Amarok (
/ˈæmərɒk/) is a cross-platform free and open source music player. Although Amarok is part of the KDE project it is released independently of the central KDE Software Compilation release cycle. Amarok is released under the terms of the GNU General Public License 2.
The project was originally started by Mark Kretschmann as a means of improving XMMS due to several usability problems, which interfered with the addition of new files to the playlist due to several user interface elements existing for one task. The original amaroK was created based upon the idea of a two-pane interface seen in Midnight Commander, and the first version of the software released solely by Kretschmann, was based upon the ideal of allowing users to drag-and-drop music into an interface in which the playlist was displayed on the right and information on the left.
After the initial release of AmaroK, several developers joined the project to form the “Three M’s” the first of whom was Max Howell, who acted as an interface designer and programmer for the project, alongside Muesli (Christian Muehlhaeuser), who also provided user interface insight and programming till the late 1.4 versions. Originally named amaroK, it was renamed to Amarok in June 2006.