Songbird 1.4.2 Released, Brings New Features
Songbird is free and is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux platforms: If your not familiar with Songbird let me bring you up to speed, it’s an open source, Mozilla-powered, rumored to be an iTunes-killing media player. The popular music jukebox application just released a new update, version 1.4.2. The latest version brought us several bug fixes as well as some new features and enhancements, including AAC metadata support, a new dark feather or theme called “Purple Rain”, CD ripping, and support for a bunch of mass storage devices.
Besides adding support for some new codecs and media formats the biggest features in this release are the CD ripping and mass storage syncing (both available as add-ons). The CD ripping tool can automatically look up metadata information on Gracenote and other third party services via add-ons. Songs can now be ripped from CDs direct to the Songbird library without needing iTunes. The new ripping tool can rip songs as FLAC, OGG or WMA on Windows systems.
Moreover, Songbird can now sync to more than just iPods, you can now sync any MSC (Mass Storage Class) device, such as the Nokia N900 or HTC Hero, Motorola Droid, Palm Pre, allowing users to sync tracks and playlists on compatible devices to their cell phones and other players that support MSC mode.
Unfortunately both CD ripping and MSC support are currently only available for Windows users. Rumors have it that Linux and Mac users will have to wait until the next release. Although we feel Mac and Linux users will still find Songbird a pleasant experience to use, especially if migrating from iTunes.
There are still a few bugs in this version (see the release notes for more information), but it’s one step closer to being the iTunes killer that so many users wants it to be. Nevertheless, even with these bugs, I found this version functional enough to make the switch from iTunes.
Songbird is available for Windows XP/Vista, Mac, and Linux. Although Windows 7 is not officially supported users are reporting no problems running the latest release, you will have to try it at your own risk. For more details about the latest version including a list of known bugs, check out the release notes and the original release announcement. Songibrd 1.4.2 can be download here for Windows, Mac OS X and Linux.
So uh, is it just me or does that look a hell of a lot like Winamp….
A hell of a lot…
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