After the bug fixing goodness of Amarok 2.0.2, it is time to crank up the coolness factor by a few orders of magnitude. Deep in our hidden lair we have been hard at work plotting world domination - and occasionally working on the next major version of Amarok - and we are now ready to let the rest of the world have a taste with the release of Amarok 2.1 beta1.

Amarok 2.1 will come with many new features and some old favorites will make a re-appearance. Beta 1 gives you a sneak preview of all these improvements. While not quite ready for general use yet, the stability is quite good and overall the beta should be quite usable in most cases (standard "may eat your cat, spouse, favorite cupcake or pet iguana" warnings do apply however).

Major new features include a new, completely user configurable playlist with an easy to use drag-and-drop editor, cue sheet support, a new take on managing applets in the Context View, bookmarks - allowing you, among other things, to save and share favorite finds in the services, support for showing radio stations with many alternate streams as one track in the playlist, much faster startup when reloading large playlists containing non local tracks, as well as many other improvements, UI tweaks and bug fixes across the board. So download, test drive and cuddle this beta a little, provide feedback and bug reports and help us make Amarok 2.1 the best Amarok release ever.

Join us in Amarok'ing in a Free World!
The full ChangeLog since 2.0.2 is about a mile long and follows below:

The Amarok team is proud to bring you Amarok 2.0.2, codenamed "Only Time Will Tell". It is a stability update for the Amarok 2.0 series.

Our primary focus is on the upcoming 2.1 feature release, but we have fixed a number of the most critical and annoying bugs present in 2.0.1.1.
Get Amarok 2.0.2 while it is fresh, and keep Amarokin'. And remember, good things are on the way! Check our blogs for updates.

Update: Google Summer of Code is now open for student applications! Please submit now. Amarok applications should be sent to the KDE organization.

As in the past few years, Amarok will try to get slots in this year's Google Summer of Code -- and if you're a student, we want *you*. There are many things we'd love to see implemented and worked on. Don't miss out on your chance to work with an awesome group of people passionate about music, programming, and (of course) all manner of geekery. Check out the Amarok section on the KDE Techbase GSoC Ideas page, see if there's an idea that you'd like to implement (or come up with your own) and get in touch if you'd like to work with us this summer!

Students are already sending their ideas and beginning to develop their proposal on the Amarok mailing list. The proposal itself is crucial to being selected. Please checkout the examples of two proposals that were selected last year: MP3tunes and Media Devices to see what we expect.

Google Summer of Code will begin taking student applications on March 23rd NOW. We suggest you submit at this time; the earlier you submit the more likely that KDE mentors are to read your application.