Songbird, an open-source desktop media manager, is now on Android. The code for Songbird on desktop is based on Mozilla, and a lot of the dev team worked on Firefox, so as you might expect, it had a lot of plug-ins and customization options, but unfortunately the code doesn’t translate to mobile, so you won’t be seeing any cool mobile plug-ins like in Fennec.
Songbird’s main app already plays nice with the 7digital music store and Last.fm, so I suspect that once the Android app matures a little bit, it’ll be a very rich and functional app. Sadly, from what I’m reading in the comments, it looks like there isn’t even playlist support just yet, so only try this out if you’re cool with being a beta guinea pig.
I had used the desktop version of Songbird for awhile a few years ago, but the lack of syncing options with my BlackBerry kept it from being especially useful. It looks like since then, the app has become a lot more mobile-friendly, and no doubt this Android app will make those synergies even sweeter. I’m curious if the mobile app will be open-sourced as well, as that could provide a really interesting option for developers and media enthusiasts.
To download the Songbird for Android beta, make sure you can download from unknown sources, and snag the APK file. Just keep in mind that there’s plenty of options, like Winamp, VLC, and RealPlayer.
[via Songbird Nest]