Songbird (software)


Songbird is a discontinued music player originally released in early 2006 with the stated mission "to incubate Songbird, the first Web player, to catalyze and champion a diverse, open Media Web".
Songbird utilizes the cross-platform frameworks Mozilla XULRunner and GStreamer media framework. Songbird runs on Windows and macOS. In 2012, an Android version and an iOS version were released. Songbird at one point also supported Solaris and Linux, but this support was dropped. As a result, users forked Songbird and created a Windows, Mac, and Linux compatible derivative under the name Nightingale.
Songbird announced on 14 June 2013 that it would stop all operations and shut down by 28 June. The company was unable to fund further business operations and as a result all operations and associated services were discontinued.

Features

Extensions

Users can add features and change functionality in Songbird by installing extensions. Extensions are similar to the Extensions for the Firefox browser and can be easily ported. Community coded extensions are available on Songbird's addons support page. Known community designed extensions are: Qloud Tagging & Search, eMusic Integration, iTunes Importer, Artist Tracker, Library File Organizer, Audioscrobbler Notifier, Wikipedia Artist Display, SHOUTcast Radio Directory, UnPlug, Adblock Plus, Taglib metadata handler, ChatZilla, and FoxyProxy.

Skins

s are referred to as "feathers" in Songbird, and give users and artists the ability to change the look of Songbird via an extension which generates a default skin. Using CSS, and an image manipulation program such as Photoshop or GIMP, users are then able to make Songbird look however they want.

History

Songbird was founded by Rob Lord and developed by Pioneers of the Inevitable.
In January 2010, Philips announced they would ship a personalized version of Songbird with some of their line of portable audio/video players.
On 2 April 2010, it was announced that official Linux support would end with Songbird version 1.7.2. POTI Inc. would instead focus on its Windows and Mac OS X versions of Songbird, providing only unofficial support for Linux releases.
Sometime during late 2012 or early 2013, Songbird's public SVN was taken down, along with their wiki and other source code related utilities. A survey later sent out via Twitter by Songbird suggested that POTI was closing the desktop player source code, planning to later sell an updated version, fixing many outstanding bugs and feature requests by users who had been ignored for years.
ColorMeaning
RedOld release
YellowUnreleased, internal milestone
GreenCurrent release
BlueFuture release

VersionRelease dateCodenameSignificant changes
0.18 February 2006Hilda
0.1.122 February 2006
0.2 RC126 September 2006
  • Cross-platform
  • * Windows 2000, XP
  • * Mac OS X
  • * Linux
  • * 30+ languages
  • New features
  • Bug fixes
  • Automatic updates
  • 0.217 October 2006
  • Cross-platform compatibility.
  • Multi-language support.
  • 0.2.528 February 2007
  • Windows Media DRM audio playback.
  • FairPlay audio playback.
  • USB mass storage device support.
  • iPod device support.
  • Automatic locales downloading.
  • Improved OS integration.
  • 0.330 October 2007Bowie
  • Tabbed browsing.
  • API overhaul.
  • Updated to Gecko 1.9
  • 0.3.16 November 2007
  • Six major bug fixes.
  • 0.427 December 2007Cher
  • Display panes.
  • 0.526 March 2008Dokken
  • Media library API.
  • MTP device support.
  • 0.613 June 2008Eno
  • Memory and performance improvements.
  • Write metadata back to the file.
  • 0.6.125 June 2008
  • Three major bug fixes.
  • 0.720 August 2008Fugazi
  • Layout and feather changes
  • Smart playlists
  • Drag & drop
  • Dropped support for Mac OS X PPC
  • 1.02 December 2008Genesis
  • GStreamer media core on all platforms
  • 1.1.110 March 2009Hendrix
  • Watch folders for changes and auto-import media
  • Fetching Album Art
  • Playback normalization
  • Improved sorting
  • Gapless MP3 playback via file metadata
  • 1.1.29 April 2009Hootie
  • Bugfix release
  • 1.218 June 2009Isan
  • Automatically Organize Library Files
  • 2-way Sync with iTunes
  • Last.fm Radio
  • 10-band Equalizer
  • 1.3Jackson 5
  • Dropped iPod device support
  • Mass Storage Class device support
  • Playback of additional formats
  • Metadata support for MP4 and ASF files
  • Transcoding to MP3 or WMA formats
  • 1.4December 2009Kanye
  • MP3 encoding
  • Mobile device firmware updates
  • CD ripping
  • CD information lookup
  • Notification for un-synced DRM controlled media
  • 1.4.323 December 2009KoЯn
  • New Feather
  • Addons Visual Redesign
  • New First Run Bundle
  • Additional Device Support
  • Critical Bug Fixes
  • Easily Resizable Display Panes
  • 1.5Led Zeppelin
  • Video Library
  • Video Playback
  • Video Metadata
  • Video Device Sync
  • Performance and Stability
  • Vendor Rebasing
  • General Build Improvements
  • Video Transcoding
  • Windows 7 Support
  • 1.6.0Madonna
  • Video Transcoding
  • Video Transcoding Device Support
  • Device Video Compatibility
  • Firmware Support
  • Import Network Settings
  • Gracenote metadata
  • Performance and Stability
  • Codec Profiling
  • Startup Localization
  • Some Firefox Addons Start Working on Songbird
  • 1.7.0Nirvana
  • Photo Device Synchronization
  • AAC Decoder
  • Windows 7 Support
  • Additional Device Support
  • Performance and Stability
  • Ability to subscribe to new podcasts removed.
  • 1.7.23 June 2010NOFX
  • Additional Encoding Support
  • Additional Device Support
  • SD Card Support
  • Video Window
  • Performance and Stability
  • Official Linux support dropped
  • 1.8.02 September 2010Orbital
  • New Device Support
  • Mac USB/MSC Support
  • Mac Partner Integration
  • Service Pane Cleanup
  • Device Synchronization and UI Cleanup
  • AAC Encoding
  • Stream Transcoding
  • Performance and Stability
  • 1.9.39 February 2011Pink Floyd
  • Online Media Store Integration
  • Play Queue Addon
  • CD Rip for Mac
  • Firmware Updates
  • Seamless Update for Partner Releases
  • XULRunner 1.9.2
  • Misc Minor Projects
  • 7digital Addon Rewrite
  • Performance and Stability
  • 1.10.11 November 2011Qbert
  • Device 2-Way Sync
  • Performance and Stability
  • 1.10.225 January 2012
  • Playlist and track sync with Android devices has been improved.
  • Added official support for Google/Samsung Nexus S, Samsung Galaxy SII, HTC Evo 3D, and Galaxy Nexus.
  • The issue with WMA tracks not being playable after updating to 1.10.1 should be resolved.
  • When creating a Smart Playlist with the criteria of "Playlist is Library", Songbird no longer crashes
  • 1.10.322 May 2012
  • ?
  • 2.0.08 June 2012
  • New skin matches the Songbird.me web app and updated Android skin
  • 2.131 October 2012
  • ?
  • 2.215 February 2013
  • ?