Software Update: Songbird 1.3.0 Beta 1

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The first beta release of version 1.3.0 of Songbird can be picked up on Songbirdnest. This open source music player is based on Gecko and is therefore available for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. Songbird is developed by Poti, short for ‘Pioneers of the Inevitable’. This group includes developers who were involved with Winamp and Yahoo Music Engine, among others. More information about the possibilities of this program is on this page to find back. New in this release is, among other things, support for MSC devices under Windows and the tags of wma and aac files can now also be adjusted. The release notes further mention the ‘issues’ that still need to be addressed before the release of the final:

New features and improvements

MSC (Mass Storage Class) Support (Windows only)

Songbird now includes basic support for managing music on MSC devices. This functionality is currently only available on Windows.

XULRunner Localization

All of the UI elements that Songbird inherits directly from XULRunner will display in the correct localized translation when a translation is available.

Metadata Editing for WMA and AAC

Songbird now supports metadata editing for WMA and AAC files.

Known bugs/issues to fix for 1.3.0 final

  • IMA ADPCM WAV files do not play back in Songbird (bug 17212).
  • The option to ignore an MSC device is available, but the option to clear the list of ignored devices is not yet available (bug 16798).
  • Editing the Genre field in AAC files causes corruption of the Genre field (bug 17210).
  • Variable bit rate WMA and mp3 files are transcoded to 128kbps WMA, even though the device supports the original format. (bug 17214).
  • Songbird cannot mount more than one MSC device simultaneously if the devices are plugged in before Songbird is launched (bug 17081).
  • Transcoding progress always shows 0% on the device summary page during transcoding operations (bug 17215).
  • The device name is not updated on the device summary page after formatting the device through Songbird (bug 17216).

Other known bugs/issues

Below are the high profile bugs/issues which are known to still be open for this release. You can also check the Common Duplicates page for lesser profile known issues.

NOTE:

  • For playback of DRM-encrypted files, make sure you have gone to store from which you purchased those tracks to learn how to authorize your computer to play them. Songbird will be able to play DRM-encrypted tracks as soon as your machine has been authorized.
  • The following are not yet supported by Songbird (will be planned for future releases):
    • Video Import and Playback, Podcast Subscriptions and Playback, CD Rip and Burn
  • We’ve attempted to address the requests for native iPhone and iPod Touch support by including the two-way iTunes synchronization feature. let us know how this alternative is working for you.

All Platforms

  • The interaction between Watch Folders and Manage Music can cause duplicates to appear in the library when the Watch Folder is also the Manage Music folder. Users should refrain from setting the Watch Folder and the Manage Music folder to the same location to avoid this situation. (bug 16641)
  • The interaction between Manage Music and iTunes’ Consolidate Library feature can cause “ghost tracks” to be imported into Songbird. Users should only use one application to manage their music library to avoid this problem. (bug 16641)
  • Dialogs text cropped when OS is using big fonts (bug 5583)
  • Window min/max sizing does not respect DPI (bug 6956)
  • [iPod] Album Artwork switched to wrong music (bug 7780)
  • [metadata-writing] Unable to write metadata to .m4a files (bug 8812)
  • [ipod] 1st Gen iPod shuffle not mounting in Songbird (bug 10432)
    • Temp Solution:
      • Go to iPod directory
      • Find “ipod_control” folder and delete it
      • Re-connect the ipod and Songbird will recognize it.
  • Paused tracks intermittently increase play count (bug 13615)
  • iTunes smart playlists aren’t imported (bug 16473)

Windows Specific

  • Cannot playback media items on MTP device from within Songbird app (bug 8068)
  • Some songs display as 0:00 (bug 9145)
  • Same files can be added twice to a device if 2 PCs are used (bug 9803)
  • Syncs involving large number of files pick up spurious files to copy (bug 15728)

Linux Specific

  • [linux] Mini mode position is not remembered when switched back from Full Player (bug 5938)
  • Maximized state is not remembered between feather changes (bug 9002)
  • [podcast][mac][linux] Play stopped on change of feather (bug 9525)
  • [mac][linux] Songbird does not play MIDI files (bug 9798)
  • [linux] Cannot D&D import files from directory with spaces it path name (bug 9804)
  • [linux] Files from SMB shares cannot be played (bug 12539)
  • Songbird won’t play music under Fedora 10/Songbird does not work on Fedora 10 (bug 15235)

MacOSX Specific

  • [mac][ipod] iTunes can interfere with mount of iPod in Songbird (bug 6946)
  • [podcast][mac][linux] Play stopped on change of feather (bug 9525)
  • [mac][linux] Songbird does not play MIDI files (bug 9798)
  • [mac] Mini-player doesn’t show up in Spaces (intermittent) (bug 9819)
  • [key][mac] Keyboard shortcuts for Play/Pause, Next/previous track not shown in Control menu (bug 12922)

Version number 1.3.0 beta 1
Release status beta
Operating systems Windows 2000, Linux, Windows XP, macOS, Windows Server 2003, Linux AMD64, Linux IA-64, Windows Vista
Website songbird nest
Download http://nightly.getsongbird.com/
File sizes 13.30MB – 18.40MB
License type GPL
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