14 DAY TRIAL // The Songbird developers are working hard to deliver Android users one of the best multimedia experiences with their new music management application.
Popular on Windows and Mac OS platforms, the Android version is still in beta testing stages, but it’s expected to reach “gold” status in the coming weeks.
As promised, the developer has provided users with a new preview of Songbird for Android, which includes many improvements, as well as a few bug fixes:
- Headsets and Headphones getting disconnected will cause playback to pause; - Issues with opening the application from the widget have been fixed; - The correct song should always play on phones with phone storage as well as SD card storage; - Sorting issues have been resolved for all phones; - Minor visual cleanup with regard to Facebook notifications.
Unfortunately, the new preview also comes with some known issues, which will probably be addressed in future builds of the application.
Before installing the application, Songbird enthusiasts should know that genre listing is still a little off-center on phones with phone storage and SD card. In addition, users might get unexpected duplicate genres populated with songs.
Another known issue is the incorrect listing of an album under an artist. This issue is also related to how some phones handle phone storage vs external SD card storage. Sometimes the Photostream photos don’t load and the spinner just stays there instead. For the next preview of Songbird for Android, the developer plans to include support for Bluetooth headsets as well as wired headsets/headphones with playback controls on them.
Songbird for Android is compatible with all devices running Android 2.1-update1 or newer. In addition, users will have to enable the „install applications from unknown sources“ option, which can be found under Settings / Applications / Unknown Sources.
The application is not yet available from the Android Marketplace, but those who wish to try it out can download it for free from Softpedia. As a side note, this build will expire in about 4 weeks.