Amarok Part 1

One thing that worried me when I first installed Ubuntu was that I would be forced to learn how to use the CLI, Command Line Interface.  If you're unfamiliar with this, it looks a lot like DOS, where you are given a prompt and must input a command that you want the computer to run.  Having been enslaved by Microsoft from an early age, I have not learned to communicate in this specific language.  I'm all about the point and click...like a lab monkey trained to identify the red ball from the pile.  My worries were unfounded, however, as all the apps I've come across to date are customizable from their respective "settings" tabs, exactly as they would be in Winblows.  This was important for me, specifically when it came to the app I use most often, music player Amarok.

If you read my first post, you'll know that I wiped windows from my system completely.  Now, even though I had my music collection on the back-up disks I had made of Winblows, it seemed like it would be a hassle to try and extract those without re-installing the entire O/S, at least at my level.  So, once Amarok was installed I plugged my iPod (which thankfully contains the majority of my music library) into my USB port and crossed my fingers that Amarok would recognize it.  Not only did Amarok recognize it (and immediately begin playing my music), but I was able to take the files from my iPod and copy them to my Music folder on my hard drive, something that I had heard was tricky running winblows/iTunes, (though, admittedly, I've never tried it, it could be very straightforward).

At first (very quick) glance, Amarok appears to be similar to iTunes, specifically with respect to the playlist layout.  Then it gets much better.  Along the left hand side, you have several options right off the bat.  Context, which I usually leave up, allows you to toggle between Music, Lyrics (!!!), and Artist.  The latter automatically fetches information for the artist currently playing from www.wikipedia.org, Lyrics allows you to sing along with your favorite tune using a variety of databases, but the simply named Music tab is the most useful, (as much as I do love singing along).  It displays the title and artist of the current track, along with a counter telling you the number of times you've listened to that track, albums by that artist including the track listings, and displays similar artists and suggested songs from your library, each scored based on your listening history.  And if you rate the song (more on that later) you're listening to, the suggestions for both songs and artists will change accordingly to more precisely match your preferences.  As well, it allows you to enter a tag for the song currently playing.  Aren't familiar with tagging your music?  Type whatever word you like that describes the current song, and Amarok will keep track.  At this point, I'm still trying to figure out how to load a playlist based on tags, so that when I'm in a specific mood, I can type "metal" and have all tracks I've previously tagged that way populate the playlist, but I'll write about that when I figure it out.

The other options on the left include Collection, (which lists your entire music collection by artist), Files, Devices, (for your external players, such as an iPod), Playlists, and Magnatune, which I'm still playing with and will elaborate on in another post.

As for the rating option, anyone who has used iTunes in the past, (and I feel your pain) will be familiar with the 5 star rating.  Amarok doubles your fun, allowing you 10 different ratings to further distinguish between, "man, this is a really good tune", and "OMFG I LOVE THIS SONG!".  Now, to a lot of people this isn't really a big deal, but I was pretty excited when I found it, as one of my (many) complaints about iTunes was that 5 stars just isn't enough to cover the many different levels of how much I like a song. In Amarok, once you click in the appropriate spot for the desired track, moving your cursor will highlight between one and five stars.  If you highlight then click, say, 4 then all you have to do is click the 4th star and it will shrink, essentially giving that track 3.5 stars.  Hovering over ratings will give you a text description of the rating, in the previous example, "Very Good".  Rated the wrong track?  Just click on the first star once to shrink it, and a second time to erase it.

Nicole