iTunes is the frontrunner when it comes to Music Jukeboxes for the Windows platform, but there is no version of iTunes available for Linux. This is not much of a problem because good ol' Free and Open Source solutions are out there for you, and this blog is about one such player, Songbird, available for multiple platforms and OSs.
Based on the stable Mozilla Platform, Songbird has all the features you would expect from a typical Jukebox including support for multiple file formats, Skinnable interface, and an extension system that is the same as in Firefox. The User interface is modeled after the familiar iTunes interface, with links to the library, Bookmarks and downloads housed on the left sidebar. Listening to online radio is a simple matter of clicking the SHOUTcast link on the left sidebar.
Since its based on Firefox, Songbird inherits the Firefox extension system and can act like a web browser, and also has the ability to play media off web pages. There is a feature called Birdhouse included that lets you discover and download new music according to your taste.
Songbird is a new project under active development, so it still has a few drawbacks to it. When it comes to external devices, Apple iPod is supported but not the iPhone (Should not be a problem for most of us). CD ripping is still not available as is video playback. Another important feature missing is the ability to watch given folders for changes in music.
I tested the 64bit version of songbird in Ubuntu linux and was just OK with the performance. It was a bit too slow for my liking (64bit should mean faster performance dont you think?) and takes up a fair amount of memory if kept running for a long time (See the Below picture).
All in all, I would say Songbird is a reasonable choice as your standard Jukebox, but I recommend waiting until all the new features are implemented and the stability and performance issues are resolved.
You can download songbird from http://getsongbird.com/
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