It’s (not) Alright

Completely Going the CLI Way, mp3blaster…

Hey people, this is another post from my “Going the CLI Way” series. Check the Console category for more details. Today, I am going to write about the mp3 player, mp3blaster that I mentioned in my last post.

Mp3blaster is a command line mp3 player for *nix operating systems. It is built using ncurses. Its interface is entirely text based, thereby eliminating the need for a graphical environment like X-Windows. This does not limit the way you can control the player whilst playing though; just like any graphical mp3 player, there are CD-style buttons like play, stop, pause, next track, etc.

The development is stalled though. There has been no release since August 2006. So, if you want improvements, you will have to code yourself. But as far as now, I have felt no need for that.

Mp3blaster has got keys to do all the jobs. It has an ‘rc’ file (similar to a configuration file) that holds all the keybindings for the player. By default the keys to open files and playlists are F1 and above. So if you are going to use it under X, then you will have to change it as F1 - F12 keys have special meanings in X. So you will have to edit your mp3blasterrc file.

To do that, you will have to first get the file to your home directory. You can do that by issuing the following command.

cp /usr/share/mp3blaster/sample.mp3blasterrc ~/.mp3blasterrc

Then, open the file in your favorite text editor. Then uncomment the lines that hold the keybindings¹. You can also get more information about this on the man page of mp3blaster.

Now you are all set for playing files. Just run the command ‘mp3blaster’ in a terminal window. You will be greeted by a very nice interface². Just open the files using the keys you used in the ‘rc’ file, and you are up and away.

I am posting a few screenshots here.

So, it is this much for now. The only problem I have found with the player is that it cannot play Audio CD or any other file format (except wave I think). Or if it can then there is no help available anywhere about it. So, for playing an Audio CD from console, you will need something else. What that is, I do not know. But I am going to find out and review and post here. I have found one such player. The C* Music player. I have not tried it yet. Once I do, I will

Pros :-

• Very low on system resources.
• Very good interface, considering console.

Cons :-

• Cannot play any other file format. You are stuck with mp3 (and maybe wave).

Aditya Shevade

1. The file is self explanatory so I am not going to go into the details. If, however, you have any questions, then please ask me. [↩]
2. remember, we are talking console here [↩]

Posted in: Console, HowTo, Linux, Music, Review, Software, System Configuration, Tools

Tags: Console, Linux, mp3, mp3blaster, music player, Old PC, Software

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 26th, 2008 at 11:18 pm and is filed under Console, HowTo, Linux, Music, Review, Software, System Configuration, Tools. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.