4年半前的Amarok发布，使得世界上的音乐管理理念被大大改变了。虽然Amarok1被大家认为很创新，但是随着开发的深入，维护旧的框架已经变得越来越困难。我们决定利用KDE4带来的新技术和开发理念的契机，来改善Amarok的设计。我们的目标是做一个最前沿时尚的音乐管理软件，能在越来越多的播放器中脱颖而出。于是我们从Amarok1系列版本中选出了最吸引人的功能，然后酝酿着如何去改善，好让大家来“重新发掘音乐”。于是我们开始了开发。

两年以后的今天，我们荣幸地宣布Amarok2的到来。但这次发布只是一个开始。
这个新版本带来很多新的功能：

• 完全重新设计的用户界面
• 和网上音乐服务，如Magnatune, Jamendo, MP3tunes, Last.fm和Shoutcast的完美结合
• 全部重新设计的插件API，能让插件和Amarok结合地更好
• 支持全新的KDE4构架，利用了如Solid, Phonon, 和Plasma的技术

为了更好地显示歌词，专辑，等信息，为了更好地把信息传达给用户，我们对用户界面作了很大的改变。你可以在Amarok中间部分添加小部件来自定义你所需要的信息。我们新的随机播放列表功能更智能。新的网上服务构架使得如Jamendo, Magnatune和Ampache服务和Amarok完美结合。新的服务可以通过设置页面来添加，你也可以从kde-apps.org上下载。一些插件已经被开发出来，也希望大家能帮助一起开发。从KDE3到KDE4平台的迁移，利用如Solid, Phonon, Plasma技术，使Amarok管理本地和网络音乐更容易……
这些只是部分Amarok2的新特性。来尝试下吧！

重要的是，Amarok2.0只是一个开始，不是一个结束。为了保证最主要的改进，很多在1.4里面的功能在Amarok2里缺失了。如播放列表的队列和过滤功能，将会在将来发布。其他一些功能也将会回来，如视觉效果，移动设备，都需要KDE的改善。另一些功能被取消了，如除Mysql数据库以外数据库的支持。要么是因为程序设计上的原因，或者是为了更好地在众多播放器中脱颖而出。

大多数Linux发行版已经准备好了Amarok2.0的最新版本。但由于KDE4在Windows和Mac OS X平台上仍然处于开发阶段，所以Amarok在这些平台上目前只是Beta版本。我们将在未来几个月里频繁发布2.0系列版本的bug修复版，同时也将完善新的和旧的功能。所以，虽然对我们开发团队来说，Amarok2已经开始了很长一段旅程，对用户来说，这只是一个开始！

我们很高兴大家能参与和使Amarok。没有大家的帮助，没有编程，宣传，编辑文档，赞助等等，就不可能有项目的改进。我们想对所有人说：谢谢！

加入我们，参与Amarok的自由世界吧！ 请考虑成为我们的赞助人。 读一下 Amarok 2常见问题。 当然也别忘了和我们一起庆祝！

We have been waiting a long, long time and now we finally did it: Amarok 2.0 is really soon to be released!

To celebrate this really major event in Amarok history with our fans all around the world we would like to invite you to join us to party really hard. Could there ever be a better reason to do so?

As our fellowers are -more or less- randomly spread all around the world one release party won't be enough, no, we need a lot of them. This is where YOU can help: check out the list on our Wiki, if there is a party close to you location join it by adding yourself and contacting the organizer. If there is no party close enough for you to take part: start one! Simply add it to the list and spread the word.

How should a release party look like? Any way you like it! You could simply get some drinks and loud music. You could set up some ancient game consoles. Just do whatever you think might make that event special and is fun for you and your guests. Take fotos, write blog entries and let us know how you (Ama)rok. Let's get the preparations started.

The timeframe for parties starts this Friday and ends two weekends later.

Today the Amarok project releases Narwhal, the release candidate of the upcoming Amarok 2.0.

The changes since Beta 3 focus mostly on fixing bugs, as we are in a fairly hard feature-freeze to give us time to polish the final product. However, this didn't stop us from adding a few nice new things:

• Users' Recommended radio is now shown in the Last.Fm Service.
• Playlist browser items can be deleted and renamed using the keyboard.
• Basic and Advanced view when editing a filename scheme are synchronized.
• Added delete button to Advanced view for defining a filename scheme.
• Importer for iTunes libraries now allows you to import your statistics from iTunes.
• The settings dialog now remembers the page that was last used.
• Track information can be edited from the file browser.

In addition, there are the following changes:

• User playlists added from files are now updated on collection rescans, so any changes in the file is reflected in the SQL playlist.
• Layout refactoring in the Organize Collection dialog.
• Enabled Last.fm scrobbling by default when Last.fm login is supplied.
• "Show active track" has been moved from the playlist context menu to the playlist toolbar
• The video and Last.fm applet have been removed for now as they are not ready for final release. They will be readded in later releases.

There are, of course, a ton of bugfixes. See the full ChangeLog further below for all the goodies.


A lot of great new scripts have shown up on kde-apps.org. Give them a try and enjoy.

Packages are available through your distributions package manager, the KDE-on-Windows installer and from the KDE-on-Mac website. Additionally the tarball can be downloaded here:

Has your favourite Amarok 1.4 feature not been added to 2.0 yet, or perhaps something you read about on someone's blog has not yet shown up? Not to worry -- we've got a large number of things on our plate waiting to go once 2.0 is out the door. So expect to see lots of new, great things being added in short order, plus the return of some old favourites. Have a look at the Amarok 2 FAQ to find answers to the most common questions about Amarok 2.