pandora.com client
pianobar is a free/open-source, console-based replacement for Pandora’s flash player.
Features
Most of the features Pandora’s flash client has are implemented. This means you can create, delete and rename stations. Adding and removing artists or songs to/from a station is possible.
Tracks can be rated, temporarily banned and moved to another station. Sending them to last.fm (“scrobbling”) is possible with the eventcmd interface.
Users outside the United States can listen to Pandora through a proxy. Keep in mind that you are violating Pandora’s terms of use if you do so.
Packages
There are packages available for ArchLinux, Gentoo, Slackware, Fedora, Foresight Linux, Red Hat, CentOS, OpenBSD, Ubuntu and Debian, as well as a Mac OS X port.
The current pianobar release is 2012.01.10 (sha256, sign), but you can get a snapshot at GitHub too.
Compiling pianobar on the Windows operating system is possible. Either install Cygwin or use the native Windows port.
Old releases
Old releases usually don’t work any more due to changes in the RPC protocol. They are available for historical reasons only.
- 2011.12.11 (sha256, sign)
- 2011.11.11 (sha256, sign)
- 2011.11.09 (sha256, sign)
- 2011.09.22 (sha256, sign)
- 2011.07.09 (sha256, sign)
- 2011.04.27 (sha256, sign)
- 2011.04.10 (sha256, sign)
- 2011.01.24 (sha256)
- 2010.11.06 (sha1)
- 2010.10.07 (sha1)
- 2010.08.21 (sha1)
FAQ
Protocol incompatible
pianobar fails with the message “Protocol incompatible. Please upgrade libpiano.” Help!
Don’t panic. Pandora modifies the protocol now and then and it takes some time to figure out what they changed. Search the bug tracker and file a new report if no-one has done this yet.
Audio output
The audio output does not work as expected. What can I do?
pianobar uses libao and most problems are related to a broken libao configuration. Have a look at issue #167 for example.
Donations
Can I donate money? Do you have a Flattr/Bitcoin/… account?
No, money is not necessary to continue working on pianobar. There are many other ways to support pianobar: Reporting bugs, creating cool stuff based on pianobar, blogging about it and the most important one: Keeping Pandora alive.
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