Decibels For Linux

Some apps are popular, others have reached god-like status but are now obsolete, and others are simple apps that just exist. The truth of the matter is that not all apps out there have to be the best to be considered useful.

In fact, some apps don't even have to be particularly useful to be considered worth installing. Decibels might just be the perfect example to prove the validity of this latter argument, as it's an app built by a developer who's currently into learning GNOME/GTK/GJS.

Before anything else, I should point out what Decibels is (even though, based on its name, I'm sure you've already figured it out) - an audio player.

Because Decibels is free, open-source, and a Linux app (more importantly, it's a GTK app), of course I'm want to at least click once on its GUI. Why? Because I love minimalist apps, that's why.

Here's what Decibels can do: play some (not all) of the most popular audio formats out there (including MP3 and MP4). That's about it. You're also offered a couple of basic controls such as the ability to adjust the playback speed, a couple of seek controls, a quick way to mute the volume, as well as quick volume adjuster. That's about it.

Oh, and there's the nice (yet very simplistic) waveform for the track you're playing. The app can't process more than one audio file at a time (and since we're on the subject, it's advisable to not try to play audio files without audio, you've been warned), but at least it has support for drag and drop.

Clearly, Decibels is not what one might call a must-have audio player. In fact, it barely qualifies as an audio player, but that's ok. Since it's free and open-source, everyone can check it out and maybe improve it according to their liking.