Archives For November 30, 1999

MusicBrainz Picard, a cross-platform music tagger, released version 2.2 a day ago. Here’s how to install it in Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 19.04.

MusicBrainz Picard is a free and open-source software application for identifying, tagging, and organising digital audio recordings. It was developed by the MetaBrainz Foundation, a non-profit company that also operates the MusicBrainz database.

The latest Picard 2.2 was released with following new features:

  • Post save plugins
  • Built-in media player (beta feature)
  • Support for ReplayGain 2.0 tags
  • Replace genre / folksonomy tag blacklist with more comprehensive list
  • Replace hardcoded colors by user-configurable ones
  • Add plugin hook for file-added-to-a-track event, file-removed-from-a-track event, album-removed event, and file loaded event
  • Provide $is_video() / $is_audio scripting functions
  • Tons of bug-fixes, and many improvements.

How to Install Picard in Ubuntu:

Picard is available as Snap (runs in sandbox, version 2.2 is not ready at the moment), which can be directly installed from Ubuntu Software in Ubuntu 18.04 and higher.

MusicBrainz stable PPA also contains the latest packages for Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 19.04, Ubuntu 19.10, Linux Mint 19.x, and their derivatives.

1. Open terminal either via Ctrl+Alt+T keyboard shortcut or by searching for ‘terminal’ from application menu. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:musicbrainz-developers/stable

Type user password when it prompts and hit Enter to continue.

2. After that, either upgrade from an existing version via Software Updater:

or simply run commands one by one to install the music tagger:

sudo apt update

sudo apt install picard

MusicBrainz Picard music tagger now is available as Snap package for Ubuntu 16.04, Ubuntu 18.04, and higher.

Snap is containerised software package designed to work within most Linux desktop. It bundles all its required dependencies, so the latest Picard 2.0.4 works in Ubuntu 16.04 while the official PPA updates only for Ubuntu 18.04 and higher.

Note that the MusicBrainz Picard snap package is not official. It’s maintained by the community.

To install Picard snap package in Ubuntu 18.04 / higher:

Simply open Ubuntu Software, search for and install picard. There are 2 software packages while the Snap package marked as ‘Source: Snap Store’ in the package details.

Install Picard 2.0.4 in Ubuntu 16.04:

For Ubuntu 16.04, open terminal either via Ctrl+Alt+T keyboard shortcut or by searching for ‘terminal’ from app launcher. When it opens, do:

1. Run command to install snapd is daemon:

sudo apt install snapd snapd-xdg-open

Type user password (no asterisks feedback due to security reason) for sudo prompt and hit Enter.

2. Then install Picard snap package via command:

sudo snap install picard

(Optional) To uninstall the package, run command:

sudo snap remove picard

MusicBrainz Picard 2.0 stable was released today many fixes and new features and much needed upgrades!

MusicBrainz Picard 2.0 release highlights:

  • Add Retina and Hi-DPI display support.
  • Add DSF file support
  • Add keyboard shortcut for deleting scripts from options > scripting page
  • Support only 64 bit Picard builds from 2.0
  • Update dependencies minimal requirements: Python 3.5, PyQt 5.7, and Mutagen 1.37.
  • And numerous bug-fixes, UI and performance improvements.

How to Install MusicBrainz Picard 2.0 in Ubuntu:

The official PPA has built the music tagger for Ubuntu 17.10, Ubuntu 18.04, and Ubuntu 18.10.

1. Launch terminal either via Ctrl+Alt+T keyboard shortcut or searching for ‘terminal’ from software launcher. When it opens, run command to add the PPA:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:musicbrainz-developers/stable

Type your user password (no asterisks feedback) when it prompts and hit Enter to continue.

2. If a previous version was installed, upgrade the software via Software Updater:

or run following commands one by one in terminal to install or upgrade to MusicBrainz Picard 2.0:

sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get install picard

Uninstall:

To remove the PPA, launch Software & Updates and navigate to Other Software tab.

To remove MusicBrainz Picard music tagger, run command in terminal:

sudo apt-get remove --autoremove picard

MusicBrainz Picard is an open-source cross-platform music tagger written in Python. While Ubuntu repositories provide an old version of the software, here’s how to install the latest release (Picard 1.4.2 so far) in Ubuntu 16.04, and higher.

MusicBrainz Picard has an official Ubuntu PPA repository, however, it’s not been updated for more than a year. It now publishes the official Linux binaries only through Flathub repository.

1. Install Flatpak (Ubuntu 16.04 only).

While Ubuntu 16.04 does not ship Flatpak in the default repositories, open terminal via Ctrl+Alt+T and run commands to install it from the PPA.

  1. Add the flatpak PPA via command (type your password when prompts and hit enter):
    sudo add-apt-repository ppa:alexlarsson/flatpak

  2. Then install flatpak via commands:
    sudo apt-get update
    
    sudo apt-get install flatpak

2. Add the Flathub repository via command:

flatpak remote-add --if-not-exists flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo

3. Finally grab and install the music tagger via command:

flatpak install flathub org.musicbrainz.Picard

Log out and back in after installation and then launch it from Unity Dash, Gnome launcher and enjoy!

Uninstall:

To uninstall the music tagger, run command:

flatpak uninstall --app org.musicbrainz.Picard

And remove the repository:

flatpak remote-delete flathub