> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://itsfoss.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Linux's Favorite Music Player Rhythmbox 3.5 Lands After Nearly a Decade in the 3.4 Series - URL: https://itsfoss.com/news/rhythmbox-3-5-release/ - Published: 2026-08-04T16:08:04.000Z - Updated: 2026-08-04T16:08:04.000Z - Description: The release also adds lrclib.net, sidecar .lrc files, and embedded Ogg lyrics as new sources. - Author: Sourav Rudra - Tags: News [Rhythmbox](https://gnome.pages.gitlab.gnome.org/rhythmbox/?ref=itsfoss.com) is one of those applications that you will find lurking on a GNOME-equipped desktop. If you are someone who has fully moved on to streaming music/podcasts online, then it doesn't have much purpose for you. Even with the rise of streaming, many people do prefer [hosting media locally](https://itsfoss.com/jellyfin-raspberry-pi/), and that is partly why the [GStreamer](https://gstreamer.freedesktop.org/?ref=itsfoss.com)\-powered music player refuses to die. The GNOME project just pushed out **Rhythmbox 3.5.0**, the newest release in about nine months. The last one, [3.4.9](https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/rhythmbox/-/releases/3.4.9?ref=itsfoss.com), mostly patched up plugin loading and swapped in a new playback backend. This time around, the changes are more visible. ## The new bits ![the unofficial flatpak build of rhythmbox 3.5.0 playing a song](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/2026/08/rhythmbox-3-5-0-music-demo.png) Buried in the changelog is [a fix](https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/rhythmbox/-/merge%5Frequests/206?ref=itsfoss.com) for [the year 2038 problem](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year%5F2038%5Fproblem?ref=itsfoss.com), the one where systems counting time as a 32-bit number run out of room and start thinking it's 1901 again. Rhythmbox has swapped the deprecated [GTime](https://docs.gtk.org/glib/alias.Time.html?ref=itsfoss.com) type for [time\_t](https://man7.org/linux/man-pages/man3/time%5Ft.3type.html?ref=itsfoss.com) to stay ahead of it. Then there's the podcasts page, which has gotten the most visible upgrade in this release. Episode lists now mark which ones you have already played; notifications for updates and downloads have been reworked; and a new plugin allows you to sync your feeds and episodes through the [gPodder.net](https://gpodder.net/?ref=itsfoss.com) API. ![](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/2026/08/rhythmbox-3-5-0-podcast-demo.png) ![](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/2026/08/rhythmbox-3-5-0-notifications-demo.png) **The podcast shown here is* [**Late Night Linux*](https://latenightlinux.com/?ref=itsfoss.com)**.* **Lyrics support has also been expanded**, where Rhythmbox can now pull lyrics from [lrclib.net](https://lrclib.net/?ref=itsfoss.com), read them from sidecar `.lrc` files sitting next to your audio, and grab lyrics embedded directly inside Ogg Vorbis, Opus, and FLAC files, using a tag that GStreamer recently added. We round out this release with **a couple of smaller fixes** that are worth knowing. The new playback backend, introduced back in 3.4.9 to replace the old crossfading system, **is now switched on by default**, and a bug that broke playback entirely whenever the crossfade duration was set to zero has been fixed. The music player also dropped its old `appdata.xml` file in favor of `metainfo.xml`, bringing it in line with other GNOME projects. ## Download this release While it doesn't look like much on paper, [Rhythmbox 3.5.0](https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/rhythmbox/-/releases/3.5.0?ref=itsfoss.com) manages to introduce some important quality-of-life upgrades that will go a long way in keeping the experience clean and the music player relevant. Seeing that it just landed, most distributions haven't caught up yet. If you want to install it quickly, there's an unofficial Flatpak on [Flathub](https://flathub.org/en/apps/org.gnome.Rhythmbox3?ref=itsfoss.com). But [building it from source](https://gitlab.gnome.org/GNOME/rhythmbox?ref=itsfoss.com) is the recommended way. The repo has all the required instructions and files for you to get it installed on your computer. If that's too much of an ask, then you could just wait for your distro's repositories to catch up with the new release. [Rhythmbox (unofficial)](https://flathub.org/en/apps/org.gnome.Rhythmbox3?ref=itsfoss.com) --- **Suggested Read 📖:** [*AI Slop Keeps Flooding GNOME Extensions*](https://itsfoss.com/news/gnome-shell-extension-instructions-for-bots/) [AI Slop Keeps Flooding GNOME Extensions, So They Wrote a Manual for Bots InsteadThe same low-quality AI patterns kept showing up in submissions even after GNOME updated its review guidelines in December.![](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/icon/android-chrome-512x512-5d858079-5f8e-41bc-a6dd-d48abe77e25b.png)It's FOSSSourav Rudra![](https://itsfoss.com/content/images/thumbnail/gnome-manual-for-bots-b01ad0f1-3218-4872-b114-fdaab9a39f2c.png)](https://itsfoss.com/news/gnome-shell-extension-instructions-for-bots/)