Harmonoid For Linux

There are a plethora of very good, open-source, and cross-platform music/audio players for Linux out there. Finding the perfect one for you is simply a matter of time invested in finding them and trying them out to see if they fit your style or not.

Even though it's not as popular as most other Linux audio players, Harmonoid is without a doubt one of the best out there. Yes, it's free, it's open-source and it's cross-platform, meaning you can enjoy it on all major Linux distros, as well as on other OSes such as Windows and macOS.

For starters, we have to point out that this app is written in Dart. We know, probably not the most popular choice, but at least you're getting far better performance than with Electron apps. In short, it almost feels as good as a lightweight native app in terms of GUI speed and animations.

Dart is not the only Google product used to create Harmonoid, as the app also features Material Design UI (Google's design language). For the music playback, the app uses libmpv and mpv, pretty much the best in the industry.

With the basics out of the way, let's take a look at what Harmonoid can really offer. Don't be fooled by the app's somewhat minimalist looks, this one feature-packed player.

You're provided with the basic controls found in most music players, such as adjustments for the playback speed, volume and pitch, some quick and useful sorting and management options for your playlists, the ability to edit song details (including genre, number, album, title, artist, year, etc.), as well as add your own lyrics (if the app is not capable of finding them by itself).

Another neat aspect of Harmonoid is that it integrates with Linux quite nicely, especially with GNOME. It also has Discord rich presence support (so it can show your music alongside the artwork and play buttons), YouTube and other online platforms stream support, a RAW metadata reader, and it can also cache metadata (for that edge in speed).

It's also quite refreshing to see that the developers behind the app wanted to make this app FOR THE USER. A quick visit to the Settings section should very much empower this statement, as the app provides multiple very neat customization options (including the ability to change the wallpaper).

Harmonoid is a really well designed music player that feels and looks modern, but it's as fast and as "playful" as most legendary music players of old. What's really astonishing is just how lightweight the app feels, especially when you consider that it's build with web technologies, and, of course, the little subtle details do make a difference.

One of the best music players out there (for Linux at least).