A Banshee scream

Back when I started writing articles in this blog, Songbird was one of the applications that I covered. In my opinion, it was the best Audio player available in the GNOME desktop manager. Unfortunately, the Songbird Linux project was cut and since then I had not really found any proper alternative, so I was just settling down with Audacious.

Come Ubuntu 10.10, I had the opportunity to try Banshee 1.8.0, which was getting rave reviews and I have to say I am impressed.

INSTALLATION

Banshee is not part of the Ubuntu repositories by default, at least not the latest version, so users will need to add the banshee PPA available and then install from there. In addition, there are a couple extensions that I find very much worth installing, so putting together a quick and simple script may help with the whole installation process.

#!/bin/bash

# Install the Banshee PPA
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:banshee-team/ppa

# Update sources, install Banshee and a couple extensions
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get -y install banshee banshee-extension-soundmenu banshee-extension-lyrics

You could always copy and paste these commands separately, but I find it easier to run them as part of a simple script. Should you want to follow the script route, simply copy the code above and paste it into a text document, then save it as banshee_install.sh. To execute it, provide it with execution permissions from file properties or by running the following command:

chmod 774 banshee_install.sh

Once done, the script would be ready for execution.

LISTENING TO THE BANSHEE SCREAM

Banshee includes some neat features, but it lacks others that are part of other Linux audio players. For example, a beats per minute (BPM) scanner allows for full library scanning in the background, which is a very nice thingy for us musicians. On the other hand, it misses the Lyrics applet that is so much a part of Amarok by now, or the Ubuntu system tray integration that is now native in Rhythmbox.

Note that keeping the BPM analyzer on by default will impact the application performance. I recommend you run it once to analyze your library completely, which will take a while, then disable it.


Click on image to enlarge.

Luckily, as can be seen on the screenshot below, Banshee can make up for it through some neat extensions. If you used the script I provided above, you would be adding the panel integration and the lyrics applet features. It should be noted that both features are disabled by default after they are installed, so manual activation is required from Banshee preferences menu.


Click on image to enlarge.

The lyrics extension may perhaps feel a bit "unnatural" if you are used to Songbird or Amarok because it is not part of the default interface, but a popup window instead. This could trip some users, who may wonder where that lyrics applet is. Once the feature is understood, though, it is extremely easy to use, and perhaps even welcome that the interface is not overcrowded by it.


Click on image to enlarge.

The star extension, though, is that integration with the Ubuntu sound menu from the panel system tray. I find this a great piece of functionality because I can close Banshee, keep it running in the background and control it from the sound menu, as opposed to having another system tray icon there that is not consistent with the over all Look&Feel. Below is a picture of how the sound menu integration works.



IT IS A LOUD SCREAM

I am happy to say that I have found a favorite GNOME audio player in Banshee 1.8.0. It is not perfect and still lacks in some areas (the album cover feature is not flexible at all, light years behind what Amarok is offering, for example), but it is definitely great and can pull off some nice tricks of its own.

If you have not tried Banshee 1.8.0 yet, I very much recommend you do.