Every music player has ardent supporters and opponents and that will be no different at Exaile. An advantage is that this desktop player is both open source and multiplatform. In addition, Exaile is in principle easily expandable with a solid collection of plug-ins.
Exaile
price
Free
Language
English
OS
Windows, macOS and Linux
Website
https://exaile.github.io 7 Score 70 
- Pros
- Clear interface
- Wide range of plug-ins
- Negatives
- Some plugins do not work (optimally)
- Not a mobile app
Exaile has been around for quite a few years, but it is not hugely popular (yet). The tool regularly appears in the top 10 only on Linux platforms. In this article, however, we focus on the Windows-version.
The interface looks clear, with a menu bar at the top and a narrow vertical bar with accompanying panel on the left for quick access to items such as Collections, Playlists, Lyrics and Radio. There is enough space on the right for music playback, including tabs to easily switch between your playlists.
Tracks and playlists
Tracks are sorted by artist by default, but it only takes a mouse click to select other sorting criteria, taking into account date, album and / or genre. A search function is also included and you can also add searchable labels via a ‘group tagger’.
It is also possible to play streaming audio directly from the web via a URL. Tracks play non-stop by default, but pauses as well as (cross) fading effects are possible and also adjustable in terms of duration. With a mouse click you can add one or more tracks to the desired playlist, where you can also have already selected tracks overwritten. Playlists can also be played in random order (shuffle) and can also be saved in mu3 format and then imported again.
Extras
Exaile can draw on a library of more than 50 plugins, some of which are already installed by default. These plugins add useful features like an equalizer, last.fm scrobbling, podcast support, output to a second device (for DJs), automatic album art retrieval, and more.
Still other plug-ins allow for the playback of numerous internet radios, but you can also easily add stations. A Lyrics plug-in is also activated by default, but unfortunately we couldn’t get it to work on our test devices.
