Amarok Blog - markey

Amarok on Windows: Get Your Nightly Builds

nospam@example.com (Mark Kretschmann) — Tue, 26 May 2009 13:59:42 -0400

Many users have been asking us lately for updated builds of Amarok 2.1 for Windows. Here's some good news for you folks!

Thanks to our tireless KDE-Windows crew (Patrick Spendrin and others) you can now get nightly builds for Windows right here:

http://mafia-server.net/amarok-nightly

Apparently these builds are pretty solid. Quoting a user from our forum:

"Wow the nightly build version is way different. After using it for some days I can say that it seems to be much more stable than 2.0.1. Good job."

So, give it a try

A-Team at OpenExpo 2009, Berne (Switzerland)

nospam@example.com (Mark Kretschmann) — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 15:52:35 -0400

(Image kindly provided by Nick Schenker)

On April 1st and 2nd (no joke there) a delegation from Amarok visited OpenExpo in Berne (Switzerland), together with our FOSS homies from KDE and Kubuntu. The photo above shows me (left) and Sven Krohlas in action, that is, drinking beer and having cake.

Apart from that we also had the chance to talk to many Amarok users, and demonstrated a preview of the upcoming 2.1 release, on Sven's 20 years old laptop - the thing operates on love and glue strip mostly. (hint: wanna help our project a bit? Donate a new lappy to Sven!)

Many users expressed their sincere happiness about Amarok and about meetings its devs, which of course made us very happy. It's always a rewarding feeling to see that one's work is appreciated. Others offered mostly fair and balanced criticism, which we took seriously and promised to remedy in upcoming releases (2.1 is going to fix a lot of those already).

Other highlights included:

Alexandra Leisse making good on her promise to wear a skirt on the second day.

The Free Beer (a beer with FOSS recipe) which I'm drinking in the above pic.

Catering is always decent at OpenExpo, although they've been a bit skimpy with the yummy Asian stuff this year.

What didn't sit so well with me:

KDE people (Myriam in this case) having to give out GNOME Ubuntu CDs, as Canonical again managed to forget about the Kubuntu CDs. Next time I might use them as frisbees or so. GNOME fails to show up at many expos these days, but through the backdoor (Ubuntu) they spread their software anyway. Not OK in my book.

All in all, the event was decent and we had a lot of fun (as always my patience was stretched thin, but people are used to that by now;) Thanks to everyone who participated, thanks to our users and friends, and especially to Nick, with whom I had a good conversation afterward.

PS:

In 2003, a crack developer squad was sent to prison by a military court for a hack they didn't commit. They promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade to the Amarok Underground HQ. Today, still wanted by the government, they survive as coders of fortune.

If you have a problem, if no-one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire the AMAROK-TEAM!

Building Amarok SVN in $HOME - An Update

nospam@example.com (Mark Kretschmann) — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 14:01:43 -0400

(Image copyright by Wade Olson)

Ahoy maties,

in an earlier blog article I had explained how to install Amarok from SVN in your HOME directory. This guide was overall quite successful, but recently David Faure pointed out an error in setting $KDEDIR (thanks David!).

The old article recommended setting $KDEDIR in .bashrc, which could lead to odd side effects, like Amarok not finding its plugins, or crashing on exit. So I have now updated the article with a better method, which fixes these issues.

Additionally, Amarok 2.1-SVN now has some new build dependencies (like taglib-extras), which are detailed in our current README, but not in the old article. Fortunately Stephan Jau wrote this HOWTO article, which also describes these new additions. It's mostly aimed at Kubuntu users, but it should also be helpful for users of other distributions.

PS:
Yes, the image above is the new splash screen in 2.1. Hooray for Wade, his artwork is killer!

PPS:
Stay tuned for 2.1-beta1 really soon now - the ChangeLog approaches epic proportions

Phonon configuration integrated in Amarok 2.1

nospam@example.com (Mark Kretschmann) — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 09:08:52 -0400

Just wanted to let you guys know about a small patch I just made, that in my opinion really improves usability in Amarok 2.1:

It is now possible to configure Phonon (the KDE sound system that Amarok 2 uses) directly from Amarok

Here's a screenshot, illustrating the whole thing:

Enjoy, and stay tuned for Amarok 2.1

PS: Thanks to Pino Toscano for giving technical advice.

About "Good Music" - Part 1: Progressive Rock

nospam@example.com (Mark Kretschmann) — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 04:35:12 -0400

(Image copyright by denis_m)

Hey all,

so this is of course a very controversial topic, as music is art, and as with all things art: Tastes differ. Still, as a long time music player developer, I get to hear a lot of music (basically all day), and I also happen to take music quite seriously. However, I should note that I am myself not a musician.

Anyway, since I might be somewhat knowledgeable in this field, and as I have been asked to write about this, I will write about my personal music taste. Some recommendations on what I find "good" music

My music taste can be coarsely split into three broad categories:

1) Progressive rock
2) Electronica
3) Classical music

As a teenager, when I first started to listen to music seriously, one my first loves has been Queen (rock music), and Mike Oldfield (complex symphonic rock). I should note one aspect of my music taste that might be a bit special: I do not tend to neglect or dislike artists that I have once loved (hey, the same is true for relationships!). I rarely say "OK, I might have liked this band 10 years ago, but now I just find them a joke!". Instead, I tend to stick to the artists I liked. E.g. I am still a big fan of Queen and Mike Oldfield today.

So the first of my beloved music categories would be progressive rock, also called symphonic rock, because of its similarities in structure with classical music. To this day, I love this genre. Here are a few listening tips:

Mike Oldfield
Oldfield is probably my favorite musician and composer overall. I know most of his works, named an application in honor of him ("Amarok"), and I admire this man. I personally believe him to be one the greatest musical geniuses of our time (a modern Bach, so to speak).

Mike Oldfield covers a wide range of musical genres, from progressive rock to classical, to pop. He's a virtuoso guitar player, but also a multi-instrumentalist (plays something like 15 instruments by himself).

I can only strongly recommend to check out his music. And don't just stop at one album - his musical range is too wide to judge him by one album alone.

Genesis
One of the founders of progressive rock, this band started out with Peter Gabriel as their singer, a part which was later on taken over by Phil Collins (also a drummer). This is a band that has been active for bloody ages (like from the late 60s or so), and is still semi-active today (nowadays just 3 people though). They are a must listen for every fan of the genre.

Porcupine Tree
Although they don't like to be stuck into this genre (they find it old fashioned), this band represents a modern form of progressive rock, with masterful composition and extremely good musicianship. The mastermind behind the band is front man Steve Wilson, who also happens to run many other musical side projects.

PS: One Amarok developer, Nikolaj Hald Nielsen, is a major fan of this band. If you are interested in them, talk to him sometime

Some more bands of this genre that I highly appreciate are:

Marillion, IQ, Fish, Magenta (Welsh band), Pendragon.

So I've just realized that this blog has already become quite long (personally I hate reading long blogs - thanks ADHD!), so I've decided to split it up, and to write articles about the other important genres another time. But I can already tell you so much: Electronica (electronic music) has become very important to me, and is currently probably the genre I listen to most often.

So long, and thanks for reading

Identi.ca

nospam@example.com (Mark Kretschmann) — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 09:59:40 -0500

As I had blogged a while ago, a number of Amarok teamsters are quite active on Twitter. I've personally been a big fan of Twitter (and still am), but lately a nice FOSS alternative has surfaced, named Identi.ca. Similar to Twitter, Identi.ca is a micro-blogging service, appealing to people like me who just love love to talk a lot.

So anyway, recently there has been a shift in our community to move from Twitter to Identi.ca. I did just the same, and you can now follow my updates here:

http://identi.ca/markey

PS: There are a few things that still bug me about Identi.ca currently. Among them the fact that the default page shows me submissions of random people I don't know (nor want to know), instead of my home page. Another one being that the site insists on cutting off my chin in the avatar picture. Just for the record: I do have a chin, even with a tiny beard attached to it, as other photos can prove

KDE Trolls, eat this

nospam@example.com (Mark Kretschmann) — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 11:59:10 -0500

(image copyright by Wade Olson)

Anyone else noticed the extreme amount of hate & trolling against KDE lately, and especially against KDE 4? I have a special message for you trolls:

You're fucking idiots.

For your consideration:

1) they ignore you

2) they laugh at you

3) they fight you

4) YOU WIN.

(we're at stage 3 now)

Happy holidays from your Amarok Team!

nospam@example.com (Mark Kretschmann) — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 06:42:18 -0500

Yes, this is actually edible! My partner Myriam made these special cookies for me, as a gift for our successful Amarok 2.0 release.

Rest assured, I will enjoy the cookies very much. I know they taste delicious

I'd like to wish all of our users, our Amarok squad, and the KDE team a happy holiday season!

Amarok 2 rocks the house: A review roundup

nospam@example.com (Mark Kretschmann) — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 03:10:00 -0500

After our recent release of Amarok 2.0, the first round of reviews from major Internet sites has hit the tubes. It is interesting to note that while we got slightly mixed reviews from our users, the majority of professional reviewers had mostly positive things to say about our baby.

I'm not surprised at all by this outcome - I've been long enough in the software business to know the rules. Again I would like to emphasize that we take every criticism very seriously, as long as it is constructive. And we have a very firm vision of Amarok. Everyone who has met me either on the Net or in person knows that I'm a man of strong visions in which I firmly believe, and that I'm not easily influenced by others to change my views.

Enough of the banter! Let's get to the meat:

Ryan Paul of Ars Technica posted an extremely well written and in-depth review:

Hands-on: Amarok 2 rocks the house

Jeremy LaCroix wrote a balanced and fair review for Linux.com:

Amarok gets a facelift

Kevin Purdy of Lifehacker has written a short but sweet review:

Amarok 2 Released, Windows and Mac Versions in Beta

Austin Modine of The Register reviewed Amarok 2:

Native-Linux music player Amarok gets major overhaul

That's all for now. If you discover any more noteworthy reviews, please post them in the comments section. I might eventually write a follow-up to this article, or simply caress my (planet sized) ego by enjoying the reviews.

Mark Kretschmann

Let me introduce you to: Linux Lancers!

nospam@example.com (Mark Kretschmann) — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 14:28:19 -0500

Heya,

it does not happen very often that I blog about advertisements for companies. This one is an exception. I'm feeling good about it, since this company I'm blogging about could actually prove useful to the KDE/FOSS community.

The company I'd like to introduce to you is Linux Lancers. Let me sum up in a nutshell what they offer:

1) For the job seeker: A place to find freelance and permanent FOSS jobs (and free advice).

2) For the company: A place to find competent FOSS programmers.

Freelancing is an attractive job opportunity for many contributors in the Software Libre scene. Myself I have done several freelance jobs, and nowadays I am glad that opportunities are emerging that bring us Free Software experts closer to the companies seeking our knowledge.

Disclaimer:

I do not have any financial interests in this company. I'm posting this purely because I believe that the company offers a service that could be useful for our community, plus I'm friends with the company owner and I enjoy seeing his baby succeed.

A-Team

nospam@example.com (Mark Kretschmann) — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 20:54:00 -0500

In 2003, a crack developer squad was sent to prison by a military court for a hack they didn't commit. They promptly escaped from a maximum security stockade to the Amarok Underground HQ. Today, still wanted by the government, they survive as coders of fortune.

If you have a problem, if no-one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire the AMAROK-TEAM!

Installing Amarok 2 from SVN in your home directory

nospam@example.com (Mark Kretschmann) — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 15:02:30 -0500

Update: I have corrected some information regarding $KDEDIR on April 3rd, 2009

So you would like to check out the latest Amarok 2 goodness, without messing up your system? One way to do this is by using our Neon Nightly Builds.

But if for some reason this doesn't work for you, or maybe if you are toying with the idea of contributing to Amarok, here's a simple guide that shows you how to compile and install Amarok 2 in your $HOME, without any danger of interfering with your Linux distro. You can uninstall it anytime simply by deleting the folder. Nice and easy, the way we like it!

This document explains how to install Amarok 2 from SVN in your home directory - in an easy way

If you already have Amarok installed from your distro, uninstall it to prevent setting conflicts and similar.

Install compiler and KDE 4 development packages:

In Ubuntu, Debian, and all their derivatives:

sudo aptitude install build-essential
sudo aptitude install kde-devel

In Archlinux:

sudo pacman -S base-devel kdelibs kdebase-runtime

In Gentoo:

sudo emerge kdelibs plasma-workspace

Append the following to $HOME/.bashrc:
export PATH=$HOME/kde/bin:$PATH

Reload your edited .bashrc:
source $HOME/.bashrc

NOTE: if you are not using the bash shell, edit your proper shell config file (~/.zshrc or ~/.tcshrc or whatever it may be)

Make KDE aware of Amarok's plugin location:
echo 'export KDEDIR=$HOME/kde' >> $HOME/.kde/env/myenv.sh
echo 'export KDEDIRS=$KDEDIR' >> $HOME/.kde/env/myenv.sh

Create folders:
mkdir $HOME/kde
mkdir $HOME/kde/src
mkdir $HOME/kde/build/amarok

Check out Amarok from SVN:
cd $HOME/kde/src
svn checkout svn://anonsvn.kde.org/home/kde/trunk/extragear/multimedia/amarok

Building:
cd $HOME/kde/build/amarok
cmake -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=$HOME/kde -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=debugfull $HOME/kde/src/amarok
make install

Updating KDE Config
kbuildsycoca4 --noincremental

Now you are ready to run Amarok 2, by typing "amarok" in the shell.

NOTE:
If you have installed MySQL Embedded in non-default location (i.e. $HOME/usr),
Amarok may fail to start with error regarding libmysqlclient library. In this
case, add the following string to your ~/.bashrc:

export LD_LIBRARY_PATH=$HOME/usr/lib/mysql:$LD_LIBRARY_PATH

where $HOME/usr is the path you've used in --prefix option.

Have fun

Missing features in Amarok 2

nospam@example.com (Mark Kretschmann) — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 09:28:00 -0400

(Image copyright by steve)

Today on IRC a user asked the following question: "Is there a list of 1.4 features that are still missing in Amarok 2?"

As this question comes up rather frequently, I will try to shed some light on this topic here. First of all we have to make the following clear:

Not all of Amarok 1.4's features will necessarily return in Amarok 2. Many features will be ported over, a lot of new features will be added, and some old features will simply be dumped for good. Amarok 2 isn't simply a souped up version of Amarok 1, but it's almost completely a new program, and you can't expect it to work exactly like 1.x. If we wanted that, we could simply have taken 1.x and stuck a big "2.0!" logo on it, and be done with it.

Now that we have this out of the way, let's get to the meat:

Features that will likely return in Amarok 2

Visualizations

Equalizer

USB mass storage devices support

Crossfading

Stop after this track

Queue feature

Dynamic Collection

Cue file support

Collection statistics

Playlist sorting

Showing new tracks in collection

Labels

ReplayGain

Features which have been dumped. Good riddance!

Old style playlist, "Excel Look"

Support for Amarok 1 scripts

Multiple databases (SQLite and PostGreSQL)

Player Window (this can be implemented as a Plasmoid)

MusicBrainz (we have plans for something better)

Slowness with large collections *grin*

So, that's it for now. I've probably forgotten to mention some features, but feel free to add to this list in the comments section. We could then for instance compile a list on the wiki.

OpenExpo 2008, Zurich Switzerland

nospam@example.com (Mark Kretschmann) — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 05:03:10 -0400

Last Wednesday and Thursday a delegation of KDE/Amarok/Kubuntu folks attended the OpenExpo event in Zurich, Switzerland. There I manned (womaned?) the KDE booth together with Alexandra Leisse, Claudia Rauch (KDE e.V. secretary), Eckhart Woerner, and Luca Gugelmann.

Here you can see a photo, showing Claudia and me behind our (rather small) KDE booth:

(That's actually two tables combined; our original booth consisted of one table. But oh well;)

We had a pretty good time presenting KDE4, networking with other projects, and generally enjoying the great catering. You don't want to miss out on the tasty Asian style food that they generally seem to serve at this event. Alex gave a talk about KOffice 2, which was really well visited; Certainly there is a lot of interest in the new KOffice release, and in KDE4 in general. A video of the talk should come online soonish on the OpenExpo website. And then I also helped out a bit at the Kubuntu booth, mostly by providing coffee and making sure that Kubuntu CDs were always ordered in front of the Ubuntu ones.

What makes the OpenExpo event unique is that it's actually two events in one, at the same location: For one there is Topsoft, a commercial business style expo (featuring suits), and then OpenExpo, a FOSS event (featuring us long haired hippies). It's funny to see these two worlds meet, but also interesting to observe the cultural differences.

So basically you have one big exhibition hall, and on the left side there are the FOSS guys, and on the right side the business guys. Interestingly it seemed to me that the FOSS side has grown bigger since my last visit (moving the division line a little further to the right), and now included some companies that you would not usually expect there, including Sun, and even Microsoft (no kidding).

OpenExpo/Topsoft isn't really targeted so much at end users (although there certainly are some), but more so at networking between industry members. This also becomes evident by the scheduling: it takes place in the middle of the week, when most end users have to work and can't easily attend.

Another interesting observation was that Gnome once again didn't show up. Is it just me, or are they increasingly rare to find at expos?

Whatever happened to Coverity?

nospam@example.com (Mark Kretschmann) — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 06:30:07 -0400

Once upon a time we had the whole of KDE included in Coverity's code quality checker, which they kindly offer (offered?) for free to FOSS projects. Coverity's analysis is tremendously helpful in finding really twisted bugs, and has in the past helped to fix countless complicated issues in KDE code.

All was fine until 2008-Apr-24, when the scan apparently stopped for technical reasons. The last I heard of the problem was that Dirk is still waiting for a reply from them.

We Amarok guys are really keen on getting our code checked again. Not wanting to sit idly and wait, I have in the meantime also contacted Coverity, asking them to check Amarok 2. Sadly, I have not received any reply so far.

Does anyone know what's going on here, and what we could do to accelerate things?