Installation

At this point, there is no official package to install it properly on your computer. However, you can download the latest release here, extract it, and run it by launching nightingale.sh.

If you really want something that looks more like a proper installation, you can use a script found on Ubuntu Forum:

cd && mkdir Nightingale && cd Nightingale && wget -q http://sourceforge.net/projects/ngale/files/1.11.0-Release/Nightingale_1.11.0-2223_linux_x86.tar.bz2 && sudo tar xjvf Nightingale_1.11.0-2223_linux_x86.tar.bz2 -C /opt && sudo ln -s /opt/nightingale/nightingale /usr/bin/nightingale && cd && rm -R Nightingale && nightingale

for a 32-bit architecture, or

cd && mkdir Nightingale && cd Nightingale && wget -q http://sourceforge.net/projects/ngale/files/1.11.0-Release/Nightingale_1.11.0-2223_linux_x86_64.tar.bz2 && sudo tar xjvf Nightingale_1.11.0-2223_linux_x86_64.tar.bz2 -C /opt && sudo ln -s /opt/nightingale/nightingale /usr/bin/nightingale && cd && rm -R Nightingale && nightingale

for a 64-bit architecture.

Notice that these scripts may change depending on your distribution or the version of Nightingale that you want to install. And after that, you will have to manually add a launcher on your desktop referring to the command

nightingale

Features

As I said earlier, Songbird was a very powerful audio player. It integrated a web browser, syncing capabilities, themes, add-ons, etc. The good thing is that Nightingale directly inherits all of these features. You have an extended playlist management tool, a built-in syncing add-on, an automatic cover fetcher…anything you need to manage your library. And as much as I hate comparing it to iTunes, Nightingale already offers a real alternative to Apple’s software.

The interface while playing a song is quite developed: album display with its cover, lyrics, playlist, etc.

You can install an extension for a cover-flow like in iTunes.

You have access to all of the shoutcast radio.

You can perform advanced syncing operations.

The add-on mashtape puts all the information about the current track in one box.

The extensions and themes are easily manageable.

What it lacks

As much as I admire the Nightingale Community for such a great result, there are still a couple of things that could be done to enhance the Nightingale experience:

•  More add-ons. So far, the team ported a couple of extensions from Songbird, but there are still a lot that we would like to use and that are not available yet. The same applies to feathers, or themes, with only two different versions available.
•  A better cover fetcher. I really like the cover fetcher in Amarok; it’s the main reason for using it right now. If Nightingale could bring in something similar, it would be perfect. It is really fancy to be able to select the source of the cover and the actual picture in a small navigator like in Amarok.
•  The iPod sync did not seem to work for me.
•  There are still a couple of bugs left like the sound going back to 50% between each track.

Conclusion

As I’ve said, this version is already very promising. We can only hope for the last bugs to be corrected quickly, and maybe an official package will come for the distributions. I can only express my admiration for the Nightingale Community, and for the work they have done so far. And they are currently searching for help, so if you were seduced, don’t hesitate to contact them.

Have you tested the new Nightingale? Do you think that you will migrate as soon as possible? Or, on the contrary, do you stick with another player for certain reasons? Please let us know in the comments.

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Whenever Firefox releases a new update/version, some of the extensions are bound to break. Similarly, in Songbird, when I upgraded to the latest 0.7 version, some of my favorite extensions are no longer working. While we are waiting for the developers to fix them up, here are some of the useful extensions that still work in Songbird 0.7

If you have not try out Songbird, here is a quick and easy way to install Songbird on your Ubuntu machine.

1) iPod device support

Not everyone will find this useful, but if you are an iPod owner, this is the extension that you don’t want to miss. Plug in your iPod and have Songbird play all the songs in your iPod.

2) Media Flow

Ever since Apple released Cover flow technology in the Mac Leopard, this new style of flipping the cover to find the file you want has become very popular in many applications. In Songbird, the Media Flow add-on replicate the cover flipping technology and allows you to browse your music collection by their album art.

3) Lyrics master

Whenever a track is played, the Lyric Master will grab the lyrics from the track meta-data and display it on the sidebar. In the event that the track does not have any lyrics, Lyrcs Master will use the track meta-data to search and retrieve the lyrics from the Web and display it on the sidebar. Whenever a new lyrics is found, you can choose to save it to the database so that next time when the same track is being played, the lyrics will show automatically.

4) MashTape

What mashTape does is to gather information from different sources and mash it up for your viewing. Residing on the bottom pane, mashTape uses Last.fm to retrieves the artist bio, upcoming concert, similar artists and tags applied to the current song, Lyrics Wiki to retrieve the lyrics, Flickr to retrieve the photo of the artist and YouTube to retrieve all videos of the artist. A very good way to get maximum information about the track and artist with minimal effort.

5) Last.fm

This addon publishes your playback history to last.fm so that it can track your playing habit and recommend songs that are of your liking.

What’s your favorite Songbird extensions?

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Songbird is an open source media player that allows you to play music, watch video and surf the Web at the same time. Built with codes from Firefox and VLC, Songbird inherits the features of the two most powerful open source applications, thus making it one of the best desktop media player around

The most noticeable advantage of Songbird over other desktop media player is that it supports almost all the media formats and devices (including iPod) and it is fully customizable. With the same add-ons capability as Firefox, you can install extensions in Songbird to improve its functionality and change the themes/skins to your liking. Some of the useful extensions include Media Flow, iPod Device Support, Last.fm and CoverFetcher.

Install Songbird on Ubuntu

Before getdeb.net comes out with the latest version of Songbird deb file, the following is so far the easiest way to get Songbird running on Ubuntu.

1) Go to http://www.getsongbird.com and download Songbird to your home folder.

2) Using the Archive Manager, extract the Songbird folder to your home folder.

3) Open the Songbird folder and double click on the songbird file to execute the application.

That’s it.

If you want to create a shortcut on your Application menu, right-click on the Applications menu and select ‘Edit Menus‘

On the left pane, select Sound & Video.

On the right pane, click on the ‘New Item‘.

Fill in the field with as the same as the images below (remember to change the damien to your own username)

Click on the icon button and navigate to the path /home/yourusername/Songbird/chrome/icons/default. You should see the icon of Songbird. Select it and press OK twice.

You should now see the Songbird entry on your Application -> Sound & Video -> Songbird.

A much easier method of installing Songbird

If you find that the above method is not simple enough and you don’t mind using an older version of Songbird, you can:

Go to http://www.getdeb.net/search.php?keywords=songbird

Download Songbird 0.6.1 to your home folder.

Double click the downloaded .deb file to install the Songbird.

Once installed, you can open Songbird via Applications->Sound & Video -> Songbird.

Some Screenshots

Songbird playlist view

Songbird with MediaFlow extension

installing Songbird extension

Dark Super Feather

KMSM4 Feather and Web browsing on a new tab

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