The first beta of Audacious 4.5, the popular open-source media player, is now available for testing, showcasing numerous enhancements worth exploring. Audacious is a lightweight, cross-platform audio player known for its simplicity and efficiency. Originating in 2005 as a fork of Beep Media Player, it draws inspiration from the classic WinAMP and XMMS audio applications.
In the latest beta, users can expect several significant updates aimed at improving overall functionality and experience. Key changes include:
-
Plugin updates: The VU Meter plugin is now accessible in GTK builds, and there is enhanced feature parity concerning the ‘Jump to Song’ dialog across both Qt and GTK builds. Notably, the Qt version introduces a new Playback History plugin, which is yet to make its way to GTK.
-
New skins: Audacious 4.5 includes both Glare and Winamp 2.9 skins, allowing users to customize their player effortlessly.
Additional improvements encompass:
- Middle-click actions for the Status Bar plugin.
- Better handling of dark mode preferences in Flatpak builds.
- A new source for lyrics: lrclib.net.
- Enhanced support for APE header Album Artist tags and small audio files.
- Support for AAC files via the FFmpeg plugin and SDL3 for output plugin compatibility.
- Various bug fixes, addressing issues such as memory leaks and plugin functionality.
Moreover, the new beta version prefers the PipeWire plugin over PulseAudio and includes significant enhancements to the PipeWire integration, such as support for multiple audio channels.
Those interested in experiencing these updates can build the source code from the Audacious GitHub repository. For those who prefer a stable version, Audacious 4.4.x remains available for download across various platforms, including Windows, macOS, and Linux.
For more details and to download Audacious, you can visit the Audacious website or check out the unofficial Flathub and snap builds.