Alternatives to uamp

Of course, these comparisons are opinionated, but there aren't any better comparisons with uamp, because no one knows about it. If you like uamp, consider giving it a star on GitHub.

Uamp

Uamp is not an alternative to uamp :) but let's first address the pros and cons of uamp itself.

Pros

  • Background blayback.
  • Handles large amounts of songs without issues.
  • Linux support.
  • Fade play/pause.
  • Many features, high configurability.
  • It is simple to mix a playlist.
  • Has extensive CLI.
  • It is simple to return to the previous queue.
  • Open source.
  • Saves its state and correctly handles exit signals.
  • Has no issues while another demanding task is running.
  • Quickly loads the song library.
  • You can automate stuff (endless playback).

Cons

  • No GUI.
  • No global keyboard shortcuts. (You can use your OS with uamp CLI to achieve this.)

Other players

These are music players that I know of and with which I have at least a little experience.

Strawberry

I settled on this player before creating uamp. It does everything well enough, but also not quite well. It has its website here.

Pros

  • GUI.
  • Fade play/pause.
  • Global keyboard shortcuts.
  • Handles large amounts of songs well.
  • Open source.

Cons

  • The GUI is hard to navigate at first.
  • Poor dark theme support.
  • Finding out how to mix a playlist takes a long time.
  • Has a problem with playback while another demanding task is running.
  • Global keyboard shortcuts sometimes don't work.
  • It isn't very easy to save and recover the previous queue.
  • Doesn't handle exit signals.

Rhythmbox

I used this on my Gnome laptop for a short period, but it was somehow very annoying to use. It has its website here.

Pros

  • GUI.
  • Dark theme support.
  • Global keyboard shortcuts.
  • Handles large amounts of songs ok.
  • Open source.
  • Supports playback in the background.
  • At least a minimal CLI can be used to control the running instance.
  • Linux support.

Cons

  • No fade play/pause.
  • GUI is unintuitive and frustrating.
  • Takes forever to initially load all songs.
  • Can't mix playlist? It's hard to find that option if it is there.
  • I closed it. Why is it still playing?
  • No global keyboard shortcuts (at least I couldn't find where to configure them).
  • It isn't very easy to save and recover the previous queue.
  • The music library sometimes unloads and has to be loaded again.

Winamp (legacy)

Winamp was the best player (apart from uamp) that I ever used on the desktop. It has many features, and on Windows, everything works well. But now that I'm used to some new features unique to uamp, I'm not sure I could go back to Winamp and be completely happy. Winamp has its website here. I don't speak about the new garbage, but the old legacy Winamp.

Pros

  • GUI.
  • Dark theme support.
  • Great global keyboard shortcuts.
  • Handles large amounts of songs without issues.
  • Windows support.
  • Fade play/pause.
  • High customizability.
  • It is simple to mix a playlist.

Cons

  • No background playback.
  • Unmaintained.
  • Closed/questionable license.
  • The GUI is complicated at first.
  • It isn't very easy to save and recover the previous queue.
  • No Linux support.
  • When it crashes, all state is lost.

Elisa

I wanted to use this player because I use KDE Plasma and like using apps from the KDE ecosystem. But it was unable to handle my large library of songs. It has its website here.

Pros

  • GUI.
  • Dark theme support.
  • GUI looks good and seems to be intuitive.

Cons

  • Cannot handle large amounts of songs.

XMMS

Tries to be Winamp, but can't do anything. Maybe this is my feeling only because I'm used to the Winamp modern skin, which is unavailable here. It is old and unmaintained. I couldn't even find out if it has a website.

Audacious

Looks good. I can't remember what my problems with it were. Maybe the GUI was so unintuitive that it scared me, so I didn't try hard enough to customize it to suit me. It has its website here.