From Amarok Wiki
Czym jest Amarok?
- Amarok jest odtwarzaczem muzyki dla systemów Uniksowych (np. Linuksa). Więcej informacji można znaleźć na liście funkcji i w galerii zrzutów ekranu.
Kiedy zostanie wydany Amarok 2?
Wtedy, kiedy zostanie ukończony.
Jesteśmy zależni od KDE 4.1, którego wydanie jest planowane na koniec lipca. Następnie będziemy musieli ocenić, jak długo zajmie nam nadanie Amarokowi właściwego kształtu. Nie oczekuj ostatecznego wydania przed wrześniem, jeśli chcesz możesz zaglądać na Blog Amaroka, aby dowiedzieć się o najnowszych wydaniach i postępach prac. I oczywiście pojawią się tam wersje alfa i/lub beta. Istnieje też Projekt Neon, jest to projekt nocnych buildów Amaroka, mogą Cię one zainteresować.
Planujemy również wydanie Amaroka 2 na Windowsa i Maca.
FAQ instalacji
Czy mogę używać Amaroka bez KDE?
- Amarok wymaga tylko pakietu KDElibs i niczego innego z zestawu KDE. Więc, potrzebujesz tylko prawidłowo zainstalować KDElibs (włączając w to wszystkie binarki instalujące się razem z nim, gdyż Amarok potrzebuje niektóre z nich do wyszukiwania wtyczek i skryptów). Napisaliśmy artykuł jak skompilować minimalistycznie KDElibs, który może być pomocny.
- Niektóre funkcje - takie jak wyświetlanie na ekranie - do poprawnej pracy wymagają, aby twój menedżer okien był skonfigurowany ze wsparciem standardu freedesktop.org. Tak więc GNOME będzie współpracował dobrze, natomiast Fluxbox będzie sprawiał problemy (OSD pracuje dobrze z Fluxboksem z serii 0.9.x).
Dlaczego Amarok używa KDElibs?
- Jesteśmy zobowiązani, aby wspierać Amaroka na wszystkich platformach. Używamy KDElibs i Qt, ponieważ dostarczają one doskonałego środowiska programistycznego.
Użytkowanie ogólne
Gdzie mogę uzyskać wsparcie?
- Jest wiele możliwości. Najczęściej, problemy ze świeżo zainstalowanym Amarokiem zostały już doskonale opisane przez ekspertów Twojej dystrybucji Uniksa czy Linuksa. Możesz szukać pomocy u przyjacielskich ludzi i programistów na forum Amaroka oraz na kanale IRC w sieci irc.freenode.net (#amarok).
- Zauważ, że bugzilla nie jest miejscem do szukania wsparcia. Dodaj raport o błędzie, jeśli na prawdę chcesz pomóc w jego naprawieniu.
Kiedy włączam Amaroka widzę tylko pustą listę odtwarzania. Jak dodać ścieżki dźwiękowe?
- Użyj "Kolekcja" po lewej stronie, aby wybrać określonego artystę/album czy też piosenkę. Następnie przeciągnij wybrane pliki na "Listę odtwarzania" po prawej stronie.
Jak usuwać ścieżki dźwiękowe z listy odtwarzania?
- Wybierz ścieżkę(-ki) do usunięcia i naciśnij przycisk Delete. Albo PPM na zaznaczenie i wybierz Usuń z listy odtwarzania.
Jak mogę załadować listę odtwarzania?
- Po prostu przeciągnij i upuść plik listy odtwarzania na listę odtwarzania, jak każdy inny plik. To proste!
Jak zapisać obecną listę odtwarzania?
- Użyj Zapisz listę odtwarzania jako... z paska narzędzi.
Dlaczego nie ma wizualizacji w oknie wizualizacji?
- Możesz zainstalować najnowszą wersję libvisual, która zawiera kilka fantastycznych wizualizacji.
Gdzie jest equalizer?
- Okno equalizera można znaleźć w menu podręcznym, a także w Narzędzia->Equalizer.
Jak odtwarzać płyty CD?
W Amaroku wejdź w menu Odtwarzanie i wybierz "Odtwarzaj płytę CD Audio"
Jak dodać podcasty?
- Wejdź do "Listy odtwarzania" na lewym pasku narzędzi. Powinieneś zobaczyć opcję "Podcasty". PPM na niej i wybierz "Dodaj Podcast..." Wpisz adres Podcastu.
How can I use Amarok to stream to my own radio station?
If you want to stream directly to a icecast or shoutcast server the answer simply is: it is not supported. You could use IDJC for that. If you only want a small server for home use have a look at the Amarok Souter script.
Where is the charset override option since 1.4?
It is gone. Why? Have a look at the this thread on the mailing list.
Jak kontrolować Amaroka zdalnie?
Zobacz Kontrola zdalna.
Where can I set the proxy settings in Amarok?
- For listening to streams, you can set the proxy in Engine options:
Select Settings -> Configure Amarok -> Configure engine
- For all other stuff like last.fm, Lyrics and Wikipedia, KDE proxy settings are used. It can be set using KDE Control Center(kcontrol).
Chcę polepszyć moje doznania z Amarokiem!
Zajrzyj do Porady i sztuczki, naucz się ciekawych rzeczy, dzięki którym staniesz się szybszym i lepszym użytkownikiem :-)
Playback Questions
What media types does Amarok support?
- None. Yes, that's right! None! We have a backend independent approach, so the question you should be asking is "What media types does xine/helix/NMM support";
- For more information, have a look at Audio Engine Comparison.
Amarok won't play MP3's, what can I do?
Have a look at the MP3 information page.
I can't get any media to play in Amarok, why not?
- You need to test the sound frameworks at the command line:
%xine-check
- (The Package xine-ui contains xine-check)
- The output from these commands should help you identify the problems you are having and how to fix them.
Can Amarok output directly to OSS/ALSA?
- Yes! Don't forget that the media must be decoded first! You can't just pipe an MP3 to ALSA, all you will get is white-noise. Xine is the best choice for most people who want a low-overhead decoding solution, it reads the file, decodes it and pipes the PCM data to ALSA. Exactly like XMMS.
But! XMMS can output directly to ALSA!
- But it decodes it first! Xine can output directly to ALSA too!
Which sound engine should I use?
Xine works best for most people.
How do I install alternate engines, like Helix? So I can listen to 'Real' audio streams?
Stations such as the most excellent Groovera.com prohibit using the XINE engine, so use Helix instead. Another advantage is being able to listen to NPR and other RealAudio streams using only Amarok as a client(!). These are the easiest steps that worked for me:
1. Go to www.getautomatix.com and install this installation tool, which offers point-and-click-easy installation of difficult and/or 'commercial' albeit free packages. Ummm, this tool only works for Ubuntu-based distros.
2. Use Automatix to install the RealPlayer audio player. (tip: on a fresh machine, don't test it yet by launching it. It might inadvertently set preferences you might prefer Amarok handle in the long-term).
3. In my case, I had to compile Amarok from source. There's a wiki page there for this step. I read the Helix engine is compiled by default, but I went ahead and manually told it to compile with Helix added anyway.
Here's how I compiled Amarok to use Helix as described:
./configure --prefix=`kde-config --prefix` make su -c "make install" --without-xine --with-helix make su -c "make install"
http://docs.kde.org/stable/en/extragear-multimedia/amarok/installation.html">Here are the compile options.
4. Go to Amarok > Settings > Engine, select the Helix engine, and then look at where the plugin prefs (etc.) are pointing to. In my case they installed erroneously, but all was easily fixed by double-checking where the RealPlayer directory is, and replacing the Helix aspect of the URL with an appropriate path to the RealPlayer directory. Such as:
/usr/lib/realplay-10.0.8/common
/usr/lib/realplay-10.0.8/plugins
/usr/lib/realplay-10.0.8/codecs
5. Restart Amarok.
Follow all the steps, even if Amarok is already installed. This is required for correct configuration (there's another FAQ article that says this too).
What version of ALSA should I use?
This is not known, but old versions of ALSA have caused plenty of crashes, and have caused plenty of wrongly attributed crash-reports.
I'm often getting drop-outs (stuttering sound) under heavy system load. How can I prevent this?
- Increase the device buffer_size in your ~/.asoundrc (Alsa config file) to 32768 or 65536. If the file .asoundrc does not exists on your system, you can simply create it, as described here.
I've installed xine/helix, but the relevant audio-engine won't show up. What gives?
- Amarok was probably compiled before you had xine and/or helix installed, so the ./configure routine did not include them in the list of engines to be built. You will have to rebuild Amarok.
But I did rebuild Amarok after installing xine and/or helix, but the engine still does not show up. What happened?
You most likely are using a distro that packages development libraries separately from the main library, so even though xine is installed, Amarok cannot link to it because libxine-dev/xine-devel is not installed. Don't forget to rebuild Amarok after installing the devel packages.
How can I change where the audio is output to?
Using xine's ALSA output pluggin, you can output to a specific device (or all devices).
Finding the names of your cards
- Find out the name of your soundcards with the command:
cat /proc/asound/cards
- In the example below, the first card (card 0) is called "Live" and the second card (card 1) called "Headset":
oliver@panda:~$ cat /proc/asound/cards
0 [Live ]: EMU10K1 - SBLive! Value [CT4832]
SBLive! Value [CT4832] (rev.8, serial:0x80271102) at 0xd000, irq 5
1 [Headset ]: USB-Audio - Logitech USB Headset
Logitech Logitech USB Headset at usb-0000:00:04.2-2, full speed
Using a specific soundcard: method 1
- Enter the word "plughw:" and the name of your card in the box labelled "device used for stereo output:" in the xine-engine configuration tab. For example:
plughw:Headset
Alternatively, I had to use this entry to make my USB headphones work.
hw:Headset,0
Using a specific soundcard: method 2
- Set up an ~/.asoundrc (user only) or /etc/asound.conf (system wide) file that aliases your hardware devices, and then insert that alias in the "device used for stereo output:" box in the xine-engine configuration tab. Alternatively, you can directly enter the alsa device (hw:0,0 or hw:1,0 and so on). If you choose this latter (alternate) method, be aware that ALSA's corresponding plugfoo (e.g. plughw:0,0 or plughw:1,0 and so on) routing through alsa-lib is much preferred.
- Here is a sample ~/.asoundrc for a machine that has an onboard Intel AC97 codec and a usb-audio device:
pcm.intel8x0 {
type plug
slave.pcm "hw:0"
}
ctl.intel8x0 {
type hw
card 0
}
pcm.usb-audio {
type plug
slave.pcm "hw:1"
}
ctl.usb-audio {
type hw
card 1
}
- now enter "usb-audio" in the xine-engine setup screen and output should go to the usb-audio device (with alsa-lib properly handling sample rate conversion, channels, and so on).
Using all your soundcards at once
This example allows Amarok to play music through all your sound devices at the same time.
- 1. Copy the following text into the file ~/.asoundrc (change 'Live' and 'Headset' to the names of your sound devices - or you can just use the card numbers '0' and '1'):
# This creates a 2-channel interleaved pcm stream based on
# two 2-channel slave devices.
pcm.both {
type route;
slave.pcm {
# create a virtual 4-channel device from two sound devices
type multi;
slaves.a.pcm "plughw:Live";
slaves.a.channels 2;
slaves.b.pcm "plughw:Headset";
slaves.b.channels 2;
bindings.0.slave a;
bindings.0.channel 0;
bindings.1.slave a;
bindings.1.channel 1;
bindings.2.slave b;
bindings.2.channel 0;
bindings.3.slave b;
bindings.3.channel 1;
}
# Map two channels of input to four channels of output
ttable.0.0 1;
ttable.1.1 1;
ttable.0.2 1;
ttable.1.3 1;
}
# Some programs will be unhappy if there is no mixer to talk to,
# so we set this to one of the cards.
# This could be any card (Headset or Live in this example).
ctl.both {
type hw;
card Headset;
}
- 2. Save the .asoundrc file and restart Amarok.
- 3. Edit the box labelled "device used for stereo output:" in the xine-engine configuration tab so it reads:
plug:both
Other tips
To use a dmixed virtual device, ensure that the "sound card can do mmap" checkbox is unchecked.
How do I get digital output from my SoundBlaster card?
First, you have to tell xine you want to use the digital output. Select ALSA as your xine output engine. Then under ALSA device configuration enter "plug:spdif" under the "Stereo" box. This will enable digital output, but, if you are like me, the audio will begin stuttering about 3 minutes into a track. This is because xine is outputting data at 44.1 kHz and SB cards only output at 48 kHz (which is why audiophiles don't use SB cards). You have to get xine to re-sample to 48 kHz. Do this:
- shut down amarok
- edit ~/.kde/share/apps/amarok/xine-config
- add these two lines to xine-config
audio.synchronization.force_rate:48000 audio.synchronization.resample_mode:on
- restart amarok
It should now work without stuttering.
Development Questions
How do I get a SVN version of Amarok?
Why isn't Amarok part of KDEmultimedia?
- The developers don't want the man telling them when they can release. (Meaning, packages in KDE proper have a release schedule that doesn't fit with Amarok's fast-paced development).
I've found a bug / I've got a great idea for Amarok!
- Please report it at http://bugs.kde.org, if you have a list of suggestions/wishes it may be best to send them to our mailing list: <amarok@kde.org>. Simply posting the idea to our IRC channels or on an obscure wiki page won't help much as the given information will get lost.
Do you accept patches?
- Happily! Your best course of action is to let us know what you plan to do before you do any work so we can discuss it, but don't fret we haven't turned down a patch yet! Discussion is mostly to help you patch the correct bits of Amarok. Then either submit a patch to the mailing list, or commit if you have svn access. However, please let us know before you commit new features to svn! If you have a bug fix then just go ahead, this is open source after all :)
Why did you choose the name Amarok?
- Amarok is an album by British composer Mike Oldfield. Project founder Mark Kretschmann happens to like it a lot, and he thought the name's got a nice sound. Plus, of course, it contains the all important “K”.. :)
General Questions
Is it Amarok, AmaroK or amaroK?
- It is “Amarok”! The former spelling was "amaroK", but it was changed due to its strange look.
How Do I use an external MySQL database with Amarok?
- See MySQL HowTo.
My $HOME is located on NFS. After startup, Amarok fails to build the Collection, printing many database errors to the console. What to do?
- The internal SQLite database which Amarok uses by default does not work on NFS. You must either link your ~/.kde/share/apps/amarok directory to a local drive, or use the MySQL support.
How are track scores determined?
- Amarok assigns a score (a number 0-100) to a song based on how many times you've listened to it and whether you skip the song without it finishing. Every time the song finishes playing, the score is changed.
- Scores get calculated by scripts (Tools-> Script Manager-> Score)
- Here is the ruby-code for the default script:
if( playcount <= 0 ) # not supposed to be less, but what the hell.
newscore = ( prevscore + percentage ) / 2
else
newscore = ( ( prevscore * playcount ) + percentage ) / ( playcount + 1 )
end
- You can easily create your own script with your own algorithm. Look at the Script-Writing-Howto for further information.
How do I manually change a track's score
- You may change the score manually by right-clicking on the playlist columns titles (the ones that say title, artist, album etc) and select Score. You can then change the score like any other song attribute, by right clicking it and selecting "Edit Tag 'Score'" or pressing F2. You can also edit the score in the Tag dialog, available by right clicking on a track.
But I also want that stars system like in other players!
- Amarok, of course, supports an user-defined rating system. Just make sure that Ratings are enabled, by going to the configuration dialog, and enable the Checkbox:"Use Ratings" (which is in the "General" section). Then, create a new column, by right-clicking in the columns bar of the playlist, go to "Show Column" -> "Rating". Then you can rate your tracks with a single click! (or the Window key and any number from 1 to 5. Press twice a number to assign half-a-star.
How do I prevent the Amarok icon from blinking in my system tray?
- This is a new feature that has been added that some users might find distracting. Simply uncheck the "Flash icon tray when playing" option under General Options.
How can I show/remove the analyzer in the playlist window?
The playlist analyzer is part of the playlist toolbar.
- Select Settings -> Configure Toolbars
- Add/Remove Analyzer to the Current actions
- Press OK
How do I change the Context Browser theme?
- Download a theme or make your own.
- Install it through Configure Amarok... -> Appearance -> Context Browser Style, click Install New Style.
What legal issues caused "Blue Wolf" icon replacement?
The icon was way too similar to the Warp Graphics, Inc. logo (elfquest.com), so it had to be removed to avoid problems.
I don't have any visualizations. Where can I obtain these ?
Install the latest version of libvisual.
How can I add a stream to Amarok?
- First of all, load the stream into the playlist. There are several ways to do this. You can simply click on a Stream-Playlist URL in Konqueror; Amarok will then automatically open the stream. E.g. on shoutcast.com, click on the "Tune In" button. Or you can use the "Add Media" function to load a stream.
- Once the stream is loaded, you can save it by right-clicking on "Current Playlist" in the Playlist-Browser, then select "Save", and give it a meaningful name. The Stream will then be added to the Playlist-Browser view for later reference.
Where do I find the settings for amarok?
- ~/.kde/share/apps/amarok
- ~/.kde/share/config/amarokrc
How do I configure my iPod to "Safely remove" on disconnect for Kubuntu Gutsy Gibbon?
With the iPod connected and mounted, open the "Settings" menu and select "Configure Amarok..." then choose "Media Devices". Locate the iPod device in the "Media Devices" list and click the "configure device settings" icon 
. Replace the current "Post-disconnect command" with "kio_umountwrapper %d".
Konqueror Sidebar FAQs
What is Konqueror Sidebar?
- Konqueror sidebar allows you to monitor/control Amarok while browsing with Konqueror. To see it, run Konqueror, press F9 to see sidebar, click on preferences (top one) button, in dropdown menu choose add -> Amarok.
Why can't I see Amarok listed when I press F9?
You will have to add it to the Konqueror Sidebar menu listing. Click on the top option of the menu itself for preferences -> Add New -> amarok
The preferences button is towards the left and underneath the Mandrakesoft Button in this screenshot.
last.fm FAQs
What is last.fm?
- last.fm is a free web service that sends information regarding which songs are played to an independent server. With last.fm, you can get recommendations based on your listening habits, as well as meeting people who share your tastes. The service sign-up is free and only requires that you pick a user name and password that is not already in use. last.fm is currently utilized in Amarok.
I do not want Amarok to send information to last.fm!
- Uncheck "Submit tracks I play" to prevent querying last.fm for suggested tracks. (this is the default behavior)
How do I get to the last.fm Amarok group?
- The last.fm Amarok group is located here: Amarok last.fm Group
How to sync my labels with last.fm tags?
Use the synctags script.
How do I open lastfm:// links in amarok from KDE4?
Based on this tip: original KDE3 tip I worked out how to achieve this:
Create a file called lastfm.protocol in the path ~/.kde4/share/kde4/services with the following contents:
[Protocol] exec=/usr/bin/amarok "%u" protocol=lastfm input=none output=none helper=true listing= reading=false writing=false makedir=false deleting=false
You may need to alter the path to the executable depending on your distribution.
It should be as simple as that - once the file is saved you should be able to open lastfm:// links directly in amarok from Konqueror 4 (no restart required). I am aware that this is not perfect yet but it does work for clicking without amarok open. Once I figure out how to enque I will add to this.
Troubleshooting FAQs
No Artwork/Cover Art is showing up on the iPod
- Amarok older than 1.4.6 is buggy in that point - do an update
- libgpod might be out of sync with amarok - check if the versions amarok is compiled with and the installed version match
- The iPod model is not recognized correctly
- The needed information is gathered from iPod_Control/Device/SysInfo
- If the mentioned file is empty, then Amarok will repair this when you set the iPod model.
- If the file remains empty you can also try setting the model with gtkpod
- The reason for the file staying empty is, that you might not be allowed to write to the file which can only happen if the ipod is formatted with the hfs+ filesystem which has access control (in contrast to fat32). -- So change the permissions (see chmod) and then set the model again in amarok. Now cover art should be enabled.
Musicbrainz isn't finding any tags
Musicbrainz only knows about tracks whose signatures have been submitted. The same song usually has more than one track.
But if its not picking up any tracks, likely your Musicbrainz was compiled without support for MP3s. So you need to recompile libtunepimp and musicbrainz with MP3 support. Directions:
- MP3 on Ubuntu 5.10
- On Kubuntu 6.06 you only have to upgrade to Amarok 1.4
- MP3 on SUSE Linux 10.1
Amarok crashes when I play a certain track, everytime, what's wrong?
This usually means TagLib is crashing while reading that track's tags. Report the bug against TagLib at [1].
Audio playback seems choppy. What causes this? Is there anything I can do?
Audio playback can be affected by many things on a Unix/Linux system, including choice of drivers, sound card, the desktop environment you use, or even the filesystem you are using. You might try some of the things mentioned here http://ck.kolivas.org/faqs/audio_hints.txt
Amarok crashes often, what can I do?
- Upgrade your ALSA libs and utils to the latest version, or use OSS, or OSS emulation
- If you use MySQL as the database backend, try the SQLite one, it is slightly more mature (the Amarok code, not the db itself)
- Try a different audio-engine.
- Make sure that all the libraries that Amarok uses were compiled with the same GCC version as Amarok itself. The situation when Amarok is compiled using GCC 3.4.x and linked against taglib which was compiled using GCC 3.3.x can lead to crashes even if you are not editing tags.
- If you're using KDE with artsd, try disabling "auto suspend if idle after..." in the sound system settings or at least don't use a value of 1 second since that will interfere every time amarok switches songs.
- Generally other apps blocking the sound devices might cause trouble. Sound demons like esd, Flash (also look for open web browsers in general), RealPlayer, older versions of Skype,...
Otherwise, forward us the backtraces when the email pops-up (you'll see). If you get a crash often you will get it fixed for sure if you forward a really good backtrace to us. See the next sections for assistance there.
How can I obtain a decent backtrace?
See the Debugging HowTo
Amarok is not displaying my utf-8 id3v2 tags properly!
- This is because most applications put utf8 data into id3v2 tags but do not specify the encoding as unicode. This perl script will fix that.
#!/usr/bin/perl die "File $ARGV[0] doesn't exist" unless -f $ARGV[0]; use MP3::Mplib; my $mp3 = MP3::Mplib->new($ARGV[0]); my $v2tag = $mp3->get_v2tag; print "Error writing tags of $ARGV[0]\n" unless $mp3->set_v2tag($v2tag,&UTF8);
- Note: This script requires the perl module MP3::Mplib which can be installed by issuing this command
perl -MCPAN -e 'install MP3::Mplib'
Amarok just freezes! How can I help get this fixed?
- You can obtain a backtrace of a frozen instance of Amarok using gdb like so:
$ gdb -p `pidof amarokapp` (gdb) thread apply full bt all
- Then just post the backtrace to PasteBin as described in the Debugging HowTo.
Amarok statusbar icons (Random/Repeat/Append) look constantly Active on KDE 3.4
- This is a known bug in KDE >=3.4. The icon effects are sometimes forgotten.
- Simple fix kcontrol -> appearance -> icons -> advanced, select either "Small Icons" or "All icons" in the list and set disabled state to "Gray" and "Semi-transparent".
- (Note that sometimes you have to click on the icon three times before it has an effect after making this change.)
Amarok hangs for a few moments when dragging songs in the playlist
This sometimes happens when the song you're dragging is trying to load its album cover, which starting from version 1.4.4 is now displayed as a tooltip when dragging songs in the playlist. You can disable the loading of album covers altogether by removing write permissions from ~/.kde/share/apps/amarok/albumcovers and its subdirectories, cache and large.
Amarok cannot be started complaining about undefined symbols
- If you get this error : "amarokapp: symbol lookup error: amarokapp: undefined symbol: _ZN11KSystemTray9setPixmapERK7QPixmap", then check that amarokapp uses the correct libqt (check with : ldd `which amarokapp` | grep qt).
- To fix it, you might have to remove any conflicting libqt and/or edit /etc/ld.so.conf so it pick up the correct version first.
Drag and Drop doesn't work at all (e.g. in playlists)
If you are using a window manager other than KDE then please make sure that you're using a recent version of the QT-library (libqt). Problems have been reported with libqt prior to release 3.3.5. Also see this entry in the Ion FAQ.
(mp3) playback quality seems to be poor or too quiet, what can I do?
Try turning off the equalizer or upgrade at least to Amarok 1.4.5 as it has been much improved there. You can also try to set the option for speaker setup to "Pass through" rather than some actual speaker setup. There is a thread about this question on the mailing list.
Where is my menubar gone?
Press CTRL+M and it will be back. :-)
My collection scan takes very long to complete
Look at the file ~/.kde/share/apps/amarok/collection_scan.log. It should contain single file name. If that name does not change for some time, try moving the file out of your collection directory and restart the scan.
Amarok 2.0 FAQ
Czy Amarok 2.0 będzie dostarczony z KDE 4.1?
Nie. Spodziewajcie się wydania 2.0 gdzieś pomiędzy KDE 4.1 i 4.2
Czy Amarok 2.0 będzie działał na Windows i OS X?
Tak, Amarok 2.0 będzie działał na obu systemach, a instalatory będą dostępne. Niestety, nie mamy (jeszcze) możliwości, aby zaoferować pełną obsługę tych systemów. Prawie wszyscy z naszych programistów używają Wolnych Systemów Operacyjnych, i to oni są dla nas priorytetem. Jednakże zapraszamy programistów Windowsa i OS X, chcących pomóc i ulepszyć Amaroka na tych platformach. Przeczytaj więcej o wersji dla Windows w 11 numerze Amarok Insider.
Według mnie Amarok 2 wyląda okropnie.
Nie martw się i pozwól nam nad nim popracować, to wciąż jakość alfa i mamy wiele do zrobienia. Jeśli jednak ty, masz jakiś konstruktywny pomysł lub konkretne rozwiązanie dla jakichś problemów, skontaktuj się z nami. Szukamy również jakichkolwiek pełnoetatowych grafików, którzy chcieliby pracować z naszym zespołem. Możemy zaoferować jedynie satysfakcję i sławę, co o tym myślicie? ;)
Czy Amarok 2.0 będzie dopuszczał używanie własnych motywów?
Amarok 2.0 najprawdopodobniej nie będzie na to pozwalał. Chcielibyśmy sprawić, aby wyglądał świetnie na pulpicie u każdego, bez względu na rozmiar ekranu, kolory systemowe lub wybrany zestaw ikon. Aby tego dokonać, Amarok 2 dostosowuje odcień grafiki do kolorów systemowych. Tak więc, żeby mieć Amaroka, wyglądającego zupełnie inaczej, spróbuj zmienić kolor motywu systemowego. Jednakże nie wykluczamy możliwości, dodania takiej funkcji później, w trakcie rozwoju 2 serii Amaroka.
Czy Amarok 2.0 będzie obsługiwał różne bazy danych, jak w serii 1.x?
Nie, planujemy wykorzystywanie jedynie wbudowanego MySQL, przez wzgląd na prostotę kodu źródłowego, koszt utrzymania i wydajność. Mniej błędów dla wszystkich!
To do dupy. Używam własnego serwera MySQL/PostgreSQL do dzielenia kolekcji z Amaroka 1.x (statystyki, okładki) na wielu komputerach
To był tylko hack. Ale dzięki nowej infrastrukturze Usług Sieciowych w Amaroku, będziesz mógł odpalić serwer Ampache, połączyć się z nim przez Amaroka i cieszyć korzyściami płynącymi z prawdziwego domowego serwera multimediów.
Czy Amarok 2.0 będzie obsługiwał różne silniki audio, xine, gstreamer itd.?
Tak, ale nie w sposób znany z Amaroka 1. Od teraz Amarok obsługuje jedynie Phonon, który z kolei używa wcześniej wspomnianych bibliotek. Rezultatem tego, będzie większa ilość obsługiwanych typów plików, gdy tylko kolejne silniki staną się dostępne dla Phonona.
...obsługa wideo. Tak czy nie?
Tak. Amarok już obsługuje i będzie obsługiwał wyświetlanie plików wideo. Oznacza to jedynie, że będzie pokazywał każdy plik wideo, który znajdzie na liście odtwarzania, nic więcej. Zarządzanie plikami wideo, obsługa kolekcji, odtwarzanie DVD, napisów, ani żadne inne wymyślne funkcje nie są planowane. Sprawdza się to jednak świetnie z wieloma podcastami wideo. W szczególności razem z biblioteką podcastów.
Czy Amarok 2.0 będzie pozwalał na przeciąganie apletów Plasmy z głównego okna na pulpit?
Nie, to nie jest jeszcze możliwe z powodu ograniczeń technicznych. Ale do czasu wydania stabilnego Amarok 2.0, prawdopodobnie dostępnych będzie wiele plasmoidów na pulpit, które pozwolą na wyświetlanie informacji z Amaroka, jak również kontroli programu. Nie zdecydowaliśmy jeszcze dla całej serii 2.x. Zobaczmy jak sytuacja będzie się rozwijać.
Czy Amarok 2.0 będzie mógł używać mojej starej kolekcji? Czy moje tagi, oceny i statystyki zostaną utracone?
Jeden z naszych programistów pracuje nad skryptem do przenoszenia całej zawartości Twojej starej kolekcji do bazy danych Amaroka 2. Będzie on prawdopodobnie gotowy na czas wydania Amarok 2.0.
Czy stare skrypty będą działać w Amaroku 2.0?
Nie. Tworzymy nowe potężne skryptowe API. Ogromne usprawnienia niosą za sobą koszt kompatybilności ze starymi skryptami. Nowy system skryptowy jest bazowany na QtScript i bardzo ograniczy zależności Amaroka (wielki problem dla zwykłych użytkowników i tych korzystających z różnych platform), oraz zmniejszy ilość uruchamianych zewnętrznych procesów. Kto, tak na prawdę chce mieć interpretery Pythona, Ruby i jeszcze inne siedzące w pamięci, żrące cenne zasoby podczas słuchania muzyki? QtScript ma ten plus, że jest dostępne dla wszystkich aplikacji Qt, bez dodatkowych kosztów. Kolejną zaletą jest to, że nowe API umożliwi lepszą, niż w starym systemie skryptów integrację z Amarokiem. Przeczytaj więcej o skryptach na blogu Petera, naszego studenta GSoC, który wkłada ogrom pracy w API skryptowe.
Czy Amarok 2.0 będzie obsługiwać urządzenia przenośne jak wersje 1.x?
Dla Amaroka 2 planujemy olbrzymią poprawę wsparcia dla tych urządzeń. Z użyciem Solid, warstwy sprzętu KDE, dzięki temu potrzeba znacznie mniej konfiguracji i możliwe będzie działanie urządzeń zaraz po ich podłączeniu. Dzięki Dynamicznym Kolekcjom urządzenia staną się częścią twojej kolekcji muzycznej, pojawi się możliwość wyszukiwania i dostępu z użyciem Przeglądarki Kolekcji do podłączonych urządzeń. Niestety nie jesteśmy pewni jak dużo z tego uda nam się ukończyć do wydania 2.0, ale na pewno wprowadzimy te zmiany w serii 2.x. Aby dowiedzieć się więcej o wsparciu urządzeń przenośnych, przeczytaj 11 numer Amarok Insider.
Jakie fajne udoskonalenia wnosi Amarok 2.0 do the table ?
Myślałem, że już nigdy nie zapytasz! Mamy wiele nowych, świecących cacuszek dla ciebie.
Największym udoskonaleniem jest Framework Usług, który integruje sieciowe źródła muzyki z Amarokiem. Włączając w to internetowe sklepy muzyczne, serwery medii, serwisy muzyczne i wiele więcej. Dzięki temu uzyskasz łatwy dostęp do muzyki dostarczanej przez serwisy takie jak Magnatune, Jamendo, Last.fm, MP3Tunes Locker, Ampache i wiele innych. Oczekuj więcej dużych (i małych) nazw, które zostaną dodane w cyklu życiowym 2.x.
Another biggie is the Context View, occupying the central place of the Amarok's window, replacing the old Context Browser from the 1.x series. It displays contextual information about the music you play, like the album cover, track rating, labels, lyrics, artist information, related songs and artists, track mood and others. Thanks to the Plasma technology it uses, Context View can provide very rich content, like AJAX, video and animations, all in eye catching fashion.
To accompany the Context View, we developed new, space efficient playlist. In order to preserve the horizontal space it groups the track name, artist, album name and cover art together, and allows further grouping by album names. It works great in practice! But for the nostalgic users amongst you we left the possibility to use the old playlist system. However, it's in a very unfinished state, and surely won't make for the 2.0 without additional help (hint! hint!).
Innym klejnotem jest wsparcie wideo. Poczujesz jak wspaniale jest oglądać teledyski w Amaroku! Możesz także oglądać podcasty.
When talking about gems, we can't forget the Biased Playlists, which extends the old Dynamic Playlists. They allow you to define an automatically populated playlist, based on specific probability driven criteria called "biases". For an illustration of Biased Playlists at work head on to Daniel's blog where he explains his latest developments.
There are many more great features which will await you in the Amarok 2.0, like the new SVG-based scalable theme, advanced scripting, dynamic collections, usability improvements, improved media devices handling, new podcast manager, support for more software platforms, and others. And think of it as just a tip of an iceberg.