Rhythmbox Third-Party Plugins Ubuntu PPA

Now that Rhythmbox is once again the default music player in Ubuntu, AskUbuntu moderator fossfreedom has created a PPA for various Rhythmbox plugins that many Ubuntu users might find useful. Among the plugins included are: Equalizer, Jump-to-Playing, Tray Icon, Microblogger, Tablature plugin, JumpToWindow and more.

Currently, there are 22 plugins available in this PPA and they have been tested on Rhythmbox 2.96 which is available in the official Ubuntu 12.04 repositories.

To add the PPA (for Ubuntu 12.04, 12.10, 13.04 or 13.10), use the following commands:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:fossfreedom/rhythmbox-plugins
sudo apt-get update

Then, to install all the available plugins, use the command below:

sudo apt-get install rhythmbox-plugin-complete

You can also install the plugins individually:

- Equalizer: add a 10-band equalizer to Rhythmbox.

Installation:

sudo apt-get install rhythmbox-plugin-equalizer

- Last.fm: adds love/ban last.fm buttons and synchronizes playcount (it can only retrieve the playcount) and loved tracks(adds 5 stars to the track if it's marked as loved). The sync occurs only when playing a song and it needs to be enabled from the plugin preferences.

Installation:

sudo apt-get install rhythmbox-plugin-lastfm-extension

- Microblogger: sends a notice about the currently playing track to identi.ca or Twitter.

Installation:

sudo apt-get install rhythmbox-plugin-microblogger

- AlbumArt Search: searches album art using Google Image search and allows the user to select one of the results (so it's not automated)

Installation:

sudo apt-get install rhythmbox-plugin-albumartsearch

- Jump-to-Playing: adds a context menu and a toolbar button to jump to (highlught) the currently playing song.

Installation:

sudo apt-get install rhythmbox-plugin-jumptoplaying

- Remember-the-Rhythm: a plugin to remember the last playing song, source (radio station, playlist), browser values (genre, album, artist).

Installation:

sudo apt-get install rhythmbox-plugin-remembertherhythm

- Tray Icon: control Rhythmbox via a notification icon (like in previous Rhythmbox versions), useful for desktop environments that don't have a media player menu / Ubuntu indicator support. If you want to use this in Unity, you'll have to whitelist the systray.

Installation:

sudo apt-get install rhythmbox-plugin-tray-icon

- JumpToWindow: a Rhythmbox plugin that adds a feature similar to Winamp's "Jump to file", which includes the ability to enqueue a song.

Installation:

sudo apt-get install rhythmbox-plugin-jumptowindow

The plugin interface doesn't come with a GUI to configure the keyboard shortcut used to trigger JumpToWindow, so to set a keyboard shortcut, go to System > Preferences > Keyboard Shortcuts and add the following command under "Custom Shortcuts" (and there, also set the shortcut, like CTRL + J for instance):
/usr/lib/rhythmbox/plugins/JumpToWindow/src/activate.py

In the JumpToWindow, you can use the space bar to start playing a song, ALT + Enter to enqueue, Enter to play and hide the window and escape to hide the window.

- Tabulature: Find and display the guitar tablature of the current playing song from tab websites.

Installation:

sudo apt-get install rhythmbox-plugin-tabguitar

- lLyrics: an alternative lyrics plugin, useful if the default lyrics plugin doesn't work for you.

Installation:

sudo apt-get install rhythmbox-plugin-llyric

- Countdown Playlist: a plugin to create playlists based on some keywords you set, for the duration you define:

Installation:

sudo apt-get install rhythmbox-plugin-countdown-playlist

- Random Album Player: a simple plugin to play random albums.

Installation:

sudo apt-get install rhythmbox-plugin-randomalbumplayer

- CoverArt Browser is a Rhythmbox plugin that lets you browse and play your music via an album art view similar to the one available in Banshee:

Installation:

sudo apt-get install rhythmbox-plugin-coverart-browser

- LastFM-Queue automatically enqueues tracks from your library based on last.fm suggestions for the currently playing track. This plugin only works on 64bit!

Installation:

sudo apt-get install rhythmbox-plugin-lastfm-queue

- Open Containing Folder adds an option to open the folder containing the selected track(s) to the right click context menu. Installation:

sudo apt-get install rhythmbox-plugin-opencontainingfolder

- Radio-Browser Rhythmbox plugin lets you find, play and rip tracks from internet radio stations. Installation:

sudo apt-get install rhythmbox-plugin-radio-browser

- Repeat One Song - just like its name says, it lets you repeat one song. Installation:

sudo apt-get install rhythmbox-plugin-repeat-one-song

- Send-First Rhythmbox plugin lets you enqueue tracks at the beginning of the queue playlist instead of the default behaviour which is at the end. Installation:

sudo apt-get install rhythmbox-plugin-send-first

- Small-Window shrinks the Rhythmbox user interface to a small window which only has the basic controls: play/pause, previous/next track. Installation:

sudo apt-get install rhythmbox-plugin-smallwindow

- Stop After Current Track: stops playback after the current track. Installation:

sudo apt-get install rhythmbox-plugin-stopafter

- Suspend PC lets you suspend the computer when the playlist of the queue finishes. Installation:

sudo apt-get install rhythmbox-plugin-suspend

- Web Menu can be used to quickly search the playing/selected song on YouTube, search for its album on Wikipedia, AllMusic, RateYourMusic, AllAboutJazz, DiscoGS, Last.fm, Grooveshark, Facebook, Amazon. Search its artist on Wikipedia, AllMusic, RateYourMusic, DiscoGS, Last.fm, Facebook, Myspace, Torrentz. It even lets you open the artist official website.

Installation:

sudo apt-get install rhythmbox-plugin-webmenu

- Fullscreen: a plugin that gives you a nice full-screen window you can use at parties which includes album art, a pulsating hover effect, play pause and skip controls, animated progress bar, queued tracks managed. The window can be either full screen or maximized - this can be changed from the plugin preferences. 

Installation:

sudo apt-get install rhythmbox-plugin-fullscreen

- Rating filters: The plugin adds rating filters to the library browser, allowing you to filter favourite or unrated tracks. You can set the favourites threshold in the plugin preferences.

Installation:

sudo apt-get install rhythmbox-plugin-rating-filter

After installing any of the above Rhythmbox plugins, enable them from the menu: Edit > Plugins.

More info about the plugins available in this PPA can be found at AskUbuntu.

Thanks to fossfreedom for the tip!