Frist Sonique Now Winamp

[Shockeye]

The last of the original Winamp team has left according to this story.

Only a few employees remain to prop up the once-ubiquitous digital audio player with minor updates, but no further improvements to Winamp are expected.

So I wonder, what music player are people using in Windows? I've been a Winamp supporter for a long time so if no new improvements are expected, I'm wondering what my best options are to get my groove on.

[Zetleft]

Hell who needs updates, I've been using 2.81 for a loooong time now.

[Soukyan]

I always hated Winamp because the GUI was so damn tiny and difficult to read and use. I prefer nice big shiny buttons. Plus, Winamp had shit for an equalizer. But that was just me. YMMV.

I used to use Quintessential Player a lot, but now I just use WMP 10. It suits my needs, but I'm not some huge music media crazed person. I just use it to rip my CDs and listen to my library at work or home.

[stray]

WMP or iTunes. Never liked WinAmp either for the reasons Soukyan pointed out.

[HaemishM]

Windows Media Player 9 or 10. I haven't really found a need for much else.

[Morfiend]

Windows Media Player 9 or 10. I haven't really found a need for much else.

I use WMP at home, but after using iTunes at work, I think I am going to DL the PC version for use at home. Best player I have used to date.

[Big Gulp]

So I wonder, what music player are people using in Windows?

iTunes.  Everything I ever wanted in an audio player, period.

[pants]

I've been using winamp for years.  I don't see wht the concern that theres no more development going on for it.  How much work can you put into an app that plays music?

[WonderBrick]

I have been using Winamp for years, but for the past few months have really been enjoying Media Player Classic.  It is a non-Microsoft project/player that supports nearly every form of video and audio out there.  I can play Quicktime and RealPlayer on it as well.  Plus it solved the green-screen codec/playback issues I was having, and warns you about potential issues with certain encoded media files.

[Tebonas]

iTunes, found nothing wrong with it to force me looking for alternatives.

[Rodent]

I generally use Winamp when I'm going through the daily dosage of forums, I use Foobar2000 when I play games.

[tar]

Foobar 2000 here as well.

[OtherSide]

[another Foobar 2000 me-too post]

[HaemishM]

Just a question, since I'm one who really has rarely ever put much effort into finding a media player, but what is it this programs do for you that others do not, such as Windows Media Player? I just find it odd that anyone picks one based on features (though the Media Player Classic with its multiple codec luv does intrigue me).

[tar]

Well, I only use foobar for music playing. I'm not sure, but I don't think it handles any other type of media.

My reasons for choosing it revolve around UI and system resource use. It's a fairly 'light' and fast program with a nice, clean, standard UI.

I always hated winamp's apparent desire to change/move all the default windows UI buttons and conventions for no apparent benefit other than being different. I have similar issues with WMP, too much 'pretty, but useless' going on there for my tastes.

It's not a deeply thought out or analysed decision, just one that for me intuitively felt better.

[TripleDES]

Foobar2000.

[Merusk]

Just a question, since I'm one who really has rarely ever put much effort into finding a media player, but what is it this programs do for you that others do not, such as Windows Media Player? I just find it odd that anyone picks one based on features (though the Media Player Classic with its multiple codec luv does intrigue me).

I started using WinAMP at work because IS uninstalled media player on all our machines, and disallowed installs by non-admin users.  AMP didn't futz with the registry, so I could 'install' and run it on the work PC.

Before that I used Music Match because (3 years ago) it allowed you to listen to their streaming stations for free, and had a pretty good selection. Some other people at work were using it and, until IS locked-down the streaming ports, it was nice to have in addition to the .mp3s.

Since I bought a 'lifetime' version of MM for $40 back then, it's what I've been using at home as well.  It's library is friendlier than Media Player, IMO, and it lets me RIP, burn Mix CDs and create CD covers from Album art all in one application.  Not bad for a then $40 piece of software.

However, since Yahoo bought them I haven't been happy.  The new 'yahoo approved' version uses a fuckton of resources now and playing CDs seems to bring my computer to a halt.  (Oddly, it's only CDs that cause this problem. MP3s are fine.) Add-in that they wiped out compatability with all previous skins because most of them had removed the useless browser window that just spammed "buy this album" stuff and it's just not a happy piece of software anymore.

[WonderBrick]

Just a question, since I'm one who really has rarely ever put much effort into finding a media player, but what is it this programs do for you that others do not, such as Windows Media Player? I just find it odd that anyone picks one based on features (though the Media Player Classic with its multiple codec luv does intrigue me).

Low system footprint is my first goal, followed by flexibilty, ease of use, and look.  

Years ago, for IM clients, I switched to Trillian first because of low system footprint and support for multiple clients.  Ease of use was not quite as intuitive as I would like, but was still achievable.  The look did not ditract.  Later, ICQ released ICQlite, which is still as bloated as the full ICQ client I left.

I still like WinAmp, because it sticks to what it does best.  But for a while, it was becoming a resource hog.

[Tebonas]

I use as few Microsoft products as possible because they tend do have a high overhead and are often integrated into the base system in needless ways.

Yes, if Cedega and Dosbox would work on all games, I would not have a Windows system anymore.

[Sky]

iTunes

[schild]

iTunes

/agree, iTunes is a wonderful program.

[Fabricated]

I'm using Winamp 5, and probably will continue to do so until a better player comes out. Foobar is nice, but still needs some interface work.

[angry.bob]

Just a question, since I'm one who really has rarely ever put much effort into finding a media player, but what is it this programs do for you that others do not, such as Windows Media Player? I just find it odd that anyone picks one based on features (though the Media Player Classic with its multiple codec luv does intrigue me).

When you boil the fat away from the meat, the answer is a resounding nothing. All this alternate media player crap is really just masterbatory l33t geek chic. Windows Explorer + double-click = the win. Merusk had the only really valid reason - IS deleted Media Player and he needed somthing that didn't mess with the registry. And as much as I love the old school Windows Media Player, there's not a single file I haven't been able to play with MP9 since installing ffdshow, oggvorbis, and that matroska crap. If you need a codec, just get the codec. The current version of Media Player Classic has some issues of it's own that make it less desirable than just using MP9 with codecs installed.

[Tebonas]

When you boil the fat away from the meat, the Windows Media player is neither fast and easy on system resources, nor does he integrate several options into the same UI.

I like being able to rip songs from my CDs while listening to them, burning the songs from my smart playlists on CDs to keep them portable and shopping on the Internet for additional songs that strike my fancy at that moment. Others like a fast player that is easy on resources, configurable to be used by Keyboard commands while running other programs (ok, lets face it, games) in full screen. Really, those are all valid reasons beyond the geek factor.

[angry.bob]

When you boil the fat away from the meat, the Windows Media player is neither fast and easy on system resources, nor does he integrate several options into the same UI.

Not easy on the resources? How "easy" do you need it to be? I'm at work right now listening to Tool with MP8 on a p2-200 with 128m of ram. In addition to MP9, I've got outlook, two Hummingbird mainframe sessions, Access, two Excel files open, 2 ServiceCenter sessions, Windows Explorer, and this we page and it's not having any problems. If Media Player is too much for your PC to handle, 1) Your PC is pre-pentium technology, 2) You've got severe problems with your PC, or 3) You're a tard and don't have the correct codecs for what you're trying to play. 95% of people who use "too demanding on system resources" as a reason are just trying to be epeen waving hot-rodders or something. Even bloated MP8 barely uses any system resources. I just did an experiment - it uses a system crushing 4% CPU usage. OH NOES, HOW WILL I BE L33T WITHOUGHT THAT 4%??? I CANNOT POST SCREENSHOSTS OF MY UNIX DESKTOP W/FIREFOX 2.@ ALPHA WITHOUT IT!!!!.  If I can have all that crap going on a P2 but you're having trouble burning a CD while you listen to a song and download porn, you need to rethink computer stuff as a hobby and get WebTV.

And none of the other crap you listed is anything you can't do with media player. Except buy music, maybe. Why would you do that anyway, that's what P2P is for.

[Tebonas]

I won't go into that P2P comment. I like my stuff as legal as possible, thankyouverymuch. But to each his own, as I said. Different kinds for different people.

You know Microsoft Zealots are just as bad as Linux zealots, I hope? Just checking. Fucking computers are tools and not medium for religious warfare. And you use the tool best suited for the job at hand. Just because you find all those things useless doesn't mean everybody has to. Nice that there are keyboard shortcut controls for the New Media player. Didn't know that, never started the thing for some time now. You missed that "Integrated into the same UI" part, because it isn't a consideration for you. Fine as well.

But telling everybody what he has to like goes a bit beyond that, choice is a good thing, in all things.

[TripleDES]

/usr/bin/mpg123

[HaemishM]

I see the problem. I generally am not a big MP3 playing kind of guy. I have maybe 100-150 songs that I cycle through while I'm writing on my novel, but other than that, I just don't listen to a lot of MP3's. I listen to music on CD's in my car.

I have failed at geek.

[Fabricated]

For video playing you can't really go wrong with VLC.

http://videolan.org/vlc/

The only problem I had with it until recently upgrading to XP was the fact that the icon for the program and thus the icons for every media file you associate with it is a badly drawn, deformed traffic cone.

After I upgraded to XP I just swapped out the cone for one of everaldo's icons.

[Ralence]

For video playing you can't really go wrong with VLC.

  I'll second the vote for VLC as the video player of choice.  With the built in codecs, I had a lot of crap I couldn't view with WMP that it picked up on just fine.  And after the hassles I had to go through for which codec works with what, and why it's has no sound, even using AVICodec to try to figure shit out, there was still things I couldn't get to play, VLC is simply to use, and so far I've never found anything it won't play, can't beat that.

  And on topic, ITunes, because I keep my ipod library on my pc anyways to sync with.

[Train Wreck]

I like iTunes a lot.  It let's you rip CDs in MP3 or WAV format, and you can arrange your music library into lists and print it out, and or burn it to CD.  It has a sleek interface too, and lots of free streaming stations.  Maybe it's not unique, but it's free and does what I need a media player to do.

[chinslim]

The lack of gapless playback in iTunes bugs me to no end.

[WayAbvPar]

One thing I just discovered about iTunes which really made me unhappy-
if you lose your data for some reason, you are simply screwed. They will charge you to download the same music again. Make sure to back up your collection regularly!