spectere.net
The Chatterbox => Computing => Topic started by: Sqthreer! on July 07, 2008, 09:29:37 PM
-
Just curious as to what all y'all prefer when listening to your musics.
Out of the ones listed, I have used all but MediaMonkey and Foobar, and what I've always gone back to is iTunes. But I recently decided to check out how Winamp is since the last time I used it, and I'm pretty sure I'll be switching over to it from iTunes. That's actually what sparked the idea for this thread. So far, after only about an hour of using it, it seems to be WAY the hell better than iTunes. Especially since whenever the last update included the new default theme.
-
I use the old classic theme, I can't stand the new themes, even the bento theme, but I use winamp.
I've found that with the plugin system, and the huge userbase, I can get winamp to play pretty much any music file I could ever want to listen to, and more. Not to mention it takes up way less ram and processor time as other programs as well. On my computer, winamp takes less than 1% processor time more often than not. It fluctuates between 0% and 1% on my computer. WMP takes like, 5%, IIRC, and it eats way too much ram. iTunes, I'm not sure how much processor time it takes, but it takes more ram, and I don't need a program to organize my music. It's called folders, they're built into your operating system.
-
I use Billy. (http://www.sheepfriends.com/?page=billy) My library consists of only mp3s, so I don't need much else. Other than VLC player for my vids.
-
I use winamp. Modern theme. Video is done by WMP.
Also, I checked out the mIRC "plug-in" for billy, the .mrc in the zipfile has this:
alias F7 mp3
alias mp3 {
set %mp3 $left($dll(BillyMirc.dll,MP3Playing,_),$calc($len($dll(BillyMirc.dll,MP3Playing,_))-4))
if (%mp3 == $null) {
/echo 4 -a Billy stopped or not running.
}
else {
/me plays: %mp3
}
dll -u BillyMirc.dll
}
Kuroneko, you should be crying as you read that code. I know I am.
But seriously, winamp's pretty cool. I like how customizable it is through plug-ins, like mah ZorroFuego 2.
alias F7 {
if ((Stat* iswm $active) || (@* iswm $active)) halt
var %blmp3 $deltok($dll(BillyMirc.dll,MP3Playing,_),-1,46)
if (!%blmp3) { echo 4 -a Billy stopped or not running. }
else { me plays: %blmp3 }
dll -u BillyMirc.dll
}
-
foobar2000 for the ma' fackin win.
I like how it has a very nice media library (faster than Winamp's in my experience) and a minimal interface. It's literally exactly what I was looking for.
Winamp is a fine media player. That's what I used to use.
In Linux I use Amarok. When Amarok 2.0 comes out and the Windows port that they're working on (yay QT4!) is released I'll probably give that a shot. If it's stable, usable, and decently fast-ish I might switch to that.
-
perhaps i should give foobar a go. people seem to like that one.
-
I use Winamp in Windows and whatever the default is in Ubuntu. I don't really care about library management, so as long as a lot of formats are supported, any music player is fine. Plus, I like being able to keep Winamp at the top of my screen, out of the way but easily accessible.
-
perhaps i should give foobar a go. people seem to like that one.
Yes, try it. :3
If you find yourself not liking it for a particular reason, look for a component to do what you want to do. foobar is retardedly flexible and there's something like 2184903 billion components available for it (okay, I'll admit it, I made that number up :().
-
i picked other, because i use two.
winamp for music
gomplayer for video
-
Oh yeah, and I use VLC for videos.
-
Oh yeah, I guess I should have specified I meant audio, but I'll leave it how it is so we can discuss video stuffs, too.
I use Media Player Classic for all my video needs. I've used The KMPlayer, BS Player (before it was shit), GOM Player and VLC Player, but nothing has ever been able to compare to MPC.
-
I like winamp's classic black and green skin, which is one reason alone I use it. I also like to keep it snapped to the left edge of my right screen, which is usually out of the way, but visible enough for me to see what's playing at a glance.
I don't like the fact that foobar uses the default annoying windows look. I like how winamp has a basic skin built right into it and it doesn't look like shit.
I care nothing about media libraries, as stated before.
My collection is anything from S3M's to FLAC to TTA/CUE and APE/CUE, so I need something that plays everything.
For, it's really a toss up between Media Player Classic and Zoom Player. I've used Divx player, BS Player, WMP, VLC, and probably a couple others, and have found that I prefer the interface in Zoom Player, and I'm quite fond of MPC because of it's interface being so simple.
I've found that sometimes MKVs don't play well in MPC, so sometimes I use Zoom Player for those.
-
I don't like the fact that foobar uses the default annoying windows look. I like how winamp has a basic skin built right into it and it doesn't look like shit.
foobar is designed to be lightweight and extensible. And if you don't want it to be quite as light, there's always foo_ui_gfx (found in under a minute using links from the official site): http://pelit.koillismaa.fi/plugins/show.php?id=108 (http://pelit.koillismaa.fi/plugins/show.php?id=108)
And eh, just for the hell of it, a module player: http://pelit.koillismaa.fi/plugins/show.php?id=229 (http://pelit.koillismaa.fi/plugins/show.php?id=229)
APE file support: http://pelit.koillismaa.fi/plugins/show.php?id=179 (http://pelit.koillismaa.fi/plugins/show.php?id=179)
TTA: http://pelit.koillismaa.fi/plugins/show.php?id=181 (http://pelit.koillismaa.fi/plugins/show.php?id=181)
And it has built-in support for CUE-sheets...
...just doing my part to dispel the all-too-common belief that foobar is nothing more than a barebones audio player.
Edit: In case it isn't evident, I prefer to build up rather than tear down (within reason, of course). This is why Gentoo is my Linux distribution of choice and why I use foobar. I hate having features available that I'm not going to use. I like being able to choose them if I want, but I hate when things just take up space. It's kinda like the UI in Winamp. I never look at it. I always just use my keyboard.
Also, Winamp's support for multiple playlists is rather cumbersome, to the point where I just didn't use it. There is (was?) a long-standing bug in Winamp 5 where double-clicking to enqueue items would occasionally overwrite my existing playlist. It was unpredictable, but it usually happened right as I was finishing up my playlist (leading to various four-letter words being thrown around as well as me calling Winamp a female dog, sometimes repeatedly). It would also occasionally (but not always!) do this when I dragged items into the playlist from Explorer. Very annoying. Winamp's ripper is also one of the worst ones I've ever used. While that isn't a showstopper for me (I use EAC, personally) it certainly didn't make me want to stick with it.
Finally, the media library isn't ridiculously slow at searches in foobar. Winamp's isn't bad. NOTHING, but NOTHING could possibly be slower than iTunes. Ugh. I think I'd rather switch to mpg123 and use shell scripts as playlists than use that pile of shit again. Admittedly, iTunes has a damn fine CD ripper (whose MP3 encoder had a nasty bug in earlier versions, causing the MP3's timestamps to be horribly off...thankfully, Apple fixed that pretty quickly), but it's not worth using just for that.
-
If you think iTunes' library is slow, you should give the Zune software a whirl. Having been using it for a month or so now, it has become apparent that it's probably one of the worst functioning pieces of software produced by Microsoft I've ever used. Sure it looks pretty neat and has some kewl speshul effeks, but HOLY SHIT is it slow.
It's interesting to see how many different preferences people have with their media software.
-
I too prefer building up, and I never use winamp's ripper (I shudder thinking of that thing). I also use EAC.
I dunno, but something about the default GUI setup in foobar bothers me. I think I'm too used to the module based way winamp works (individual parts, all resizable and disableable). I like being able to (if I want) run winamp simply as a playlist floating on my desktop.
And god, iTunes pisses me off. The only thing I use it for right now is burning CDs, because it's burner is actually quite nice.
-
What I didn't like about iTunes was the lack of customization. I'm not talking about skins and crap, because I've gotten over caring about that stuff as much as I used to, but I mean as far as aspects of the functionality. I like programs that have tons and tons of things to check and uncheck in the 'preferences' window XD I have no use for anything CD related so that never factors in when I choose my media player, either.
As far as file formats, the only audio format I have is mp3, so I never have to worry about that.
-
Sometimes I'll get an OST and it'll be in some weird format like TTA or FLAC, and it's nice to already be able to play them.
-
In that case I usually just convert it to mp3. I likes to keep it simple.
And OH MY GOD I know I briefly talked about how horrid the Zune software is, but christ... It's probably the best example of form over function I've ever seen. With just the program running (my Zune isn't even plugged in) it's using an average of 85% RAM and about 100k memory.
wtf
-
Ugh, MP3 should be abolished. If it wasn't for the fact that transcoding music makes it lower quality, I would convert all my MP3s to OGG or maybe AAC. If it wasn't for the fact that 1.4 TB still isn't enough space for all my music if it was FLAC, I'd have tried to get everything I have in FLAC.
I like being able to play TTA, APE and FLAC files along with my hefty collection of MP3's and OGGs. Just about every release by NEET is in OGG, and almost all of the doujin music torrents from the comikets is in either APE or TTA files.
-
I guess I don't know enough about music formats to see a difference between mp3 and anything else :p As long as its quality isn't noticeably bad, I'm good. I haven't even heard of TTA or APE, hah.
-
TTA and APE are rather obscure. They are both used as lossless formats, preserving the entire quality of the CD without losing an of it. MP3, OGG/VORBIS and AAC, as well as most others are lossy, meaning that to achieve the amount of compression they do, they need to remove some sounds form the file. FLAC is also lossless.
I can her a difference between even a high quality lossy file and a lossless file.
-
In that case I usually just convert it to mp3. I likes to keep it simple.
Eh, that takes too long. I'd rather just be able to listen to the music when I get it rather than having to convert it.
-
Not to mention it makes it sound worse. Transcoding = bad.
-
In that case I usually just convert it to mp3. I likes to keep it simple.
And OH MY GOD I know I briefly talked about how horrid the Zune software is, but christ... It's probably the best example of form over function I've ever seen. With just the program running (my Zune isn't even plugged in) it's using an average of 85% RAM and about 100k memory.
wtf
oh my god yes. I always dread opening the zune software. I only put music on my zune when i have a significant amount to add. I couldn't imagine using it on a regular basis.
-
I know! I wish more development was done with the zSuite (http://www.zuneboards.com/zune-news/zsuite-a-hacking-suite-for-zune.html). It doesn't support the latest firmware so it just makes anything you try to access it with freeze. That's what it does for me, anyway.
-
I use either iTunes or Winamp, i mainly use iTunes when I only want to listen to mp3s but for other formats I use Winamp. For video I use VLC :V
-
Winamp all the way. Used to use Musicmatch, then I realized it blew and got Winamp. Never tried using anything else.
-
Holy shit I remember Musicmatch, haha. That was like, the first media player I ever used years ago.
After a couple days of using Winamp, I'm pretty pleased with it.
You know what sucks is how Microsoft won't let you use a third-party program to manage the Zune. What is the deal with that?
EDIT:
Wow, according to the poll, I was the last person to still use iTunes D:
-
Wow, according to the poll, I was the last person to still use iTunes D:
i voted itunes :(
-
I've gotta ask, why would you even include realplayer? That thing is possibly the most evil media player ever made.
-
You know what sucks is how Microsoft won't let you use a third-party program to manage the Zune. What is the deal with that?
Apple has been doing the the same thing with the iPod since the thing came out. The media players that support the iPod now certainly didn't get that type of support through any help of Apple.
In a way it's a method of keeping the devices locked up. On one hand, it prevents possible damage from being caused by third-party software and provides a device-centric interface. On the other hand, if the program sucks (and, in my exceedingly humble opinion, iTunes is a pile of garbage and the Zune software is a bastard child of that and WMP11, taking WMP's interface and mixing it with iTunes' sheer sluggishness and bloatiness) you're basically boned.
What I can't believe is that the Zune software is as bad as it is. It was supposedly based off of Windows Media Player 11, but the odd part is that WMP11 is actually good, unlike the Zune software. The question that you really should be asking is why you can't manage the Zune with WMP11 (which, oddly enough, handles many other brands of portable media players without a hitch).
-
Yeah, that's insane. why the hell can't they simply add an addon module (yes, WMP actually does support those) for the zune, or better yet, build it into the actual program?
I just don't get it.
-
I've gotta ask, why would you even include realplayer? That thing is possibly the most evil media player ever made.
I was just naming all the popular media players I know of. I mean, has anyone here even tried MediaMonkey? Apparently it's pretty popular, but I recall installing it a while ago and knowing within two minutes that I should uninstall it and never look back. MusikCube could be pretty good if more work was done with it. I spent a good month or so using it as my music player, but there were a few key features of iTunes that took me back to it. And the last update was like, a year and a half ago :|
-
Hmm, the site makes it seem pretty decent, what's wrong with it? (or if that's the case, what isn't wrong with it?)
-
I prefer Winamp. It's not a resource hog or anything, is very user-friendly, easy to install plugins, ect. Also, it's the first media player I used so I'm comfortable using it. I use the modern theme, mostly because I had a few problems with the classic theme, like the program crashing or not updating properly a while back. I use Foobar as a back-up media player, which works really well although is not as user friendly as Winamp (not that it's a problem).
Doesn't Realplayer try to take control of your entire computer? >_>
-
Doesn't Realplayer try to take control of your entire computer? >_>
It used to. It doesn't anymore, but the damage to its reputation has already been done.
-
I just use windows media player, the version that came with vista was pretty sweet.
I also use VLC player for any obscure file format instead of wasting time trying to find a codec for it.
Before that, I used winamp.
-
<~Zakamiro> http://www.spectere.net/smf/index.php?topic=711.msg16901#msg16901
<+Rowan> LAME, lol
<+Rowan> Huhehe see my pun there
<+Rowan> Since mp3s use LAME_ENC.DLL... hhehhh hh :-(
I use ModPlug Player/Tracker and WinAmp, generally!