Finding Mu

More fun with Ubuntu Linux!

I'm still in the process of setting up my system, and just got the multimedia all set up. The choice was Amarok for playing mp3's and transferring music to my iPod, and Kaffeine for video files and DVDs. So far everything works flawlessly. Performance and quality are great.

Amarok is simply the best music player I've ever used. Better than Windows Media Player, better than iTunes. Why? It does everything you want it to, it doesn't have all sorts of extra stuff you don't need (like ads), it looks great (see screenshot), and the functionality is awesome. Did I mention it's open source, and free?

It has a great "Random Playlist" mode that shows the upcoming 10 songs and last 5 songs- I love it. And when each song is playing, you get "context" information showing the album cover, lyrics, and links to more of the artist's music in your collection. When each song comes up, there's a popup on your screen showing the track, so you can keep doing your work without feeling the urge to go check it.

On top of it all, I even got my Microsoft multimedia keyboard working with Amarok. Here's how it works:

Step 1. Set up a .Xmodmap in your home directory. This converts the MS keyboard codes into a format recognizable by X windows:

keycode 162 = XF86AudioPlay
keycode 164 = XF86AudioStop
keycode 160 = XF86AudioMute
keycode 144 = XF86AudioPrev
keycode 153 = XF86AudioNext
keycode 176 = XF86AudioRaiseVolume
keycode 174 = XF86AudioLowerVolume

Step 2. Set up .xbindkeysrc to attach the keys to amixer (for volume control) and Amarok (for controlling your music).

#Volume Up
"amixer sset PCM 1+ unmute"
    XF86AudioRaiseVolume 

#Volume Down

"amixer sset PCM 1- unmute"

    XF86AudioLowerVolume 

#Volume Mute

"amixer sset PCM toggle"

    XF86AudioMute 

#Next Track

"amarok --next"

    XF86AudioNext

#Prev Track

"amarok --previous"

    XF86AudioPrev

#Play

"amarok --play"

    XF86AudioPlay

#Stop

"amarok --stop"

    XF86AudioStop

And that's it! Not as easy as it should be for the typical computer user, but maybe the Ubuntu people will make these things easier in future releases... For now the Ubuntu Guide is a great resource for getting you up and running with multimedia in Ubuntu.

Now off to lose myself in music and movies. ;)