Music Players

Amarok

Amarok is the default music player in Kubuntu. Volume normalization (using ReplayGain) is a built-in option.

Amarok themes

Amarok themes can be downloaded from KDE Look and installed.

Download the theme (ending in .tar.bz2) to your home directory (or chosen directory).
Amarok -> Settings -> Appearance -> Install New Style
Select the downloaded file.

Play Shoutcast Internet Radio through Amarok

Shoutcast internet radio can be played through Amarok 2.2 or later by installing the Shoutcast script:

Amarok -> Tools -> Script Manager -> Get More Scripts -> Search: Shoutcast -> Install

-> Restart Amarok -> Tools -> Script Manager -> Shoutcast service tralala (ticked) -> Ok -> Internet -> Shoutcast service tralala

Note: Internet radio streams use many different ports. You must adjust your firewall to allow the ports over which the streams will be sent.

RecordStream

RecordStream is an Amarok plugin that enables recording of Internet Radio streams (works best with Shoutcast streams). Install:

Amarok -> Tools -> Script Manager -> Get More Scripts -> Search: RecordStream -> Install

Install the required streamripper module:

sudo apt-get install streamripper

RecordStream / Streamripper will record streams in two modes:

"Record webradio" will save each individually streamed track to its native MP3 or AAC file, preserving the original song/track title.
"Record livestream" will record continuously whatever is being streamed until the "Stop recording" option is chosen.

Of course, Streamripper can be used as a standalone command-line program as well. For instructions, enter man streamripper on the command line. The RecordStream script is not set up to pass all the variables available to Streamripper; for fine-grained control it is better to run Streamripper as a standalone program. See these tips.

Stream Amarok output to Airport Express

Make sure your firewall is not blocking ports 5353, 5000, and 6000.

To stream any audio to your Airport Express, including from Amarok, use the latest version of Pulse Audio.

QMMP

QMMP is a compact, fast Qt-based music player similar to XMMS2, Audacious, and WinAmp2 and can use the "Classic" WinAmp2 / XMMS skins. Volume normalization (using ReplayGain) is a built-in option. It supports many plugins and is ideal for streaming content. Install:

sudo apt-get install qmmp

You can switch between the "PulseAudio Output Plugin" and the "ALSA Output Plugin" under

QMMP -> Settings -> Audio -> Current output plugin.

There are many places to get .wsz skins ("Classic" Winamp2/XMMS) that are compatible with QMMP, Audacious, or XMMS2:

Audacious

Audacious is a compact, fast GTK-based music player that is a fork of XMMS. It resembles XMMS2 and WinAmp2 and can use the "Classic" WinAmp2 / XMMS skins. Volume normalization (using ReplayGain) is a built-in option. It supports many plugins and is ideal for streaming content. Install:

sudo apt-get install audacious

You can switch between the "PulseAudio Output Plugin" and the "ALSA Output Plugin" under

Audacious -> Preferences -> Audio -> Current output plugin.

Juk

Juk is a compact, fast music player with a simple iTunes-like track browser, ID3-tag editing capabilities, and playlist interface. However, volume normalization is not currently an option. It is part of the KDE multimedia project. Install:

sudo apt-get install juk

Clementine

Clementine is a Qt-based music player modeled on Amarok, with available options such as ID3 tags, music format conversion, audio CD playing, and more. Install:

sudo apt-get install clementine

Banshee Music Player

Banshee is a Gstreamer, Mono and Gtk-based music player for Linux and Mac OS X. It supports multiple mp3 players (including the iPod).There are plugins for podcasts, internet radio, and more.

sudo apt-get install banshee

Exaile Music Manager and Player

Exaile is a GTK-based music player that supports many formats, incorporates a Shoutcast directory, a plugin for iPod, Last.FM support, tabbed playlists, and other features. Install:

sudo apt-get install exaile

Songbird Music Player

Songbird is an open source music player from Mozilla with an appearance meant to resemble iTunes. It is in current development and does not yet have full support for mp3 players (such as the iPod). It incorporates a Shoutcast internet radio interface. The current beta version can be downloaded from the website.