Screenshot of Amarok 2.4 |
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| Original author(s) | Mark Kretschmann |
| Developer(s) | KDE |
| Initial release | 23 June 2003[1] |
| Stable release | 2.5 (December 20, 2011) [±] |
| Preview release | [±] |
| Written in | C++ (Qt) |
| Operating system | Unix-like, Mac OS X, Windows |
| Available in | Multilanguage |
| Type | Audio player |
| License | GNU General Public License Version 2 |
| Website | amarok.kde.org/en |
Amarok ( /ˈæmərɒk/)[2] is a cross-platform free and open source music player for KDE, but is released independently of the central KDE Software Compilation release cycle. Amarok is released under the terms of the GNU General Public License 2.
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The project was originally started by Mark Kretschmann as a means of improving XMMS due to several usability problems, which interfered with the addition of new files to the playlist due to several user interface elements existing for one task. The original amaroK was created based upon the idea of a two-pane interface seen in Midnight Commander, and the first version of the software released solely by Kretschmann, was based upon the ideal of allowing users to drag-and-drop music into an interface in which the playlist was displayed on the right and information on the left.
After the initial release of AmaroK, several developers joined the project to form the “Three M’s” the first of whom was Max Howell, who acted as an interface designer and programmer for the project, alongside Muesli (Christian Muehlhaeuser), who also provided user interface insight and programming till the late 1.4 versions. Originally named amaroK, it was renamed to Amarok in June 2006.
Amarok 1.4 established a reputation for innovation after its release, but maintaining development with the old framework became more difficult as Amarok grew. With the release of KDE 4 the developers decided to give Amarok a complete overhaul aesthetically as well as functionally.
A new major version of Amarok, version 2.0, was released on December 12, 2008. On June 3, 2009, version 2.1 was released which reintroduced a few of the 1.4 features which had been missing from the initial 2.0 release, and introduced some features such as native ReplayGain support for the first time.[3]
Despite the fact that Amarok uses wolf-based artwork, and that the name "amarok" or "amaroq" literally refers to the Inuktitut word for "wolf", it was originally named after the album Amarok by Mike Oldfield. The 1.2 release originally had a wolf icon, but this was later withdrawn due to similarity with the logo of WaRP Graphics Inc. Amarok’s wolf logo has now been modified sufficiently so as not to infringe on WaRP’s trademarked logo, and reinstated.
Amarok’s tagline is “Rediscover Your Music”, and its development is based around this ideology. Amarok’s core features such as the unique "context browser", integrated Wikipedia lookup and lyrics download help users to find new music, and to learn more about the music they have. Amarok also features integration with last.fm, giving users suggestions about what to listen to next and which artists may fit their mood, as well as with Magnatune integration, allowing no-cost full listening of all the music in their catalog, and DRM-free purchasing.
Amarok serves many functions in addition to the basic function of playing music files. For example, Amarok can be used to organize a library of music into folders according to genre, artist, and album, can edit tags attached to most music formats, associate album art, attach lyrics, and automatically "score" music by keeping play count statistics.
Although a more technical list of features is listed below, here are the primary functions or uses for Amarok:
From version 1.4.4, Amarok introduced the integration of Magnatune, a non-DRM digital music store, enabling users to purchase music in Ogg, FLAC, WAV, and MP3 formats.
Some of these features depend on other programs or libraries that must be installed on the computer to operate.
Amarok 2 was released on 10 December 2008 bringing along new features, but still less than Amarok 1.4, spawning considerable discussion, and a completely redesigned interface. New features include:
The user interface had been redesigned to make context information like lyrics and albums from the same artist more accessible and allow the user to decide which information is available by adding applets to the Context View in the middle. The new Biased Playlists offer a way to let Amarok take care of the playlist in an intelligent way similar to Dynamic Playlists in previous versions. New services can easily be added via GetHotNewStuff in Amarok or from kde-apps.org. The migration to the KDE Platform 4 allows Amarok 2 to make use of technologies like Plasma, Phonon, and Solid which make Amarok easier to use and maintain.
The transition from version 1.4 to version 2 was criticized by some users. As a consequence some new projects have been established, based on Amarok version 1.4.x.
| Colour | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Red | Release no longer supported |
| Green | Release still supported |
| Blue | Future release |
| Major Version | Codename | Minor Version | Release date | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.5 | Wocka | 0.5.0 | 2003-06-23 | Initial release |
| 0.6 | ?? | 0.6.0 | 2003-09-20 | ?? |
| 0.7 | The Last Zombie | 0.7.0 | 2003-11-16 | Added support for cross fading and customizable columns. |
| 1.0 | ?? | 1.0.0 | 2004-06-17 | Added searchable 'collection', file browser, cover art from Amazon and statistics. |
| 1.1 | I am a rock | 1.1.0 | 2004-09-27 | Added song ratings and support for Xine, MAS and K3b. |
| 1.2 | ?? | 1.2.0 | 2005-02-14 | Support for iPods, Audioscrobbler, MySQL and a themeable browser. |
| 1.3 | Airborne | 1.3.0 | 2005-08-14 | New playlist browser, work on interface, dynamic playlists, support for podcasts, relative paths in playlists, playlist queue, Wikipedia integration and cuesheets. |
| 1.3.9 | 2006-03-26 | Helix and GStreamer engine, nicer interface, work on podcast support. | ||
| 1.4 | Fast Forward | 1.4.0 | 2006-05-17 | Improved support for mobile devices, work on memory usage and interface design, integration of Last.FM into the context browser, gapless playback using Xine, lyrics now fetched with scripts, advanced Wikipedia integration, CD ripping via drag n drop, improved handling of podcasts. |
| 1.4.1 | 2006-07-02 | Improved performance and usability, name changed from amaroK to Amarok, Last.FM streams, rating via scripts. | ||
| 1.4.2 | 2006-08-22 | DAAP client, MTP media device support, dynamic collection, custom Last.FM stations. | ||
| 1.4.3 | 2006-09-05 | AFT (Amarok File Tracking). | ||
| 1.4.4 | 2006-10-30 | Magnatune integration, 3 different ways of crossfading with Xine and helix engine. | ||
| 1.4.5 | 2007-02-04 | SHOUTcast streams, labels. | ||
| 1.4.6 | 2007-06-21 | Added a new icon set and Rockbox support. | ||
| 1.4.7 | 2007-08-13 | Updated icons and Cool Streams. | ||
| 1.4.8 | 2007-12-20 | Added/improved support for latest iPods (using libgpod3): 6th-Generation iPod Classic, 3rd-Generation iPod Nano, iPod Touch | ||
| 1.4.9 | 2008-04-09 | Only released in Kubuntu. It was missing one important bug-fix, so it was immediately superseded by 1.4.9.1 | ||
| 1.4.9.1 | 2008-04-12 | Updated translations, and bug-fixes | ||
| 1.4.10 | 2008-08-13 | Very important security update | ||
| 2.0 | In the beginning | 2.0.0 | 2008-12-10 | Complete redesign of interface, increased graphical features, KDE 4 support, first (not stable yet) release for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X.[7] |
| Magellan | 2.0.1.1 | 2009-01-11 | Searching and filtering in the playlist, reintroduction of queueing and stopping after track.
(Immediately superseded 2.0.1 after a security bug was found in the initial release).[8] |
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| Only Time Will Tell | 2.0.2 | 2009-03-05 | Bug and stability fixes.[9] | |
| 2.1 | Let There be Light | 2.1.0 | 2009-06-03 | Native ReplayGain support, a refactoring of context view, a playlist layout editor, and Amarok URLs and bookmarks.[10] |
| Oceania | 2.1.1 | 2009-06-17 | Mostly bug and stability fixes.[11] | |
| 2.2 | Sunjammer | 2.2.0 | 2009-10-01 | Layout editing, photo and video plasmoids, breadcrumb navigation in the collection browser, and much improved sorting and editing in the playlist.[12] |
| Weightless | 2.2.1 | 2009-11-16 | Faster collection scanner, podcast grouping, autofetching podcasts, SMB(samba) support in playlist.[13] | |
| Maya Gold | 2.2.2 | 2010-01-11 | Moodbar support, custom labels for music, podcast refinements, and many bugfixes.[14] | |
| 2.3 | Clear Light | 2.3.0 | 2010-03-15 | Better podcast support and saved playlists, many small improvements.[15] |
| The Bell | 2.3.1 | 2010-05-31 | Automated Playlist Generator, two new applets for the Context View, cover fetching improvements, and many bugfixes and small improvements.[16] | |
| Moonshine | 2.3.2 | 2010-09-21 | Dynamic Collection received fixes and should now work better with hard drives and USB mass storage devices, compatible with KDE’s 4.5 release, other bugfixes.[17] | |
| 2.4 | Slipstream | 2.4 | 2011-01-15 | Now you can convert tracks from one file format to another when copying from the file browser to the local collection. We will expand this to media devices in future releases, other bugfixes.[18] |
| 2.4.1 | Resolution | 2.4.1 | 2011-05-08 | Lyrics iPod handling both got some love, along with remote collections. Also, you can now better preview your changes in the Organize Collection feature, other bugfixes.[19] |
| 2.4.2 | Nightshade | 2.4.2 | 2011-07-07 | Enable drag and drop on collections to copy/move within Local Music and directly from the playlist, other bugfixes.[20] |
| 2.4.3 | Berlin | 2.4.3 | 2011-08-01 | Compiles with the LLVM frontend Clang, Enable drag and drop on collections to copy/move within Local Music and directly from the playlist, other bugfixes.[21] |
| 2.5 | Earth Moving | 2.5 | 2011-12-20 | Re-written USB Mass Storage support, integrated Amazon MP3 store, other bugfixes. Windows version of Amarok officially stable.[22] |
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