Music/Media Player for Windows

[Rashy]

I was wondering what music or media player you guys use on Windows. I recently re-installed Windows XP on my laptop due to some programs I need that are Windows only, but I really miss Rhythmbox a lot.

The one single feature that I want really badly is folder monitoring.

Some media players I have used and didn't like:

iTunes - I never want to install this on anything ever again. Oh, and no folder monitoring.

Windows Media Player - Maybe version 10 or 11 is fine, but my stupid computer isn't validating for whatever reason so I am stuck on version 9, which sucks.

MusikCube - Didn't scan and read all of my music files, tags are all kinds of messed up. Also didn't output any sound.

Foobar2000 - The searching is really weird and the folder monitoring didn't work.

MediaMonkey - You have to pay to get folder monitoring. Maybe I can hit up the Pirate Bay

aTunes (NOT iTunes) - Couldn't read my library. It would crash the external device every time it tried to read from it, which is a shame because it felt like such a nice program.

I'm thinking of giving Winamp a try, but that program kind of scares me because of its big-corporation backing. Maybe I can get Amarok to work on windows. It would be most ideal if rhythmbox would just work. It has such a simple interface and the folder monitoring is amazing

So anyways, maybe you guys can help me out here. What media player do you use? Do you know of one that might fit my needs?
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Rashy!

[The Grinch]

I use Windows Media Player, but now im on the version 12 that came with the latest build of Windows Seven.

You don't have to worry too much about Winamp. Although AOL bought it, its the only problem which they have bought and havent ruined and its still pretty great. So don't be scared to give it a try.
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[LP-SolidRaven]

Well, winamp is still doing its job fine. Foobar isn't that bad but you need to get used to it. SongBird isn't bad either if you get it under control but it's a memory hog. Media Player Classic is still doing just fine and if you really want you can even use VLC to play music.
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Dilly dally, shilly shally.

[Desbrina]

i use VLC Player. I dumped windows media player a long time ago when i had trouble, use VLC ever since without a single problem (now that its Vista compatible, it used to crash a lot before they updated it)
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[Rashy]

I use VLC for video all the time (in fact, it is the most used program on my computer after Firefox), I didn't realize it could double as a music player. I just noticed the playlist type features in the Tools and Playlists drop down boxes. It looks like VLC will even automagically monitor your media directories, and this will be great cause it is so small and lightweight and perfect

Actually Songbird greatly fixed its resource usage in the newest release (from November). The only reason that I am not using Songbird right now is because it doesn't have a monitor folder feature. I am almost always updating tags and adding new songs to my library so it is a pain to have to rescan or reload the entire directory. But that feature should be coming to Songbird in February, so I am definitely keeping my eye on that. I actually just bought a t-shirt from the Songbird store because I thought it was so cool

I actually went ahead and installed Winamp last night, and I am going to run it through the gauntlet today and see how it compares with VLC and the rest that I have tried out.

Grinch: How is Windows 7? I really want to upgrade this XP install but Toshiba's OEM Vista is utter crap on this laptop (and I don't have a base Vista CD). I heard that W7 is a lot better with resource management and everything, how is your experience with it? Is it stable enough?
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Rashy!

[The Grinch]

[Jacky]

Of all those media players you have mentioned, I have only heard of Windows Media Player, iTunes and Winamp.

Don't be scared of Winamp. They are really fine.

I have VLC and I use it often, but it doesn't fit in as a full-fledged music player for me. I use it more often for FLV videos or when I want to watch a video or listen to music quickly. This program starts up really fast.

You can say most of the codecs are loaded in this player, hence almost all formats of video can play in VLC. The only format that I have seen not working are Real videos.

For Windows 7, wait for a year and a half more.
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[ClickFanatic]

Winamp, without a doubt.

I didn't need all the features that were offered during installation (in fact, I reinstalled Winamp to cleanly get rid of some features I didn't want). But it is the best music player (and manager) for Windows. If you want allround media, you'll probably want VLC for its wide range of supported files.
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If you can read this, my post is on an alternating background.

[Rashy]

It turns out Winamp isn't half bad. I definitely like that you can skin it, even if 98% of the themes suck. I went for the minimal install as well. It looks like all the extras were just garbage and ad stuff that you don't really need. I think it will hold off until the next version of Songbird is released.

Thanks for your help guys
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Rashy!

[The Grinch]

[Rashy]

Yeah, the library features do suck

I actually saw that skin when I was browsing around, but I prefer to use more minimalistic stuff. All the metallic, buttons all over the place glossy look just isn't really for me. For example, I like the simple look of the LLP forums. I am using the dark materia skin:
http://tetsuwan.deviantart.com.....a-26279189

I like how simple it is, and all I keep open is the play list editor and main controls. My J button is getting a little abused though.
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Rashy!

[LP-SolidRaven]

[ClickFanatic]

What sucks about the Winamp library? I can search in all tags and the 3-way splitscreen allows me to select artist/album/song easily. I believe some skins (at least the Bento skin) allow you to change the view of the library. Besides, there are many options to tweak and if that's not enough, there are plugins to fill in the gaps.
So, honestly, what's the problem?
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If you can read this, my post is on an alternating background.

[Rashy]

I could just be missing some setting boxes or something.

What bugs me about the media library:

1) It doesn't jump to the currently playing song in the media library. I recognize that the playlist (top right in bento skin) does this, I just wish the entire media library would.

2) Sometimes I crave one song, but want to keep hearing random songs from my library after that song plays. Searching for a song in the library, say Brilliant Sky by Saybia, then double clicking the song in the media library, will only que up that one song and whatever else matched the search results, and to do a random of my entire library requires me to clear the search (losing track of that song I was searching for).

I know that you can que up the entire library in the Playlist Editor and then use J or F3 to jump to the song you want. I am just used to media players that are library focused while winamp seems to be more playlist focused and makes heavy use of the Playlist Editor.

How did you setup your searching? Do you mean the filters? Perhaps a screenshot
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Rashy!

[LP-SolidRaven]