Ubuntu / Linux news and application reviews.

Jajuk is a very comprehensive and feature rich Open Source music management software written in Java. The software program is therefore available for Windows, Linux and Apple Macintosh computer systems.

A first directory containing music files has to be selected after the program installation. Jajuk will automatically scan the directory for all supported music formats and add them to its database. Additional directories containing music can be added in the settings of the music management software. Jajuk will automatically check these directories regularly for updates.

A look at the interface might confuse some users as it is packed with many buttons and functions. It can be divided into three parts. The menu toolbar, a sidebar that switches between different display modes and the main window that is divided in two rows as well.

Here are some screenshots with the different views of Jajuk (look at the left side tab to see the name of the look):

photobucketphotobucket
photobucketphotobucket
photobucketphotobucket
photobucketphotobucket

The left sidebar contains the following modes:

  • Simple Mode: Contains a listing of all music tracks as well as suggestions on the top which are computed after time.Suggestions include preferred, newest, rarely listen, other albums and similar artists.
  • Files: A file browser that displays a directory tree with all music directories that have been added to the software. Filters, covers and a queue to create playlists are provided here as well.
  • Tracks: Tracks sorted by genre using their mp3 tags. Filters, covers and the queue are offered in this menu as well.
  • Albums: Displays either an album catalog that displays the album art or a albums table. The thumbnail size of the cover can be changed on the fly.
  • Playlists: Contains an overview of all playlists on the system. Playlists are divided into new, best of, novelties and bookmarks. Again with options to save playlists.
  • Display: Display the cover, lyrics and an animation while playing music. Covers and lyrics are automatically loaded from the Internet.
  • Information: Displays information about the current band on Wikipedia.
  • Config: Dozens of settings.
  • Stats: Displays tracks per monht, size by directory, collection size by month and the genres

The software is packed with additional features that are interesting. It contains a so called DJ mode which makes it easy to create playlists based on factors like proportions (e.g. 20% heavy metal, 30% rock), transitions (Heavy –> Pop) or ambience (Party, Soft).

Additional features of interest:

  • Mp3 tag editor (Ogg,ID3 V1/V2, WMA, Flac), Online (CDDB) retagging
  • Finding duplicate files
  • Configuration of web radios
  • Last.fm information queries, scrobble
  • CD Scanner
  • Keyboard controls
  • Alarm clock
Download Jajuk (packages available: .exe, .deb, .rpm, zip (MAC), multi-platform .jar installer and source code).