Lev Lazinskiy

Banshee is Coming to Windows

update 6/11/2024: this is a post from a blog that I contributed to in 2011 called TechHacking, it shut down eventually but I was happy to be able to find some of my work through the internet archive.

The popular Linux music management application, Banshee, is coming to Windows. It is already available for a variety of Linux distributions, as well as Mac. The alpha for Windows will be available next week for download and testing.

https://banshee.fm/

Banshee has been growing steadily over the years to become a very user friendly and efficient music management system similar to iTunes. It is my personal favorite music management system and I have been using it for years. It will also be replacing the default music management program, Rhythmbox, in the upcoming release of Ubuntu 11.04.

Banshee has filled a gap in Linux that has long been empty. Major complaints from everyday users included that they had no easy way to manage music, sync to their iPods, or purchase more music online. Yes, all of those things were possible, but at times it felt like you had to go through awkward circles, and the experience was not very pleasant.

The latest release of Banshee changes all of that. Banshee 1.8 has several key features that Linux users have been craving for years:

• Video and Music all in one place
• Amazon MP3 integrated store
• Sync to iPod, Android, and Other MP3 Devices
• Podcast Manager
• Much Much More

This is the closest thing to iTunes that you are going to get on a Linux box. The most promising thing with Banshee is that each new release includes many upgrades, add-ons, and useful features. Who knows perhaps one day Banshee will be the standard in music management across all platforms?

Banshee is an awesome program, another shining example of what can happen in an open source environment. The best thing about Banshee is this:

The Banshee maintainers and community have been proud to support GNOME by sending 100% of our FOSS Amazon MP3 store’s affiliate revenue to the Foundation. We’re already on pace to contribute at the same level as a small company on the Advisory Board, $10,000 USD per year, and revenue is increasing every month.

Do you see any closed source program doing anything even remotely similar to this? So support open source, download Banshee for Windows, Mac, and Linux. And if you buy music online, buy it through the integrated Amazon MP3 store to support future Open Source development.