04-23-2019, 08:32 AM
2 new apps for music tweakers on Fedora Workstation
<div style="margin: 5px 5% 10px 5%;"><img src="http://www.sickgaming.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/2-new-apps-for-music-tweakers-on-fedora-workstation.png" width="1024" height="500" title="" alt="" /></div><div><p>Linux operating systems are great for making unique customizations and tweaks to make your computer work better for you. For example, the <a href="https://fedoramagazine.org/getting-started-i3-window-manager/">i3 window manager</a> encourages users to think about the different components and pieces that make up the modern Linux desktop.</p>
<p>Fedora has two new packages of interest for music tweakers: <strong>mpris-scrobbler</strong> and <strong>playerctl</strong>. <em>mpris-scrobbler</em> <a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="tracks your music listening history (opens in a new tab)" href="https://github.com/mariusor/mpris-scrobbler" target="_blank">tracks your music listening history</a> on a music-tracking service like Last.fm and/or ListenBrainz. <em>playerctl</em> is a command-line <a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="music player controller (opens in a new tab)" href="https://github.com/acrisci/playerctl" target="_blank">music player controller</a>.</p>
<p> <span id="more-27466"></span> </p>
<h2><em>mpris-scrobbler</em> records your music listening trends</h2>
<p><em>mpris-scrobbler</em> is a CLI application to submit play history of your music to a service like <a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="Last.fm (opens in a new tab)" href="https://www.last.fm/" target="_blank">Last.fm</a>, <a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="Libre.fm (opens in a new tab)" href="https://libre.fm/" target="_blank">Libre.fm</a>, or <a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="ListenBrainz (opens in a new tab)" href="https://listenbrainz.org/" target="_blank">ListenBrainz</a>. It listens on the <a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="MPRIS D-Bus interface (opens in a new tab)" href="https://specifications.freedesktop.org/mpris-spec/latest/" target="_blank">MPRIS D-Bus interface</a> to detect what’s playing. It connects with several different music clients like spotify-client, <a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="vlc (opens in a new tab)" href="https://www.videolan.org/vlc/" target="_blank">vlc</a>, audacious, bmp, <a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="cmus (opens in a new tab)" href="https://cmus.github.io/" target="_blank">cmus</a>, and others.</p>
<figure class="wp-block-image"><img src="http://www.sickgaming.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/2-new-apps-for-music-tweakers-on-fedora-workstation.png" alt="Last.fm last week in music report. Generated from user-submitted listening history." class="wp-image-27345" /><figcaption>Last.fm last week in music report. Generated from user-submitted listening history.</figcaption></figure>
<h3>Install and configure <em>mpris-scrobbler</em></h3>
<p><em>mpris-scrobbler</em> is available for Fedora 28 or later, as well as the EPEL 7 repositories. Run the following command in a terminal to install it:</p>
<pre class="wp-block-preformatted">sudo dnf install mpris-scrobbler</pre>
<p>Once it is installed, use <em>systemctl</em> to start and enable the service. The following command starts <em>mpris-scrobbler</em> and always starts it after a system reboot:</p>
<pre class="wp-block-preformatted">systemctl --user enable --now mpris-scrobbler.service</pre>
<h3>Submit plays to ListenBrainz</h3>
<p>This article explains how to link <em>mpris-scrobbler</em> with a ListenBrainz account. To use Last.fm or Libre.fm, see the <a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="upstream documentation (opens in a new tab)" href="https://github.com/mariusor/mpris-scrobbler#authenticate-to-the-service" target="_blank">upstream documentation</a>.</p>
<p>To submit plays to a ListenBrainz server, you need a ListenBrainz API token. If you have an account, get the token from your <a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="profile settings page (opens in a new tab)" href="https://listenbrainz.org/profile/" target="_blank">profile settings page</a>. When you have a token, run this command to authenticate with your ListenBrainz API token:</p>
<pre class="wp-block-preformatted">$ mpris-scrobbler-signon token listenbrainz<br />Token for listenbrainz.org:</pre>
<p>Finally, test it by playing a song in your preferred music client on Fedora. The songs you play appear on your ListenBrainz profile.</p>
<figure class="wp-block-image"><img src="http://www.sickgaming.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/2-new-apps-for-music-tweakers-on-fedora-workstation-1.png" alt="Basic statistics and play history from a user profile on ListenBrainz. The now playing track is currently playing on a Fedora Workstation laptop with mpris-scrobbler." class="wp-image-27346" /><figcaption>Basic statistics and play history from a user profile on ListenBrainz. The current track is playing on a Fedora Workstation laptop with mpris-scrobbler.</figcaption></figure>
<h2><em>playerctl</em> controls your music playback</h2>
<p><em>playerctl</em> is a CLI tool to control any music player implementing the MPRIS D-Bus interface. You can easily bind it to keyboard shortcuts or media hotkeys. Here’s how to install it, use it in the command line, and create key bindings for the i3 window manager.</p>
<h3>Install and use <em>playerctl</em></h3>
<p><em>playerctl</em> is available for Fedora 28 or later. Run the following command in a terminal to install it:</p>
<pre class="wp-block-preformatted">sudo dnf install playerctl</pre>
<p>Now that it’s installed, you can use it right away. Open your preferred music player on Fedora. Next, try the following commands to control playback from a terminal.</p>
<p>To play or pause the currently playing track:</p>
<pre class="wp-block-preformatted">playerctl play-pause<br /></pre>
<p>If you want to skip to the next track:</p>
<pre class="wp-block-preformatted">playerctl next<br /></pre>
<p>For a list of all running players:</p>
<pre class="wp-block-preformatted">playerctl -l<br /></pre>
<p>To play or pause what’s currently playing, only on the spotify-client app:</p>
<pre class="wp-block-preformatted">playerctl -p spotify play-pause</pre>
<h3>Create <em>playerctl</em> key bindings in i3wm </h3>
<p>Do you use a window manager like the <a href="https://fedoramagazine.org/getting-started-i3-window-manager/">i3 window manager?</a> Try using <em>playerctl</em> for key bindings. You can bind different commands to different key shortcuts, like the play/pause buttons on your keyboard. Look at the following <a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="i3wm config excerpt (opens in a new tab)" href="https://github.com/jwflory/swiss-army/blob/ba6ac0c71855e33e3caa1ee1fe51c05d2df0529d/roles/apps/i3wm/files/config#L207-L210" target="_blank">i3wm config excerpt</a> to see how:</p>
<pre class="wp-block-preformatted"># Media player controls<br />bindsym XF86AudioPlay exec "playerctl play-pause"<br />bindsym XF86AudioNext exec "playerctl next"<br />bindsym XF86AudioPrev exec "playerctl previous"</pre>
<h2>Try it out with your favorite music players</h2>
<p>Need to know more about customizing the music listening experience on Fedora? The Fedora Magazine has you covered. Check out these five cool music players on Fedora:</p>
<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-fedora-magazine">
<div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content" data-secret="ElMGRd93qX"><p><a href="https://fedoramagazine.org/5-cool-music-player-apps/">5 cool music player apps</a></p></blockquote>
</div>
</figure>
<p>Bring order to your music library chaos by sorting and organizing it with MusicBrainz Picard:</p>
<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-fedora-magazine">
<div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content" data-secret="XD1a2U91pW"><p><a href="https://fedoramagazine.org/picard-brings-order-music-library/">Picard brings order to your music library</a></p></blockquote>
</div>
</figure>
<hr class="wp-block-separator" />
<p><em>Photo by </em><a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/Qrspubmx6kE?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText"><em>Frank Septillion</em></a><em> on </em><a href="https://unsplash.com/search/photos/music?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText"><em>Unsplash</em></a><em>.</em></p>
</div>
<div style="margin: 5px 5% 10px 5%;"><img src="http://www.sickgaming.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/2-new-apps-for-music-tweakers-on-fedora-workstation.png" width="1024" height="500" title="" alt="" /></div><div><p>Linux operating systems are great for making unique customizations and tweaks to make your computer work better for you. For example, the <a href="https://fedoramagazine.org/getting-started-i3-window-manager/">i3 window manager</a> encourages users to think about the different components and pieces that make up the modern Linux desktop.</p>
<p>Fedora has two new packages of interest for music tweakers: <strong>mpris-scrobbler</strong> and <strong>playerctl</strong>. <em>mpris-scrobbler</em> <a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="tracks your music listening history (opens in a new tab)" href="https://github.com/mariusor/mpris-scrobbler" target="_blank">tracks your music listening history</a> on a music-tracking service like Last.fm and/or ListenBrainz. <em>playerctl</em> is a command-line <a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="music player controller (opens in a new tab)" href="https://github.com/acrisci/playerctl" target="_blank">music player controller</a>.</p>
<p> <span id="more-27466"></span> </p>
<h2><em>mpris-scrobbler</em> records your music listening trends</h2>
<p><em>mpris-scrobbler</em> is a CLI application to submit play history of your music to a service like <a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="Last.fm (opens in a new tab)" href="https://www.last.fm/" target="_blank">Last.fm</a>, <a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="Libre.fm (opens in a new tab)" href="https://libre.fm/" target="_blank">Libre.fm</a>, or <a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="ListenBrainz (opens in a new tab)" href="https://listenbrainz.org/" target="_blank">ListenBrainz</a>. It listens on the <a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="MPRIS D-Bus interface (opens in a new tab)" href="https://specifications.freedesktop.org/mpris-spec/latest/" target="_blank">MPRIS D-Bus interface</a> to detect what’s playing. It connects with several different music clients like spotify-client, <a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="vlc (opens in a new tab)" href="https://www.videolan.org/vlc/" target="_blank">vlc</a>, audacious, bmp, <a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="cmus (opens in a new tab)" href="https://cmus.github.io/" target="_blank">cmus</a>, and others.</p>
<figure class="wp-block-image"><img src="http://www.sickgaming.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/2-new-apps-for-music-tweakers-on-fedora-workstation.png" alt="Last.fm last week in music report. Generated from user-submitted listening history." class="wp-image-27345" /><figcaption>Last.fm last week in music report. Generated from user-submitted listening history.</figcaption></figure>
<h3>Install and configure <em>mpris-scrobbler</em></h3>
<p><em>mpris-scrobbler</em> is available for Fedora 28 or later, as well as the EPEL 7 repositories. Run the following command in a terminal to install it:</p>
<pre class="wp-block-preformatted">sudo dnf install mpris-scrobbler</pre>
<p>Once it is installed, use <em>systemctl</em> to start and enable the service. The following command starts <em>mpris-scrobbler</em> and always starts it after a system reboot:</p>
<pre class="wp-block-preformatted">systemctl --user enable --now mpris-scrobbler.service</pre>
<h3>Submit plays to ListenBrainz</h3>
<p>This article explains how to link <em>mpris-scrobbler</em> with a ListenBrainz account. To use Last.fm or Libre.fm, see the <a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="upstream documentation (opens in a new tab)" href="https://github.com/mariusor/mpris-scrobbler#authenticate-to-the-service" target="_blank">upstream documentation</a>.</p>
<p>To submit plays to a ListenBrainz server, you need a ListenBrainz API token. If you have an account, get the token from your <a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="profile settings page (opens in a new tab)" href="https://listenbrainz.org/profile/" target="_blank">profile settings page</a>. When you have a token, run this command to authenticate with your ListenBrainz API token:</p>
<pre class="wp-block-preformatted">$ mpris-scrobbler-signon token listenbrainz<br />Token for listenbrainz.org:</pre>
<p>Finally, test it by playing a song in your preferred music client on Fedora. The songs you play appear on your ListenBrainz profile.</p>
<figure class="wp-block-image"><img src="http://www.sickgaming.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/2-new-apps-for-music-tweakers-on-fedora-workstation-1.png" alt="Basic statistics and play history from a user profile on ListenBrainz. The now playing track is currently playing on a Fedora Workstation laptop with mpris-scrobbler." class="wp-image-27346" /><figcaption>Basic statistics and play history from a user profile on ListenBrainz. The current track is playing on a Fedora Workstation laptop with mpris-scrobbler.</figcaption></figure>
<h2><em>playerctl</em> controls your music playback</h2>
<p><em>playerctl</em> is a CLI tool to control any music player implementing the MPRIS D-Bus interface. You can easily bind it to keyboard shortcuts or media hotkeys. Here’s how to install it, use it in the command line, and create key bindings for the i3 window manager.</p>
<h3>Install and use <em>playerctl</em></h3>
<p><em>playerctl</em> is available for Fedora 28 or later. Run the following command in a terminal to install it:</p>
<pre class="wp-block-preformatted">sudo dnf install playerctl</pre>
<p>Now that it’s installed, you can use it right away. Open your preferred music player on Fedora. Next, try the following commands to control playback from a terminal.</p>
<p>To play or pause the currently playing track:</p>
<pre class="wp-block-preformatted">playerctl play-pause<br /></pre>
<p>If you want to skip to the next track:</p>
<pre class="wp-block-preformatted">playerctl next<br /></pre>
<p>For a list of all running players:</p>
<pre class="wp-block-preformatted">playerctl -l<br /></pre>
<p>To play or pause what’s currently playing, only on the spotify-client app:</p>
<pre class="wp-block-preformatted">playerctl -p spotify play-pause</pre>
<h3>Create <em>playerctl</em> key bindings in i3wm </h3>
<p>Do you use a window manager like the <a href="https://fedoramagazine.org/getting-started-i3-window-manager/">i3 window manager?</a> Try using <em>playerctl</em> for key bindings. You can bind different commands to different key shortcuts, like the play/pause buttons on your keyboard. Look at the following <a rel="noreferrer noopener" aria-label="i3wm config excerpt (opens in a new tab)" href="https://github.com/jwflory/swiss-army/blob/ba6ac0c71855e33e3caa1ee1fe51c05d2df0529d/roles/apps/i3wm/files/config#L207-L210" target="_blank">i3wm config excerpt</a> to see how:</p>
<pre class="wp-block-preformatted"># Media player controls<br />bindsym XF86AudioPlay exec "playerctl play-pause"<br />bindsym XF86AudioNext exec "playerctl next"<br />bindsym XF86AudioPrev exec "playerctl previous"</pre>
<h2>Try it out with your favorite music players</h2>
<p>Need to know more about customizing the music listening experience on Fedora? The Fedora Magazine has you covered. Check out these five cool music players on Fedora:</p>
<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-fedora-magazine">
<div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content" data-secret="ElMGRd93qX"><p><a href="https://fedoramagazine.org/5-cool-music-player-apps/">5 cool music player apps</a></p></blockquote>
</div>
</figure>
<p>Bring order to your music library chaos by sorting and organizing it with MusicBrainz Picard:</p>
<figure class="wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-fedora-magazine">
<div class="wp-block-embed__wrapper">
<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content" data-secret="XD1a2U91pW"><p><a href="https://fedoramagazine.org/picard-brings-order-music-library/">Picard brings order to your music library</a></p></blockquote>
</div>
</figure>
<hr class="wp-block-separator" />
<p><em>Photo by </em><a href="https://unsplash.com/photos/Qrspubmx6kE?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText"><em>Frank Septillion</em></a><em> on </em><a href="https://unsplash.com/search/photos/music?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText"><em>Unsplash</em></a><em>.</em></p>
</div>