WOF: What's your favorite media player and why?

Matthew DeCarlo

Posts: 5,271   +104
Staff

[Weekend Open Forum] It's rare that I'm in front of my PC without music playing, if only for ambient noise, and I watch more videos at my desktop than on TV or anywhere else. If you're anything like me, media players rank toward the top of your most used applications -- not far behind web browsers. You've probably tried countless alternatives to Windows Media Player over the years, leaving you with at least one or two favorites -- and we want to hear about them.


Despite losing popularity after AOL's acquisition, I still use a barebones version of Winamp because it's what I'm familiar with and it works well for basic music playback. I tried converting to iTunes a few years ago after purchasing an iPod, but it was simply too bulky for my needs. Meanwhile, Zoom Player handles all of my videos. Although VLC is awesome, I've found that skipping through content can be sluggish compared to Zoom, SMPlayer and others.

So, let's have it. What software do you rely on for your media playback, and why?

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I use Media Player Classic because it is a lot better than VLC.
 
AH i just use the zune software for music and videos/movies. I use the windows media player because its there and when i organize music on the zune software it updates on WMP and vice versa. And VLC for strange formats like FLV 3gp the works.
 
Just like Matt I've remained loyal to the good old WinAMP, the difference though is that I no longer play as much music on my PC so when I realize I don't have it installed I don't mind resorting to WMP or iTunes or even VLC, which is my preferred player for video. I like the fact it plays everything out of the box, however I've kept hearing more and better comments about Zoom and SMPlayer so I will give those a try soon.
 
Media player classic for normal
Crystal player for damaged files

I hate VLC with a passion I have spent time with over 50 media players in the last couple of years, and for all normal day to day use MPC-HC always comes up as being the nicest to use.

For video for audio FB2K is #1 I've been around the audio player block dozens of times there is simply no substituted for its advanced futures and simplistic nature and customization. among that I have gotten dozens of people to lesson to lossy music on Pretty much every other music player on the market then listen to it on FB2K and the result is the same every time It's simply better.
 
I use XMPlay for music and KMPlayer for video in combination with codecs from the K-Lite Codec pack. Fast, fully featured, and extreme quality = Win for me.
 
i am surprised no one mentioned MPC "HC", or Media Player Classic Home Cinema. it's about the #1 and only choice for any serious HTPC die hard.
 
Windows Media Player with klite codec pack for everything...over the years i have tried itunes,winamp and jet audio....but i find WMP the best of all...i use XBMC for TV shows occasionally cuz it maintains a good video library and its easy to find which videos are UNWATCHED..
 
I never liked WMP. I don't know why...

I (mostly) use VLC for Video playback and foobar2000 with the wasapi plugin for audio playback under windows 7, with a Musiland Monitor 01 DAC (which unfortunately has no linux drivers).

Another player I like a lot, mostly for its media library, is Songbird, however the wasapi plugin that was developed for it, doesn't work in the latest version and I get skips (plus lower quality playback) without it.
 
I use MPC-HC for videos as with the proper drivers, it plays anything under the soon right (unlike VLC with subtitles) and AIMP2 for Music.

AIMP2 = WinAmp - the bulk and promotional ****. lol
 
windows media player with shark codec works well on mine, perfect quality with hm mkv files
 
Wow, im surprised more people don't use MPC Star... Thats what I use. It makes VLC look like a kids toy. Gotta try it. I love it and will never use anything else.
 
I keep the killer trio of KMplayer, Winamp Classic, and VLC on my desktop (BS player was recently retired, but I still recommend it)

KMplayer is the heavy weight champion of media players. It has virtually the same UI as winamp, it can play any file you throw at it, is endlessly customizable, and has a bevy of features of which I keep discovering new uses for everyday. It will recognize my usb sound card/mixer, has built in screen/vid capture, and even when I try to play a poor quality file, I can usually correct it to make it viewable in KM.

I started using Winamp about ten years ago and still keep it around because I am just so familiar with the User Interface. I also love using Winamp to convert FLAC files to MP3s and rip CDs

VLC has a garbage UI and is light on features/extras, but it will play everything and will often play large MKV files smoother when running on a weaker system. VLC gets a spot on the team for being light weight and playing anything.
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Every now and then a file will be formatted in such a way that one player(VLC and KM included) will not play and it is good to have options, but at least one player will always work.
 
I use VLC on both Windows and Linux. I find it nice and simple, but very powerful and it offers really good codec coverage too.

For music, I use iTunes, mainly because it docks my music collection with my iPhone. :)
 
I use MPC HC for video, ffdshow when required. For music I use a PHP and Flash library/player combo I wrote for myself. Tried lots, VLC was the only other player I liked but has some quirky features/performance.
 
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