Music playing programs

[Aerozord]

I am having issues getting formats to play on WMP (like MP3s for some reason) and quicktime is pretty butts interface-wise. Any suggestions on a free alternative? Ideally I'd like something thats good for making on the fly playlists, though I'll settle for just easy to make permanent ones. MP3 compatible is a must but FLAC support would be nice. Of course the more formats supported the better but those are the highest on my priority list.

Something that can play alot of videos is nice but music is my main concern right now so I'd rather get something thats great for music than ok for music and video.

[Loyal]

Winamp and VLC are both free and useful. Winamp in particular has a lot of plugins available even for more obscure sound formats such as tracker formats used in many video games (.nsf, .spc, .gsf, and many more).

[Aerozord]

Winamp and VLC are both free and useful. Winamp in particular has a lot of plugins available even for more obscure sound formats such as tracker formats used in many video games (.nsf, .spc, .gsf, and many more).

whats good out of the box? I know how to mess with codecs but the whole reason I dont just try and update what I have is I'm sick of fiddling with them

[Loyal]

They both work just fine for standard stuff. Though VLC is my preferred video player.

[synkr0nized]

VLC is designed to play practically any video file you throw at it "out of the box", and Winamp will handle nearly all common music formats (and some others).

The latter is no longer being developed/supported, though it certainly still works perfectly fine.

[BB]

In the words of my brother, "I could put a biscuit in the CD tray and VLC would play it". I've never had a media file it couldn't run, aside from obscure tracker formats- which Winamp's plugins handle smartly.

[rpgdemon]

VLC does not have very good support for a library of music, though. I tried using it as my primary music player when I got my new computer, and it wasn't great. It is great if you want to play anything, but it does not let you easily look at and shuffle all your music.

Just, FYI.

[Aerozord]

VLC does not have very good support for a library of music, though. I tried using it as my primary music player when I got my new computer, and it wasn't great. It is great if you want to play anything, but it does not let you easily look at and shuffle all your music.

Just, FYI.

Does it atleast have a "play all" capability if I have all the files in one spot?

[Magus]

I use Foobar.

[Overcast]

I also use foobar, free, smart at playlist making, tends to be pretty universal in its musical formats including just about every lossless format I have.

I would also have VLC just for videos.

Also have itunes for if I ever actually want to buy music and for podcasting.

[phil_]

I use VLC for music I specifically don't want a record of my playing. Please use that information as you will.

[Grandmaster_Skweeb]

As said before: VLC is pretty much the best bang for the buck straight out of the box when it comes to video.

I used to use winamp for years but have migrated over to AIMP3. Lighter weight and a variety of more interesting and powerful features. One of its unique features is media files up to 250mb can be loaded automatically into ram at the start of playback and then deleted from ram once it is finished. Guarantees a smoother playlist regardless of computer load.


AIMP3 (http://www.aimp.ru/index.php?do=features)

Multi-format Playback: .CDA, .AAC, .AC3, .APE, .DTS, .FLAC, .IT, .MIDI, .MO3, .MOD, .M4A, .M4B, .MP1, .MP2, .MP3, .MPC, .MTM, .OFR, .OGG, .OPUS, .RMI, .S3M, .SPX, .TAK, .TTA, .UMX, .WAV, .WMA, .WV, .XM
Output supports DirectSound / ASIO / WASAPI / WASAPI Exclusive
18-band equalizer and built-in sound effects Reverb, Flanger, Chorus, Pitch, Tempo, Echo, Speed, Bass, Enhancer, Voice Remover

etc.

The main feature I appreciate the most out of it? The alarm clock / computer auto-shutdown feature. I greatly dislike falling asleep to white or pink noise only to have rouse myself up again to shut off the laptop or wake up later because it's still on.

Alarm Clock You can choose playback start time of selected track with smooth volume increasing. Wake up the computer from sleeping mode is supported.
You can sleep while listening favorite music, just set the timer to shutdown the computer at given time or on playback finish.

[Magus]

I also use foobar, free, smart at playlist making, tends to be pretty universal in its musical formats including just about every lossless format I have.

I would also have VLC just for videos.

Also have itunes for if I ever actually want to buy music and for podcasting.

Yeah the reason I downloaded Foobar was to play .flac and/or convert .flac to 320kbps MP3s.