No MP3 Player

[tails618]

Bluefin should include some sort of MP3/other-audio-file player, be it GNOME Music or Decibels or something else. Audio files aren't the most common type of file for people but they're certainly not uncommon, and there should be some basic handling of common audio files (MP3, WAV, FLAC, etc) in Bluefin.

(Sorry if this isn't the right place for feature requests/suggestions! I'm very new to the community.)

[droplinxuser]

I myself prefer a minimal default install.
It will just take a minute to install an MP3 player from Bazaar (Flatpak) if somebody wants one.

Plus, nowadays people that love music heavily rely on Spotify or YouTube Music.

[zilexa]

It can take hours to figure out which app to install. There are many.

[blu-sea]

I agree with @tails618 and @zilexa - make media playing 'just work' out of the box by default, then let users with 'opinions' customise after that...

The minimalists, tinkerers or power users can always opt in or out of default/curated flatpaks with a few simple commands but your Mum and your Grandparents (and probably you too) just expect the computer to work ie If you click an audio file on the linux desktop today, any user has a right to expect "it will just play the media.... "

Also, if you are a person who "loves music nowadays" then you quite probably have already ditched many of the streaming services and are now self hosting or considering doing so. Paying always rising monthly fees for increasingly 'enshitified' content isn't for everyone. Playing a basic media file 'out of the box', is.

As for those streaming services, there is something very satisfying, whether at home or when away anywhere in the world, in streaming your own music, videos or live TV direct from your own self hosted linux server (eg Jellyfin/Navidrome/Nextcloud/Plex/Kodi etc) perhaps hosted on a container OS like Bluefin via docker or podman and/or NAS for bulk file storage. No tracking, no monthly fees, privately playing your own content anywhere anytime just the way you and your family/friends want to play it... awesome!

If you are new to linux and want a good versatile media player, VLC will play most of what you need, just grab it from Bazaar and when you click a media file, it will 'just play'.

If you like a Spotify-like interface, try Aonsku (client for your own Navidrome server). Also, use Navidrome (PWA), Jellyfin client, Nextcloud Music player etc

[tingweiwan]

I am one of the very few holdouts who still save music files locally. Let me recommend some good apps for that.

• Fooyin is similar to foobar2000 on Windows. Perfect for Windows refugees.
• Tauon is a playlist centered music player. The UI has its quirks, but if that works for you, it's feature rich.
• Strawberry is also feature rich.

GNOME and KDE both have their native music players, but personally I think both are bad.

[kalebepalacio]

I recommend this great player for local music (mp3) and podcasts.

Nome: MusiPod

[PunkPangolin]

Music players are a heavy matter of preference. I would suggest adding Decibels to have some software for opening audio files pre-installed and leave the choice of whether to install a full music player to the user. My personal favorite is Strawberry, but it does not integrate nicely into GNOME and would require bringing the KDE runtime into the base image.

[tingweiwan]

Agree. I also use Strawberry on Bluefin. It does not look the best, but considering the functionality it's hard to beat.
I don't think there is a need to include any music players to the system flatpak list. Ubuntu's minimal desktop installation does not include music player either.

[dsaghliani]

Second that. I don't think a distro should ship with a music player, because that's very subjective, but it does need a basic audio player, and Decibels (now "Audio Player") fills that niche for GNOME perfectly. I mean, I thought it came with GNOME by default, being an official part of the project.

[passthejoe]

I've been using Audacious. Not a "modern" UI, but it works.

[visnudeva]

I agree, if there is no need for a music player, also remove the video player, every video is online now, also no need for an image viewer and a pdf reader.
For real I think the basics should be installed by default and a music player is not like if Kdenlive was installed. I install bluefin for free in my town for the people who don't know much about computers but still want to use their PCs and I have to install the basics for them because the software center can be scary for some, GNOME has a default set of softwares for a good reason. If Bluefin is the plug and play Chromebook distro then a music player should be there too.

[zilexa]

Bluefin team has this idea it should be as simple as ChromeOS (which isn't really that great in my opinion and not a high enough bar).

It should be able to run basic files. Otherwise, remove the Media, Pictures, Music, Documents, Video etc folders as well. Why the clutter?

A way of easily playing media files seems like a no brainer. It shouldn't need a discussion.. or many releases before a decision can be made right? It's such a simple thing. There's an image viewer, a document viewer, a video player. Not a video management tool, not a photo library management tool. So there should be a music player. Not a whole music management tool. Simple.

[visnudeva]

exactly