Meloville is a new open-source music player for Linux that combines local music playback with a modern Qt-based interface, plus features like synchronized lyrics, Bluetooth media controls, metadata editing, and playlist management.
The application was developed using Qt 6 and is capable of handling MP3, FLAC, M4A, and OGG audio files; it also includes Bluetooth headphone playback controls so that users can pause or skip tracks using the physical buttons or gestures provided by their compatible headphones.
The developer said this was one of the main reasons for creating Meloville, since they found that several other local Linux music players didn’t handle these controls as expected.
Meloville includes a built-in metadata editor and supports drag-and-drop reordering of songs in a playlist. Additionally, there is a full-screen ‘Big Picture’ mode dedicated to the album artwork, and the interface uses SVG-based assets to ensure sharp display on HiDPI screens.
Another notable feature is support for synchronized lyrics using .lrc files. The lyrics file must have the same filename as the corresponding audio track and can be placed anywhere within the configured music folder; Meloville will pick it up when the application restarts.
The way the player deals with organizing playlists and albums is also a bit different. Instead of linking entries directly to filenames, it matches tracks by song title and artist information. Therefore, renaming or moving music files should not break any existing playlists or album associations.
There is also additional reasoning about how albums are organized. For instance, tracks listed as “Artist feat. Other Artist” can still be included in the album headed by the primary artist rather than being considered part of a completely different artist’s work.
Moreover, Meloville can automatically produce playlist artwork using the four most commonly appearing song covers.
A rather unusual feature is the “listen along” option. This lets Meloville start a small server that streams the currently playing track to someone else via a web browser. People on the same local network can connect directly, but to access it remotely, you need port forwarding. The person listening does not have to have Meloville installed, merely a browser and an internet connection.
Since the player is still in its early stages, distribution support is limited. Arch Linux users can use a PKGBUILD repository provided by the developer, even though the package has not yet been included in the AUR. Official packaging for other Linux distributions is planned but not yet available.
For additional details, visit Meloville’s GitHub page.
Image credits: Meloville
