Preferred PC Media Players?

W

Wrathcaster

I've been using Winamp and VLC for ages now, though I've switched between several alternatives for video due to dissatisfaction with VLC with an assortment of formats.

I know Winamp got sold back in January and the download link got removed from the frontpage (and the actual download page), but is available through an easily accessible link to the forums. Still, I have reservations about the future of my primary music player for the past decade or so. I was wondering what others here use, considering my growing discontentment for possible developments with Winamp and the various failings of VLC.

I've used Winamp mainly just because it's never failed me as far as audio goes, because I'm used to it, and because I'm intimately familiar with it to the point where I can navigate the thing adequately with inanimate objects. As a secondary concern, I also like the color theme I've had for years now. MMD3 is my shit. VLC I use because, well, I've never found anything that really performed noticeably better to me and if it did, it was negligible. I've tried lots of players out there for video, but not really anything other than winamp for music.

What do you guys prefer for media players?
 
Void

Void

Experiencer
<Gold Donor>
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I use Media Player Classic - Home Cinema, and haven't had any real complaints. Occasionally a broken file doesn't play right and I play it in VLC, but I don't like the way VLC does a few things. In particular, I like being able to pause by clicking anywhere on the player with MPC. But overall, there isn't a lot of difference between most of them.

For music, I have been using Media Monkey for years, and even bought their lifetime license. I know it has a bigger footprint and all that jazz, but I can't remember the last time my computer was so shitty that it mattered. I love the way it organizes things, and the way I can easily tag things all at once. I'm sure plenty of other players have similar functionality, but as you said, I know how to navigate around MM and find using anything else difficult. The biggest thing I like about it, however, is that it will sync to my iPod without going through iTunes, and will even convert all of my FLAC files to whatever quality mp3 I put in the settings. And if I want, it will do that all automatically whenever I plug my iPod in. Not having to use iTunes is worth hundreds of dollars to me alone, so buying the legit version of MM was easy.
 
M

mixtilplix

Lord Nagafen Raider
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109
Media Player Classic on windows for video and Spotify for music. Who still downloads music files nowadays?
 
Melvin

Melvin

Blackwing Lair Raider
1,399
1,168
I've been using foobar2000 for music for years. Even in Linux I install Wine specifically to make foobar2000 work. It has a little bit of a learning curve though, because if you want a specific layout for the GUI you have to (or get to, IMO) lay everything out yourself. Or, you can let someone else do the "work" and just import their theme file to get started a little quicker.
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VLC for video, and lately I've been using it as a headless audio player on my Raspberry Pi too, along with a remote control app on my phone.
 
opiate82

opiate82

Bronze Squire
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5
For videos on the computer I use XBMC. For streaming to devices (Roku, phone, etc) I use Plex.
 
Denaut

Denaut

Trump's Staff
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1,279
I actually just switched to using the Windows 8 music app a couple of days ago now that it actually works with my NAS (they must have changed it in some update within that past few months). It integrates nicely with the Win8 HUD/Shell without appearing on my tray or tas kbar. As a side bonus it looks nice fullscreen when I put it with the television during parties and what not. It also did a decent (but not great) job matching my library.

For everything else I use VLC.
 
ToeMissile

ToeMissile

Pronouns: zie/zhem/zer
<Gold Donor>
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Winamp for audio, and Daum Potplayer for video. Stream to Roku via Plex.
 
jeydax

jeydax

Death and Taxes
1,390
851
Foobar for music files on the computer.

Plex for playing music from main computer to the HTPC.

Spotify/Songza for music not on the main computer to play on the HTPC.

VLC on the main computer for videos.

VLC or XBMC on the HTPC depending on my mood for videos on the HTPC.

I useNinite - Install or Update Multiple Apps at Oncefor updating my stuff and in addition to Foobar and VLC I also have it download/update CCCP and K-Lite codecs. I honestly have no idea if this helps at all for any of the programs I've used but I've never had a single video NOT play on VLC and foobar NEVER has issues for me.
 
spronk

spronk

FPS noob
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25,680
vlc, don't have any extra codec packs installed and have had 0% probs playing hundreds of videos

youtube or shoutcast for music, i don't bother downloading music anymore its all up there on the cloud aka youtube plus there is usually a version with a nearly naked chick dancing

thumb drive attached to TV for playing on non office TV, all my samsung TVs play 1080p MKV files just fine off 128GB thumb drive and I get 100% native with no transcoding
 
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