Songbird (software)
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Songbird 2.0.0 on Windows 7 | |
| Developer(s) | Pioneers of the Inevitable aka POTI Inc. |
|---|---|
| Initial release | February 8, 2006 |
| Stable release | 2.2.0, Build 2453 (February 4, 2013) [±] |
| Preview release | None [±] |
| Development status | Discontinued |
| Operating system | |
| Platform | |
| Available in | 98 languages |
| Type | Media player |
| License | GNU GPLv2 with exceptions; Android client closed source |
| Website |
getsongbird |
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Songbird is a discontinued music player originally released in early 2006 with the stated mission "to incubate Songbird, the first Web player, to catalyze and champion a diverse, open Media Web".[2]
Songbird utilizes the cross-platform frameworks Mozilla XULRunner and GStreamer media framework. Songbird currently runs on Windows and macOS. In 2012, an Android version and an iOS version were released. Songbird at one point also supported Solaris and Linux, but this support was dropped. As a result, users have forked Songbird and created a Windows, Mac, and Linux compatible derivative under the name Nightingale.
Songbird announced on 14 June 2013 that it would stop all operations and shut down by 28 June. The company was unable to fund further business operations and as a result all operations and associated services have been discontinued.[3]
Features
- Multi-platform compatibility with Windows XP, Vista and Mac OS X v10.5 (x86, x86-64).
- Ability to play multiple audio formats, such as MP3, AAC, Ogg Vorbis, FLAC, Apple Lossless and WMA
- Ability to play Apple FairPlay-encoded audio on Windows and Mac platforms via hooks into QuickTime (authorization takes place in iTunes)
- Ability to play Windows Media DRM audio on Windows platforms
- A skinnable interface, with skins called "feathers"
- Media files stored on pages viewed in the browser show up as playable files in Songbird
- MP3 file download
- Ability to subscribe to MP3 blogs as playlists
- 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 interface similar to iTunes, and mini-player mode
- Keyboard shortcuts and media keyboard support
- Automatic updates
- Last.fm integration via a plugin, complete with love/hate buttons
- Insound.com and HypeMachine integration
- Microsoft MTP compatible device support
- Ability to edit and save metadata tags
- Gapless Playback & ReplayGain
- Watch Folders
- Media Importing / Exportings (from and to iTunes)
- Automatic Library Files Organization
Add-ons
Extensions
Users can add features and change functionality in Songbird by installing extensions. Extensions are similar to the Extensions for the Firefox browser and can be easily ported.[4] Community coded extensions are available on Songbird's addons support page. Known community designed extensions are: Qloud Tagging & Search, eMusic Integration, iTunes Importer, Artist Tracker, Library File Organizer, Audioscrobbler Notifier, Wikipedia Artist Display, SHOUTcast Radio Directory, UnPlug, Adblock Plus, Taglib metadata handler, ChatZilla, and FoxyProxy.
Skins
Skins 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. Using CSS (and optionally XUL), and an image manipulation program such as Photoshop or GIMP, users are then able to make Songbird look however they want.
History
Songbird was founded by Rob Lord and developed by Pioneers of the Inevitable (with members who previously developed for both Winamp[5] and the Yahoo! Music Engine).
In January 2010, Philips announced they will ship a personalized version of Songbird with some of their line of portable audio/video players.[6]
On April 2, 2010, it was announced that official Linux support would end with Songbird version 1.7.2. POTI Inc. would instead focus on its Windows and Mac OS X versions of Songbird, providing only unofficial support for Linux releases.
Sometime during late 2012 or early 2013, Songbird's public SVN was taken down, along with their wiki and other source code related utilities. A survey later sent out via Twitter by Songbird suggests that POTI is closing the desktop player source code, planning to later sell an updated version, fixing many outstanding bugs and feature requests by users who have been ignored for years.[7]
| Color | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Red | Old release |
| Yellow | Unreleased, internal milestone |
| Green | Current release |
| Blue | Future release |
| Version | Release date | Codename | Significant changes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0.1 | February 8, 2006 | Hilda | |
| 0.1.1 | February 22, 2006 |
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| 0.2 RC1 | September 26, 2006 | ||
| 0.2 | October 17, 2006 |
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| 0.2.5 | February 28, 2007 |
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| 0.3 | October 30, 2007 | Bowie | |
| 0.3.1 | November 6, 2007 |
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| 0.4 | December 27, 2007 | Cher |
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| 0.5 | March 26, 2008 | Dokken |
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| 0.6 | June 13, 2008 | Eno |
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| 0.6.1 | June 25, 2008 |
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| 0.7 | August 20, 2008 | Fugazi |
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| 1.0 | December 2, 2008 | Genesis |
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| 1.1.1 | March 10, 2009 | Hendrix | |
| 1.1.2 | April 9, 2009 | Hootie |
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| 1.2 | June 18, 2009 | Isan |
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| 1.3 | N/A | Jackson 5 |
|
| 1.4 | December, 2009 | Kanye |
|
| 1.4.3 | December 23, 2009 | KoЯn |
|
| 1.5 | N/A | Led Zeppelin |
|
| 1.6.0 | N/A | Madonna |
|
| 1.7.0 | N/A | Nirvana |
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| 1.7.2 | June 3, 2010 | NOFX |
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| 1.8.0 | September 2, 2010 | Orbital |
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| 1.9.3 | February 9, 2011 | Pink Floyd |
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| 1.10.1 | November 1, 2011 | Qbert |
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| 1.10.2 | January 25, 2012 |
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| 1.10.3 | May 22, 2012 |
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| 2.0.0 | June 8, 2012 |
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| 2.1 | October 31, 2012 |
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| 2.2 | February 15, 2013 |
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See also
- List of feed aggregators
- Comparison of feed aggregators
- Nightingale, a community-supported fork of Songbird
- Qtrax, a client based on Songbird.
References
- ↑ Auberger, Georges (2010-04-02), "Songbird Singing a New Tune", Songbird Blog, Songbird, archived from the original on April 4, 2010, retrieved 2010-04-02
- ↑ "About". Songbirdnest.com. Retrieved 2012-07-14.
- ↑ "You gotta know when to fold 'em". Songbirdnest.com. 2013-06-14. Archived from the original on July 1, 2013. Retrieved 2013-06-17.
- ↑ Wayner, Peter (19 October 2010). "Top 10 specialty Web browsers you may have missed". InfoWorld. p. 7. Retrieved 28 October 2010.
- ↑ Songbird Jobs Archived February 25, 2008, at the Wayback Machine.
- ↑ Blankenhorn, Dana (2010-01-07), Songbird now in convenient Philips hardware form, ZDNet
- ↑ https://twitter.com/songbird/status/304651125460725760
- ↑ http://blog.songbirdnest.com/2009/03/10/songbird-11-is-here/
- ↑ "iPod Device Support - Songbird Wiki". Wiki.songbirdnest.com. Retrieved 2012-07-14.
- ↑ https://getsatisfaction.com/songbird/topics/songbird_1_7_3_where_did_the_subscriptions_go
- ↑ http://www.filehippo.com/download_songbird/changelog/12536/
External links
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Songbird (software). |
- Songbird homepage(sourceforge)
- Nightingale homepage - A community supported fork of the Songbird media player and library.
- Songbird homepage, at archive.org
- Songbird Add-ons, at archive.org
- Songbird, the "open source iTunes killer," flies today - Boing Boing interview with Rob Lord
- Lord of the Birds…Songbird - Interview with Rob Lord
- Songbird ver. 1.4.2 review at Lifehacker.com - December 23, 2009, accessed January 14, 2010
- Frenchbirds, a French Songbird community
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