Some more dependencies need to be mentioned.

[oadams]

I've installed all prerequisites and have an itunes compatible ~/Music directory.

$ ./playa
/usr/lib/ruby/1.9.1/rubygems/custom_require.rb:36:in `require': cannot load such file -- picky (LoadError)
    from /usr/lib/ruby/1.9.1/rubygems/custom_require.rb:36:in `require'
    from /home/oadams/playa/lib/playa.rb:1:in `<top (required)>'
    from ./playa:6:in `require_relative'
    from ./playa:6:in `<main>'

I guessed picky was missing and ran:

$ gem install picky

Now I get the following:

$ ./playa 
id3tool: Can't open file "/home/oadams/Music/**/**/**/*.mp3" for read.
No suitable player found: tried afplay, play.
0 songs indexed in 0.0s.
Years   
Genres  

Keys:
  enter        -> next song
  tab          -> toggle repeat one/all
Searches:
  *            -> all songs
  /<genre>     -> search only in genre
  .<song name> -> search only in song titles
Commands:
  index? size?

/usr/lib/ruby/1.9.1/rubygems/custom_require.rb:36:in `require': cannot load such file -- highline/import (LoadError)
    from /usr/lib/ruby/1.9.1/rubygems/custom_require.rb:36:in `require'
    from /home/oadams/playa/lib/playa/terminal.rb:48:in `run'
    from ./playa:9:in `<main>'

Looks like there's a few issues here, but it appears as though there are more ruby libraries one needs before playa will work.

[floere]

All good points. Thanks for taking the time for the detailed writeup (see how to write Github Flavored Markdown – in the right upper corner of your comment box).

Ok, so we need to mention the following gems: picky, highline.

This one:
id3tool: Can't open file "/home/oadams/Music///_/.mp3" for read.
comes from the fact that the default location "/home/oadams/Music/__/__/_/.mp3" only works on a mac.

Use ./bin/playa "/your/mp3/finding/pattern/*.mp3" for better results. This should help.

[floere]

This is more worrying: No suitable player found: tried afplay, play.
Can you tell me if you have play – the command – installed? (comes with the sox lib)

[floere]

The README is updated, including collaborators. Thanks!

I'm keeping this open because of the open "no suitable player found" question.

[oadams]

My pleasure, thanks for the swift response.

play is installed and can be run using $ play

After having installed highline:

$ ./playa ~/Music/The\ Killers/Sawdust/*.mp3
id3tool: Can't open file "/home/oadams/Music/The" for read.
No suitable player found: tried afplay, play.
0 songs indexed in 0.0s.
Years   
Genres  

Keys:
  enter        -> next song
  tab          -> toggle repeat one/all
Searches:
  *            -> all songs
  /<genre>     -> search only in genre
  .<song name> -> search only in song titles
Commands:
  index? size?

/home/oadams/playa/lib/playa/results.rb:19:in `next': iteration reached an end (StopIteration)
    from /home/oadams/playa/lib/playa/results.rb:19:in `next'
    from /home/oadams/playa/lib/playa/player.rb:45:in `block in play'
    from /home/oadams/playa/lib/playa/player.rb:31:in `fork'
    from /home/oadams/playa/lib/playa/player.rb:31:in `play'
    from /home/oadams/playa/lib/playa/terminal.rb:59:in `run'
    from ./playa:9:in `<main>'
> * (all)
> *D (0: ignoring)
> *Da (0: ignoring)

[floere]

You need to give it a pattern string, ie. ./playa '~/Music/The\ Killers/Sawdust/*.mp3'. Can you try again?

[oadams]

$ ./playa '~/Music/The\ Killers/Sawdust/*.mp3'
No suitable player found: tried afplay, play.
17 songs indexed in 0.0s.
Years   
Genres  

Keys:
  enter        -> next song
  tab          -> toggle repeat one/all
Searches:
  *            -> all songs
  /<genre>     -> search only in genre
  .<song name> -> search only in song titles
Commands:
  index? size?

/home/oadams/playa/lib/playa/player.rb:47:in `spawn': can't convert nil into String (TypeError)
    from /home/oadams/playa/lib/playa/player.rb:47:in `block (2 levels) in play'
    from /home/oadams/playa/lib/playa/player.rb:46:in `loop'
    from /home/oadams/playa/lib/playa/player.rb:46:in `block in play'
    from /home/oadams/playa/lib/playa/player.rb:31:in `fork'
    from /home/oadams/playa/lib/playa/player.rb:31:in `play'
    from /home/oadams/playa/lib/playa/terminal.rb:59:in `run'
    from ./playa:9:in `<main>'
> * (all)
> *D (3)
/home/oadams/playa/lib/playa/player.rb:47:in `spawn': can't convert nil into String (TypeError)
    from /home/oadams/playa/lib/playa/player.rb:47:in `block (2 levels) in play'
    from /home/oadams/playa/lib/playa/player.rb:46:in `loop'
    from /home/oadams/playa/lib/playa/player.rb:46:in `block in play'
    from /home/oadams/playa/lib/playa/player.rb:31:in `fork'
    from /home/oadams/playa/lib/playa/player.rb:31:in `play'
    from /home/oadams/playa/lib/playa/terminal.rb:122:in `block in run'
    from /home/oadams/playa/lib/playa/terminal.rb:61:in `loop'
    from /home/oadams/playa/lib/playa/terminal.rb:61:in `run'
    from ./playa:9:in `<main>'
> *Da (2)

[floere]

Ok, so it doesn't find the player. Can you run play -h and tell me what the error code is? (run $? right after running play -h)

[floere]

(I check for the error code – perhaps I am not checking the right one. Pull requests with fixes welcome.)

[floere]

Now checking the right error code and thus play should be found and used. (So, ignore my last 2 comments)

Have fun!