Mixplayd is a software daemon that plays MP3 and OGG files from the local file system when prompted. It supports both audio formats and functions as a media player.
One of Mixplayd's most useful features is that it can modify the number of channels and even the number of sound cards and named pipes at runtime. It also supports Unix named pipes, which allows it to run even without a sound card! This app is mainly intended for use with special clients or frontends which can be found here upon development. There is a sample Perl client included in the package.
Mixplayd doesn't come with its own decoder, so a working decoder needs to be installed before using it. I highly recommend madplay from underbit Technologies, which is free to download. Additionally, for OggVorbis listen support, users will need an external decoder like ogg123 of the vorbis-tools.
Among the new features for this release, Mixplayd boasts automatic file type detection to choose the correct decoder by looking at the file ending. Users can now use the new function to skip silence at the beginning of a file: autocue. Moreover, some process management bugs have been resolved, and the whole mp3info sub-tree has been eliminated, leaving just a few necessary files. Ogginfo was added to get time information from ogg files (libvorbis needed!). Additionally, a check at startup ensures that the defined encoders can be found. Lastly, a patch from Thomas Orgis has been applied.
Overall, Mixplayd is a versatile daemon with several amazing features. Though it possesses a few limitations, using madplay as a decoder can make up for that in many ways. Its flexibility and usefulness combined make it a must-try for advanced users.
Version 0.60: N/A