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Alternative to Windows Media Player?

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  #1  
Old 09-21-2006
korrupt's Avatar
TechSpot Maniac
 
Location: Perth, Western Australia
Member since: Jun 2006, 1,060 posts
Alternative to Windows Media Player?

Hey guys,

I'm after an alternative for Windows Media player for my music. I have about 30 days worth of non-stop music so I need something easy to use and preferable with a search function.

I do not want I-tunes or quiktime player but all others are ok.

Any replies as always, greatly appreciated.

Regards,

Korrupt
  #2  
Old 09-21-2006
Rage_3K_Moiz's Avatar
Sith Lord
 
Location: Sharjah, UAE
Member since: Sep 2005, 7,096 posts
System specs
I would recommend WinAmp and JetAudio. I like them both but I prefer WinAmp since it's more sleek and easily customisable. Also, it's easier to search through your library in WinAmp than it is in JetAudio. foobar2000 is also recommended by many but I didn't like it too much. Maybe u will.
  #3  
Old 09-21-2006
altheman's Avatar
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Location: East London
Member since: Nov 2005, 541 posts
VLC is good also.
  #4  
Old 09-21-2006
LNCPapa's Avatar
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Location: Duke University, North Carolina, USA
Member since: Feb 2002, 3,232 posts
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I'm an avid Foobar2000 user. Here's a look at what my foobar looked like a couple months ago - it's gone through many changes since but this is just an idea.

http://www.nd.edu/~mmcgill/images/fo...00C_060703.jpg
  #5  
Old 09-21-2006
korrupt's Avatar
TechSpot Maniac
 
Location: Perth, Western Australia
Member since: Jun 2006, 1,060 posts
Thanks for your replies.

Regards,

Korrupt
  #6  
Old 09-22-2006
smore9648's Avatar
TechSpot Addict
 
Location: Top Secret Hideout
Member since: Sep 2006, 757 posts
divx player
  #7  
Old 09-22-2006
SNGX1275's Avatar
TechSpot Forces Special
 
Location: Rolla, Missouri, USA
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Quote:
Originally Posted by LNCPapa
I'm an avid Foobar2000 user. Here's a look at what my foobar looked like a couple months ago - it's gone through many changes since but this is just an idea.

http://www.nd.edu/~mmcgill/images/fo...00C_060703.jpg
I use Winamp because it plays video and is very slim, if I wanted to use a player that took up the whole screen to use I'd use iTunes.

With winamp you can use the classic skin which has a very small desktop footprint, or you can use any of thousands of skins for it in full winamp 5 mode where it has a nice media library.
  #8  
Old 09-22-2006
N3051M's Avatar
TechSpot Evangelist
 
Location: Sydney, Australia
Member since: Jan 2006, 2,800 posts
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Quote:
I do not want I-tunes or quiktime player but all others are ok.
I know its just preference, but whats wrong with iTunes? (apart from vers 7 being buggy as *** )

If you want iTunes 6 i'm pretty sure i got it here somewhere....
  #9  
Old 09-22-2006
LNCPapa's Avatar
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Location: Duke University, North Carolina, USA
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Foobar doesn't have to take up the whole screen - you can configure it however you want. Here are a couple of examples (not mine)


Any mine when it's minimized


I still have general playback control of the application even when it's minized. I have even installed a remote control server for foobar allowing me to remotely control the program from my other machines. You can search your libraries, modify playlists, change/skip songs, queue songs, etc. using this tool.

You should also be aware that a default installation of foobar isn't pretty - it looks like this

The configuration is all up to you with Foobar but you may have to RTFM.

I don't use iTunes anymore because it's pretty closed off. I like the ability to add support for fuctions to the application easily. Flac is not a supported format in iTunes and ogg support is pretty crappy on the Mac side. I refuse to go with Apple lossless because I play my files on Windows, Mac, and linux using Foobar, Cog, and Rhythmbox primarily. I don't have to duplicate any of my audio library because it all sits on my fileserver that is mapped by all my other machines in the house.

You stated that you wanted an alternative for your music so I assume you only care about the audio support. If you want any video support at all then don't look at foobar - it will never be added. The programmers have made it very clear that this is an audio management tool and not an all purpose media player.

Take a look at this wiki to get an idea of the types of functions you can add to foobar.
http://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index....Components_0.9

Last edited by LNCPapa; 09-22-2006 at 04:25 PM..