14 of the Best Free Console Based
Linux Multimedia Apps
The vast majority of Linux users would never be
satisfied without access to a graphical user interface. However, even
in 2009
there remain many reasons why console based applications can
be extremely desirable. Although console applications are
very useful for updating, configuring, and repairing a system, their
benefits are not only confined to system
administration. Console based applications are light on system
resources (very useful on low spec machines), can be faster
and more efficient than their graphical counterparts, they do not stop
working when X needs to be restarted, and are great for scripting
purposes.
The popularity of console based applications has even led some
developers to develop 'console-only' Linux distributions. One
example is INX, a distro based on Ubuntu but provides no GNOME, KDE,
XFCE, or indeed any graphical 'X' applications.
So what can users do with the command-line? There is a
wide range of console based
software which performs the same or similar functions to their
graphical equivalents, even in the field of multimedia.
To provide an insight into the quality of software that is
available, we have compiled a list of 14 high quality console
based free Linux multimedia software. Hopefully, there will be
something of interest for anyone who wishes to revel in the power of
the command-line.
Now, let's explore the 14 multimedia applications at hand. For
each title we have compiled its own portal page, a full description
with an in-depth analysis of its features, screenshot, together with
links to
relevant resources and reviews.
| Console Multimedia Software |
| Music
on Console |
Full-screen audio player designed to be powerful and
easy to
use |
| CMus |
Lightweight
ncurses audio player |
| mp3blaster |
Full-screen console mp3 and Ogg Vorbis player |
| SoX |
Swiss
army knife of sound processing |
| RipIT |
Text based audio cd ripper |
| cdparanoia |
Audio
extraction tool for sampling CDs |
| LAME |
LAME Ain't an MP3 Encoder |
| transcode |
Utility
to encode raw video/audio streams |
| mencoder |
MPlayer's Movie Encoder |
| hpodder |
Tool
to scan and download podcasts |
| Ecasound |
Multitrack-capable audio recorder and effect processor |
| get_iplayer |
Search,
index, download/stream BBC/ITV/Hulu.com TV and radio |
| MPlayer |
Multimedia player |
| FFmpeg |
Multimedia
player, server and encoder |
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Last Updated Sunday, February 05 2012 @ 02:34 PM EST
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