Media Player?

[Azure]

I tried Winamp...Itunes, didn't like either.

Anything else, preferably open-source that works better?

[FanIn80]

With Winamp, it's really all about getting a decent skin for the player.

If you like "classic" mode, here's the skin I used for years: http://www.winamp.com/skins/details/81567

If you like "modern" mode, here's the one I switched to about 2 years ago: http://www.winamp.com/skins/details/122902

As for other players... I'd be interested in hearing about what other people are using, too. I've been using Winamp for so long... Mind you, now that I've switched to Mac, it's all about iTunes (runs way better on a Mac than on PC - hated it on PC).

[Azure]

I tried Winamp last night, and I noticed it would skip during most songs.

No idea why.

[Kipru]

I don't really see how the skin you use affects the functionality of the player. I like to listen my audios with winamp, with the classic-skin as default.



For videos, I use media player classic which is light and has no useless bling-bling, which I hate. Realplayer has to be the worst invention man has ever made, but still some streams are sent as .rm. For this I use real alternative with MPC.

[LeftWing]

I use both Media Player and Winamp usually. I still believe that Winamp has to be one of the most versatile players out there though. With the 1000's of plug-ins available you can make it do just about anything you want.

[FanIn80]

Originally Posted by Kipru

I don't really see how the skin you use affects the functionality of the player. I like to listen my audios with winamp, with the classic-skin as default.

It's not about extra functionality. The classic skin is ugly, and some people (myself included) become disinterested when presented with an ugly UI.

Media Player Classic serves no real purpose over WMP (which is garbage) and Real Player isn't even worthy of a discussion.

VLC is probably the best player you can get, if all you want is a stripped-down, no frills, one-player-plays-all solution.

[llama64]

There is Songbird: http://getsongbird.com/

It's still in a beta phase but it's usable.

[Kipru]

Originally Posted by FanIn80

It's not about extra functionality. The classic skin is ugly, and some people (myself included) become disinterested when presented with an ugly UI.

Media Player Classic serves no real purpose over WMP (which is garbage) and Real Player isn't even worthy of a discussion.

VLC is probably the best player you can get, if all you want is a stripped-down, no frills, one-player-plays-all solution.

Well I really couldn't care less what something looks like as long as it works. (You should see my flat, car and me. Who need curtains, plants or carpets since they really don't keep you warm or give you food)

MPC plays most of the video files without no need to download extra codecs. It needs no installing, it is just single file so you can keep it with you in a USB stick (Just like Opera portable, advert)

I use VLC + ffdshow for some hard-to-open video files, and with tvants or tvu to stream sports. However, when you switch to fullscreen you can't adjust the position with a slider popping up from bottom of the screen, which bugs me out.

[Bobblehead]

Foobar

[Azure]

Well, after trying a few, I like Winamp. But I still can't figure out why the songs keep skipping.

[FanIn80]

Originally Posted by Azure

Well, after trying a few, I like Winamp. But I still can't figure out why the songs keep skipping.

If you go into Options and select the Plugins section at the bottom... fiddle with some of the settings in the Output plugin. Make sure you're using the Direct Sound plugin, first of all.

(I'm doing this all by memory, unfortunately) but you're answer should be in those settings somewhere.

[OBCT]

VLC is good for almost any media format. Lacks a few functions I enjoy, but it does the job.

I use WMP and Winamp at times. Both have their strengths and weaknesses, but Winamp's customizability is a huge plus.

Real Player is ... flawed. I have used it for stretches, but overall it is bloated, error-prone and less functional than almost all of it's competitors.

Hadn't heard of Songbird before, but looks like a good idea.

Never tried Foobar, but have heard good things about it.

iTunes + Windows = terrible idea. I've tried it several times, never finding any reason to switch. Just too slow and quirky, IMO.

[Azure]

Well, Foobar seems like the most simple design for me.

I'm just looking for a media player that will randomly play all my music randomly without using up huge resources.

Now, say I add music to my library later on, do I have to individually go import it into the playlist? Or is there an easier way?

[OBCT]

Originally Posted by Azure

Well, Foobar seems like the most simple design for me.

I'm just looking for a media player that will randomly play all my music randomly without using up huge resources.

Now, say I add music to my library later on, do I have to individually go import it into the playlist? Or is there an easier way?

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but unless you manually import your tunage, this kind of stuff inherently uses system resources. I still use WMP to this day because I find it's "folder monitoring" function massively convenient. Other than the fact it uses system resources (rarely enough to bother me much, but still worth considering), it is just great for this purpose, IMO.

I have a large library of music ripped to my hard drive (and, full disclosure, some albums that were downloaded, too) and I enjoy listening to the whole swack on random. I have all my music meticulously organized into folders by 'Artist' -> 'Album', all following the same format for filenames ('track #' - 'track title'.mp3), etc, etc. Whenever I get around to ripping a bunch of CDs at one time, I don't feel like going to all the extra work of moving around files and folders, and adding each new track to my media player manually. I configure my ripping program to put the files where I want, and tell WMP to "monitor" the folder I store all of my music (ie. "My Music"). It's configurable, and usually I just leave WMP open for a couple of minutes while I'm surfing the web before turning on the tunes. This is usually enough time for it to have detected, imported and named\categorized all the newly ripped music.

I've tried doing the same with Winamp, and though it does offer some similar functionality, I find the process more difficult and quite slow in comparison. Perhaps you'd have more luck with Winamp, but I must recommend giving WMP another chance if it's an intuitive Media Library you're looking for.