Amarok 2.3.0 'Clear Light' Introduces a New Main Toolbar

Amarok, the 'next-generation' music player for the KDE desktop environment, has been updated with the release of Amarok 2.3.0. "Clear Light." The latest release since Amarok 2.2.2 comes with the usual array of bug fixes, but also a number of new, forward-looking features. Among the things that have gotten more attention in this release are podcast support and saved playlists, but also support for USB mass storage devices.

"[T]his release also contains a number of new features of a slightly more experimental nature. These include a new main toolbar and a rewritten and much simpler file browser," the official announcement reads.

"The old slim toolbar is still available should you prefer that, but we encourage you to try out the new toolbar and tell us what you think. The file browser's look and feel now aligns more closely with the rest of Amarok with improvements such as breadcrumb navigation, and it is now focused on being a way to find and play music instead of being a multi-purpose file manager," it adds.

These new additions in Amarok 2.3.0 are not final and the development team has introduced them to see how the users react to them. As such, based on feedback, these new features will most likely change in the coming releases. Other changes include a new option, "show in media sources," in the right-click context menu of the tracks in the playlist, which allows users to quickly navigate to the location of the file playing.

There have been several changes to the way Amarok handles podcasts. There are now configuration options enabling users to change the update interval for podcasts and also the location where they are stored. Podcasts and saved playlists are now also grouped by sources. Finally, the Wikipedia applet has gotten some attention and the developers say it should display properly now. Links in the applet now work properly with internal Wikipedia links opening in the music player and external ones in the browser.

Amarok 2.3.0. "Clear Light" is available for download here on Softpedia. We also provide an Amarok 2 scripts section, updated daily. Give them a try right now!