MusicPod is a sleek, modern, and interesting all-in-one music application for Linux. To be more precise, it’s a free and open-source application designed mainly for Ubuntu that’s capable of playing local music, internet radio, and podcasts.
MusicPod is a Flutter-based application. This means that it uses Ubuntu’s preferred app framework, which is also why it looks right at home on Ubuntu. The app’s various Yaru-inspired design elements are meant to make the app look more like a GTK-themed application, even though it’s not.
Since it’s a Flutter application, don’t be surprised of the fact that MusicPod is not exactly the most resource-friendly app of this sort out there. Not to say that it’s a resource hog, but it’s by no means as fast and as lightweight as other native, GTK apps. Ok, moment of truth: MusicPod is still under heavy development, meaning it’s not exact ready for the “big stage” so to speak, at least for now.
Onto what MusicPod can actually do then. MusicPod can play pretty much any audio file from local directories, search, browse, dowload, and play podcasts from an online source, as well as tune into various internet radio stations. Clearly, this is MusicPod’s biggest advantage and main selling point.
It’s also nice that you’re also offered various ways to organize content. For instance, local audio files can be sorted by artist, album, track name, and track number. There are also various playback controls (shuffle, repeat, etc.) which are available or all three modes.
As mentioned before, MusicPod is not yet ready to be used as a daily application. This is fine, but we found it a bit strange that the app is available in the “stable” channel on the Snap Store (Canonical’s official web store).
The app doesn’t save your settings, which can prove to be a bit of an annoyance, some bugs might also be present, and there’s literally no volume control within the app’s GUI.
When it comes to new apps, first impression really matter. In the case of MusicPod, the first impressions are somewhat mixed, even though almost everyone can see that the potential is there. It has the potential to become a very popular all-in-one music player for Ubuntu, but it for sure needs a bit more work.
