Best Music Player

[IntrinsicValue]

I don't really like Windows Media Player for various reasons. But mainly, for some reason it does not recognize all of my CD's I've burned to my external hard-drive (it only recognizes some of them).

What is the best music player out there (NOT web-based)? Preferably I'd like it to be free, but I'd be willing to pay for something that's outstanding.

 

[bruceb]

You can look into MusicMatch Jukebox (soon to be Yahoo Music since Yahoo bought them)
or Real Player ... both work fine for most things ... there may be some free players out there
but I can't suggest any since I use paid versions of the above players

 

[lxskllr]

Originally posted by: bruceb
You can look into MusicMatch Jukebox (soon to be Yahoo Music since Yahoo bought them)
or Real Player ... both work fine for most things ... there may be some free players out there
but I can't suggest any since I use paid versions of the above players

I can't really agree with those 2 choices. Musicmatch I hate with a passion, and RealPlayer is kind of bloated. Also you need to do some creative file tweaking to get rid of some irritating traits of RealPlayer. I would suggest Foobar2000 It's appearance is a little off-putting (very basic) but it can be highly customized to make it look like anything you want(difficult and not well documented though). It plays just about anything, and although not pretty it has a highly usable interface. Give it a try for a week or so. You may not like it right away, but it really grows on you. It's my favorite player by far.

 

[TheRyuu]

Media Player Classic

VLC

MPUI

All of these are general media players that work for both audio and video.

Also...
Foobar2000 (as stated above)

 

[Vidda]

Foobar2000 is my first choice.
Winamp is my second.
VLC for video.

 

[Alone]

Sonata.

 

[pontifex]

i still love winamp.
does everything i need it to do and i'm familiar with it.

 

[mc866]

Originally posted by: Vidda
Foobar2000 is my first choice.

:thumbsup:

Foobar is pretty intensive to setup but the possibilities are endless. If you take your time you can get the interface how you want it. That and it does everything, it can convert music, create playlists, etc.....

 

[VashHT]

I throw in another vote for Foobar. I haven't taken the time to customize the interface and I still love it.

 

[CKent]

Did someone actually recommend realplayer and mm jukebox in the same post? Both are about as close as "legitimate" software can come to being malware, and by some definitions they are exactly that. I wouldn't allow either anywhere near my PC. I use foobar2000.

 

[bruceb]

Yes, I did suggest them .. I find they do what I want them to do and as far as being
malware, I have yet to see anything to indicate this is the case. Now mind you, I don't
let it get music from the internet or check licenses. Most of my music was loaded from
CD's so it is all legit. The players are also useful for certain Videos or stock conference
calls, etc ... maybe not the best, but MusicMatch came with my Dell & I always used
Real Player when my computer didn't have anything else.

 

[IntrinsicValue]

Thanks everyone. I'll give Foobar2000 a shot!

 

[Anubis]

IMO still cant beat winaamp

 

[Fenixgoon]

WINAMP-winamp....winamp...... it really whips the llama's ass!

hey, i attempted to do the intro clip