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What are the best Linux music players that can be used as iPod managers?

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6 Options Considered

6 Options ConsideredPriceLicenseStatus
Clementine
Open Source / GNU General Public LicenseActive
Rhythmbox
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Mopidy
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Mopidy
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Banshee
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Clementine

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Omega9
Top Pro

Interface similar to Amarok 1.4

•••
Interface similar to Amarok 1.4
Endi Sukaj
Top Pro

Remote App for Android

•••
Has a very good remote app for Android.
Endi Sukaj
Miguel Gil Martínez
Top Pro

MusicBrainz smart tagging

•••
You can fix your music library very easily.
Endi Sukaj
Top Pro

Smart playlists

•••
Clementine gathers the users listening data to use for smart playlists.
Endi Sukaj
Top Pro

Tag editing

•••
Clementine features competent tag managing for all music files. Be it album art or just simple text entries.
Endi Sukaj
Top Pro

Built in format conversion

•••
Users can format any of their music files to a different format with Clementines built in format conversion tool.
Endi Sukaj
Top Con

Slow to start in Gnome/Cinnamon

•••
It takes about the same time to start as an IDE or Photoshop.
See 5 more ProsSee 5 more Pros

Rhythmbox

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Endi Sukaj
Top Pro

Podcast management

•••
Rhythmbox features built in podcast management.
Endi Sukaj
Top Pro

Plugin support

•••
Rhythmbox has support for plugins, which are essentially pieces of external code which can be loaded to add more functionality to the "vanilla" Rhythmbox.
Endi Sukaj
Top Pro

Internet radio

•••
Rhythmbox has built in support for users to add their own streaming audio / internet radio channels.
Endi Sukaj
Top Con

No album artist field

•••
Most other modern music players come with an Album Artist Field when sorting music. Collaboration is very common these days and often a song would feature multiple artists, but sometimes it is easier to just sort for Album Artists. It's a rather simple feature, yet Rhythmbox has repeatedly shot...
See 2 more ProsSee 2 more Pros

Mopidy

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John Hamelink
Top Pro

Can be run as a background service

•••
You can have it run in the background with no user interface if you like.
John Hamelink
Top Pro

Supports Spotify, Soundcloud, and many more

•••
Mopidy is modular, which means you can integrate many plugins into it, such as support for Spotify, Soundcloud, Google Play, YouTube, TuneIn, iTunes podcasts, and more!
John Hamelink
Top Pro

Wire-compatible with MPD

•••
A more featureful alternative to MPD.
John Hamelink
Top Pro

Integrates with music organisation systems

•••
Mopidy works with tools like beets which can be used to keep your music collection neat and tidy. This makes it very easy to search through your music, keep lyrics for all your tracks, and have high resolution artwork.
John Hamelink
Top Pro

Can be run on cheap devices such as the Raspberry Pi

•••
And can be controlled with an app on your phone or on one of many web frontends.
Endi Sukaj
John Hamelink
Top Con

Setup isn't as easy as many (most) other music players

•••
However if you've been considering something like MPD already, then give this a try!
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Mopidy

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Banshee

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Endi Sukaj
Top Pro

Extensions

•••
Banshee contains a way to add extensions to the application in order to customize and add to its feature list.
Endi Sukaj
Top Pro

Full featured media library management

•••
Banshee is not just a music player but a full featured media player. Users can store and manage their videos, music and podcasts all in one application.
Endi Sukaj
Top Pro

Not only for iPods

•••
Users can sync their phones and other music devices with this app and the library it contains.
Endi Sukaj
Top Pro

Metadata editor

•••
Banshee has a built in metadata editor that can edit files in bulk.
Endi Sukaj
Top Con

Has problems with large libraries

•••
Banshee has problems managing large libraries.
See 3 more ProsSee 3 more Pros

Amarok

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Endi Sukaj
Top Pro

Smart playlists

•••
Amarok offers you the ability to search through your playlist by the traditional keys (artist, album, year and track name) and by some more arcane options like beats per minute, sample rate and when the track was last played.
Endi Sukaj
Top Pro

Easy iPod syncing

•••
Syncing with the iPod is very easy, it can be done simply through a right-click menu on the iPod icon and once it's all synced and all the files are uploaded on the app and the cover artwork is also automatically downloaded for every album.
Endi Sukaj
Top Pro

Original design

•••
The design of Amarok does not resemble most other music players. It is definitely in its own class.
Endi Sukaj
Top Con

UI is not the most intuitive

•••
The first time Amarok is opened after a fresh install, it presents you with a lot of blank, grey space. Even though there's a lot of blank space, nothing seems to fit and since there are so many icons crammed in there it's not clear where to start. When the music library has been populated...
See 2 more ProsSee 2 more Pros

17 Community Recommendations

Omega9
MasterJ
Miguel Gil Martínez
Pablo Bianchi
Matt Williams
John Hamelink
Robert Beal
Caso Raro
Ben Guy-Williams
Mohammad Ahmed Bawany
IndependentPoseidon3659
+4
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