Amarok Wiki - New pages [en]

Ampache

Eqisow — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 07:23:41 GMT

Summary: new page!

For information on setting up Ampache with Amarok, please see the [http://ampache.org/wiki/config:amarok Ampache wiki].

Dynamic Playlists

Eqisow — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 07:17:33 GMT

Summary: new page!

==Introduction==
If you have used another media player before you are probably familiar with the concept of having all of your music in a single playlist, playing it in random order.

If you've tried this in Amarok, especially if you have a larger collection, you may have realized that it doesn't work well. This page will explain how to use Amarok's dynamic playlist feature to solve that, and other, problems.

To get to the dynamic playlist window go to Playlists --> Dynamic Playlists from the root of the Media Sources pane.

[[Image:Dynamic_playlist.png]]

==Biases==

Biases are what makes your dynamic playlist special! The default value for the dynamic playlist, without any biases, is random play. Biases of various sorts will alter that in different ways.

'''Proportional Bias'''
Proportional biases match a certain portion of the playlist to a specific value. This function uses specific values, which differs from our next option.

'''Fuzzy Bias'''
Fuzzy bias will match an approximate value and has a strictness field, as opposed to a percentage one. More strictness means more exact matches.

'''Custom Bias'''
This is where the (relatively) new last.fm and Echo Nest biases reside. Both options use their respective web services to bias the playlist towards artists who are similar to either the currently playing artist or (for Echo Nest) the current playlist as a whole.

This function will use whatever song is playing when the playlist is repopulated so you're music evolves as you listed, while remaining somewhat similar to whatever is currently playing.

==Using your dynamic playlist==
To enable the dynamic playlist you've create simply check the "On" box in the upper left corner of the pane. To regenerate the entire playlist at any time, click "Repopulate," to the right of "On."

The default number of items in the playlist is your 5 previous plays plus 10 upcoming items. With the currently playing track, this makes 16 items in the playlist at any given time. This number can be changed right below the "On" checkbox.

Below that are is the dropdown menu for loading saved playlists, the save button, and the delete button.

==A dynamic playlist in use==

[[Image:Dynamic_playlist_full.png|600px]]

MP3:Arch

Eqisow — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 08:51:03 GMT

Summary: /* Takin from the Arch wiki */

== Taken from the [http://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/KDE#I_cannot_play_mp3_files_when_having_Gstreamer_backend_in_Qt_Phonon Arch wiki] ==

The default in Arch seems to be GStreamer, to try the GStreamer plugins do the following:

pacman -S gstreamer0.10-plugins

If you encounter problems that are not solved with this you can try switching to Xine (recommended):

pacman -S phonon-xine

Now choose Xine in:

System Settings > Multimedia > Backend (tab)

(it may have been autoselected after installing phonon-xine)

Phonon

Eqisow — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 08:22:11 GMT

Summary: /* Configuring Phonon */

== What is Phonon? ==

KDE versions 2 and 3 uses aRts as their multimedia framework. Over the lifespan of these releases aRts fell behind newer frameworks such as Xine and GStreamer and is by now unmaintained. Learning from these mistakes, KDE implemented Phonon for KDE 4.

Phonon was created to allow KDE 4 to be independent of any single multimedia framework such as GStreamer or Xine and to provide a stable API for KDE 4's lifetime. As an added bonus, it simplifies development by providing a simple API that can work across different platforms such as Windwows and OS X.

The result of all this for you, the user, is that you get to choose the multimedia framework that works best for you. For Linux users the currently recommended choice is Xine, but this may or may not hold true for you.

Another result is that playback problems in Amarok are typically not Amarok issues, but rather Phonon issues. It is for that reason that this page exist.

== Configuring Phonon ==

The Phonon settings can be found at: Settings --> Configure Amarok --> Playback --> Sound System Configuration.

'''Selecting an output device'''

[[Image:Phonon_device.png]]

Depending on your OS and distribution, you may need to use ALSA, OSS, PulseAudio, or something else as your default playback device. Find one that works for you with the "Test" button and apply to all types of output. If you would like different types of output to go with different devices, this is certainly possible as well.

'''Selecting a multimedia backend'''

[[Image:Phonon_backend.png]]

Depending on your OS you may see options such as Xine, GStreamer, VLC, or DS9 (Windows only) here. The recommended one for Linux users is Xine. VLC is recommended for Windows users, but is experimental like the rest of KDE for Windows.

If you don't see Xine or the particular back-end you want here you may need to install the package for it. For most distributions the package for Xine, for example, would be phonon-backend-xine. If you need more detailed instructions you should see your distro's section on the [[Download|download]] page.

For information on playing MP3's see the [[MP3]] page.