Forgive me in advance if the behavior I'm about to describe is occurring because my distro made it this way.

The first time I fired up Amarok after installing Kubuntu 9.10, KDE Wallet nagged me for a Last.fm password. I found that very off-putting. I have since disabled KDE's Wallet. I also see there's a list of services in the configuration. I can't help but think of using Windows 98, when MS put out Windows Media Player 7, as an upgrade to 6.4, and the player would start in what Microsoft called "Media Guide", basically showing windowsmedia.com. Sure the program could be set not to start that way, but it just seemed wrong, to me at least.

I'm curious if, in the future, could these services be removed from the player and added through optional plug-ins, extensions, something that must be added to the player?

Please note that I intend absolutely no disrespect.

Those services are all plugins at the moment, however they are shipped with Amarok ( as part of its functionality ) and can be disabled through Tools > Script Manager.

Since these are plugins, I'm assuming there is a way to remove them permanently. I don't think there's an easy way to do that from the GUI. Is that correct?

I misunderstood your post, my apologies. Under Script Manager I have:

Amarok Script Console

Lyriwiki

Cool Streams

Librivox

I'm glad that I can remove those but what about:

Ampache

Jamendo

Last.fm

Magnatune Store

Mp3tunes

Podcast Directory

I see them under Internet Services,but no obvious way to remove.

Simply do not enable them. Under Settings > Configure Amarok, choose Internet Services and uncheck everything you do not want.

Okay, I haven't pulled out the a-word until now. Advertising, that's what this feels like to me. Perhaps I'm old fashioned. I'd perfer not to see this anywhere, It raises question as to why these sites got chosen and others did not, etc.

Steven W wrote:Okay, I haven't pulled out the a-word until now. Advertising, that's what this feels like to me. Perhaps I'm old fashioned. I'd perfer not to see this anywhere, It raises question as to why these sites got chosen and others did not, etc.

Old fashioned... perhaps yes. Also a bit short sighted.

The truth is: Amarok has _no_ commercial relationship with Last.fm whatsoever. So please stop the FUD.

Please note that I did say "feels like". So, there is no way to permanently remove these?

They are plugins, written in C++ hence not shown in the script manager. You would need to find and remove their system wide *.desktop file, and library then rebuild the Sycoca to remove them. Note that this is unsupported.

They are plugins, written in C++ hence not shown in the script manager. You would need to find and remove their system wide *.desktop file, and library then rebuild the Sycoca to remove them. Note that this is unsupported.

That is sweet! Thank you. I found them in /usr/share/kde4/services. I would also like to propose that these be made optional during install.

Amarok did something pretty nice during the install asking about adding support for MP3s, etc, can an interview/wizard be setup to ask about these services, lyric and wikipedia stuff too?

Thanks again, bcooksley.

Just in case anyone else is interested, I couldn't remove the default scripts with the manager, they are located in /usr/share/kde4/apps/amarok/scripts/. I just deleted all the folders except script_console.

Steven W wrote:

They are plugins, written in C++ hence not shown in the script manager. You would need to find and remove their system wide *.desktop file, and library then rebuild the Sycoca to remove them. Note that this is unsupported.

That is sweet! Thank you. I found them in /usr/share/kde4/services. I would also like to propose that these be made optional during install.

Amarok did something pretty nice during the install asking about adding support for MP3s, etc, can an interview/wizard be setup to ask about these services, lyric and wikipedia stuff too?

Thanks again, bcooksley.

Ugh. I would hope such a thing would NOT happen. The wonderful thing about Amarok is that it helps you to "explore your music." If people want a simple player with none of the stuff that makes Amarok special, they should choose a simple player. Developers, please never cripple Amarok!

Ugh, indeed! As pointed out by this post:

viewtopic.php?f=116&t=82419&start=10#p137976


You have to pay to subscribe to last.fm. If you read the first post in this topic, ask yourself, is it really appropriate to be pushing that on end-users?

I'm not asking that development on such things stop. They are already plugins, the script manager makes it easy to import new ones, so why can't the "default scipts" be handled the same way? Choose what you want. I know users who will not listen to mp3s (patents and all)...as I mentioned in a previous post, in this topic, Amarok had that covered during the install (perhaps I should say during the first run). I just don't want this stuff crammed down my throat. Provide an option, that's all I'm asking. I personally don't think this stuff is what makes Amarok special. I think the scripting, provides users with an opportunity to make the player their own is unique. If you really think about it, that's essentially what you're saying too.

Steven W wrote:Ugh, indeed! As pointed out by this post:

viewtopic.php?f=116&t=82419&start=10#p137976


You have to pay to subscribe to last.fm. If you read the first post in this topic, ask yourself, is it really appropriate to be pushing that on end-users?

For starters, your information is incorrect. You must now subscribe to get some streams. The rest of the last.fm service remains the same as always.

Since when did providing a choice PUSH anything on end users? Many of us use and like last.fm. Those who don't, simply never use it. Geez. Unless you enable it, it's invisible. Some push!

I'm not asking that development on such things stop. They are already plugins, the script manager makes it easy to import new ones, so why can't the "default scipts" be handled the same way? Choose what you want. I know users who will not listen to mp3s (patents and all)...as I mentioned in a previous post, in this topic, Amarok had that covered during the install. I just don't want this stuff crammed down my throat. Provide an option, that's all I'm asking. I personally don't think this stuff is what makes Amarok special. I think the scripting, provides users with an opportunity to make the player their own is unique. If you really think about it, that's essentially what you're saying too.

That's the way it is now. Choose what you want, option provided -- ignore what you don't. You're arguing in circles now, so I'm done.

Steven W wrote:I know users who will not listen to mp3s (patents and all)...as I mentioned in a previous post, in this topic, Amarok had that covered during the install (perhaps I should say during the first run).

Huh? Since when can you disable mp3 support during the first run?

Provide an option, that's all I'm asking.

You can already disable them (at least in 2.2-GIT which I use): Settings -> Configure Amarok... -> Internet Services.