How To Listen To Pandora Radio On Linux
If you’re running a Linux PC that has a hard time playing Pandora radio, you’ll be interested to know that there is a solution. Introducing Pithos. It’s a Pandora Internet Radio client for Linux. It is designed to be very light-weight, and use considerably fewer resources compared to the web version. The program lets you listen to Pandora on Linux and is available for Ubuntu, Fedora, Arch Linux and others via the Flatpak universal packaging format.
SPOILER ALERT: Scroll down and watch the video tutorial at the end of this article.
Ubuntu Instructions
Ubuntu users looking for a native Pandora radio experience on their Linux desktop have the option to install the Pithos tool via a PPA repository. Having a proper software repository is an excellent way of installing the software because users can count on the latest updates directly from the developers.
To add the Pithos PPA to the system, open up a terminal window and enter the command below.
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:pithos/ppa
Once the PPA is active, you’ll need to update Ubuntu’s software sources to reflect the changes.
sudo apt update
When the software sources are up to date, you can install the software.
sudo apt install pithos
Don’t want to install via the terminal? After adding the PPA and doing the update, open up the Ubuntu software center, search for “pithos,” click the install button and enter the password.
Uninstall the Pithos tool with:
sudo apt remove pithos
Alternatively, open up Ubuntu software, search for “pithos” and click the “uninstall” button to remove it.
Arch Linux Instructions
There isn’t any official documentation letting users know this on the Pithos download page, but it turns out that it is possible to download the latest version of the Pithos Pandora Internet Radio client via the Arch User Repository. To get it, open up a terminal and use the Pacman package manager to install the “git” package. This package is important to interact with the AUR.
sudo pacman -S git
After getting the “git” package, use it to grab the latest build of the Pithos package via the AUR.
git clone https://aur.archlinux.org/pithos.git
Now that you’ve got the latest version of the code, you’ll be able to use the cd command to enter the Pithos package directory.
cd pithos
Inside this folder, run the makepkg command to generate an Arch package. Be sure to include the -si flag though, as it will automatically go out and install all needed dependency files. For the most part, Pacman should find them no problem. If, for some reason, some are missing, refer to the Pithos AUR page and install them manually.
makepkg -si
Uninstall the Pithos client at any time via Pacman -R.
sudo pacman -R pithos
Fedora Instructions
If you’re a Fedora user, you’ll be able to grab the Pithos Pandora Radio client pretty easy, as the developers have an official RPM available via RPM Fusion. To enable RPM Fusion, run the following commands. Be sure to change X to the version of Fedora you are currently running.
sudo dnf install https://download1.rpmfusion.org/free/fedora/rpmfusion-free-release-X.noarch.rpm -y sudo dnf install https://download1.rpmfusion.org/nonfree/fedora/rpmfusion-nonfree-release-X.noarch.rpm -y
If those commands run correctly, RPM Fusion will be active on Fedora. Now all that is left to do is to install the program via the dnf package tool.
sudo dnf install pithos
Installing the Software via RPM Fusion, rather than a downloadable RPM file is excellent, as it ensures Fedora users always get the latest updates. Want to remove Pithos from your Fedora PC? Run:
sudo dnf remove pithos
Flatpak Instructions
Aside from Ubuntu, Arch Linux and Fedora, there are no other native ways of installing Pithos (unless you download the source code and compile it). Fortunately, the developers make the Pithos Pandora Radio client available for installation on Flathub, as a Flatpak. To install this type of software, you’ll need to enable Flatpak on your Linux distribution. Follow our guide for installing and using Flatpak to get it going! When you do, enter the commands below to install Pithos.
sudo flatpak remote-add flathub https://flathub.org/repo/flathub.flatpakrepo sudo flatpak install flathub io.github.Pithos
Pithos should automatically show up in the “media,” or “sound and video” area of your application launcher. If it isn’t, log out, then back in.
Need to uninstall the Pithos Flatpak? Do:
sudo flatpak uninstall io.github.Pithos
Using Pithos
When you launch the Pithos app, you’ll be asked to log in to your Pandora account. As soon as you finish logging in, music will start playing via “Quick mixes.” To change the station, click “Pithos” and then “Stations.”
To create a new station to listen to, click the + sign. Search for an artist, song or album to play and click “add.” It is also possible to add new stations by clicking the arrow next to the current playing station.
LastFM Logging
If you love Pandora but have a Lastfm account, you’ll be happy to know that Pithos supports Last.fm scrobbling. To enable it, click “Pithos,” then “Preferences.” Inside the preferences window, select the “Plugins” option and scroll all the way down to “lastfm.” Click the slider to enable it.
When you click the “on” button, you’ll see a message that “Pithos is not Authorized with Lastfm.” Click the “authorize” button to connect the app to your Last.fm account.
Other Plugins
The Pithos app has a ton of plugins that you can use to enhance your Pandora listening experience. To access any of the plugins, just click the “Plugins” tab in preferences. Plugins available include the ability to “inhibit the screensaver”, “Journald logging”, “Auto volume normalization”, a very nice equalizer, and more.
Thanks. With Ubuntu 20.04, you can install directly from the Ubuntu Software app (no need to open a terminal).
Pithos is working correctly on my install.