Playing and Managing Your Music with Banshee

Contents

26.1. Listening to Music
26.2. Managing Your Music Library
26.3. Using Banshee with Your Digital Audio Player
26.4. Creating Audio and MP3 CDs
26.5. Sharing Your Music
26.6. Configuring Banshee Preferences

Banshee™ is a GNOME music management and playback application that lets you import CDs, sync your music collection to an iPod* or other digital audio player, play music directly from an iPod (or other digital audio player), create playlists with songs from your library, create audio and MP3 CDs from subsets of your library, and subscribe to, download, and listen to your favorite podcasts. Banshee also supports streaming audio through its Internet Radio plug-in.

To open Banshee, click Computer+Banshee Media Player.

The first time you open Banshee, you are prompted to import music. Choose an import source, such as your home directory, a local folder, a local file, a CD, or an alternate music source (such as a digital audio player), then click Import Music Source.

Figure 26.1. Import Music Library

Import Music Library

After successfully importing your music, your library is displayed.

Figure 26.2. Banshee Library

Banshee Library

Listening to Music

To listen to music, Banshee needs to know what is available to listen to. You can listen to music in your library, which means that you will need to import music from an external source such as a file, folder, or CD, or you can listen to music directly off a CD. You can also listen to music on Internet radio stations, podcasts, and your digital audio player (see Section 26.3, “Using Banshee with Your Digital Audio Player” for more information).

Banshee also comes with MP3 support. If your music collection consists of both MP3 and Ogg Vorbis files, you do not need to convert any files to a different format. Just open Banshee and start listening.

If the format you are tying to play is not supported by the player's engine, Banshee offers to search for a suitable codec which you can then install with YaST.

Importing Music

Banshee can import music from a file, folder, CD, or digital audio player.

  1. In Banshee, click Music+Import Music.

  2. Select an import source.

  3. Click Import Music Source.

Banshee can automatically query MusicBrainz for extra information about tracks that you import and fetch cover art for display when you play a song. To enable this feature, click Edit+Plugins, then select Metadata Searcher.

Playing Your Music

To play a song, simply select the song in the library and click the play button in the upper left corner. Use the other buttons to pause a song or play the next or previous song. Use the loudspeaker button on the right to adjust the volume. You can also use the items on the Playback menu to repeat or shuffle songs.

Banshee also has an integrated CD player. When you insert a music CD, your CD title appears in the left panel. Select the title and click the play button to play your full CD.

Notification Area Icon

You can keep Banshee hidden in the notification area when you are not interacting with it by minimizing the Banshee window. You will only see pop-up bubbles identifying the current song when track changes happen.

If you do not want to see the pop-ups, click Edit+Plugins+Notification Area Icon+Configuration, then deselect Show notifications when song changes.

Mini Mode

You can also use the Mini Mode feature to condense the interface and free up valuable desktop space. You can switch between your library, playlists, and music devices while in Mini Mode. To activate Mini Mode, click View+Mini mode.

Figure 26.3. Banshee in Mini Mode

Banshee in Mini Mode

Music Recommendations

Banshee automatically recommends music that you might like, based on the currently playing song. It finds artists and popular songs that people with similar musical tastes enjoy.

Figure 26.4. Banshee Music Recommendations

Banshee Music Recommendations

If you do not want to receive recommendations, click Edit+Plugins, then deselect Music Recommendations.

Ripping Your Music

To rip music from a CD and add it to your library:

  1. Insert a CD into your CD or DVD drive.

    Banshee automatically lists the CD as a source in the left menu.

    Ripping Music in Banshee
  2. Select the CD title in the source list on the left, then click Import CD in the upper right corner.

Listening to Internet Radio

You can use Banshee to listen to Internet radio stations and streaming audio. The Radio view in Banshee automatically lists several common Internet radio stations maintained on banshee-project.org. You can also add your own stations.

Listening to an Internet Radio Station

To listen to Internet radio stations, select Radio in the source list on the left, then double-click the station you want to listen to.

Figure 26.5. Internet Radio Stations in Banshee

Internet Radio Stations in Banshee

Adding a New Internet Radio Station

  1. Right-click Radio in the source list, then click Add Station.

  2. Enter the stream details in the Add new radio station dialog box, then click Save.

    The new station is added to your list.

Listening to Podcasts

Banshee lets you subscribe, download, and listen to your favorite Podcasts. Podcasting is a form of audio blogging where users subscribe to a feed of shows and the shows’s episodes are downloaded and managed for offline listening.

Subscribing to a Podcast

  1. Click Music+Subscribe to Podcast.

  2. Enter the URL of the podcast you want to subscribe to.

  3. To specify more options, click Advanced, then select what happens when new episodes of this podcast are available.

  4. Click Subscribe.

    The new podcast is added to your list.

Listening to a Podcast

To listen to a podcast, select Podcasts in the source list, then double-click the podcast you want to listen to.

Figure 26.6. Podcasts in Banshee

Podcasts in Banshee

Use the options on the Tools+Podcast menu to update a podcast, subscribe to other podcasts, or find new podcasts.