- Quick specs
- Price: Free
- Operating system: Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows 2000
- Date added: March 12, 2009
- Total Downloads: 103,030
- Downloads last week: 252
- See full specifications
A newer version of Songbird is available.
(Download doesn't provide access to previous versions of this program.)
- CNET editors' rating: stars
- Average user rating: stars out of 121 votes
See all user reviews
CNET editors' review
Reviewed by: Seth Rosenblatt on November 07, 2008
If Firefox and iTunes hooked up, their hatchling could very well be Songbird. Almost ready for prime-time and still a bit buggy, it's also a very fun app that's part music player, part Web browser, and all about music discovery, management, and playback.
During installation, it'll ask if you want to load your iTunes music directory or another media directory, or perform the task later. Processing 5,000 songs took about 3 minutes, not a bad pace. It then asks you which of the pre-installed Songbird extensions you want to load. Most of these, like the iPod and USB device manager, only make the app stronger.
The left sidebar provides quick links to bookmarks, downloads, your music library in an iTunes-style interface, and several music discovery Web sites to get your started. When you're looking at any Web site with MP3s available for download, Songbird will open a new window at the bottom main browsing pane. Double-click on a song to play it, while links on the right let you purchase the track from Amazon, iTunes, eMusic, and Amie St. They also tell you the format of the track--MP3 or AAC, for example, and provide a blog link for more info.
Songbird has a growing library of extensions, and support is slowly growing for those written originally for Firefox. Many of the improvements from the last version make for a dramatic change, and Songbird is now stable enough to take flight for the music-loving, Web-surfing fanatic in all of us.
Watch the CNET video review of Songbird:
Publisher's description
From Pioneers of the Inevitable :Songbird is a media browser and Web player built from Firefox, VLC Player, and SQLite. Songbird is open source and supports user contributed, cross-platform extensions.
Version 1.1.1 introduces album art downloading, MTP device support, watch folders, improved sorting, and other performance-enhancements and bug-fixes.
What's new in this version:
Version 1.1.1 introduces album art downloading, MTP device support, watch folders, improved sorting, and other performance-enhancements and bug-fixes.
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User reviews of Songbird 1.1.1
- Average user rating: 3.7 stars out of 121 votes
- My rating: 0 stars Write review
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Showing 4 of 4 user reviewsSee all 4 user reviews
This software version | All versions -
Version: Songbird 1.1.1
"So Close to Getting Five Stars"
Pros: Great UI, web browser, loads of add-ons
Cons: No EQ, no visualizations, can't edit metadata for MTP devices (or at least not mine), feels stripped down, comes with almost nothing as everything good is given as an add-on
Summary: On first use, Songbird is mediocre at best. Once you download all the right add-ons and feathers (skins), it's pretty amazing. I haven't minded the absence of an EQ (although I hear it's in the works) or visualizations, so that hasn't been too huge ... read more >>
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Version: Songbird 1.1.1
Pros: Everything, there isn't anything about this player I don't like. It is an amazing player and should quickly become the standard player replacing that terrible Itunes player.
Cons: It has a difficult time picking up newly added tracks, as well it doesn't allow for burning of playlists (or burning in general).
Summary: This is the best program I've used...I switched from the other awesome player MediaMonkey which has been my favorite for a very long time. Can't wait for the updates and hopefully new features.
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Version: Songbird 1.1.1
Pros: Open-Source. Updated consistently. Amazing user support. Add-Ons. Browser in tow. Free.
Cons: Still lacks a few primary features i.e. ripping/burning, meta-data lookup. But it is still in its 1.0 release and updating faster than any other program I've seen to date. They keep users in the loop and our feedback is what is directing the project.
Summary: On track to be the best media player to date. I'm weening off iTunes as we speak.
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2 out of 2 people found this review helpful
Version: Songbird 1.1.1
Pros: Good for listening to your music collections and from internet with embedded Firefox.
Nice default UI and you can download and use different skins(feathers).Cons: The size of Songbird swells to 63.5MB on install.It uses 76000 to 84000K of CPU Memory with default UI and while playing an mp3 it takes 92000K of CPU-Mem. and reaches 124300K.This is huge to play an mp3 when compared to other media players.
Summary: It has a nice UI and good sound-output and surfs the web for music with built-in Firefox browser.At the same time,due to its huge size and heavy usage of CPU to hear a song,the user may go for Winamp or Aimp or 1by1 or WMP.Winamp and WMP can play a... read more >>
- See all 4 user reviews Write review
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