Rythmbox does what I want it to, the way I expect it to, without getting in my way

and that’s why I love it so much.

For instance, when I’m browsing music, the next song played comes from the list I’m viewing just like you’d think it would. Rating songs is one-click simple, but out of the way. The play queue lets me queue up songs (imagine that) that I want to hear, but don’t want to interrupt the currently playing song for. Oh, and it minimizes to the tray (if you want) for the ultimate out-of-the-wayness.

None of these things are unique or particularly innovative, but what makes this software so wonderful is that it does just what it should, how it should. You might say that it follows the Principle of Least Suprise. It doesn’t try to be something it’s not, but it is a fully-capable, powerful music player. It’s built on a plugin architecture and has an integrated Python console, so if you want more raw power, you can get it.

It does what I want, the way I expect, doesn’t clutter my interface, and lets me harness its full power easily if I want. I think that’s a goal all software should aspire to.

So here’s to you, Mr. Heretofore Unglorified Music Player. You don’t get a lot of attention. You’ll never get downloaded 8 million times in one day, but I wish the rest of my software would be more like you.