Why use a terminal based music player?

GUI music applications can often be slow, difficult to navigate, and bloated. Terminal-based music players offer simplicity: just play the music. Although simplicity != easy, it may take some time to set up and get used to. However, due to their minimalist design, they are often easily configurable and customizable. GUI music players require moving your mouse around searching for the right song to click, breaking your flow. But with terminal-based players, everything can be done with a keyboard. I was a skeptic at first, but now I don't really want to go back to GUI. I enjoy moc in particular, it has a nice look to it, and the keyboard commands are intuitive.

Setup Instructions

First, after installing MOCP, run the following commands:

cp /usr/share/doc/moc/config.example ~/.moc/config
mkdir ~/.config/mocp/themes
cp /usr/share/doc/moc/themes/[Desired Theme] ~/.config/mocp/themes
            

Copy the example config file and desired theme to the MOCP folder. Then edit ~/.moc/config and set the following:

MusicDir: ~/music
StartInMusicDir = yes
Theme = nightly_theme
            

MOCP Icon Setup

For mocicon, do not download the outdated GitHub version. Instead, get it from SourceForge. If your terminal is not xterm, modify mocicon.c and change the terminal command:

case 6:
    g_spawn_command_line_async("xterm -C mocp",NULL);
    break;

# Change to your terminal, e.g. st:
case 6:
    g_spawn_command_line_async("st -C mocp",NULL);
    break;
            

After editing, compile and install:

sudo make clean install
            

Now check that it works:

mocp
            

The music icon should appear in your bar. And you're done! You can now enjoy browsing and playing music entirely from your terminal.