# Recommend good music-playing software that handles large playlists and runs in Linux
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-good-music-playing-software-that-handles-large-playlists-and-runs-in-linux/487378
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [February 25, 2009, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-good-music-playing-software-that-handles-large-playlists-and-runs-in-linux/487378 "2009-02-25T16:27:14Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2009, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-good-music-playing-software-that-handles-large-playlists-and-runs-in-linux/487378/1 "2009-02-25T16:27:14Z")
I know where I want to be, but I don’t know what software to use to get there. (And yes, I know I’m way behind the times here.)
I want to set up a music server and use it to house all my digital music. No problems there, I have excellent software for ripping and encoding. But I want to create and be able to manage playlists that could contain thousands of songs. Being new to this way of dealing with music, I simply don’t know if that’s asking a lot.
I’ve been looking at WinAMP for a while and it looks good, but it turns out for various reasons that the PC I’ll be using for this project will run Ubuntu Linux rather than Windows, so I need something I can use there. One recommendation I’ve found is for XMMS, which I’ve never used.
I don’t use a portable player, so easy syncing is no selling point for me, FWIW.
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### Author:  [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2009, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-good-music-playing-software-that-handles-large-playlists-and-runs-in-linux/487378/2 "2009-02-25T17:24:16Z")
Banshee’s the best music player for Gnome, IMO (and I think I’ve tried all major ones, and a load of minor efforts).
(sudo apt-get install banshee).
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### Author:  [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2009, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-good-music-playing-software-that-handles-large-playlists-and-runs-in-linux/487378/3 "2009-02-25T20:27:54Z")
Thanks, **Capt**! I’ll definitely give that a look-see.
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### Author:  [@Commander\_Keen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Commander_Keen)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2009, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-good-music-playing-software-that-handles-large-playlists-and-runs-in-linux/487378/4 "2009-02-25T21:14:11Z")
XMMS is OK, it’s a lot like WinAmp 2. Amarok has a lot of features but can be a resource hog, and integrates better if you’re using KDE.
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### Author:  [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2009, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-good-music-playing-software-that-handles-large-playlists-and-runs-in-linux/487378/5 "2009-02-25T21:34:45Z")
Wow, I’m getting a lot of officers in this thread!
I wouldn’t be averse to switching this machine to Kubuntu if I like Amarok’s features better, so thanks for that tip **Commander**!
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### Author:  [@StarsApart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarsApart)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2009, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-good-music-playing-software-that-handles-large-playlists-and-runs-in-linux/487378/6 "2009-02-26T04:54:50Z")
I have Kubuntu and I like Amarok, but I haven’t played around a lot with anything else. I use it for different reasons than you would be (I like to play my last.fm through it and see the lyrics of songs without having to open up a browser) but I think it is worth a look. I definitely prefer Amarok 2 over the previous one though.
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### Author:  [@Swords\_to\_Plowshares](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swords_to_Plowshares)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2009, 6:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-good-music-playing-software-that-handles-large-playlists-and-runs-in-linux/487378/7 "2009-02-26T06:10:26Z")
Have you tried VLC Media Player?
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### Author:  [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)
#### Post date: [February 26, 2009, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-good-music-playing-software-that-handles-large-playlists-and-runs-in-linux/487378/8 "2009-02-26T10:32:41Z")
I’m going to throw a curve ball. While _Amarok_ and _XMMS_ and _Rhythmbox_ and _JuK_ are great music players (and collection managers) they really are not **Digital Music Servers**.
Take a look at [Jinzora](http://en.jinzora.com/), a web based music collection manager. It can organise the collection (including tags, cover art and other metadata), manage playlists, play music via the web-server soundcard, or stream to a web browser (even using a pretty built-in Flash music player for those who don’t have a music player).
I use that, plus the [Firefly daap server](http://www.fireflymediaserver.org/) (for remote iTunes capacity and a Roku Soundbridge) and TwonkyVision (for uPnP to send to the XBox360 and Pinnacle Showcenter). I am hopeful that in the future, the [Coherence](http://coherence.beebits.net/) project will deliver the DAAP/uPNP presentation functionality, with Jinzora providing the back end media database.
What all that means is that I can manage my music collection via a browser, play music from a local device (like a laptop) over the internet, copy music from my server to my iPod or laptop local folder (using GIT or RhythmBox), connect a wireless music player, play music off the XBox360 or pipe music from my server to whatever room in the house I want. And the server is headless (no screen) and tucked away in a corner out of sight.
Si