amarok

amarok [OPTIONS] [FILES/URLs...]
Control a running instance: amarok [--play | --pause | --stop | --next | --previous | --status | --enqueue | ...other_control_options...]

--help
    Displays a help message with available command-line options.

--version
    Shows the Amarok version information.

--play
    Starts or resumes playback of the current playlist.

--pause
    Pauses the current track.

--stop
    Stops playback.

--next
    Plays the next track in the playlist.

--previous
    Plays the previous track in the playlist.

--status
    Prints the current playback status (e.g., track title, artist, time).

--volume-up
    Increases the playback volume.

--volume-down
    Decreases the playback volume.

--set-volume
    Sets the volume to a specific level (0-100).

--enqueue
    Adds a specified file_or_url to the end of the current playlist.

--play-media
    Starts playing the specified file_or_url immediately, clearing the current playlist.

--clear-playlist
    Clears the entire current playlist.

--toggle-playlist
    Toggles the visibility of the playlist window.

--toggle-shuffle
    Toggles shuffle playback mode on or off.

--toggle-repeat
    Toggles repeat playback mode (track, playlist, or off).

--seek
    Seeks to a specific absolute seconds position in the current track.

--seek-relative
    Seeks seconds relative to the current position (positive for forward, negative for backward).

--playlist
    Loads a playlist from the specified file_or_url.

Amarok is a free and open-source music player designed primarily for Unix-like operating systems, with a strong emphasis on integration within the KDE desktop environment. Launched in 2003, it quickly became renowned for its powerful music management capabilities, offering a comprehensive suite of features beyond simple playback. Users can organize vast music collections, create dynamic playlists, fetch lyrics and album art, manage podcasts, and even integrate with various online music services. While it presents a full-featured graphical user interface, Amarok also provides a command-line interface for remote control. This allows users to interact with a running Amarok instance without directly opening or switching to its GUI. Common command-line uses include initiating playback, pausing, skipping tracks, querying the current status, adjusting volume, or enqueuing specific audio files or URLs. Its design prioritizes an intuitive user experience and robust handling of large music libraries.

The development of Amarok has significantly slowed down in recent years, making some of its online features and integrations potentially outdated or non-functional. It is fundamentally a graphical application; its command-line options are primarily for remote control of a running GUI instance, rather than functioning as a standalone command-line media player. Users on non-KDE desktop environments might find it pulls in a large number of KDE dependencies.

The amarok command-line interface operates primarily as a remote control for a running graphical instance. This means that to utilize options like --play or --enqueue, the Amarok GUI application typically needs to be already running in the background. It is not designed to be invoked as a standalone command-line audio player without the GUI component.

As a native KDE application, Amarok leverages KDE libraries and services extensively. This ensures deep integration within the KDE desktop environment, providing a seamless user experience. However, this also implies that users on other desktop environments (like GNOME or XFCE) will likely need to install a substantial set of KDE dependencies for Amarok to function correctly.

First released in 2003, Amarok quickly rose to prominence as a leading music player for the KDE desktop environment. Its 1.x series was particularly celebrated for its innovative features and user-friendly interface. However, a major rewrite and user interface redesign introduced with version 2.x, aimed at modernizing the codebase, proved controversial among some long-time users and led to the creation of the Clementine fork. While it continued development for a period, contributions and major releases have become less frequent over the last decade, reflecting a general decline in its active maintenance compared to its peak popularity.

clementine(1), audacious(1), vlc(1), mpv(1), qmmp(1)