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Monday, September 14, 2009

Albus

Albus is a small Python application written for Linux using the PyGTK framework. It allows you to display album artwork on your desktop, with each album cover linked to a directory (presumably one containing media files... such as music files... such as that album's tracks... getting the idea?). From each album cover you can open the album's directory and queue or play its media files with customizable commands (depending on the player).

It was inspired by the late, great Clutter, an old Mac OS X application for the PPC architecture. I'd link you to it, but the developer's website has disappeared and the application now exists most visibly at http://osx.iusethis.com/app/clutter

Albus is not a music player -- it's meant to be used in conjunction with a music player, as a pretty-looking interface. I've used it successfully with VLC, Totem and MPD (via both SonataMPC). Basically, any music player that lets you queue items from the command line will work. and

If you download the Python tarball, you'll find installation instructions in the README.

Albus is a pet project, and very much a work-in-progress -- as such I make no claims as to its usability, stability, drinkability, so on and so forth. That said, I'll be updating it regularly so please check back every once in a while for an update. Bugs and requests are also welcome.

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