I've playing with the nightly build of Songbird 0.6 pre today and am extremely impressed with how much faster it (finally) is with a large library on XP. And let me emphasize large library, as it exceeds 30k mp3s or the like.

Suddenly its running comparably with iTunes and WMP in XP and XULRunner plugins support the annoyances that iTunes lacks (a Now Playing list, anyone?!?). I realize that most of you reading are not first-adopters and would discourage you from testing the software, as it is still in early alpha status, but for my friends who are always playing with new software, please check it out.

Isn't it true that a tranquil, peaceful work environment is the most relaxing? I decided to experiment with my work environment as I wind down before bed. I came up with this: a blue/white cloud photograph, a white skin on the latest build of Songbird, and one simple weather widget via the Yahoo Widgets software. Rather quiet and reflective, don't you think?

Ever heard of Songbird? If you're not a big-time computer person, odds are that you are not. Considering that the software is not even on an official beta release (it is available for public download at the website), it is really not a big time player in the media software market. Yet. But consider the following:

According to the Songbird website, it "is a desktop Web player, a digital jukebox and Web browser mash-up." The features of Songbird include a built-in web browser with download capabilities from websites featuring download-able media. It is easily skinned, much like Winamp, but has a general GUI similar in appearance to iTunes. Built on the XUL code, it is similar in foundation to Mozilla software including Firefox and Thunderbird, giving it an easy-to-manage extensions feature.

I have found that, despite only using Songbird 0.2 developer preview, it has many reliable features. It has crashed on occasion for me, but only when I have left it open and idle (not playing music) for a lengthy period of time. I found that it searched for music relatively quickly and monitored folders well, better than iTunes and comparable to Winamp. I have tested it on both Windows XP SP2 and Ubuntu 6.10 and found it reliable on both. My only caution is to make sure that you have a significant amount of system memory to run the program, as with any XUL software.

Frankly, at this early stage in its development, I must admit excitement for Songbird. Here's to a new, open source media player that beats iTunes at its own game (eventually).