Orpheus.el: Emacs Transient Music Player (SSH, MPD, Local, YouTube, etc.)

Orpheus.el is a music player built in Emacs, designed to keep the same keyboard-driven interface whether music comes from an MPD server, files on the current computer, or a remote machine. Its queue and library views sit alongside playlists, cover art, lyrics, an equalizer, and a spectrum visualizer; users can switch backends without restarting Emacs. The interface works in terminals and graphical frames, with images and visualizations added where supported. Themes and layouts are customizable, and help is available from within the player.

The central design choice is to separate the interface from playback systems: each backend supplies status, browsing, and playback commands while the tabs and controls remain unchanged. Operations run asynchronously, so slow servers, streams, or downloads should not freeze editing. The SSH backend streams tracks to disk, prefetches upcoming music, and caches recent files; it can retrieve individual tracks from disc images without downloading an entire image when possible. The local backend supports common audio and video formats through mpv, reads cue sheets, and indexes embedded FLAC cues for searching. The package itself uses Emacs built-ins and requires Emacs 29.1 or newer; playback and optional features need separate tools such as mpd, mpv, ffmpeg, ssh, cava, or yt-dlp. Setup examples cover MPD, local libraries, and remote music, with further documentation for configuration, platform support, and troubleshooting.