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[Robert Joe]

I read this article on Linux Music Players so I decided to install most of them and compare it to JRiver.

http://thesimplecomputer.info/choosing-a-linux-music-player/

None of them were even close to the functionality of JRiver. JRiver rules and it is still early days for the Linux port.

I only needed to spend 5-10 mins on each one because if a player is missing basic functionality, then it is a no go. I consider basic functionality to be:

     Hierarchical View - Genre/Artist/Album Pane
     Can view and edit all tags.
     Preserve integrity of tags (don't convert to all uppercase or lowercase)
     Multiple Libraries

Here I outline each player and what basic functionality it was missing

Clementine, Amarok,
    No Hierarchical View - Genre/Artist/Album Pane
    Could not view all tags
    Converted tag names to all uppercase
    Only one library

Audacious, DeaDBeef, Exaile, Juk, Rhythmbox
    No  Hierarchical View - Genre/Artist/Album Pane
    No tags
    Only one library

Guayadeque
    Could not view all tags
    Converted tag names to all uppercase

QuodLibet
     No  Hierarchical View - Genre/Artist/Album Pane
    Converts Tags to all lowercase
    One Library
 
Gmusicbrowser was the only browser that met all the basic functionality. It does tag editing better than JRiver because JRiver converts some tags to all uppercase. But JRiver is far more feature rich overall.

The only thing all the other players did better than JRiver is the GUI integration with the desktop is smoother - native (nicer) fonts, re-sizing works properly.

JRiver is currently the best Linux option and it will only get better over time.

[michaelg14]

I support JRiver because I support any company that supports Linux, but...  You have left out several good music players, Amarok and Banshee come to mind, also one important characteristic of all of them.  They are free!  I am using JRiver on Windows when I have to be on Windows and I have purchased it on Linux. Banshee will always be my player of choice.

[Awesome Donkey]

I agree 100%. I've used every other media player on Linux, however none of them ever came close to the functionality I wanted so I always ended up using foobar2000 through Wine when using a Linux distro. JRiver really is the best music player for Linux.

The only thing all the other players did better than JRiver is the GUI integration with the desktop is smoother - native (nicer) fonts, re-sizing works properly.

Fonts should be possible, however GUI integration/skins might be a bit... difficult. Why? There's so many different themes for different shells for different distros. Once custom skins work (they don't seem to - I've added other custom skins and they don't show up in the list), I might try at least porting the button icons from Ubuntu's Ambience theme and the buttons from the default GNOME 3 theme to Noire (for my own use, obviously).

[bob]

I agree 100%. I've used every other media player on Linux, however none of them ever came close to the functionality I wanted so I always ended up using foobar2000 through Wine when using a Linux distro. JRiver really is the best music player for Linux.

Fonts should be possible, however GUI integration/skins might be a bit... difficult. Why? There's so many different themes for different shells for different distros. Once custom skins work (they don't seem to - I've added other custom skins and they don't show up in the list), I might try at least porting the button icons from Ubuntu's Ambience theme and the buttons from the default GNOME 3 theme to Noire (for my own use, obviously).

The custom skins designed for JRiver should work.
One thing to be aware of is that linux filesystems are case sensitive unlike Windows and OSX.
A bunch of the stock skins had case problems that had to be fixed. It wouldn't surprise me if that was the same with many of the custom skins.