Linux Format - UK (2019-12)

84 LXF257 December 2019 http://www.linuxformat.com

HOTPICKS

APPLICATIONS STORE

AUDIO ENCODER

mong the crowd of open source audio

converters, fre:ac is a mighty all-in-one

machine. At first glance, this is yet another

CD ripper with plethora of encoding options and a tag

editor. Fre:ac has been around for quite a while and

that’s why it has a focus on ripping tracks from CDs,

automatic CDDB queries for tags and stuff like that –

a rather outdated business these days. However, we

have taken fre:ac for a spin to see how good it is at

converting music from one format to another – say,

from MP3 to AAC, or from WAV to MP3.

Fre:ac sports an easy to use interface with classic

elements like the menu bar, the job list area and a great

assortment of drop-down menus, tickboxes and text

fields. Add some files to the job list, select the preferred

encoder (LAME, Flac, Ogg Vorbis), optionally change its

quality options (hit the gear button on the toolbar) and

finally press the big button with the ‘play’ sign to start

off encoding.

Fre:ac enables seamless batch audio encoding in

case you want to save some disk space and slim down

ou might have heard that the GNOME Software

developers recently decided to remove Snap

support from their application. This doesn’t

come as much of a surprise, as GNOME Software has

been developed mainly by Red Hat employees who

advocate everyone should use Flatpaks.

From our point of view, there’s not much sense in

picking a specific side in that packaging war since you

can freely use Flatpaks, Snaps or AppImages in any

combination. This all has just got a little easier thanks

to App Outlet, the universal application store for Linux.

App Outlet will work fine provided that your Linux

system has been configured to install packages from

Flathub and the Snapcraft store (and AppImages work

just fine without any preliminary set up).

So we picked a couple of Linux distros that run

neither Flatpaks nor Snaps out of the box (openSUSE,

Arch) and used them as test beds for App Outlet. The

results were mostly positive, even though App Outlet is

very much a work in progress. Currently the best

integration has been completed for Flatpak, which

Fre:ac provides

high-quality CD

ripping and audio

file encoding.

Y

A

App Outlet

Fre:ac

represents the largest share of what is available in App

Outlet. Pick some software, click ‘Install’ and hold on for

a while; that’s virtually it. If you come across a Snap

package, there will be no Install button; instead you

should follow the link below the app’s description and

go the appropriate Snapcraft web page. There you can

find instructions on installing that app, probably

something like this:

$ sudo snap install <app_name>

Anyhow, App Outlet is an amazing catalogue of Linux

software grouped by type and equipped with quick

search. Most apps have pages with screenshots and

helpful annotations, versions and quick links to their

homepages. We’re not sure if App Outlet is the future

of Linux app packaging, but it’s definitely a step in the

right direction.

your music collection with some advanced lossy

encoding. Things get more interesting for more

demanding users. We discovered that the AAC codec

provided by FFmpeg is not capable of gapless playback

for both encoding and decoding, and neither is any

FFmpeg-based media player. When we wanted to use

the freeware Nero AAC encoder instead, it turned out

that there were very few graphical Linux apps that

could detect and use it.

Fortunately, Fre:ac turned out to be very capable

and required no hassle in getting the Nero encoder to

work. Fre:ac does require a couple of custom libraries

to be installed before you’ll be able to compile it

successfully. Alternatively, find the application from

Flathub to skip possible installation troubles.

Version: 1.2.0 Web: https://github.

com/app-outlet/app-outlet

Version: GIT Web: https://github.com/

enzo1982/freac

Browse and install

hundreds of Linux

apps with this

distro-agnostic

store.

84 LXF257December 2019 DDDecmbr 20198Pea09

HOTPICKS

APPLICATIONSSTORE

AUDIOENCODER

mongthecrowdofopensourceaudio

converters,fre:acisamightyall-in-one

machine.Atfirstglance,thisisyetanother

CDripperwithplethoraofencodingoptionsandatag

editor.Fre:achasbeenaroundforquiteawhileand

that’swhyithasafocusonrippingtracksfromCDs,

automaticCDDBqueriesfortagsandstufflikethat–

aratheroutdatedbusinessthesedays.However,we

havetakenfre:acforaspintoseehowgooditisat

convertingmusicfromoneformattoanother–say,

fromMP3toAAC,orfromWAVtoMP3.

Fre:acsportsaneasytouseinterfacewithclassic

elementslikethemenubar,thejoblistareaandagreat

assortmentofdrop-downmenus,tickboxesandtext

fields.Addsomefilestothejoblist,selectthepreferred

encoder(LAME,Flac,OggVorbis),optionallychangeits

qualityoptions(hitthegearbuttononthetoolbar)and

finallypressthebigbuttonwiththe‘play’signtostart

offencoding.

Fre:acenablesseamlessbatchaudioencodingin

caseyouwanttosavesomediskspaceandslimdown

oumighthaveheardthattheGNOMESoftware

developersrecentlydecidedtoremoveSnap

supportfromtheirapplication.Thisdoesn’t

comeasmuchofasurprise,asGNOMESoftwarehas

beendevelopedmainlybyRedHatemployeeswho

advocateeveryoneshoulduseFlatpaks.

Fromourpointofview,there’snotmuchsensein

pickingaspecificsideinthatpackagingwarsinceyou

canfreelyuseFlatpaks,SnapsorAppImagesinany

combination.Thisallhasjustgotalittleeasierthanks

toAppOutlet,theuniversalapplicationstoreforLinux.

AppOutletwillworkfineprovidedthatyourLinux

systemhasbeenconfiguredtoinstallpackagesfrom

FlathubandtheSnapcraftstore(andAppImageswork

justfinewithoutanypreliminarysetup).

SowepickedacoupleofLinuxdistrosthatrun

neitherFlatpaksnorSnapsoutofthebox(openSUSE,

Arch)andusedthemastestbedsforAppOutlet.The

resultsweremostlypositive,eventhoughAppOutletis

verymuchaworkinprogress.Currentlythebest

integrationhasbeencompletedforFlatpak,which

Fre:ac provides

high-quality CD

ripping and audio

file encoding.

Y

A

App Outlet

Fre:ac

represents the largest share of what is available in App

Outlet. Pick some software, click ‘Install’ and hold on for

a while; that’s virtually it. If you come across a Snap

package, there will be no Install button; instead you

should follow the link below the app’s description and

go the appropriate Snapcraft web page. There you can

find instructions on installing that app, probably

something like this:

$ sudo snap install <app_name>

Anyhow, App Outlet is an amazing catalogue of Linux

software grouped by type and equipped with quick

search. Most apps have pages with screenshots and

helpful annotations, versions and quick links to their

homepages. We’re not sure if App Outlet is the future

of Linux app packaging, but it’s definitely a step in the

right direction.

your music collection with some advanced lossy

encoding. Things get more interesting for more

demanding users. We discovered that the AAC codec

provided by FFmpeg is not capable of gapless playback

for both encoding and decoding, and neither is any

FFmpeg-based media player. When we wanted to use

the freeware Nero AAC encoder instead, it turned out

that there were very few graphical Linux apps that

could detect and use it.

Fortunately, Fre:ac turned out to be very capable

and required no hassle in getting the Nero encoder to

work. Fre:ac does require a couple of custom libraries

to be installed before you’ll be able to compile it

successfully. Alternatively, find the application from

Flathub to skip possible installation troubles.

Version: 1.2.0 Web: https://github.

com/app-outlet/app-outlet

Version: GIT Web: https://github.com/

enzo1982/freac

Browse and install

hundreds of Linux

apps with this

distro-agnostic

store.