Music player for Linux which remembers the playback position

I'm looking for a music player for my Ubuntu Karmic desktop. I need the following features:

supports multiple playlists
remembers the playback position (file and time) for each playlist
preferably, remembers playback position even when the process is killed
lets the user adjust playback speed, without changing the pitch

I don't care if it's a GUI or command-line player or it uses a client-server model.

I've tried Rhythmbox, which doesn't have features 2., 3. and 4.

Which player would you recommend?

pts

Posted 2011-02-23T21:00:10.853

Reputation: 5 441

1Not an answer, but I checked Audacious: 1 True, 2 False, 3 True (with pkill), 4 True (through settings -> Plugins -> Effects -> Speed and Pitch). – Yaroslav Nikitenko – 2019-04-07T16:22:06.890

That sounds more like a semi professional audio software than a musicplayer. but i am interested, too. – matthias krull – 2011-02-23T21:10:08.500

It does not sound like a professional player to me. Almost every Android audiobook player app (even free ones) have most of (or all of) these features. It sucks that most Linux players do not have them. I'm still looking for a solution for Linux... – MountainX – 2014-06-09T21:48:42.133

Answers

Since I couldn't find such a player, I implemented one for my own use as a Python script, which supports playing .m3u files, and calls mplayer with the proper -ss value to resume playback where it left off last time. Get it from http://raw.github.com/pts/mplaylist/master/mplaylist (project page: http://github.com/pts/mplaylist).

pts

Posted 2011-02-23T21:00:10.853

Reputation: 5 441

SMPlayer seems to meet most or all of your requirements (and more).

SMPlayer - Free Media Player for Windows and Linux with Youtube support - Official Site http://smplayer.sourceforge.net/

supports multiple playlists YES
remembers the playback position(file and time) for each playlist YES
preferably, remembers playback position even when the process is killed NOT SURE
lets the user adjust playback speed, without changing the pitch YES

MountainX

Posted 2011-02-23T21:00:10.853

Reputation: 1 735

My experience so far is that smplayer does not remember the position. I start playing a track, then click the [x] to close the program. On restarting it, the position bar is at the beginning, and pressing 'play' starts the track from the beginning. How do you get your results? – JellicleCat – 2016-09-08T04:15:49.687

I in fact have the "Remember settings for all files" and "Remember time position" checked. It seems to be of no use. – JellicleCat – 2016-09-08T04:18:17.190

1Ah! I had to find and uncheck the option "Play files from start" under Preferences > Playlist. Thanks. – JellicleCat – 2016-09-08T04:20:01.233

Does this still work? For me, SMPlayer always starts the first file in the playlist, not the one I last played. – Joschua – 2018-10-24T07:57:24.233

@Joschua Currently I am using DeaDBeeF and cmus as my music players. DeaDBeeF resumes the playlist where it left off. http://deadbeef.sourceforge.net/

– MountainX – 2018-10-24T08:00:47.817

@MountainX Thanks, though I was looking more for a solution for video players. – Joschua – 2018-10-29T10:03:50.317

Just use mpv
for me on ubuntu
sudo apt install mpv

then
mpv --save-position-on-quit *
This save all position for all file by obtaining md5

My alias( in .bashrc):

alias mpvsp='mpv --save-position-on-quit --osd-level 3 --osd-align-y bottom --osd-align-x right --osd-color 0/1/1  --osd-font-size 30'

NOT support:
~~3. preferably, remembers playback position even when the process is killed~~

Shakiba Moshiri

Posted 2011-02-23T21:00:10.853

Reputation: 121

Thank you for mentioning mpv, I've checked it out. Per-file position is saved upon Q, Ctrl-C (SIGINT) and SIGTERM, and it's not saved (but completely lost) on kill -9 (SIGKILL).

Please note that your answer doesn't answer the question, because it misses requirement #1: supports multiple playlists. – pts – 2016-11-02T13:20:50.457

1okay, I understand your meaning, may be it would be the answer for someone else. If you want I delete my answer, just tell, no problem ;) – Shakiba Moshiri – 2016-11-02T18:24:59.337

2It's fine to keep it, because it may inspire someone to find an mpv-based solution with playlist support. – pts – 2016-11-03T07:22:32.357

1+1 I tried all suggested answer, and this is the best choice by far - thank you! – Banana – 2017-02-19T04:56:46.800

For me your command doesn't work. 'Usage: mpv [options] [url|path/]filename'. – Yaroslav Nikitenko – 2019-04-07T16:41:04.930

@YaroslavNikitenko What version do you use? What OS? Or see its doc at https://mpv.io/manual/stable/

– Shakiba Moshiri – 2019-04-08T05:56:57.420

@ShakibaMoshiri I use Fedora Core 29. I installed mpv 0.29.1 from dnf. In fact, I've already installed SMPlayer, and it's much easier for me than a console program (I don't need to read man to know the keys (though I use keyboard with other players, but it's still easier)). – Yaroslav Nikitenko – 2019-04-08T09:21:49.810