For Ubuntu 23.04, Fedora 38 and other Linux with Python 3.11 as default, Pithos 1.6.1 was released today to fix the plugin support!

Pithos is a simple free open-source GTK client for Pandora music & podcasts, writing in Python programming language.

The previous versions lack plugin support for the latest Linux Distributions due to Python 3.11. When you try to open the ‘Plugins’ tab in Preferences, it just shows a blank page.

If you start it from command line, it will output something look like:

Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/share/pithos/pithos/plugin.py", line 147, in on_got_bus
    plugin = plugins[name] = load_plugin(name, window, bus)
                             
  File "/usr/share/pithos/pithos/plugin.py", line 101, in load_plugin
    module = __import__('pithos.plugins.' + name)
             
  File "/usr/share/pithos/pithos/plugins/mpris.py", line 66, in 
    class PithosMprisService(DBusServiceObject):
  File "/usr/share/pithos/pithos/plugins/mpris.py", line 647, in PithosMprisService
    @dbus_method(MEDIA_PLAYER2_IFACE)
     
  File "/usr/share/pithos/pithos/plugins/dbus_util/DBusServiceObject.py", line 138, in decorator
    in_args = _create_arginfo_list(func, in_signature)
              
  File "/usr/share/pithos/pithos/plugins/dbus_util/DBusServiceObject.py", line 123, in _create_arginfo_list
    arg_names = inspect.getargspec(func).args

To fix the issue, the new 1.6.1 was released. Which, also fixed the issue that very short songs are being labeled as advertisements.

Nothing else!

How to Install Pithos 1.6.1 in Ubuntu via PPA

For all current Ubuntu releases, including Ubuntu 18.04, Ubuntu 20.04, Ubuntu 22.04, Ubuntu 22.10, Ubuntu 23.04, and their based systems, I’ve uploaded the app package into this PPA repository.

To add the PPA and install Pithos package, do:

1. First, press Ctrl+Alt+T key combination on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run the command below to add the PPA:

   sudo add-apt-repository ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/apps

   Type user password when it asks (no asterisk feedback) and hit Enter to continue.

   

2. Then, run command to fresh the package cache for old Ubuntu 18.04 and Linux Mint:

   sudo apt update

3. Finally, install or update the lightweight Pandora Radio client to listen online music:

   sudo apt install pithos

   

As the application does not update frequently, you may also download & install the .deb package directly from this page.

For most Linux, Pithos is also available to install as Flatpak package runs in sandbox.

Uninstall Pithos

To remove the Ubuntu PPA, open terminal and run command:

sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:ubuntuhandbook1/apps

Or, open ‘Software & Updates’ utility and remove the source line under ‘Other Software’ tab.

To remove Pithos, use command:

sudo apt remove --autoremove pithos

Ubuntu’s default Rhythmbox music player finally released a new version with podcast improvements, code cleanup, and various bug-fixes.

It has been more than 2 years since the last release of Rhythmbox music player. The new Rhythmbox 3.4.5 comes with improvements to the podcast support:

• Rewritten podcast downloader with better resume and retry
• Use podcast episode GUIDs to handle episode URL changes
• Fixes for feed description, album art, and downloading issue.

The release also ported DAAP plugin to libdmapsharing-4.0 API, enabled UTF-8 support in metadata scanner. The app ID has been renamed to “org.gnome.Rhythmbox3”. And, it has now switched to Meson for its building system.

Other changes include:

• Remove soundcloud plugin, mmkeys plugin, and gnome-settings-daemon MediaKeys plugin
• Song info ui, webremote plugin, and many other fixes.
• And, translation updates. See more here.

How to Get Rhythmbox

Ubuntu usually won’t update the package for all current Ubuntu releases. So far, the only way to get Rhythmbox is using the Linux universal Flatpak package.

1. Press Ctrl+Alt+T on keyboard to open terminal. When it opens, run the commands below to install the Flatpak daemon:

sudo apt install flatpak

Ubuntu 18.04 and Ubuntu 16.04 need to add the Flatpak PPA first.

2. Next, all current Ubuntu releases may install the player by running the command below in terminal:

flatpak install https://dl.flathub.org/repo/appstream/org.gnome.Rhythmbox3.flatpakref

To avoid duplicated app icons, you may remove the system default package via sudo apt remove rhythmbox

Uninstall Rhythmbox flatpak

For any reason, you can remove the package easily by running the command below in terminal window:

flatpak uninstall org.gnome.Rhythmbox3

And cleanup unused runtimes via flatpak uninstall --unused.