Sonata, like gmpc, is another client for the mpd server. Just get mpd installed.

No, no, no... I was unclear.

mpd (Music Player Daemon) is (oddly enough ) a daemon that plays music. And listens for TCP connections with instructions. You'll need that in Maemo. (You could undoubtedly get the Debian mpd working instead, but that's pain for no real benefit.)

The most rudimentary frontend (not counting netcat or telnet, which are actually usable) is mpc, a commandline client that comes with it, and whose only virtue is scriptability. Between this and some custom stuff implemented with netcat, I've got a suite of commands suitable for use with powerlaunch for basic control of mpd with the hardware keys while the screen is locked. I don't have powerlaunch installed at the moment, but I used this while walking back and forth to class a lot. With the semester starting next week, I'll be getting it back together. You still need one of the other ones for convenient playlist management, though, and also for non-pocketed playback control.

Sonata is one frontend that can connect to mpd, get status, and give commands. While you can install, and even run, it and gmpc simultaneously without harm, neither requires or knows of the other. I use this one a lot.

Gmpc (GNOME Music Player Client) is also a frontend, with overall similar characteristics; the only thing it does that Sonata doesn't (that I know of) is hanging out in the system tray -- which is good, as far as it goes, but the rest of the UI is somewhat worse for me. I'm using this less since there's a Sonata build.

Another mpd frontend for Maemo is mmpc (Maemo Music Player Client), which is tablet-adapted fork of gmpc; UI somewhat modelled after built-in media player. It works, but it's less capable of advanced playlist-related functionality, and while it handles portrait mode gracefully, the buttons-on-the-left design eats too much screen space for my liking.

There's also a handful of other mpd clients in Debian. See http://packages.debian.org/sid/mpd-client (mpd-client is a virtual package provided by 11 packages, anyway; don't know if they're all built for armel.)


For specifics:
You'll want to install mpd (and mpc) from this repo:

Catalog name: Austin Che
Web address: http://austinche.name/maemo/packages/
Distribution: chinook/
Components:

(I'm not sure about that trailing /, but that's what I've got.)
Sonata is in extras, and (of course) gmpc is in the Debian repo.

Once you've got the mpd installed, you may need to edit /etc/mpd.conf (make sure of the outputs (you want libao), music/playlist directories (default is sane, and maybe symlink to SD cards in there), and volume control (software for me, but it's a matter of taste.)) and /etc/libao.conf (default_driver=esd), and run /etc/init.d/mpd start-create-db. Then mpd will be running, and will start on each boot.

The clients default to the correct port, so they'll connect fairly easily. For Sonata, it's in Edit -> Preferences, and you can add multiple profiles; maybe one for the tablet and one for your stereo/home theater PC. You'll want Host: localhost, and Port: 6600, which are the defaults anyway. Use one of the graphical clients to browse the filesystem tree and add files, then you can play with them or mpc. (For thew record, it's possible to add files and everything through mpc, but it's awkward and pointless for most purposes.)

I've got mpd and Sonata in maemo but I have not been able to access. What command brings up mpd? Any ideas?
I've a lot to learn but I really want to have a robust music center. Eventually I would like to control my music/home theater . I bought a Mac mini for home theater with mythtv eventually running ui. And hopefully I can use N800 as remote and to stream my content at home and when I travel. It would be sweet if gmpc/mpd can get me started. TIA

Need help with installing qtparted in chroot. I got following errors. Those were the same errors I got when I installed gparted through Synaptic manager. Hal shows its loaded in Synaptic manager same others apps listed in errors. Can someone help fix this so I
can get qtparted loaded and working? I'm liking more and more the qt apps. They load fast are small, powerful and you can open multiple windows/features without crashing system.
Well here are the error messages. TIA

chroot set up already!
Everything set up, running chroot...
[root@Debian: /]apt-get install qtparted
Reading package lists... Done
Building dependency tree
Reading state information... Done
qtparted is already the newest version.
The following packages were automatically installed and are no longer required:
python-uno libdb4.3
Use 'apt-get autoremove' to remove them.
0 upgraded, 0 newly installed, 0 to remove and 200 not upgraded.
3 not fully installed or removed.
After this operation, 0B of additional disk space will be used.
Setting up hal (0.5.11-2) ...
dpkg: error processing hal (--configure):
subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 1
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of gnome-device-manager:
gnome-device-manager depends on hal; however:
Package hal is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing gnome-device-manager (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
dpkg: dependency problems prevent configuration of gparted:
gparted depends on hal; however:
Package hal is not configured yet.
dpkg: error processing gparted (--configure):
dependency problems - leaving unconfigured
Errors were encountered while processing:
hal
gnome-device-manager
gparted
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
[root@Debian: /]

mpd is started by (as root) To check if it's running, you can(Don't need root for that.)

dan, you're getting the "hal error".

And a slightly modified* second quote to expand on my instructions:

*(I made his questions into statements)

Thanks Benson.
How do you stop mpd?
I'm so new to this.
How do I put my play list into mpd or gmpc?
It looks like mpd is done through command line. Am I right?
How do I configure or install plugin??
I need to read up, but all the sites I visit are too technical, anyways I learn best by trial and error(mainly error).
This looks very powerful!
TIA

Edit: My very first line command that I figured out on my own!!!!!! /etc/init.d/mpd stop

P.S. Is there a UI or GUI or somekind of window for mpd? If not can one be built?

Thanks Qole.
Before I go Nuking my N800 again. Let me see if I get what I'm supposed to do here.
I see the following in hal.preinst

#!/bin/sh

set -e

rm_conffile() {

I'm supposed to change to this?

#!/bin/sh
exit 0
set -e

etc.

rm_conffile() {


TIA

Edit: Got it done! I'm on a roll tonight. Now to finish installing QTParted

Success.
Thanks Qole!

Ok new problem. At least I'm making these Debian threads hummm.
In chroot I typed 'qtparted'.
QTParted loaded as you can see above, BUT when I try to load qtparted into a hildon menu entering ' cp /usr/share/applications/hildon/ooo.destop /usr/share/applications/hildon/qtparted.desktop '
I get the following error ' No such file or directory ' .
Now I went back and read where you are not supposed to enter into apps in chroot ' qtparted '. Then I tried doing Qole's suggestion that got me in hot water a few days ago ' rm -r /home/user/.qtparted
hilda qtparted ' .
Well I never made it past the first line. It gave me error ' No such file or directory '
Now as long as I enter ' qtparted ' into chroot I get into qtparted, but I need to be able to enter from my custom menu. Can someone please help me get this straighten out. TIA