Lightweight music player?

[LionelZaylan]

Try some commandline music players , they're much lighter than GUI ones.

eg: Type in the terminal:

Code: Select all

 mpg123 /path/to/your/mp3/file 

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 ogg123 /path/to/your/ogg/file 

mpg123 and ogg123 are preinstalled on MX linux.

Just press Ctrl+C in the terminal window or press Close (X) button -> Close window to close it .

[RallyDarkstrike]

I think I'm going to stick with Clementine, I'm just so used to it and it works so well...but thanks all for the suggestions, There are a few I wrote down if I ever need to switch it up in the future! :)

[RallyDarkstrike]

Try some commandline music players , they're much lighter than GUI ones.

eg: Type in the terminal:

Code: Select all

 mpg123 /path/to/your/mp3/file 

Code: Select all

 ogg123 /path/to/your/ogg/file 

mpg123 and ogg123 are preinstalled on MX linux.

Just press Ctrl+C in the terminal window or press Close (X) button -> Close window to close it .

They would be, but I imagine they'd also be a LOT more finicky to use :(

[RallyDarkstrike]

You might be better off conserving RAM by using Fluxbox instead of a full desktop environment like Xfce and configuring unneeded services to not start at boot. viewtopic.php?p=560215#p560215

I've definitely thought about it, but it seems vastly more finicky to set up. I am considering it though!

[pianokeyjoe]

Hi all! Looking for a nice, lightweight recommendation for a music player! I use VLC for video, but am looking for a nice lightweight music play to listen to my tunes while working away on stuff that uses minimal RAM. My laptop is an HP Stream 13, so it has a hard-soldered 2GB of RAM, which isn't a lot in this day and age.

I usually use Clementine as I love it and use it on my HTPC and my other laptop, but was curious if there was anything else out there that was lighter on resources but still has a media library function :)

Cheers and thanks!

Hi! went back and really read you first comment on this topic, to find out what computer you are trying to setup a mp3 player on. You have one of the same machines I have for that very purpose! 2GB of ram and no more, is the major limiting factor here. The CPU is an intel with MMX and sse2/sse3 so it works fine for all intended purposes. Flash drive space? You have 3 options, the internal drive for the OS and Apps, and USB2 and sd slot for removable media with songs on them.. About the mp3 player options: MX LINUX is a fine choice of an OS for all intents and purposes, as you can and should, install some choice mp3 apps and window managers and filemanagers, to give you that "sweet spot" setup, on which to testthe best combination. Without going into too much detail here(forum will frown on it), I will say I have successfully accomplished this for that very machine and a few others like it!

Audacious, VLC, and musique which are all on mx repos, is the best options for lightweight media players with library function in a GUI. For the play it and leave it simplicity mpg123 with a cheat sheet of keyboard shortcuts, is the next best thing, as you can literally setup an account on that machine to boot into TWM with an xterm open and a script to play all mp3s in a folder at start up, if you are into that MUZAK system kind of thing like me. If not, then yeah stick to gui options. Again..
2GB of ram is the killer here.. Sadly, with any of these options, you will run out of ram and the system will lock up on you after playing so many files in a day. The lack of a swap space is to blame.. SSD drives, especially the internal one will fail with too many write cycles if you setup a swap on it. But, what I have done to mitigate this is run my OS live with only the apps and WM I want for that one specific purpose "mp3 playback". While this is not a straight forward "just boot and go" solution, ie: you can not run the full MX distro live with that little ram and expect stability and fun, you can customize MX linux and respin it down to the size you want for your machine and purpose. I did mine with a 657MB MX19.3 32bit with only XFCE, VLC,AUDACIOUS, and IMAGE VIEWER, as well as some commandline apps(mpg123,nano). There is alot more details but suffice it to say, it works!

If you ru your os LIVE from an SD card, and access your mp3 files off usb sticks, you will at least keep the internal ssd from wearing out and you do not even need to touch it. When the system locks up due to running out of ram, you simply reboot, and go back to the song in your library where you left off, and play from there until it freezes again..

Sadly, there are no real elegant options for 2GB of ram based systems anymore, outside of Live Linux OS with as basic of a system as possible(Just enough OS for KODI or Audacious or VLC), and as such, you WILL run out of ram. I tried slitaz and puppy linux and even geexbox which works as good as MX Linux, but they all lock up after so many files played with only the 2GB ram and no way to safely add a swapspace..

These are your trade offs with the hardware you have. Indeed using a better system is your best and most expedient option..

[Real]

DeadBeef does have a "library" function. It simply displays the folder structure using the 'file browser' plugin. You have to download the plugin and extract it to the "/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu/deadbeef folder. The trick with getting it to look and act like you like is to use 'View', "design mode' and then get familiar with the "Splitter" function. Splitter simply creates separated spaces which you then assign whatever you like, incl the file browser, cover art, etc..
https://postimg.cc/G4xL3jzF
I just started using it again just recently. Now that I'm solidly on linux it is THE player as far as I'm concerned.

[Utopia]

Moderator comment:
Image changed to link. Please use only small images.
Henry

[Real]

OK. I had a thumb at first but thought it too difficult to see the actual file browser, as it were.

[wdscharff]

I usually use Clementine as I love it and use it on my HTPC and my other laptop, but was curious if there was anything else out there that was lighter on resources but still has a media library function :)

Cheers and thanks!

Then you might like Pragha.
Similar functionality, a bit lighter (105mb ram) than Clementine (125mb) according to Taskmanager.

[manyroads]

If you want some super light options, this reddit thread discusses a few. I find that ranger without anything fancy added actually works quote well. Not too pretty but if it's lightweight you want.
https://www.reddit.com/r/linuxquestions ... s_a_music/