Audacious is a free, advanced audio player for Linux and many other UNIX-compatible systems. It focuses on low resource usage, high audio quality, and support for a wide range of audio formats. It was originally based on Beep Media Player, which was in turn based on XMMS.
In this article, we will describe two ways to install Audacious on Ubuntu. You can make a choice based on the source you want to install Audacious from and also if you want to use the UI or the command line.
- Through the UI using Ubuntu Software Manager
- Through the Ubuntu Command Line, the Terminal
We have run the commands and procedures mentioned in this article on a Ubuntu 18.04 LTS system.
Install Audacious through Ubuntu Software Manager
For a person who does not want to open the Command Line much, installing a software present from the Ubuntu repository through the UI is very simple. The Ubuntu Bionic Universe repository might not have the latest version of Audacious available for installation. At the time of writing this article, I could only install Audacious 3.9-2 from the Software Manager, whereas, 3.10 was the latest release. Still, If you prefer installing a slightly older release through the UI than installing the latest one from the PPA repositories through the command line, please follow the below mentioned steps.
Install Audacious
On your Ubuntu desktop Activities toolbar/dock, click the Ubuntu Software icon.
Click the search icon and enter Audacious in the search bar. The search results will list the relevant entries as follows:
The Audacious entry listed here is the one maintained by the Ubuntu Bionic Universe. Click on this search entry to open the following view:
Click the Install button to begin the installation process. The following authentication dialog will appear for you to provide your authentication details as only an authorized user can install software on Ubuntu.
Please note that only an authorized user can add/remove and configure software on Ubuntu. Enter your password and click the Authenticate button. After that, the installation process will begin, displaying a progress bar as follows:Advertisement
Audacious will then be installed on your system and you will get the following message after a successful installation:
Through the above dialog, you can choose to directly launch Audacious and even Remove it immediately for whatever reason.
Tip: You can install the same version of the software through the command line by entering the following command as sudo in your Terminal application:
$ sudo apt-get install audacious audacious-plugins
Launch Audacious
You can access Audacious from the Ubuntu application launcher bar as follows, or directly access it from the applications listing:
You can verify which version is installed on your system. Click on the File menu in the Audacious UI and then select About from the menu.
The above image shows that Audacious 3.9 is currently installed on my Ubuntu.
Remove Audacious
If you want to remove Audacious that was installed using the above method, you can remove it from your system as follows:
Open the Ubuntu Software Manager and search for Audacious. You will see the “Installed” status in the search entry. Click this entry and then click Remove from the following view:
The system will prompt you with an Authentication dialog. The software will be removed when you provide the password for sudo user and click Authenticate on the dialog.
Install Audacious from PPA Using the Command Line
The Nilarimogard PPA repository includes the latest version of Audacious. Follow these steps in order to install Audacious through this PPA repository:
Install Audacious
First, please open the Terminal either through the system Dash or the Ctrl+Alt +T shortcut.
Now, enter the following command to add the Nilarimogard PPA repository to your Ubuntu:
$ sudo add-apt-repository ppa:nilarimogard/webupd8
Please note that only an authorized user can add, remove and configure software on Ubuntu. Enter the password for sudo, after which the PPA repository will be added to your system.
Tip: Instead of typing the command, you can copy it from here and paste in the Terminal by using the Ctrl+Shift+V, or by using the Paste option from the right-click menu.
The next step is to update your system’s repository index through the following command:
$ sudo apt-get update
This helps you in installing the latest available version of a software from the Internet.
Now that you are done with adding the PPA, use the following command as sudo in order to install Audacious and its plugins to your system:
$ sudo apt-get install audacious audacious-plugins
The system might prompt you with a y/n option to continue installation. Please enter Y if you want to continue with the installation. The process might take some time, depending on your Internet speed, after which Audacious will be installed on your system.
The following command will let you check the version number of your installed package and also ensure that the software is indeed installed on your system.
$ audacious --version
You can see that now my system has Audacious 3.10, which is the latest available version of the software.
Launch Audacious
You can launch Audacious through the Ubuntu UI, or by entering the following command in the Terminal:
$ audacious
Remove Software
You can use the following command in your Terminal in order to uninstall Audacious and its plugins from your system:
$ sudo apt-get remove audacious audacious-plugins
Enter y on the y/n prompt and the software will be completely removed from your system.
If you also want to remove the PPA through which you installed Audacious, run the following command as sudo:
$ sudo add-apt-repository --remove ppa:nilarimogard/webupd8
So, this was not one but two ways to install Audacious on your Ubuntu. Enjoy the music!