I use the "Qt5 Configuration Tool", which I think you can install in Debian, to adjust the font size and collection folder icon theme. Perhaps that's something you could try.

I am using Linux Mint and the tool works well for tweaking non-GTK apps.

Sounds like you are looking for something like Apple iTunes album view, where you click the album cover and it displays the songs. MusicBee on Windows can also be configured that way.

While perhaps not as elegant, in Strawberry you can select in Tools > Settings > Behavior > "Double clicking a song will..." > "Replace the playlist" (or "Append" or whatever you choose).

I have a saved playlist called "Play from Collection" that I leave blank for just such a purpose.

That way, if I want to focus on one album, I select that playlist, double click the album name in the Collection, and all the songs from that album display in the playlist. You can set Strawberry to simply add the songs or begin playing them immediately. When you're done listening, just delete the songs from the playlist.

The search function works well for Collection or for a selected playlist, and you can select your preferred grouping from the little gear icon in the toolbar.

You could also make a saved playlist just for your "Recently Added" Albums.

It took me awhile to get used to a playlist oriented player, but now I almost prefer it. Although I do miss scrolling through a grid of beautiful album covers, as in iTunes or MusicBee!

The settings is your friend. I have discovered enough configurability there to make it work for me. I use Strawberry on Linux, by the way.

Cheers

@philippeg Maybe something with Qt6 then. On my older system I am limited to Qt5. I will be upgrading to Mint 20 or 21 soon. Will be interesting to see if I have any issues with that.

To answer your questions is way above my pay grade, but I am wondering if all your flac files have proper tags (metadata).

If you have not already done so, check to see if the files are available through the "Files" source, as opposed to the "Collection". If they are, I would guess that the problem lies with the "Collection" scanning process. But I have no idea as to why.

As to the dark theme problem, I don't use dark themes, but I tested my system by going to System Settings>Themes, and selected (Window Borders = Mint-Y-Dark) (Controls = Mint-Y-Dark-Blue) and (Desktop = Mint-Y-Dark-Blue), and Strawberry switched to a dark theme. I am still on Mint 19.3 (soon to reach EOL) but it works there. Perhaps you are using a third party theme?

Anyway, that's all I can offer. It sounds like your knowledge of Linux is far deeper than mine, but I figured I'd chime in. Hope you get it sorted!

I also have my collection on a separate hard drive, and I just tested the update behavior with those two settings unchecked. You are correct; the settings seem to be ignored. I have been thinking about turning off the updating at every start, because, as you point out, it can take awhile. I have a large collection and an old computer. Perhaps Jonas can weigh in on this?

Strawberry 1.0.10; Linux Mint 19.3

The queue(s) should be accessible via the sidebar on the left. I actually use the "icons on top" view instead of the sidebar (right click for options) but same principle.

I wonder if the problem could be the .aac file extension. I just did a little experiment where I converted an album of FLAC files to .aac format, rather than the usual .m4a which is used for my collection. I added it to my Strawberry collection, the files of which reside on a second hard drive. It did not appear in my Strawberry collection. The same files converted using the .m4a extension and added to the folder on the second HD easily found their way into Strawberry.

Now, is there a setting, you ask, that will make Strawberry more compatible with .aac? -- I don't know. But I figured I'd report my experience in the hope that it might help.

My collection started out as an iTunes library on a Mac, then spent some time as a MusicBee library (Windows), and lately, Strawberry on Linux. I've never had any problems playing or organizing the collection, which is virtually all .m4a (iTunes default extension for AAC files). Well, there was a minor tagging issue in Strawberry, but not a dealbreaker. Good luck!

Strawberry is not a streaming service (although it does have some functionality for that if you are subscribed to, for example, Subsonic or Tidal). You will have to install the app on your computer and you must also have music files on your computer to play. If you have an internet connection, Strawberry offers some internet radio stations.

In Settings>Collection>Advanced there are three settings:

I/O priority (default "Idle")
Thread priority (default "Idle")
Tagreader workers (default "1")

Could you give a brief explanation of what these settings do, and any cautions that must be considered before changing them.

I have a fairly large collection (185,000 songs) and the search function chokes now and then. I have plenty of RAM, but my CPU is pretty low powered (Intel Core2Duo) and I'm looking for any advantage. Wondering if these Advanced settings would help.

I use the "Qt5 Configuration Tool", which I think you can install in Debian, to adjust the font size and collection folder icon theme. Perhaps that's something you could try.

I am using Linux Mint and the tool works well for tweaking non-GTK apps.

I can answer the first question. Yes, you need to open the album in a playlist. I also have a Mac that I used with iTunes for years (not familiar with Swinsian) and it takes a little getting used to, but Strawberry is very "playlist-oriented".

If you right click an album in the library you will see different options to "append to current, "replace current" or "open in new" playlist.
You can also play around with Settings>Behavior>Double clicking a song will... to choose how you want the songs or albums to open.

I created and saved an empty playlist I call "Play from Collection" which I keep on the left hand side of the Playlist pane, next to the Collection pane. If I want to listen to an album I select that playlist and double click the album in the Collection. My double click settings are for "append to playlist" and "always start playing". When I'm done with the album I just clear the playlist. You may choose something else.

Play around and find what works best for you. Of course this approach is not as elegant as those players that visually showcase the currently selected album, but it gets the job done.

I have no idea why Strawberry is not showing all your albums. It can take awhile to update the collection, so maybe that's it. When I moved to Strawberry, I pointed it to my music collection folder, which originally came organized by iTunes; Artist>Album>Track - Title.extension. Strawberry figured out everything, even my Compilations folder, which shows up as "Various Artists".

Be careful if you use Strawberry's "Organize Files" feature, as it sorts out everything according to the path you assign it. The default may not be the same naming system you are used to.

There is a bit of a learning curve in Strawberry, but it's worth the diligence to figure it out. Good luck!

Obvious question, but I assume you are attempting to view lyrics in the "Context" pane, correct? As a trouble-shooting measure, you could try to add some lyrics locally in Strawberry's tag editor. (Right click on a song>Edit Track Information>select "Lyrics" tab and paste in some lyrics). This would at least determine if the Context pane was working correctly. That's about all I can offer. Good luck!