Music Managers for Linux - Quodlibet, iTunes Alternative

Quodlibet is next up on the list of Linux music managers I'll be reviewing. For a long time, after I switched from Mac to Linux, Quodlibet was my music player of choice. The main reason for this was its look, and how it went about organizing my music. As you can see from the screenshot, there is a great deal of similarity between Quodlibet and iTunes, which is what I was used to using.

In fact, in looking at Quodlibet and iTunes side by side, their feature sets are very similar, with a few notable exceptions. Both offer playlists, although iTunes has much more robust playlist abilities. With Quodlibet, you are responsible for filling every playlist you create. In iTunes (and other Linux music managers I've discussed), one of the nice playlist features is the ability to create "smart" playlists. Almost like a filter or rule in an email program, a "smart" playlist fills itself automatically based on criteria you select. Instead of going through and selecting, song by song, your favorite tracks, in iTunes you can simply create a playlist and tell iTunes to fill it with the 50 songs you've played most often. This is not an option in Quodlibet.

One other similarity between Quodlibet and iTunes is the ability to play Internet radio stations. The only real difference between how the radio functions are set up between Quodlibet and iTunes (and indeed between Quodlibet and other Linux players), is the user (in Quodlibet), is required to find the streaming music on his/her own. Other players provide ready-made lists of stations. Not a necessary feature, but a nice touch.

Quodlibet also has the ability to sync your music library with a portable music device. I have an Apple iPod, but have never been able to get it to work with Quodlibet. Again, this might have been a solvable problem, but as I said regarding Banshee's inability to work with my iPod, it wasn't worth fixing the problem when other players (namely Amarok), were able to recognize it right away.