amaroK is “the” multimedia application to use to listen to your favorite music. You can organize your music in collections, get information about recordings such as artist, lyrics, album covers, and more.
In this section we go through its essential features. Choose → from the main menu to launch amaroK.
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Click on the button to configure a collection, check all
folders you want amaroK to look for music files and click
to start building the collection.
Choose + → from the menu to add more folders to your collection. Then choose → from the menu to update the collection.
Click on this tab to access all your
playlists. If you don't have any you can listen to the
Cool-Streams, which is a collection of
online radio broadcasts. To build a playlist, simply drag tunes into the
playlist then select → and give it a name.
Click on the
Media Device Browser tab to transfer songs to
your portable audio device, such as an iPod.
Finally this icon allows you to access
you local file system. You can use it as an alternative to
amaroK's Collection.
Right-click on songs or music folders and access the Burn contextual menu item (it's slightly different whether you choose to burn an entire album or a single song). You can burn in two formats: the “data” format means you'll be able to listen to the songs on your computer and your MP3 CD player, for example, while the “audio” format also permits you to listen to the music through a traditional CD player.
When you insert an audio CD in your CD drive the KsCD player starts up.
On the left you have the typical CD player controls: , , , etc. The ones below alter the playing order. Then, there are buttons to give you information on the disk you are listening to and to access more advanced configuration options.
KMix is a sound card mixer application under KDE. It allows you to fine-tune your sound cards through various sliders.
The Output tab controls the volume levels of the sound sources of your sound card. The most important one is the Master which controls the general volume. By right-clicking on each slider you have extra options such as Split Channels, Muted Hide, etc. Clicking on the green dot at the top of a column will mute/unmute that sound source.
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The Input tab controls the volume levels of the recording sources of your sound card. If you use videoconferencing software or are a musician, this is where you'll want to adjust your microphone and your auxiliary devices. Clicking on the green dot at the top of a column will mute/unmute that recording source, the red dot at the bottom enables or disables it.
The Switches tab goes deeper into your sound card's configuration. Boosting your microphone, using an external amplifier: these features are for advanced users who wish to really master their sound system. To activate them, simply click on the dot at the top of each column.
Finally the horizontal slider enables you to balance your sound between the left and right speakers. Notice that if your sound card supports separate levels for master's right and left, the Output's Master controllers will be modified following the movement of the horizontal balance slider.