== Desired Features ==

Here we do a simple comparison of some known and popular media players for linux, most of them are in the repos, the set of minimal desired functions are:

 * Having a functional media library
 * Having the ability to handle large libraries
 * Having a separated playlist (or queue) from the media library
 * Having the ability to search the media library without affecting the playing list
 * Having the ability to browse/play all albums by artist
 * Having the ability to browse/play all artists on album
 * Having a sensible default sort order (artist, album, disc, track)
 * Having the ability to search the playing list to rapidly jump to a song
 * Having the possibility to save playlist to share them or backup them
 * Having the possibility of playing podcasts or other streams formats
 * Having MPRIS support (for sound indicator integration)

Other considered characteristics are the installed size, toolkit and presence in the repos.

Note: I have only regularly used Rythmbox and Banshee. Rows for other players reflect what I was able to figure out in the first 15 minutes - 1 hour attempting to use them, and may be incorrect. They should however reflect the new user "out of box" experience rather well - ali1234.

The "Import Time" test was the time taken to import a 53GB library with 7184 tracks, 676 artists, and 793 albums; totalling 23 days, 4 hours, 28 minutes of music. The test was performed using an Acer Aspire One netbook with Intel(R) Atom(TM) CPU N270 @ 1.60GHz, 1.5GB RAM, and 120GB HDD. As such it reflects a medium-sized library on low-end hardware. The system was rebooted between tests to prevent disk cache affecting results.

||<rowstyle="background-color: #ededed;font-weight:bold;">        || Audacious || Banshee || Decibel || Exaile || gmusicbrowser || QuodLibet || Rhythmbox ||
||<rowstyle="background-color: #fafafa;"> Music Library           || (./)      || (./)    || (./)    || (./)   || (./)          || (./)      || (./)      ||
||<rowstyle="background-color: #ededed;"> Import Time             || [[https://youtu.be/CBLOib29EYM|2m 41s]] || [[https://youtu.be/xNgg2QTr4ME|10m 2s]] || [[https://youtu.be/obKPmP_OhNs|2m 55s]] || [[https://youtu.be/_SzcEuTjxG8|5m 45s]] || [[https://youtu.be/8mXhP7dTa1k|23m 27s]] || [[https://youtu.be/inNugS-AatU|9m 40s]] || [[https://youtu.be/GpzkJjuVMoA|13m 18s]] ||
||<rowstyle="background-color: #fafafa;"> Separate Playlist       || (./)      || (./)    || (./)    || (./)   || (./)          || (./)      || (./)      ||
||<rowstyle="background-color: #ededed;"> Search without Playing  || {X}       || (./)    || {X}     || (./)   || (./)          || (./)      || (./)      ||
||<rowstyle="background-color: #fafafa;"> Browse Albums by Artist || {X}       || (./)    || (./)    || (./)   || (./)          || (./)      || (./)      ||
||<rowstyle="background-color: #ededed;"> Browse Artists by Album || {X}       || (./)    || {X}     || {X}    || {X}           || (./)      || (./)      ||
||<rowstyle="background-color: #fafafa;"> Sensible Sort           || {X}       || (./)    || {X}     || {X}    || (./)          || (./)      || (./)      ||
||<rowstyle="background-color: #ededed;"> Jump to Song            || {X}       || [[http://pad.lv/1437023|#1437023]] || {X} || (./) || {X} || (./) || [[http://pad.lv/1437020|#1437020]] ||
||<rowstyle="background-color: #fafafa;"> Save Playlists          || (./)      || (./)    || (./)    || (./)   || {X}           || (./)      || (./)      ||
||<rowstyle="background-color: #ededed;"> Internet Radio Streams  || {X}       || (./)    || {X}     || (./)   || {X}           || (./)      || (./)      ||
||<rowstyle="background-color: #fafafa;"> Podcasts                || {X}       || (./)    || {X}     || (./)   || {X}           || (./)      || (./)      ||
||<rowstyle="background-color: #ededed;"> MPRIS 2.0 Support       || (./)      || (./)    || {X}     || {X}    || (./)          || (./)      || (./)      ||
||<rowstyle="background-color: #fafafa;"> In Repository           || (./)      || (./)    || (./)    || (./)   || (./)          || (./)      || (./)      ||
||<rowstyle="background-color: #ededed;"> Toolkit                 || Gtk+      || Gtk+    || Gtk+    || Gtk+   || Gtk+          || Gtk+      || Gtk+      ||
||<rowstyle="background-color: #fafafa;"> Language                || ?         || Mono    || ?       || ?      || ?             || Python    || C         ||