Nuvola Player Adds Built-In Last.fm Scrobbling

Nuvola Player integrates various cloud music services (Google Music, Grooveshark, Hype Machine and 8tracks) with your desktop: Mpris2 (Ubuntu Sound Menu integration), notifications, multimedia keys, Unity quicklists and more.

The latest Nuvola Player available in the Unstable PPA finally adds built-in Last.fm scrobbling for all the supported cloud music services. Until now, you had to use user scripts for this.

Other new features in the latest unstable Nuvola include: elementary-like AppMenu (can be enabled by selecting View > Only toolbar) and an option to automatically start playback on start-up (if possible).

To install the latest unstable Nuvola in Ubuntu, use the commands below:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nuvola-player-builders/unstable
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install nuvolaplayer

Note: the built-in Last.fm scrobbling feature is not yet available for Ubuntu Lucid in the unstable PPA, because the builds failed.

Remember, this PPA is unstable! See also: Stable or Beta Nuvola PPAs (it will take a while until you get the features available in Unstable though).

Arch Linux users can install the latest unstable Nuvola via AUR.

For other Linux distributions: get the code via Launchpad (bzr branch lp:nuvola-player).

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Nuvola Player 1.0 (Stable) Released

Nuvola Player (previously Google Music Frame) is a music player especially designed for cloud music. Even though it's only a "frame", it's a great application that comes with features such as Ubuntu Sound Menu (mpris2 - also works with some GNOME Shell extensions) support, notifications, multimedia keys, Unity quicklists and many extra features thanks to user scripts (like last.fm scrobbling for Google Music, etc.).

Nuvola Player got Grooveshark, Hype Machine and 8tracks support recently (in addition to Google Music) and we've talked about this already, but if you like using stable releases, you'll be glad to know that Nuvola Player 1.0 has finally been released.

Other changes in Nuvola Player 1.0: 

• a new menu bar and reworked tool bar (and you can select to show them both or only one of them)
• support for SOCKS proxy servers
• various configuration options like: turn off notifications, visibility of tray icon, close button behavior, simple settings for user scripts

You can see the official release notes, here.

Install Nuvola Player (stable) in Ubuntu

If you've added the Nuvola Beta or Unstable PPA and want to install Nuvola 1.0 stable, disable them and remove Nuvola, then use the commands below (or use PPA Purge).

To add the Nuvola Stable PPA and install Nuvola Player (stable) in Ubuntu, use the following commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nuvola-player-builders/stable
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install nuvolaplayer

For Fedora, see: How To Install Nuvola Player (Ex Google Music Frame) In Fedora.

To get the code, report bugs and so on, check out Nuvola Player @ Launchpad.

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Google Music Frame Renamed To Nuvola Player, Grooveshark (Free) Support Added To The Latest Development Builds

Google Music Frame used to be an application that integrates Google Music in Ubuntu, providing sound menu support, notifications, multimedia keys and even last.fm scrobbling.

But the application has evolved and the latest development builds work with Grooveshark too. Because it now supports two music services (more cloud music services might be added in the future), Google Music Frame has been renamed to "Nuvola Player".

Since the Grooveshark integration is very new, it doesn't support all the features that were available for Google Music yet: for instance, you can't use user scripts yet (so no last.fm scrobbling for now) Last.fm scrobbling support is actually built into Grooveshark now (as long as you log in).

But there's something very cool about the Grooveshark support: because the website is embedded into the application, you don't need a Grooveshark paid subscription to use it (you don't even need to create an account if you don't want to)! Also, the Ubuntu Sound Menu / GNOME Shell Mediaplayer integration,  multimedia keys or notifications already work for Grooveshark.

(Google Music Frame / Nuvola Player in Ubuntu 11.10 with GNOME Shell Mediaplayer extension)

Grooveshark support should land in Nuvola PLayer 0.4, but if you want to try it in Ubuntu already, you can install the latest Nuvola development build from its (new) unstable PPA - available for Ubuntu Lucid, Maverick, Natty, Oneiric and Precise:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nuvola-player-builders/unstable
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install nuvolaplayer

To install Nuvola / Google Music Frame in Fedora, see our previous post (note: not tested with the latest dev builds): How To Install Google Music Frame In Fedora.

Switching between Google Music / Grooveshark can be done by clicking the "Switch service" button on top:

If you encounter bugs, report them @ Launchpad.

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