17.1 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, or your digital audio player (see Section 17.3, 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.
17.1.1 Importing Music
Banshee can import music from a file, folder, CD, or digital audio player.
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In Banshee, click .
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Select an import source.
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Click .
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 , then select .
17.1.2 Playing Your Music
To play a song, simply double-click the song in the library.
Use the buttons on the upper-left corner (
) to pause a song or play the next or previous song. Use
to adjust the volume. You can also use the items on the
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, then click the Play button to play your full CD.
Notification Area Icon
You can keep Banshee hidden in the notification area when you're not interacting with it by minimizing the Banshee window. You will see a pop-up identifying the current song when a track changes.
If you don’t want to see the pop-ups, click , then deselect .
Figure 17-3 Banshee Notification Area Pop-up
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 .
Figure 17-4 Banshee in Mini Mode
Music Recommendations
Banshee automatically recommends music that it thinks you might like, based on the currently playing song. It finds artists and popular songs that others with similar musical tastes enjoy.
If you don’t want to receive recommendations, click , then deselect .
Figure 17-5 Banshee Music Recommendations
17.1.3 Ripping Your Music
To rip music from a CD and add it to your library:
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Insert a CD into your CD or DVD drive.
Banshee automatically lists the CD as a source in the left menu.
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Select the CD title in the source list on the left, then click in the upper-right corner.
17.1.4 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 in the source list on the left, then double-click the station you want to listen to.
Figure 17-6 Internet Radio Stations in Banshee
Adding a New Internet Radio Station
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Right-click in the source list, then click .
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Enter the stream details in the Add new radio station dialog box, then click .
The new station is added to your list.
17.1.5 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 episodes are downloaded and managed for offline listening.
Subscribing to a Podcast
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Click .
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Enter the URL of the podcast you want to subscribe to.
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(Optional) Click , then specify what happens when new episodes of this podcast are available.
You can choose to download only the most recent episode, download all episodes, or decide which episodes you want to download when new episodes become available.
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Click .
The new podcast is added to your list.
Listening to a Podcast
To listen to a podcast, select in the source list, then double-click the podcast you want to listen to.
Use the options on the menu to update a podcast, subscribe to other podcasts, or find new podcasts.
Figure 17-7 Podcasts in Banshee
