So winamp is increasingly littered with bloatware...

[jdoggg12]

I use it for 50/50 movies and music. What're the great alternatives? Have the lastest Media Player versions been brought up to snuff w/o being too huge?

Thanks for the suggestions!

 

[archcommus]

What bloatware issues do you have with Winamp? There may be a few extra program options on installation, but all can be unchecked. I've been using it for years up to the latest version and have never had any issue with bloatware, spyware, unwanted third-party programs, etc. There isn't a better program for music IMO. For movies, I prefer my media center app, or Media Player Classic. WMP is okay just not as customizable or compatible with all formats. A lot of people also like VLC.

 

[jdoggg12]

I dunno... it just seems like its so over-stuffed with 'extras' thats its just too much for a little player like it used to be. It never used to crash on me, now it has on just about every computer i use it on.

 

[Sylvanas]

VLC works for me.

Not cluttered with junk, easy to use- try it.

 

[Cristatus]

VLC is really nice once you get used to it, and it plays a wider range of file formats compared to Winamp.

Also, I don't know if you'll need it, but VLC can stream your media across your network without requiring additional software.

 

[Evander]

I've been using winamp for 10 years, doesn't seem bloated to me using 5.x

If you want a no frills winamp, just download Winamp lite (and if you want to add a media library onto that, I recommend the "Dynamic Library" plugin)

 

[mc866]

Foobar 2000 for music and media player classic or VLC player for video.

 

[SickBeast]

Personally I like iTunes for music and VLC for video.

 

[jdoggg12]

Originally posted by: Evander
I've been using winamp for 10 years, doesn't seem bloated to me using 5.x

If you want a no frills winamp, just download Winamp lite (and if you want to add a media library onto that, I recommend the "Dynamic Library" plugin)

I think this is the way to go. I DLed VLC, but the interface is just TOO basic haha.

 

[secretanchitman]

i use winamp5, but i disable basically everything but modern skins support and all the audio support.

i use media player classic for my videos.

 

[KeypoX]

i have noticed that winamp has been crashing lately too... does this VLC have all the radio stations like winamp?

 

[George P Burdell]

I've installed Winamp without the library and other assorted crap that comes along with it.

I tried foobar for a while, but I guess it wasn't my cup of tea.

I tried MediaMonkey, but the cluttered interface turned me off. Maybe I'll give it another shot during semester break.

My primary player right now is iTunes. I like the smart playlists and the UI. Too bad it doesn't have built-in global hotkeys or active folder monitoring. I guess I still use iTunes because of the iPod.

 

[papaschtroumpf]

I use winamp as an alternative to iTunes.
I hate the services that run with iTunes, and I hate that it tries to get you to buy everything from its stupid DRM store.
Also, winamp works great with my kid's samsung YP-U3 mp3 player, so we don;t have to use the crapware provided by samsung

Winamp has never been that stable though, it does crash once in a while, so for video playback I use VNC (or WMP on some machines).

 

[andylawcc]

Originally posted by: mc866
Foobar 2000 for music and media player classic or VLC player for video.

ya, and to me, Foobar is really stripped down; and I use Winamp 2.8.

 

[Fullmetal Chocobo]

Media Monkey for every kind of music; Power DVD for DVDs; VLC for every other kind of video.

 

[mc866]

Originally posted by: andylawcc

Originally posted by: mc866
Foobar 2000 for music and media player classic or VLC player for video.

ya, and to me, Foobar is really stripped down; and I use Winamp 2.8.

It is stripped down but that's what's nice about it really, that and there are a ton of plugins to get it to do what most larger apps like winamp do with out all the bloat.

 

[jjones]

I still use winamp 2.95. Plays all my music and 99% of my movies. For those movies that don't play in winamp, or use subs, then I use VLC.

 

[archcommus]

Winamp is hardly bloated even with most of the features installed, my current 5.53 install is taking up 25 MB of HDD space and under 10 MB of memory while running not minimized. It's never really crashed for me on XP or Vista, just the occasional hiccup with losing sound after playing from Last.fm or something like that. For me Winamp can't be beat due to its customizability, Shoutcast radio stations, and the ability to browse the web from within it (great for Pandora, for example). If all you do is play music from Explorer I guess a lighter app is suitable, but if you want a full featured library and great extras I think Winamp wins hands down.

If you want to keep using it but are getting crashes, try upgrading to the latest version, using the default skin, and no plug-ins, and post your system specs and the conditions under which it crashes.

 

[KoolDrew]

For video I use MPC and for music I suggest either musikCube or foobar2000.

 

[KeithTalent]

Which of the media players sync well with an Ipod Shiffle? I use WMP11 for my main MP3 player (non-Ipod of course) but I still find I have to use Itunes for my Shuffle, which is really annoying.

I tried MediaMonkey before, but it stopped working properly after a while (not sure why) then I tried an Ipod plugin for WMP11 and that just ended up periodically wiping my Shuffle after I had painstakingly added the songs I wanted to it.

Any recommendations for a Shuffle loading media player?

KT

PS: Sorry to hijack OP!

 

[nova2]

try foobar2000

but be warned, you if open LNK files (shortcut files) a lot, foobar cant do this.

that is one reason why winamp rocks.

 

[s44]

MPC for movies/foobar for music. But foobar isn't exactly intuitive to set up and customize.

 

[George P Burdell]

I decided to give foobar another try and installed it with FofR + PanelsUI (link has nice screenshots).

While it works fine, it won't read any of the albumart embedded in my mp3 files. Bummer.