Last edited by YAFU; 12-16-2012 at 09:08 PM.
The question was solely about the lyrics widget and while it was initially not possible to remove the widget container in the middle, it was possible to add and remove individual widgets. Just compare the two screenshots on http://amarok.kde.org/en/releases/2.0 – the lyrics widget is replaced by the Magnatune widget in the second one.
I removed it. I'm not adverse to it, it's just, like you said, sort of horrible and handles fonts really bad, so it ends up a hot mess 90% of the time. If they overhauled how it looks, I'd use it. Actually I'd prefer they split the individual widgets into separate panes instead of trying to cram everything together. I like the idea a lot, it's just not attractive as it is right now.