Here's what I want: I have a folder with MP3 files. I would like to play all the files in the folder, alphabetically. And I need a way to pause, skip to next file, and that's pretty much it.
I don't want to use my music player to organize my music library, I don't need connection to network services, and I don't even need ID3 support.
On Windows, WinAmp 2 did what I wanted. What's my best option on Ubuntu?
If you are looking for something lightweight than Rhytmbox, then try audacious
It is also present in Ubuntu Software Center. HTH
Personally I use moc in such cases. If you don’t mind it being in text mode, I recommend it.
You could use Totem, you can load/save playlists and it's pretty straight forward (and installed by default).
Edit: You might also want to have a look at XMMS, which is pretty similar to WinAmp.
For your situation I'd recommend DeadBeeF. It's light, fast and, silly name aside, it can do exactly what you want. Just point the player to the folder you want to play, arrange the files alphabetically via the 'Title' column and let it play your music.
I have been using exaile music player like it a lot
There is nothing stupid about a light, simple and fast player that will do quickly what you want, namely: playing straightly your music with no concern for looks or supplementary capacities.
The problem is that a lot of simple players are just stupid. They crush, or won't natively open flac, ape or cue files and such, or, if you add them the needed plugins to play them, they crush after that etc.
You want a simple player like winamp?
QMMP is the one for that. (some that pretend to be simpler are so simple that you might end losing a lot of time with simplest tasks)
It supports Winamp x2 skins ;)
But so it happens that the best player around is also the lightest and simplest if you do not need addons/plugins - it is still light and fast with all that, and that's why it is the best; but anyway:
DeaDBeeF (I prefer the static/portable version) - here
No skins for this one ;) but colors are changeable.
Considering Winamp itself: why not try it in Wine? It seems fast and light. Unless you want to try the real best player for Windows, and, through Wine, a serious favorite as the best in Linux: Foobar2000. (See related answer.)
(But I'm curious: why would one want to play music files alphabetically?? In case your needs of just playing alphabetically one folder of mp3 files have become more complex in time, you might consider editing your question.)
You might use Fooobar2000 to edit track number(among other things) in bulk with the masstagger. Let's say I have some tracks with no number in tags but that are put in the correct order because of the name
Opening them in FB2k
In the new window click 'Add'
In the other small window click ok (leave empty)
With 'Auto track number' enabled there click 'Run'. It's done.
A good player should only look simple!
Straight out, I'd say use Rhythmbox (It's installed by default). It automatically scans your music folder and adds files when you drop them in there. Nothing fancy, it just works.
I would recommend cmus! It is a console-only player, and quite flexible when it comes to alphabetic ordering. To add all files in a directory, use:
:add ~/my_music(replace ~/my_music with your actual music folder):set lib_sort=filename(if you only want to sort by directory/filename)I'd recommend decibel-audio-player. Simple, lightweight, efficient and made just to play music. Best replace for winamp2 for me. It's available through standard repository and at launchpad.
Try moosic which has no ui at all. ;-)
(Well, it has a ui, but it can run in the background as a daemon.)