Amarok 2.0 Released

Building on the success of Amarok 1.4, today Amarok 2.0 is released. The second version uses the Qt4 toolkit, allowing the project to work on Windows and Mac OSX as well as Linux.

Compared to the previous version, Amarok 2.0 offers:

A completely redesigned interface
Integration with online music services such as Magnatune, Jamendo, MP3tunes, Last.fm and Shoutcast
New scripting API and plugin support for better integration
Using technologies from the KDE4 framework including Plasma, Solid and Phonon
MySQL database

However, this new version is unfortunately lacking some popular features from Amarok 1.4 as well. These features such as queueing and filtering playlists will return soon. Other features like visualisations will require improvements to the KDE4 framework before they can be included. This is why the release of Amarok 2.0 is named "In the Beginning."

Though some people do not like the new interface, it is important to note the interface is very customisable.

As some people have been left disappointed by the new interface and features compared to Amarok 1.4, they have been suggesting to create a new project with a different direction. One such idea is for a new multimedia player in KDE that would play all media with a mockup available here. Currently Amarok is used for music on KDE4 whilst Dragon plays videos.

News source: Amarok