Songbird, the cross platform music player based on Mozilla Firefox engine, which declared few months back that it will stop development of its Linux version, has just released a beta version of the music player. The version now stands at 1.8.0 beta 2. This is a surprising turnaround by the developers. However, you will not be able to find out from the official Songbird site, where, only Windows and Mac versions are displayed.
Follow the steps below to get the latest Songbird on your Linux machine.
For 32 bit systems
wget http://download.songbirdnest.com/installer/linux/i686/Songbird_1.8.0b2-1730_linux-i686.tar.gz
tar zxvf Songbird_1.8.0b2-1730_linux-i686.tar.gz
cd Songbird
./songbird
For 64 bit systems
wget http://download.songbirdnest.com/installer/linux/x86_64/Songbird_1.8.0b2-1730_linux-x86_64.tar.gz
tar zxvf Songbird_1.8.0b2-1730_linux-x86_64.tar.gz
cd Songbird
./songbird
Thanks to The Ubuntu News
I know everybody is saying the same thing but.. WHY?!?!? WHY?!?!?!?!?!?!
Isn’t songbird open source? Why would they stop supporting linux? Does anyone know? I need to understand why I’ve been abandoned. I will continue to use this most recent build until it inevitably becomes so obsolete it stops working and I have to move to something else. I’m crushed.
They stopped supporting Linux because Linux users were not only a minority but also less willing to help them with bug reports or beta testing(I blame Ubuntu users, but they’re my scapegoat for anything bad for Linux). Add this to the fact that they’re short handed as is and you get a tough decision: drop official support for one of the three OS’s. They dropped the Linux one, which honestly since the best Linux support out there is generally from users more so than anyone else, isn’t much of a big deal.
They keep the Linux downloads available though. Just labeled as “untested” and not posted in the “Downloads” section.
By the way, thanks for the instructions.
great post! how do i create the access on applications field?
thanks a lot in advance for the help!
right click on the applications field. click edit menus. then select sound and menu. click add item and add the path of the songbird file , which is ~/Songbird/songbird
It still is open source. Go here for build instructions ==> http://wiki.songbirdnest.com/Developer/Articles/Getting_Started/Core_Player_Development/Building_Songbird
My Windows Live email is skinj0b@live.com and also for messenger or amsn. Add me as a contact and you will have read only access to my files once I approve you.
I will make a public folder on my Sky Drive called Linux Applications and add my apps for Debian there, in case anyone is interested in having actual Firefox on Debian, flash with out patches and more. I have had no issues so far with my apps either. OK Peace.