, is an XML User interface markup language developed by the Mozilla project....
) and the use of an image manipulation program such as PhotoshopAdobe Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop, or simply Photoshop, is a graphics editor developed and published by Adobe Systems....
 or the GIMPGIMP

The GNU Image Manipulation Program or just GIMP is a free software raster image editor....
, users are able to make Songbird look however they want.

Localization/translation

There are 98 localizationsInternationalization and localization

Internationalization and localization are means of adapting products such as publications, hardware or software for no...
 of Songbird currently being developed at various stages. Localizations are done on a volunteer basis. Songbird encourages developers from all languages and localeLocale

In computing, locale is a set of parameters that defines the user's language, country and any special variant preferences th...
s to help update and develop localizations so that Songbird can be available in each of the 482 language tags established by the IETF for all 567 localities of the world. Songbird has made this project available at .

Release history

Below is the version history of the Songbird project. Note that some versions have nicknameNickname

A nickname is a short, clever, cute, derogatory, or otherwise substitute name for a person or thing's real name ....
s or codenames based on popular musicianMusician

A musician is a person who plays or composes music....
s and recording artists, such as David BowieDavid Bowie

David Bowie is an English singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer, arranger and mixer, whose work spans more th...
 and CherCher

Cher Her father was John Sarkisian, an Armenian refugee....
.

Colour Meaning
Red Old release; not supported
Yellow Old release; still supported
Green Current release
Blue Future release


Version Release Date Code Name Significant Changes GeckoGecko (layout engine)

Gecko is the open source, free software web browser layout engine used in all Mozilla-branded software and its derivatives, ...
 Version
0.1 February 8 2006 Hilda 1.8
0.1.1 February 22 2006 
  • UI fixes.
  • More file types supported.
0.2 October 17 2006 
  • Cross-platform compatibility.
  • Multi-language support.
    • 0.2.5 February 28 2007 
  • Windows Media DRM audio playback.
  • QuickTime DRM audio playback.
  • USB mass storage deviceFacts About USB mass storage device class

    The USB mass storage device class is a set of computing communications protocols defined by the USB Implementers Forum that ...
     support.
  • iPod device support.
  • Automatic locales downloading.
  • Improved OSOperating system

    An operating system is a software program that manages the hardware and software resources of a computer....
     integration.
    • 0.3 October 30 2007 Bowie
  • TabbedTabbed document interface

    In the area of graphical user interfaces, a tabbed document interface is one that allows multiple panes of information to be...
     browsing.
  • APIApplication programming interface

    An application programming interface is the interface that a computer system, library or application provides in order to a...
     overhaul.
    		• 1.9
    0.3.1 November 6 2007 
  • Six major bug fixes.
    • 0.4 December 27 2007 Cher
  • Display panes.
    • 0.5 March 26 2008 Dokken
  • Media Library API.
  • MTPMedia Transfer Protocol

    The Media Transfer Protocol is a set of custom extensions to the Picture Transfer Protocol devised by Microsoft, to allow th...
     device support.
    • 0.6 June 13 2008 Eno
  • Memory and performance improvements.
  • Write metadata back to the file.
    • 0.6.1 June 25 2008 
  • 3 bug fixes.
    • 0.7  Fugazi
  • Layout and feather changes
  • Smart playlist functionality
  • Watch folders


    • See also

    • List of media playersList of media players Overview

      The following is a list of media players. ...
    • Comparison of media playersComparison of media players

      The following tables compare general and technical information for a number of media player programs....


    External links

    • - Interview with Rob Lord
    • - Interview with Rob Lord
    • - Project to port Songbird and its dependencies to Solaris/OpenSolarisOpenSolaris

      OpenSolaris is an open source project created by Sun Microsystems to build a developer community around the Solaris Operatin...
      .