You don’t need to tell me. I know it already: you’re sick of hearing about Spotify on this site.
But be a champ and suck it up, cos I’m back with another app, one that letsthe world’s most popular (citation needed)music streaming service play nice on Ubuntu.
It’s called Spotify Web Player for linux and, yup, it’s a Node.js/Electron application. If you’re in any way allergic toapps built using these open-source tools/platforms youstill have time to run for the hills.
The rest of you, follow me.
More Than a ‘Web Wrapper’
A web-app …with sound menu support
Ourarticle on SpotiWeb last week was originally intendedto be about this app, but the lack of a64-bit version put paid to that.
Fast forward one week, and a whole heapof commits later, and not only isthe app rocking a 64-bit installer, but it’s also gained achorus of newfeatures .
And some of them are really worth checking out.
Set Phasers to StunSpotify Web Player for Linux is built by Matthew James and is currently in alpha.
Yes, it’s an electron app wrapping the official Spotify for Web player , which launched back in 2012 , into a neat and tidy desktop box.
Yet itthrows enough percussive bells and whistles in to the mix tobe so much more than that.
Sure,you can just loadSpotify web player in a new browser tab and use it there.
But you wouldn’t getall this:
Desktop notifications D-Bus/MPRIS support (i.e. Ubuntu Sound Menu) Indicator applet with Play, Previous, Next, etc controls Unity quicklist controls Settings to hide parts of the main interface Lyrics integration Optional light theme Search shortcut Ctrl+S Close To Tray (Minimize To Tray without the Tray Icon) Set app to open on start-up (incl. start hidden)D-Bus/MPRIS controlwas recently added (though this doesn’t currently work on 64-bit builds but worksjust dandy for 32-bit users) to offer desktop notifications, music player controls, and the like.
A chorus of configuration options allow you to cater the experience to suit your needs, including granular control over when you see desktop notifications, and what for; how the app should behave when set to open at login (hidden or on show), and you can also disable the system tray if you don’t like the clutter.
The interface tweaks alone are well done, and the included light theme is a nice touch:
See thoselinksin the sidebar? You can get rid of ’em if you want. From from your account profile to ‘radio’ and the pointless ‘follow’, you can choose which bits show up and which stay hidden. Just dive in to the Preferences to go tailor it to your tastes.
Lyrics
A few months back the official Spotify desktop applost its built-in lyrics feature, as Spotify’s deal with MusixMatch came to an end.
‘Spotify Web Player for Linux’ brings lyrics back to Spotify. When listening to a track you want to croon along to just hit the ‘Sing!’ button in the sidebar. Lyricsare also cached to save bandwidth. Should you need ’em, you’ll can find ’em in ~/.spotifywebplayer/LyricsCache ).
Install Spotify Web Player for Linux on Ubuntu 16.04 LTSAlthough the application works for 64-bit users some desktop integration features may not. This will be fixed in a subsequent update, but keep it in mind before deciding to try.
Want to try it out (if you’re a Spotify fan, you really ought to) download the latest alpha release from the Github project page.
Developer Matthew James cautions that “this isn’t production-readybut since most people who have looked at my application are helpful and quite techy, I have been able to make significant progress partly why I love Open Source. Some bugs are present at this stage but this is always the case. ”
Download the latest release of Spotify Web Player for Linux
If you think you could zone in on and help fix the broken dbus issues on 64-bit Ubuntu, or any other bugs you encounter, do get involved via the project’s Github page.
Learn more about ‘Spotify Web Player for Linux’ on Github