“A San Francisco start-up released an early test version of its open-source Songbird music software Wednesday, with which its ultimately hopes to undermine the dominance of Apple Computer’s iTunes,” John Borland reports for CNET News. “The company, which is led by digital music veteran Rob Lord, has cautioned the open-source community not to expect a full-featured music player from this first release, which they are calling only a ‘proof of concept’ for now.”
“Indeed, the first version has a tendency to crash occasionally, and lacks some of the more advanced features of an iTunes or Windows Media Player. But it does show off the company’s vision of a music player that is focused on the Internet, rather than on a computer’s hard drive,” Borland reports. “The player could also be used to tap into online music services such as RealNetworks Rhapsody or Yahoo’s music subscription service.”
Full article here.
The convenience of having a single program that provides access to all of the online music services that nobody uses cannot be adequately understated.
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Since the day MDN OPENED there has been no funnier take. I have laughed out loud for five minutes of that one!
“The convenience of having a single program that provides access to all of the online music services that nobody uses cannot be adequately understated.”
i dunno, could be the start of something big, and it does P2P which we know is what itll be primarily used for.
Good luck to them. Long live open standards and open source!
I dont get it…why is this worth posting about…we have itunes…if you dont like it…use VLC or another media player…
Beaut take MDN
“The convenience of having a single program that provides access to all of the online music services that nobody uses cannot be adequately understated.”
goes into my book too.
I agree that IS THE funniest MDN take ever…
You really can’t say anything better to this one.
I wonder what the implications are if you’re looking for a particular track (to buy) and it’s offered at three of the stores. Does
I wonder if the stores available like to have there competitors listed above them?
BTW IMHO it looks way too close to the iTMS. (Nice copying though.)
Bottom line, for me at least, is I use iTMS, I use an iPod… there ain’t no use for me to try something else. Not because I don’t like choices, but I have something that works, and it works well.
Jb
From the SongBird FAQ:
Does Songbird run on a Mac? Linux?
Not yet, but we’ve got the best Mac developer on the job. Look for Songbird to work on a Mac real soon. We’re also working on a Linux port.
Cool idea, and they’ve made some very good technology choices. Firefox’s rendering engine rocks, and XUL appears to be a very forward-looking standard.
Good competition for iTunes could only make iTunes better. Good luck to them.
what’s this all about ?
11:15 AAPL Apple Computer chatter (63.66 -1.29) -Update-
We are hearing some chatter this morning about AAPL that we can’t confirm, but found interesting nonetheless. The rumor is that DIS could buy a stake in AAPL’s iTunes, which could then be a first step towards an iTunes IPO. This is a new one to us, and this type of AAPL/DIS rumor could be motivated by the fact that Steve Jobs will be on the DIS board following its acquisition of PIXR. Some of the initial feedback we heard on this was skeptical, so again, just passing this one along.
Oh…but wait. Hasn’t anyone read the features of Songbird. you can “Pick Feathers”: Choose from the two included themes: Rubber Ducky or Cardinal Red. You can even make one yourself.
<BBR%> Can’t do THAT with iTunes!
Ya know, I’d rather have the Camino of MP3.
What a strange statement. “The Firefox of MP3.”
Isn’t that sort of like the Chevrolet of Gardening or something?
“Oh…but wait. Hasn’t anyone read the features of Songbird. you can “Pick Feathers”: Choose from the two included themes: Rubber Ducky or Cardinal Red. You can even make one yourself.
<BBR%> Can’t do THAT with iTunes!”
HelloooOOOOooo its called multi-plugin dumbface, go google it and download it, then skin your goddamned itunes.
Open source. Skinnable. Plays all music formats. Multiple choice of stores. Supports plug-ins/extensions. Cross-platform. Podcasts. Internet radio. Supports multiple MP3 players. API for developers …
… Watch out iTunes. The only thing protecting you is Apple’s proprietary DRM, and closed standards rarely survive.
And Open Source rarely makes it out of the basement of the science building.
Hey Alice…
is multi-plug PC only? I have searched and all I find are links to a .exe file.
What gives, you got me all drooly and stuff.
> And Open Source rarely makes it out of the basement of the science building.
LOL. What do you think Darwin is? Or Samba (which is what MacOS uses to share disks and printers with PC’s)? Or Apache (the MacOS personal web server)?
What a silly comment.
Sorry it’s nowhere as cool as this
http://homepage.mac.com/hogfish/iMovieTheater19.html
When you look at the volumes that iTunes handles and its complete lack of errors -I’ve not had a single one in two years plus- the Farting Bird will need to be very good indeed… assuming you want to have complexity in your life. As they say Less is More…
It sounds to me like these are really two different types of programs. It won’t really compete with iTunes if it’s accessing P2P and other music sites no one uses.
http://musobs.blogspot.com/
Reality Check, looks like the .doc, .xls, .wmv, .indd, .psd, .qxd, etc. formats are doing quite well. Closed ecosystems. License to play. Been around for a long while. Supports multiple platforms. APIs for developers. Your point?
My point? I can only play ITMS music on iPods. How daft is that? Cassettes play on any cassette player. Records on any record player. CD’s on any CD player. DVDs on any DVD player. And then Apple invent ITMS. Way to go!
Incidentally, it doesn’t have to be this way. Check out http://www.emusic.com. 22 cents a track, MP3, no DRM. Excellent choice. Works on any player. Burn and play as much as you like. [Although admittedly the range is “limited” to classical, jazz, blues, alternative and folk. But that suits me just fine].
Reality check check-mated…again.
Yeah, whatever.
If you want to pay four times the price for music that can only play on one brand of player, please be my guest. It must be wonderful to have such a blinkered view on life.