Asimpleguidetosetupmpdwithncmpcpp

There are already a lot of nice music players for Linux, from powerhouse players with many
features like Banshee, Rhythmbox, Clementine or Nuvola or lightweight simple music players
like Deadbeef or Quod Libet. However, my favorite is always mpd with ncmpcpp. MPD is an
audio player that has a serverclient architecture. MPD runs in the background as a daemon,
managesplaylistsandamusicdatabase,andusesveryfewresources.Andncmpcppisatext
basedclientforMPDoriginatedfromNcmpc(henceit'scallNcmpcplusplus).Ncmpcpphasan
UIverysimilartoncmpc'sone,butitprovidesnewusefulfeaturessuchassupportforregular
expressions in search engine,ability to sort playlist, local filesystem browser, song lyrics,
extended song format, items filtering, fetching artist's info from last.fm, tag editor, and many
otherminorfunctions.Ncmpcppisverylightweightandeasytouseandhighlycustomizable.

SettingupsmpdwithncmpcppcanbequitechallengingforthosewhoarenewtoLinuxsoIwill
make this guide absolutely newbiefriendly and I guarantee you that will work in every Linux
distro.
1Installingmpd,mpcandncmpcpp
Sincethesepackagesareintherepoofallthepopulardistro,theinstallingprocessisapieceof
cake.
IfyouuseArchLinux,runthefollowingcommand:
sudo pacman -S mpd mpc ncmpcpp

ifyouuseUbuntuorotherDebianbaseddistros,runthiscommand:
sudo apt-get install mpd mpc ncmpcpp

2Configuringmpd
Tomakempdworkwithalocaluser,youneedtocreatea/home/username/.mpdfolderfirst
mkdir .mpd

Thencreateaplaylistsfolder
mkdir -p ~/.mpd/playlists

Thencreatetherequiredfilesthatyouwillneedtoincludeinthempdconfigfile
touch ~/.mpd/{mpd.db,mpd.log,mpd.pid,mpdstate}

Next,youneedtocreatetheconfigfileformpd,usewhatevertexteditoryouprefertocreateit.I
willusevimhere:
vim ~/.mpd/mpd.conf

Ifyouareusingalsaasthesounddevice,hereiswhatyouwillputintothempd.conffile.
music_directory "/your/music/folder"
playlist_directory "/home/username/.mpd/playlists"
db_file

"/home/username/.mpd/mpd.db"

log_file

"/home/username/.mpd/mpd.log"

pid_file

"/home/username/.mpd/mpd.pid"

state_file

"/home/username/.mpd/mpdstate"

audio_output {
type "alsa"
name "whatever name you want"
}

Ifyou'reusingUbuntuorLinuxMint,alsawillbereplacedbypulse,thereforethempd.confwill
belikethat(justchange"alsa"into"pulse"):
music_directory "/your/music/folder"
playlist_directory "/home/username/.mpd/playlists"
db_file

"/home/username/.mpd/mpd.db"

log_file

"/home/username/.mpd/mpd.log"

pid_file

"/home/username/.mpd/mpd.pid"

state_file

"/home/username/.mpd/mpdstate"

audio_output {
type "pulse"
name "whatever name you want"
}

3Configuringncmpcppandrunmpdwithncmpcpp
Tostartmpd,justtype"mpd"intheterminalandmpdwillruninthebackgroundandyoucan
stopmpdbyrunningthecommandmpdkillorpkillmpd.Torunncmpcppformpd,youhaveto

startmpdfirst.HereisasimplescriptIusetostartmpdwithncmpcppinmyarchlinuxmachine(
note:replaceterminatorwithyourpreferedterminalclient)
#!/bin/bash
mpd
terminator -e ncmpcpp

Toconfigurencmpcpp,youneedtocreateaconfigfileforncmpcpp:
vim ~/.ncmpcpp/config

To get ideas about how to customize ncmpcpp, the best place you should visit is this thread
aboutncmpcppconfigsandscreenshotontheArchLinuxforum.
Andhereismyconfigfile,youcancopyitintoyourconfigfileifyoulikeit.Thescreenshotbelow
ishowitlooksinthegnometerminalofLinuxMint12.

Whenyoufirststartncmpcpp,whatyouseeisbutanemptyplaylist.However,youwillseethe
topmenubarshowingyouthedifferentmodesofncmpcpp.Ifyourenewtothekeybindingsor
ncmpcpp,hitF1or1togetintohelppage.Hereisthelistofoptionsofncmpcpp:
Up k

: Move Cursor up

Down j
Page Up

: Move Cursor down

: Page up

Page Down : Page down

Home

: Home

End

: End

Tab

: Switch between playlist and browser

1 F1

: Help screen

2 F2

: Playlist screen

3 F3

: Browse screen

4 F4

: Search engine

5 F5

: Media library

6 F6

: Playlist editor

7 F7

: Tag editor

0 F10

: Clock screen

Keys - Global
----------------------------------------s

: Stop

: Pause

>

: Next track

<

: Previous track

: Seek forward

: Seek backward

Left -

: Decrease volume

Right +

: Increase volume

: Toggle space mode (select/add)

: Toggle add mode

: Toggle mouse support

: Reverse selection

: Deselect all items

: Add selected items to playlist/m3u file

: Toggle repeat mode

: Shuffle playlist

: Show song's info

: Show artist's info

: Toggle lyrics database

: Show/hide song's lyrics

qQ

: Quit