A new version of Rhythmbox, Ubuntu’s default music player app, is available.
Rhythmbox 3.4.4 is a small update to this venerable player and was released back in January (but I’ve only just heard about it).
As Rhythmbox is no longer the default GNOME music player (a role now filled by the rather anaemic GNOME Music app) this player hasn’t seen much major development for some time.
But it’s not abandoned, as this update, the fourth bug fix update in the 3.4.x series, shows.
So what’s new?
Well, Rhythmbox 3.4.4 features:
- Support for fetching cover art from coverartarchive.org
- Use HTTPS for external requests (where applicable)
- New Listenbrainz plugin
- New app icon
- New symbolic icon
- Consistent quality/bitrate for
.flacand.alacfiles - Bq Android phones now mount/sync in Rhythmbox
Of these the ListenBrainz plugin provides native integration with the service of the same name, which is open source alternative the ‘audio scrobbler’ project made popular with Last.fm.
While the new Rhythmbox icon (floating right somewhere on this page) better matches the the new GNOME icon style, with a flatter, simpler design with 3D perceptive ‘chin’.
Source code for Rhythmbox 3.4.4 is available to download now direct from GNOME servers.
If you prefer pre-built packages then Flathub offers the very latest build for compatible Linux distributions:
Rhythmbox 3.4.4 will also be available “out of the box” in Ubuntu 20.04 LTS when it’s released in a few months time.