Amarok (software)


Amarok is a free and open-source music player. It is available for Unix-like, as well as for Windows and macOS systems. Although Amarok is part of the KDE project, it is released independently of the central KDE Software Compilation release cycle. Amarok is released under the terms of the GNU General Public License version 2.

History

The project was originally started by Mark Kretschmann as a means of improving XMMS due to several usability problems, which interfered with the addition of new files to the playlist due to several user interface elements existing for one task. The original amaroK was created based upon the idea of a two-pane interface seen in Midnight Commander, and the first version of the software released solely by Kretschmann, was based upon the ideal of allowing users to drag-and-drop music into an interface in which the playlist was displayed on the right and information on the left.
After the initial release of AmaroK, several developers joined the project to form the “Three M’s” the first of whom was Max Howell, who acted as an interface designer and programmer for the project, alongside Muesli, who also provided user interface insight and programming till the late 1.4 versions.
The program was originally named amaroK after a Mike Oldfield album of the same name. Later the artwork changed to reference Amarok, a wolf in Inuit mythology. The app's capitalisation was changed to Amarok in June 2006.
A new major version of Amarok, version 2.0, was released on December 12, 2008. On June 3, 2009, version 2.1 was released which reintroduced a few of the 1.4 features which had been missing from the initial 2.0 release, and introduced some features such as native ReplayGain support for the first time.

Features

Basic uses and functions

Amarok serves many functions in addition to the basic function of playing music files. For example, Amarok can be used to organize a library of music into folders according to genre, artist, and album, can edit tags attached to most music formats, associate album art, attach lyrics, and automatically "score" music by keeping play count statistics.
Although a more technical list of features is listed below, here are the primary functions or uses for Amarok:
From version 1.4.4, Amarok introduced the integration of Magnatune, a non-DRM digital music store, enabling users to purchase music in Ogg, FLAC, WAV, and MP3 formats.
Some of these features depend on other programs or libraries that must be installed on the computer to operate.

Technical features

Amarok 2 was released on 10 December 2008. New features include:
The user interface had been redesigned to make context information like lyrics and albums from the same artist more accessible and allow the user to decide which information is available by adding applets to the Context View in the middle.

Changes since 1.4

The transition from version 1.4 to version 2 was criticized by many users. As a consequence some new projects have been established, based on Amarok version 1.4.x.
Major VersionCodenameMinor VersionRelease dateNotes
0.5Wocka2003-06-23Initial release
0.62003-09-20
0.7The Last Zombie2003-11-16Added support for crossfading and customizable columns.
1.02004-06-17Added searchable 'collection', file browser, cover art from Amazon and statistics.
1.1I am a rock2004-09-27Added song ratings and support for Xine, MAS and K3b.
1.22005-02-14Support for iPods, Audioscrobbler, MySQL and a themeable browser.
1.3Airborne2005-08-14New playlist browser, work on interface, dynamic playlists, support for podcasts, relative paths in playlists, playlist queue, Wikipedia integration and cuesheets.
1.3Airborne2006-03-26Helix and GStreamer engine, improved interface, work on podcast support.
1.4Fast Forward2006-05-17Improved support for mobile devices, work on memory usage and interface design, integration of Last.FM into the context browser, gapless playback using Xine, lyrics now fetched with scripts, advanced Wikipedia integration, CD ripping via drag n drop, improved handling of podcasts.
1.4Fast Forward2006-07-02Improved performance and usability, name changed from amaroK to Amarok, Last.FM streams, rating via scripts.
1.4Fast Forward2006-08-22DAAP client, MTP media device support, dynamic collection, custom Last.FM stations.
1.4Fast Forward2006-09-05AFT.
1.4Fast Forward2006-10-30Magnatune integration, 3 different ways of crossfading with Xine and helix engine.
1.4Fast Forward2007-02-04SHOUTcast streams, labels.
1.4Fast Forward2007-06-21New icon set, Rockbox support.
1.4Fast Forward2007-08-13Updated icons and Cool Streams.
1.4Fast Forward2007-12-20Added/improved support for latest iPods : 6th-Generation iPod Classic, 3rd-Generation iPod Nano, iPod Touch
1.4Fast Forward2008-04-09Only released in Kubuntu. It was missing one important bugfix, so it was immediately superseded by 1.4.9.1
1.4Fast Forward2008-04-12Updated translations, and bug-fixes
1.4Fast Forward2008-08-13Very important security update
2.0In the beginning2008-12-10Complete redesign of interface, increased graphical features, KDE 4 support, first release for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X.
2.0Magellan2009-01-11Searching and filtering in the playlist, reintroduction of queueing and stopping after track.
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2.0Only Time Will Tell2009-03-05Bug and stability fixes.
2.1Let There be Light2009-06-03Native ReplayGain support, a refactoring of context view, a playlist layout editor, and Amarok URLs and bookmarks.
2.1Oceania2009-06-17Mostly bug and stability fixes.
2.2Sunjammer2009-10-01Layout editing, photo and video plasmoids, breadcrumb navigation in the collection browser, and much improved sorting and editing in the playlist.
2.2Weightless2009-11-16Faster collection scanner, podcast grouping, autofetching podcasts, SMB support in playlist.
2.2Maya Gold2010-01-11Moodbar support, custom labels for music, podcast refinements, and many bugfixes.
2.3Clear Light2010-03-15Better podcast support and saved playlists, many small improvements.
2.3The Bell2010-05-31Automated Playlist Generator, two new applets for the Context View, cover fetching improvements, and many bugfixes and small improvements.
2.3Moonshine2010-09-21Dynamic Collection fixes as an attempt to work better with hard drives and USB mass storage devices, compatible with KDE’s 4.5 release, other bugfixes.
2.4Slipstream2011-01-15Conversion of tracks from one file format to another when copying from the file browser to the local collection, other bugfixes.
2.4Resolution2011-05-08Lyrics and iPod handling both improved along with remote collections, you can now better preview your changes in the Organize Collection feature, other bugfixes.
2.4Nightshade2011-07-07Enable drag and drop on collections to copy/move within Local Music and directly from the playlist, other bugfixes.
2.4Berlin2011-08-01Compiles with the LLVM frontend Clang, Enable drag and drop on collections to copy/move within Local Music and directly from the playlist, other bugfixes.
2.5Earth Moving2011-12-20Re-written USB Mass Storage support, integrated Amazon MP3 store, other bugfixes. Windows version of Amarok officially stable.
2.6In Dulci Jubilo2012-08-13A complete overhaul of the iPod and iPhone support, transcoding for iPod-like and USB Mass Storage devices.
2.7A Minor Tune2013-01-18Preliminary version of the Nepomuk Collection plug-in. Statistics Synchronization between collections and with Last.fm. The File Browser's behavior and appearance was greatly improved. Audio CD playback was resurrected.
2.7Harbinger2013-05-15Fix inability to reverse "Use Music Location" decision and inability to clear database once all collection directories have been unset. Fix inability to create database when home directory contains non-ASCII characters.
2.8Return To The Origin2013-08-16A fancy audio analyzer visualization applet. Smooth fade-out when pausing music. Many UI improvements and visual tweaks including better support for alternate color themes. Significantly enhanced MusicBrainz tagger. Power management awareness with a pair of new configuration options. Performance optimizations and responsiveness tuning all over Amarok.
2.9Hibernaculum2018-03-07The last Qt4/KDE4.x based release before porting Amarok to Qt5 and Plasma5