Media Players - What Do You Use and Why

My Favorite Features of WMP 10

Published on December 24, 2004 By Essencay In Personal Computing

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.

Comments (Page 1)

Jafo

on Dec 24, 2004

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

TheD2JBug

on Dec 24, 2004

Winamp 5 using Classic skins.

Does everything I ask

GreenReaper

on Dec 24, 2004

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.

DocX

on Dec 24, 2004

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.

alphabyte

on Dec 24, 2004

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.

Island Dog

on Dec 24, 2004

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.

Riahon

on Dec 24, 2004

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.

Thomas Thomassen

on Dec 24, 2004

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.

BlueDev

on Dec 24, 2004

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.

TasT

on Dec 24, 2004

I use WMP after using many different ones it just seems to work the easiest....

joeKnowledge

on Dec 24, 2004

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.

JMB1984

on Dec 24, 2004

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

Thomas Thomassen

on Dec 24, 2004

I liked that WMP organized my files in album folders.

xxTigerxx

on Dec 24, 2004

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.

Hippie

on Dec 24, 2004

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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