How to Install Exaile on Ubuntu 22.04 or 20.04

Exaile Music Player is a free and open-source music player for Ubuntu that provides a feature-rich and user-friendly experience for music lovers. With its intuitive interface and support for a wide range of audio formats, Exaile is a powerful tool for organizing and playing your music collection. If you’re looking for a music player that offers a seamless and enjoyable experience, Exaile is the perfect choice for you.

Several popular music players are available for Ubuntu, but Exaile stands out for several reasons. First and foremost, it is a lightweight player that can run smoothly on most systems, making it an excellent option for users who don’t want to sacrifice performance for features. Exaile offers a range of plugins that enhance the music playback experience, such as displaying lyrics, controlling playback, and fetching album art.

So, why should you choose Exaile over other popular music players? Here are some of the key features that make Exaile the perfect choice for music lovers:

• Support for a Wide Range of Audio Formats: Exaile supports a wide range of audio formats, including FLAC, MP3, OGG, and others. This means you can play all your favorite music tracks with ease.
• Intuitive Interface: Exaile offers an intuitive interface that makes it easy to organize your music collection and play your favorite tracks. With its simple and clean design, you can quickly find the music you want to play and enjoy it.
• Plugins for Enhanced Playback: Exaile has several plugins that enhance the music playback experience. With plugins for displaying lyrics, controlling playback, and fetching album art, you can enjoy an immersive music experience.
• Fast and Efficient: Exaile is a lightweight player that can run smoothly on most systems, making it an excellent option for users who don’t want to sacrifice performance for features. With its fast and efficient performance, you can enjoy seamless music playback without interruptions.
• Free and Open-Source: Exaile is a free and open-source player, so that you can use it without any restrictions. Additionally, being open-source means the community constantly works to improve and enhance the player, ensuring that it remains a top choice for music lovers.

This comprehensive guide will walk you through installing Exaile Music Player on Ubuntu 22.04 (Jammy Jellyfish LTS) or Ubuntu 20.04 (Focal Fossa LTS) using the command line terminal and the Exaile LaunchPAD PPA. By using the Exaile LaunchPAD PPA, you can access the latest version of Exaile Music Player, ensuring that you have the most up-to-date and fully functional version of this powerful music player at your fingertips.

Step 1: Update Ubuntu

Before proceeding with the installation of Exaile Music Player, it is important to run a quick system update to ensure that your packages are up-to-date. This will help to prevent any conflicts that may arise during the installation process. To update your system, use the following command in the terminal, which will check for updates and prompt you to upgrade if any are available.

sudo apt update && sudo apt upgrade

Step 2: Import Exaile LaunchPAD PPA

After updating your system, the next step in installing Exaile Music Player is to import the Exaile LaunchPAD PPA, which contains the latest version of the software supported for Ubuntu. This guide focuses on the long-term releases of Ubuntu, but the commands provided are also expected to work with the short-term releases as long as the Exaile team maintains them in the PPA.

To ensure that all the necessary packages are on your system, please run the following command in the terminal.

sudo apt install ca-certificates apt-transport-https software-properties-common lsb-release -y

Before importing GPG keys from the LaunchPAD PPAs through the command line terminal, it’s important to check if you have already imported a GPG key from the Ubuntu keyserver. If not, you may run into issues during the import process, as the required directories may not have been established. To avoid this, you can use a simple command to generate these directories and guarantee a hassle-free import experience.

sudo gpg --list-keys

Example output:

gpg: directory '/root/.gnupg' created
gpg: keybox '/root/.gnupg/pubring.kbx' created
gpg: /root/.gnupg/trustdb.gpg: trustdb created

This step is optional, but running it is recommended if you encounter difficulties during the installation. After running this command, you can then try the previous command again.

The following step involves importing the necessary GPG key.

sudo gpg --no-default-keyring --keyring /usr/share/keyrings/exaile.gpg --keyserver keyserver.ubuntu.com --recv-keys B79BBC58DE219687E584187AC174A7B143CBFCC0

Example output:

gpg: keybox '/usr/share/keyrings/exaile.gpg' created
gpg: key C174A7B143CBFCC0: public key "Launchpad PPA for Exaile Developers" imported
gpg: Total number processed: 1
gpg:               imported: 1

With the GPG key now imported, you can import the repository, which will work on all supported versions of Ubuntu that the Exaile PPA team has enabled in their PPA. This will allow you to access the latest version of Exaile Music Player available for your system.

echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/exaile.gpg] https://ppa.launchpadcontent.net/exaile-devel/ppa/ubuntu $(lsb_release -cs) main" | sudo tee -a /etc/apt/sources.list.d/exaile.list

It is important to run an APT update before proceeding with the installation to ensure that the newly imported Exaile Launchpad PPA is accurately reflected in the sources list file and that the package cache is up-to-date. This can be done by executing the following command in the terminal.

sudo apt update

Step 3: Install Exaile Music Player

With the GPG key and repository successfully imported, you can install the latest Exaile Music Player version on your Ubuntu system. Run the following command in your terminal to initiate the installation process.

sudo apt install exaile

To verify that the installation was successful, you can check the installed version number by running the following command in your terminal. This will provide information about the specific Exaile Music Player version installed on your system.

exaile --version

Example output:

Exaile 4.1.2

Step 4: Launch Exaile Music Player

To start using Exaile Music Player, you have two options: launch it from the command line terminal or access it through the graphical menu. If you prefer the terminal, you can run the following command to launch Exaile.

exaile

Another option to launch Exaile Music Player is through its application icon, which can be found in the applications menu of your Ubuntu system. To access it, follow the path below.

Activities > Show Applications > Exaile

Example:

Once open, you can use the music player and take advantage of its features. Before using Exaile, taking a quick tour of the interface and familiarizing yourself with the various menus and buttons is recommended. Some of the first things to check out are the preferences and settings, where you can adjust customizations such as the interface appearance, hotkeys, and behavior.

Additionally, the first time you open the Exaile music player, you may be prompted to add music to your library. This is quickly done by selecting the folders on your system where your music is stored, and Exaile will scan and add all compatible files to your library.

Once your library is populated, you can start enjoying your music using various playback controls such as play, pause, skip, and repeat. There are also many features like playlists, equalizers, and album art support, which you can use to enhance your listening experience.

Example of Exaile GUI on Ubuntu:

Additional Commands & Tips

Update Exaile

To ensure you have the latest version of Exaile installed on your Ubuntu system, it is important to run the APT update and upgrade commands regularly. This will check for any system package updates, including those for Exaile, and upgrade them if necessary. By doing so, you can take advantage of new features and bug fixes that have been released. To run the update and upgrade commands, use the following in your terminal.

sudo apt update
sudo apt upgrade

Remove Exaile

If you no longer wish to have Exaile installed

To uninstall Exaile Music Player from your Ubuntu system, you can use the following command in the terminal.

sudo apt remove exaile

Next, remove the Exaile repository using the following command.

sudo rm /etc/apt/sources.list.d/exaile.list

Conclusion

Exaile is a robust and reliable music player for Ubuntu systems that offers an intuitive interface and powerful features for an optimal music experience. From installing to launching and upgrading, the Exaile music player provides a smooth process to integrate into your daily music routine seamlessly.

Frequently Asked Questions