Banshee, the next best thing to Linux iTunes

I haven't been able to just sit down and hack for several months. However, I used to work on Muine. Although I did not start the project, I did reorganize the code base and do extensive cleanup work. Muine has the sort of clean interface that I desire.

Rhythmbox was started by the same guy who started Muine. There is a vast difference in approach and the cluttered, iTunes-esque interface of Rhythmbox is why he left to start over with Muine.

There are a few things that Muine needs that I hope to work on soon: tag editing (this has been discussed and rejected as an integral part but a plugin or integration with EasyTag would be nice) and iPod support (again, plugin or integration with another piece of software) and a tree-based music list format which has been discussed for over a year now (which is nice because I work with music mainly by album, not song).

I think the iPod part of this should be a separate piece of software. This software should be able to accept drag-and-drop from Muine and other music players as well as from Nautilus, it should also be able to be remotely controlled -- so I could click "Sync with iPod" in Muine or whatever and have it show up in the iPod manager. It should also be able to process photos, contacts, videos (although I only have a nano so someone else would need to start this), etc.

Inclusion of too many things leads to bloat. Most KDE apps, including Amarok, are cluttered and confusing -- there are buttons and tabs all over the place. I haven't looked at the code but I'm sure it's just as confusing. Most Windows apps are the same way -- trying to stuff a ton of different functionality into one app.

What we need is:

• a music playing program
• a tag editing program
• a podcast program
• a webradio program
• an iPod managing program

The music playing program can act as the hub and tie these things together. If they have a consistent, clean interface -- both GUI and API -- then the user will have little trouble going from one to the other. They can even start each other -- Muine could have a button to launch the podcast program or even to be able to add a podcast from that program into the playlist.

So that's what we need -- not more and more general-purpose music apps trying to do everything.

-- Tamara Roberson