Simple script to display a notification when the current song changes MPD, showing the title, artist, and cover/album art.

mpd-notify.sh

#!/usr/bin/env bash

# Simple script to display display a notification when the current song changes
# in MPD, showing the title, artist, and cover/album art.
#
# Requires: dunst, mpd, and mpc

# Temporary path where album art will be written to.
ALBUMART="/tmp/albumart"
# The number of milliseconds to display the notification
# before automatically closing.
TIMEOUT=3000

song=$(mpc current --format "%file%")
while true
do
  current=$(mpc current --format "%file%")
  if [ "$song" != "$current" ]; then
    song="$current"

    mpc albumart "$song" > $ALBUMART
    title=$(mpc current --format "%title%")
    artist=$(mpc current --format "%artist%")
    dunstify -a mpd-notify -u 0 -I "$ALBUMART" -t $TIMEOUT "$title" "$artist"
    # Alternatively use notify-send instead of dunstify
    # notify-send -a "mpd-notify" -i "$ALBUMART" -t $TIMEOUT "$artist" "$title"
  fi
  mpc idle player > /dev/null
done