In an Ubuntu-Desktop mailing list message, Jason Warner (Ubuntu Desktop Manager) has confirmed that Rhythmbox will be the default music player in Ubuntu 12.04 Precise Pangolin, replacing Banshee:

Clement Lefebvre, the Linux Mint founder, recently talked to Muktware about Banshee - which has replaced Rhythmbox in the recent Ubuntu 11.04 development builds -, and Mono. Banshee is an amazing application but it uses Mono which many consider risky because Microsoft could one day assert its patents against all the free applications that use Mono.

While Clement says he doesn't consider Mono a thread, it looks like Rhythmbox will stay as default in Linux Mint:

As you probably already know by now, Linux Mint will not switch to Unity either, keeping the old "classic" GNOME as default.

An update today finally sets Banshee as the default music player in Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal. Since Banshee is now default, it has replaced Rhythmbox in the Ubuntu Sound Menu:

Today is the last UDS-N day and a session about the default application selection in the upcoming Ubuntu 11.04 Natty Narwhal is ongoing. Here's what has been discussed:

Banshee 1.8.0 (stable) has been released yesterday. There are many new features and improvements since the last stable version: Amazon MP3 Store and Download plugins, MPRIS v2 support (it should now be integrated into the Ubuntu 10.10 Sound Menu), Miro Podcast Directory which allows you to stream and subscribe to podcasts, Bulk Metadata Fixup Extension, improved iPhone, iTouch, iPad, and iPod support, improved audiobook support and a lot of other improvements. A complete list can be found @ Banshee release announcement.

When we told you about some discussions on changing some default application in Ubuntu Netbook Edition 10.10, Banshee was only being discussed. But today the blueprint for UNE default app selection changed and it now confirms Banshee as being evaluated for becoming default in Ubuntu Netbook Edition 10.10. Of course, this doesn't confirm Banshee as default yet, but it does mean that there are some chances to see it in UNE 10.10 as the "unified media player" we were talking about.

To be able to get included in Ubuntu Netbook Edition 10.10, Banshee still needs some tweaks. It is even considered to use Meego Banshee interface instead of the default Banshee.

This post is thanks to Ricardo Ferreira who sent us the tip (actually most of the post is written by him).


iPod sync with Banshee is broken in Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx since HAL is now D-Bus activated and does not have an init script. This bug was fixed by Banshee developers last night but isn't yet available anywhere - except GIT.

So here is a short guide to compile the latest podsleuth from Git in Ubuntu 10.04 Lucid Lynx.

Every Linux music player can get an Ubuntu One Music Store Plugin, but officially there is one developed for Rhythmbox only.

The first application to get a plugin (besides Rhythmbox, of course) is Banshee. To use it, you must be running Ubuntu Lucid with all packages up to date. Then, run the following command in a terminal to install the plugin:

sudo apt-get install banshee-extension-ubuntuonemusicstore

After almost a year, a new Banshee stable version has been released: 1.6.0.

Compared to Banshee 1.5.6 (1.6.0 RC2), there aren't many new things. However, Banshee has made an amazing progress since the last stable version and it now has a lot of very interesting features. If you're a constant WebUpd8 reader, you already know most of them since we've covered almost every release of Banshee until 1.6.0.