Advantages of Winamp?

[cwand]

Can someone please tell me the advantages of Winamp? Why is it better than just using the Napster player, for instance?

 

[Shudder]

Better interface.. Plus you'd need to have napster open all the time to use it

 

[Ausm]

The interface is better also...I like the skins I can get for Winamp

Ausm

 

[Ornery]

I'm happily using Windows Media Player Version 7. Any reason to go for WinAmp instead?

 

[Shudder]

He said WMP 7. Haha.

 

[Ornery]

Well, I'll be damned if I'm going to install Winamp and let it take over the default playing (or trying to play) all the mutimedia stuff. Is there something it can handle that Media Player can't? Can it do the Quick Time stuff, so I don't have to install that? What's the big deal with it? Skins? BFD!

 

[Gatsby]

Ornery

First off let me clarify that I do not like wmp7.

Since i got that off my chest, I use winamp for one reason. its small and gets stashed all the way in a corner on my desktop. Only when I need it does it show its ugly face. WMP7 on the other hand leaves a small footprint of itself on my desktop and since I hate that, I got rid of it.

Also, I did not like how wmp7 sounds. I also do not like the interface.

Maybe its just me and personal preferences but I prefer a non obtrusive player and that is found in winamp for me.

Gatsby

 

[Ornery]

Thanks for the reply Gatsby, and you have my ear, but I don't follow. I don't have a Media Player Icon on the desktop and I removed the one that was in the tray. There's no other hint of it anywhere. When I click on a media file or load a CD, it plays it. Am I missing something?

I'll have to take your word for it on which sounds better, but I'd think that digital sound is digital sound. Is it possible that they use different decompression schemes? Seems unlikely...

 

[njpoz]

Winamp also has terrific playlist editing/sorting features. Granted, I haven't played around with WMP 7 to determine if it comes close to Winamp in that regard, but that is why I use Winamp and not something else.

 

[Sunner]

I tried WMP7 bvriefly, its just way too bloated for my taste, I want a player that plays music, no more, no less, if I want fancy GFX and stuff, Ill play Quake3.

 

[Mem]

Am I the only one that has Winamp,WMP7,& realplayer installed,at least this way I`ve the top three covered.

 

[Shudder]

I use WMP 6.4, NOT 7.. no way that thing is getting anywhere near my files... for all my movies, except for
Real Player. As much as I hate it, and I hate it almost as much as WMP7, it's for the few South Park episodes I have on RP.

Winamp for music. I used to have Sonique but it was very slow and clunky.. a 600mhz PC shouldn't have to wait 1.5 seconds to skip to a part of a song, close the program, etc.

Different players DO sound different. Play Sonique and Winamp side by side and you'll be able to tell the difference. WMP7 might sound good, but damn is it ugly. Ugly in looks, size, and in user-friendliness. And god forbid you want to have 2 movies open at once, wmp7 somehow lost that function. Ick. "Save As..?" Forget it.

 

[randomlinh]

I use WM7 w/ the 6.4 interface. Why? cause some of my divx/mpeg4 encoded movies don't play in 6.4 in win2k I use RealPlayer when I have to, Quicktime when I have to, but rarely.. and winamp 24/7 WMP7 is oh so bloated, and well, since it can't encoded WMA files decently (i continually get skips, not matter what I try).. i don't like it (needed wma for my nomad to cost effectively "double" my 32MB ).

 

[Ornery]

Ah, too bloated! Now I follow. Guess that's like ICQ VS AIM. I'll perhaps try WinAmp, but I hope I can adjust the file types the way I want without any surprises. Gotta dabble in the WMA stuff too. That could come in handy.

Thanks

 

[Ulysses]

PC Magazine just reviewed these programs here and selected MusicMatch Jukebox 5.1 as the best. I switched to it from Winamp and so far it seems pretty good. I didn't think the Napster player was in the same league, and it probably won't be around for long either.

 

[Ornery]

Thanks Ulysses. Just downloaded it. Custom install allowed me full control over what files it would handle by default. Nothing on the desktop or tray.

It might not go over to well with some people. I think it would fall into the "bloated" category. Oh well, I'll play with it. I still gotta look into changing the bitrate on some MP3s here. It can do that, right? :Q I'll poke around MusicMatch and see if it can.

Specs & Features

• Price as tested: Free
  Additional pricing info Plus, $39.99 direct
  Supports Windows Media music videos
  Supports RealAudio files
  Supports MP3 encoding
  Supports CD ripping
  Supports drag and drop
  Records analog input
  Supports Windows Media Audio
  Creates CD jewel-case inserts
  Supports constant bit rate (CBR) encoding
  Supports variable bit rate (VBR) encoding

 

[Shudder]

I like MusicMatch, but not for playing. Way too clunky.

For a fast and easy way to rip cds and encode Mp3s, it rocks. Definitely the best program that does it all in one. I hear it's not perfect encoding..using the cheaper Franahahs whatever encoder, but it sounds fine to me. If I want perfection I guess I'll use Lame.

Winamp will always ben, no matter how fast of a computer I get, the best ease of use player out there.

 

[kuk]

I got them all players ... and here is what I like and dislike about them:

- Winamp: My primary audio player.
Like: Small, damn fast, doesn't use a lot of memory, hardly crashes (vey hardly), has skin support, good sorting options ("Sort list by path and filename" rulz ) Comes with AVS. Easy configuration. Nice resizable playlist window ... good for gigantic mess-free lists.
Dislike: Supports fixed size skins (except those ugly transparencies). Minibrowser would be better if everything was done inside it's windows. Not so usefull if only the "index" page is show, and all other links open up in a browser window. Not so good AudioCD integration. It's from AOL.

- WMP7: Primary video player.
Like: Beautiful skins (check Deskmod). Not a bad idea for integration. Has a cool 3D spatializer. Plays a lot of media.
Dislike: Occupies WAY too much memory (20MB+) ... that's the main reason I don't use it for music. Playlists are not intuitive, and relies TOO MUCH on ID3 ... if your files aren't ID3-tified, then you playlist becomes messed up, and searching for a song is somewhat difficult. Hangs the system when changing MP3s. Doesn't play QuickTime files. Visualisations are not that pretty.

- Quintessential CD Player 2.0 (QCD): Primary AudioCD player (Quinnware.com).
Like: One of the best Default interfaces I have ever seen. CDDB integration. Plays CD's without a hitch. Some more things, can't remember right now.
Dislike: Some stability issues (hey, were talking about version 2.0.0.0.0 ). Not a big fan of QCDs playlists.

- RealPlayer x.0: Primary RA media player (duhh)
Like: Plays .RA files ... good for streaming.
Dislike: Cluttered interface ... arghh, my eyes.

- QuickTime: Primary .MOV player (duhh again )
Like: Quicktime movies are damn cool ... trailers and all. Preety interface.
Dislike: Besides the open "metallic) movie window, the "dull-as-hell" window stays open.

- AudioCatalyst: Primary MP3 ripper.
Like: Simple; fast; a lot of options; CDDB support. MP3 ripping "on-the-run" ... no .wav intermediary.
Dislikes: Nothing

- MusicMatch: Primary nothing
Like: Nothing
Dislike: Interface; playlists; MP3 encoding

- Windows CD Player (Win2k/WinME): WTF ... it's still there?
Like: Visually better than the old Win9x player. CDDB support
Dislikes: CDDB doesn't work for me ... guess it's something with LAN + ADSL connection.

 

[Goi]

I have Winamp for playing mp3s, Media Player 6.4 for playing MPEG/AVI/WMA/MIDI/WAV/etc, Realplayer7 to play RA files and Quicktime plugin for those MOVs that won't play anywhere else.