Songbird 1.7.2 adds support for Windows 7

The Songbird development team have released version 1.7.2 of their open source and cross platform media player. The latest stable update addresses several bugs found in the previous 1.4.2 release and includes a number of new features, including official support for Windows 7.

Songbird 1.7.2 features the re-introduction of video playback via a new GStreamer-based implementation on both Mac and Windows and support for MPEG4 and WMV encoding. While the update includes support for Windows 7, the developers say that Windows 7-specific UI features will be available "in a to-be-determined future release". Fixes are included for device sync, CD ripping and the default user interface. Other changes include support for removable device SD storage cards and Philips Muse and CAM devices.

In early April, the Songbird project announced that it would be dropping support for Linux, citing prioritisation issues. VP of Engineering Georges Auberger said that the small engineering team have decided to focus on the Windows and Mac versions as the Linux version of Songbird was falling behind. Following the announcement, a group of developers decided to create Nightingale, an in-development Linux fork of Songbird. The Nightingale project is currently seeking to recruit a new leader within the next two weeks. The first release of Nightingale will likely be based on Songbird 1.8.

More details about the release, including a list of known issues, can be found in the release announcement blog post and release notes. Songbird 1.7.2 is available to download for Mac OS X and Windows XP or later. The developers note that users running Songbird 1.7 Beta 1 will not be automatically updated to the latest release. All beta users are asked to manually update to the 1.7.2 release. Songbird is released under version 2 of the GNU General Public License (GPLv2).

The next update is expected to include a new service pane, device syncing performance improvements and Mac USB/MSC support. Other planned changes include support for more devices, improved device sync flows and clearer preferences.

See also:

• Report: Songbird to be bundled with Philips MP3 players, a report from The H.

(crve)