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Essencay
Join Date 01/2003
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Media Players - What Do You Use and Why

My Favorite Features of WMP 10

December 24, 2004 7:26:26 AM from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums
Note: This author has never used any Media Player other than Windows Media Player and welcomes comments from winAMP users to show what your favorite features are in that software.

My Favorite Features of Window Media Player 10:

- Organize the media content and build a wide variety of playlists on your PC -
I have 244 hours of music from my CD collection using 19.63MB...don't know if that is a lot or not ...that I have been able to easily manage with the built-in playlists and playlists I've created myself.

- Play, rip and burn CD's -
Every new CD I buy gets added to my collection on my PC just by popping it into my CD-ROM and WMP gets the details off the net.

- Windows Taskbar Toolbar support -
One of the best features...WMP can minimize to a useable player right on my taskbar.

- Skinning support -
There are many great skins out there. Many of which come from The Skin Factory available right here at WinCustomize.

- Synchronize your media with portable devices -
I don't have a portable music player, but my wife does and she really enjoys this.

Features I Don't Use, But Are Available in Windows Media Player 10

- Purchase and download music from Online Stores -
I prefer to purchase CD's and use a Music Service to make my purchases.

- Listen to online radio -
Another feature that I don't use mainly because I'm on dial-up and can't afford losing bandwidth while I'm browsing.
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Essencay
Jafo
Join Date 03/2001
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Reply #1 December 24, 2004 7:40:55 AM
from WinCustomize ForumsWinCustomize Forums

Winamp 2.9x ..... simple...and skinnable....by self...

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TheD2JBug
Join Date 07/2001
+39
Reply #2 December 24, 2004 8:06:49 AM
from WinCustomize ForumsWinCustomize Forums
Winamp 5 using Classic skins.

Does everything I ask
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GreenReaper
Join Date 05/2001
+32
Reply #3 December 24, 2004 8:10:23 AM
from WinCustomize ForumsWinCustomize Forums
Personally I use Winamp as well. I want something nice and unobtrusive that plays music in the background, not a music shop or something that takes 1200 GDI handles to load (iTunes). However I have had to use many in my time, and overall they all had their advantages and disadvantages.

I would also be interested to hear what people use in the WC community, because I wish to make sure that DXPlayer supports the most popular ones - right now it does Winamp, iTunes, WMP (internal), CoolPlayer and ObjectMedia.
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DocX
Join Date 11/2001
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Reply #4 December 24, 2004 8:31:19 AM
from WinCustomize ForumsWinCustomize Forums
Ya I use Winamp 5 too just because it doesn't take a lot of resources while I have Photoshop and a web browser open at the same time.
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alphabyte
Join Date 01/2004
+165
Reply #5 December 24, 2004 8:42:16 AM
from WinCustomize ForumsWinCustomize Forums
I use Winamp 5 or Windows Media Player, depending on what windowblind/suite I'm using. Depending on whether or not there is (are) matching skin(s) for Winamp or Media Player, that usually helps me decide which to use.
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Island Dog
Join Date 06/2003
+1047 sdemployee
Reply #6 December 24, 2004 8:51:43 AM
from WinCustomize ForumsWinCustomize Forums
I use iTunes. I started using it because I bought an iPod, but I was still using winamp. The more I used iTunes the better it was, so now I use iTunes.
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Riahon
Join Date 02/2002
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Reply #7 December 24, 2004 9:26:14 AM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums
I use JetAudio. I prefer RealPlayer over Windows Media Player. I use WMP only occasionally. I've tried WinAmp a few times, but I didn't care for it.
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Thomas Thomassen
Join Date 01/2003
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Reply #8 December 24, 2004 9:29:36 AM
from WinCustomize ForumsWinCustomize Forums
I used Winamp for many many years. Then when I got XP I started playing around with WMP9 to see how it was like. That resulted in that I haven't really used Winamp for a couple of years now. Not sure if I am really comfortable with WMP10. Can't put my finger on it.
A couple of weeks ago I downloaded wxmusik and are currently trying that one out.
I just want a program that play my music and can manage my folder with music. CD ripping and obtaining CD info is a plus though.
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BlueDev
Join Date 12/2003
+16
Reply #9 December 24, 2004 9:29:53 AM
from WinCustomize ForumsWinCustomize Forums
I first used Winamp, back in the 2.9 days. Once I got XP I started usind WMP XP, then 9. I used WMP exclusively for many of the same reasons listed in the first response. Then 10 came out, with one of the butt-ugliest interfaces I had ever seen. I ran away.

So I started using iTunes. I like it, it keeps my music organized fine, and sounded good. But it is a resource hog (as GreenReaper mentioned). I grew tired of it and started using a little program I had found a while ago: foobar2000. Now it is my only music player I use regularly. I simply love it. With all the add-ons it is quite customizable, uses very little resources, and the sound is hands down the best of any player I have heard. As far as organizing my music, well, I only put full albums on my computer, so I just load my entire music library and have foobar sort it according to Artist/Album/Track #. Then I can scroll through and get to the album I want to listen to (while I have ~1800 songs, it is only ~40 artists, so it is manageable). I can also add as many playlists as I want and have them all loaded at the same time in separate tabs, so I can just pop back and forth between them.

For video I still use WMP, but that is about it.
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TasT
Join Date 03/2001
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Reply #10 December 24, 2004 9:42:57 AM
from JoeUser ForumsJoeUser Forums
I use WMP after using many different ones it just seems to work the easiest....
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joeKnowledge
Join Date 03/2004
+2
Reply #11 December 24, 2004 11:04:01 AM
from WinCustomize ForumsWinCustomize Forums
I'm a winAMP user. I just keep coming back to it. It does what I want. I do like some of the features Windows Media Player has like databasing the music files but in the long run, I rather just have a folder with subolders of my music files.

I run WMP mostly because of the skins it has, but then I go back to winAMP because it uses less resources depending on what skin your using.

I don't ask for much, I guess, when it comes to players.
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JMB1984
Join Date 03/2001
+47
Reply #12 December 24, 2004 11:06:21 AM
from WinCustomize ForumsWinCustomize Forums
WinAmp5 for audio because its always been my favorite, so just loyalty there, plus it looks and works fine for me. It's established, yeah thats it

WMP for video just because its there and opens up quick enough, plus I like the UI in it best of the video players
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Thomas Thomassen
Join Date 01/2003
+10
Reply #13 December 24, 2004 11:20:25 AM
from WinCustomize ForumsWinCustomize Forums
I liked that WMP organized my files in album folders.
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xxTigerxx
Join Date 06/2003
0
Reply #14 December 24, 2004 1:54:48 PM
from WinCustomize ForumsWinCustomize Forums
I use WMP 10, Winamp 5.07, MusicMatch 9 and of course our very own dx player though mine runs on the WMP engine. Anyways, I love using WMP 10 because it interfaces with my Dell Dj mp3 player very easily making synching music a snap. I also love the way it manages my music files and ripping tracks from my personal cds is just a matter of popping the disk into the drive and watching the software do its thing. With the help of a nifty program called dudebox explorer,distributed by Red ChairLink, I'm able to stream music from the portable mp3 player to any one of my players, eliminating the need to store music files on my pc.
Winamp has always been one of my favorites though. Streaming music and videos from the internet and home based peripherals,....lots of skins and variable skin colors to match any windowblinds or dx skin, how can you go wrong...plus it's sound quality isn't bad either if you tune the equalizer right or use one of the many dsp add-ons that can be found at the Winamp site.
MusicMatch is one of those players that you don't really need but can't seem to do away with provided you have enough HD space to house it. I use it occasionally when I want to play my tracks with something different. I buy a lot of music from their music store too but have recently found that I can do the same through WMP 10 which is my default player and might always be. MusicMatch loads very slowly and occasionally locks up my system so unless I'm really desperate for a change, it just remains in the dark corner of my HD.
All in all, WMP 10 rules. The default GUI isn't as appealing as it's predecessor but a really good skin makes it all better. Among my recent favorites are Nvidia Reactor, Halo 2, XXX, Rave, and the original Xbox skin: all by the Skins Factory.
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Hippie
Join Date 06/2001
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Reply #15 December 24, 2004 10:22:19 PM
from WinCustomize ForumsWinCustomize Forums
Well, I use MusicMatch to make my playlist, and most of the time I use it to listen to my music. For some reason, I haven't figured out, it sounds better. I have SBLive, and you would think all music players would sound the same. I also have DFX on all the players, but MusicMatch still sounds better. I like Winamp 5 next best, mostly for the visulazations. iTunes is real close to MusicMatch, sound wise, also playlist wise. It's easy to make a playest with it. I haven't used WMP 10 very much, but it does have a fairly good sound. Another ons is 1by1. Not popular, but it is a nice little player. I've tried every player on the net. MusicMatch seems to have the best sound. QCD is an excellent player, but right now I have a new computer, and don't have it downloaded. By the way, I'm a musician . Have been for 35 years, so I think I have a little knowledge on sound and players. I also have Bose speakers. 'nough said. Peace. Hippie
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Brian Smith
Join Date 10/2001
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Reply #16 December 24, 2004 10:31:23 PM
from WinCustomize ForumsWinCustomize Forums
My goodness one player only: that would be a treat wouldn't it. If only the computer world was that simple.
Here is what I use:
1. Music videos-Winamp 5 of course and if I want to skin a player it is it!!
2. Burning CDs: WMP 10-easiest burner around; agree it is also great to have it in the tak bar but my task bar is too full for that.
3. For my ipod-itunes for windows (big compliant here-can apple let this be a skinnable player in wondows-what iswrong with the company?) I WANT TO SKIN IT as the apple skin sucks!!! But...I got a little nifty minimize tool that lets itunes be minimized to the system tray and so it is the best minimized player around now.
4. I used Musicmatch for awhile and own the thing but it is a pain-amn it wants to play everything and is obtursive!! I could not uninstall it until I got into safemode-aah it is a real pain!!
5. Raid player: well I listen to virgin radio and it uses a WMP 10 player

Oooh for one player that did it all but that will never happen unless Mozilla gets into the fight-they will be the company that will challange us all with software that makes it happen and yes it is all skinnable (I do not work for them by the way-just like what they are doing-a company with balls!)
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CygnusXII
Join Date 03/2001
0
Reply #17 December 24, 2004 11:57:13 PM
from WinCustomize ForumsWinCustomize Forums
I use WinAmp 5. I have used it since the very early days, way, way before AOL Bought it out.
I like it, for several reasons, it is straight forward, it is skinnable, it rips audio, and shoutcast.
Major Tom skin by Steve Moss, changed my world, and introduced me to skinning. I might add,this was a ground breaker for me. Real Audio Players,last good version was back in the days when it was bundled with Windows. Jet Audio was nice because it was soooo, slick and inclluded RA support right out of the box.
Of Note Foobar is very nice. DbPowerAmp is very nice as well. Media Match Jukebox, is just to bloated for me. I like things simple and straight forward. I am mostly deaf in one ear, so I am not an audiologic connisseur, I just like to Jam, and crank up the bass, and turn on my Axe and go to town.
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Psikotik
Join Date 01/2003
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Reply #18 December 25, 2004 12:19:10 AM
from WinCustomize ForumsWinCustomize Forums
I use Quinntessential Player. It has many cool functions, like the quicktrack in the menu, and isn't as bloated as Winamp 5.. and while it doesn't have as many skins as Winamp, it has several very nice ones. It also has a plugin which allows for the use of Winamp plugins. I use WMP 10 for my video playback.
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mrgrimm
Join Date 01/2002
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Reply #19 December 25, 2004 12:31:30 AM
from WinCustomize ForumsWinCustomize Forums
Well I use J. Rivers' Media Center. Does everything I need and more and supports just about every format. Rips to Mp3s, Ogg, Flac, and many others.
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cakeypower
Join Date 12/2004
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Reply #20 December 25, 2004 1:03:06 AM
from WinCustomize ForumsWinCustomize Forums
I use Beep Media Player for music and Totem/Xine for Video.

Beep - http://www.sosdg.org/~larne/w/
Totem - http://www.hadess.net/totem.php3
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DesignCaddy
Join Date 06/2003
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Reply #21 December 25, 2004 2:53:54 PM
from WinCustomize ForumsWinCustomize Forums
i use iTunes. but i don't like iTunes. more on that later.

windows media player 10 is a terrific player. i have 30.5 gigs of music (its a little more than 2 weeks of constant play) and media players handles it all very well. i like the ease of browsing the library, expanding by artist, album, and so on. its easy to rate your music, if that's what you like to do. WMP uses such a little amount of resources that you can have it open while you're doing just about anything. it is stable, it has good featuers, and its skinnable. people have a lot of greif in using WMA files.. but its a wonderful format with great sound and low size. its comparable to AAC.

what i dont like about it, and this may have changed in 10, is that media player burns cds with 2 seconds gaps between the songs. and the visualizations leave something to be imagined.

itunes: i use itunes as my regular player because i have to.. i have an ipod, and i use the itunes music store for music and it gives you AAC protected files which media player can't play. its library browse feature is convienient to find album or artist quickly, and its search feature (which wmp10 has also) is fluid, unlike media player 10 as you begin to type it begins tos earch and norrows down as you type. it burns cds without the gaps in tracks, and has a lot of good features, and it edits music tags in the file isntead of in their own file like wmp9 (if you ahd to redo your library you'd lose your tag info)

however itunes, being ported from mac, is unstable. it uses a tremendous amount of memory for something that plays music in the background (19 megs idle, 35 megs under steam). and its not skinnable. it also has this habit of making my music dissapear, and reappear in a couple weeks. it also currupts my ipod now an then, which must be wiped, reset, and verything put back on.

i yern for media player. if i could use my ipod and AAC protected tracks i would be on media player.

i dont see what the fad is with winamp. to each his own, ive used it and its a wonderful app.. but i dont see why its neccisary to have it. i like how media player is integrated into windows and how it handles items in browsers.

i've also used the player included in roxio. it plays any file imaginable but its library isnt as easy to use as itunes or media player, and it uses a lot of memory. it also has a funny way of handleing tags.
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bkpeck
Join Date 09/2003
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Reply #22 December 25, 2004 7:20:44 PM
from WinCustomize ForumsWinCustomize Forums
WMP 10
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Jafo
Join Date 03/2001
+1803 sdemployee
Reply #23 December 25, 2004 7:36:11 PM
from WinCustomize ForumsWinCustomize Forums

I first used Winamp, back in the 2.9 days.

Um....that'd be like 'now' ...as technically 2.9x is still 'current'....

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RockinMike
Join Date 02/2002
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Reply #24 December 25, 2004 8:57:41 PM
from WinCustomize ForumsWinCustomize Forums
MMJB 10 beta. It's been my official audio unit for my computer for 5 yrs, ripping a cd in less than 3 minutes, burning a cd takes less than 15 minutes. I don't see the need to "search" for a better media center for my pc.
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Scarebear
Join Date 03/2001
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Reply #25 December 25, 2004 9:14:44 PM
from WinCustomize ForumsWinCustomize Forums
I use Quintessential Player (QCD) as it is easy to skin, easy to use and allows me to use the old Sonique visuals I love. It simply does all I want my media player to do
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