(Free) Media player comparisions? Options

[Daybreak]

The last such effort simply died out ... so I'll have to ask this question again...

Basically, does anyone have a rundown on all the (free) media players, their features, advantages/disadvantages and the like? Specifically I'm looking at Zinf, Coolplayer, dbPowerAmp and QCD..


Well.. basically I'm looking to extend my choice of media players from just Winamp2/3 and foobar... so anyone has any evaluation experience on them? Another question.. will installing all of the above mentioned players ( 8 including WMP 9 ) have any NEGATIVE effects on a system? I'd guess not.. but would just like some reassurances..

[fragtal]

I used db Poweramp for a while. I love the feature of the media library in which you can give points for all of your music files. Having these points in mind the intelligent shuffle mode decides which track to play. You'll hear your preferred tracks most often. If you have a large music collection it will take quite a really long while to classifie all music in categories you like or not.

But I missed all the functions I had when I open the preferences-menu of winamp. And when I mistakenly open a buggy file from kazaa db Poweramp makes lots of problems. Winamp is I think more reliable and offers you much more options.

[Andavari]

I've tried out in the last 1 1/2 years Zinf, Coolplayer, and QCD. Needless to say I ran back to Winamp 2 in a very short while.

Zinf:
Tagging files and trying to remove the tag with either Zinf or any other player, including Tag cannot completely remove the tag's 100%. Also it crashes just a little too much for my taste, and the inclusion of other audio formats hasn't been implimented, they really need MPC support to be taken seriously, hence there's more than just MP3's and OGG's. Also an annoyance is a cookie that automatically gets planted as soon as the player is launched.

CoolPlayer:
While I did use if for a period of 3 months the only version I found that didn't contain any annoyances was the now very old version 203 -- which I still place onto autorun MP3 cd's as the default player to playback the music. The annoyances I am implying are in the playlist window where it doesn't size the skin properly -- at least it doesn't in my case using an ATI Rage Pro display card which could be the root of the problem since so many programs don't like ATI Rage Pro's when resizing a window.

QCD:
QCD looks nice however without any option to NOT install the GraceNote add-on annoys me severly, as does some of the moving animation in the program which cannot be turned off. It is yet another player that I think doesn't tag files the way I'd like them to be tagged (the Winamp way). There's also a volume issue which always plays the next track very loudly, effectively it seems as if the player automatically increases the volume level even if the volume is pre-set, yet another annoyance.

Of course these were my observations using the various players, you'll have to make your own decisions, however I believe the two best choices currently available are Winamp 2 and Foobar2000.

[boojum]

foobar2000 > very nice.

[atici]

Depends on your requirements. I needed WinAmp DSP plug-in support. Therefore QCD is the only way to go for me, and I love it except for a few bugs. If I wouldn't need any DSP plug-in probably I'd go for Foobar2000. Also QCD has Digital CD extraction which is lovely if you want to use your DSP plugins with CD audio (Winamp 3 does it too).

[mekon21]

I'm using QCD player just now, it has a lot of similarities to Winamp when it boils down to it. I think it has a better user interface (from my point of view anyway) and I have not experienced any problems with it.

Regarding the Gracenote issue If you go into the settings page and choose "I have no internet connection" then it will never try to connect to Gracenote. Is Winamp any better now that it's connected to AOL ? and don't forget Winamp also has a usage statistics deal that has to be disabled/ enabled

It works around the same plug-in interface as Winamp although QCD does not have as many plug-ins as Winamp there is enough for me, including MPC (which supports replay gain) and FLAC plugins. I can't find one for Wavpack though.

Basically at ground level there is little to differentiate QCD from Winamp 2.** but if you like lots of plug-ins then go for Winamp.

Systemwise it has not affected anything, it starts quickly and I can multi-task without any adverse effects.

I like the fact that you can download icon packs and apply them to your files from within the player itself, MPC, Ogg Vorbis, MP3 etc. Childish maybe but it's the little things isn't it ?

Just as an aside, the last time I looked in CNet's download section, Winamp 2.91 and QCD were neck and neck in the user polls.

[Diablo]

foobar2000 is the best for me. Simple, fast and has versatile playlist configuration

[AstralStorm]

Foobar2000 is the leader because of rapid development, quick bug squashing,
resampler (SB Live here), full replaygain support, limiter, dithering,
high quality DSP and ability to read many audio formats.

EDIT: Not to mention great minimalistic playlist interface.

(Yes, I know, resampling is possible in Winamp with Peter's output plugins,
but they are no longer supported...)

This post has been edited by AstralStorm: May 5 2003, 19:47

[Delirium]

I like XMMS.

mpg321 is kind of neat if you want to play mp3s from a command line or script.

[AstralStorm]

mpg321 is kind of neat if you want to play mp3s from a command line or script.

I agree, but madplay is better - some (poor) dithering, additional quality...

(I have to use pipes+sox to resample the output and then additional buffer with cdparanoia,
program called 'buffer' - brilliant, isn't it?)

linux console

[MadiZone]

I'm a Cool Player.

[rc55]

foobar2000, now full time since http stream title reading is possible.

Ruairi

[krmathis]

foobar2000 is the best for me. Simple, fast and has versatile playlist configuration

Fb2k all the way!!
Because it`s tiny, stable and extremely versatile..

[Conger]

QCD all the way. It now has excellent plug-in support.

[Daybreak]

Sadly though.. it seems that some replies so far haven't really read the first post.. I'm fully aware of fb2k and its advantages/disadvantages, so I don't really need more foobar evangelisation ( it kinda... turns me off ... ) No offence meant though.

Okay.. so right now it seems that dbPowerAmp and QCD are pretty good feature-wise.. but that dbPowerAmp seems to.. be slightly less forgiving of errors....


... but the most important question of all (to me anyway) still lies - does installing multiple players ( in this case most prob QCD, Coolplayer, Winamp2&3, foobar ) have any effect?

[spoon]

... but the most important question of all (to me anyway) still lies - does installing multiple players ( in this case most prob QCD, Coolplayer, Winamp2&3, foobar ) have any effect?

Depends on the player, you will see the file association jumping around as each program grabs them (some after install, others each time the player starts, some really nasty ones - will have programs running all the time looking at file associations), for all players though you should be able to disable such behaviour.

[AstralStorm]

I have used many players (Winamp 2/3, QCD, dbPowerAmp, XMMS, Zinf, CoolPlayer, Foobar2000)
and the best of these (feature-wise - except fb2k) was dbPowerAmp Audio Player - clean interface,
converters, many formats supported, gapless playback...

[SacRat]

I used to use many players. Here's my opinion on them...

Zinf: nice, but buggy (these bugs made me crazy). Library feature is quite useful.
Coolplayer: can have problems while playing on background. But it's nice looking, small and fast.
dbPowerAmp: damn, I can't use this crap... (Guys, have you ever had an idea, that someone can use big fonts? I won't touch this player 'till you fix it!)
QCD: Looks, nice, but I really miss hotkeys.
MMJB: fat, buggy and bloated semiplayer...
XMPlay: modules sound amazing with this stuff, but it's less suitable for serious playback: playlist is tiny And, sure, it supports Winamp plugins.
Sonique: so-so... Was good sometimes, but now Winamp is better.
Domino: still not completely finished. Lacks some features, no MPC.
Siren2 Jukebox: advantages and disadvantages of a jukebox, like fat, slow work... But it's quite nice...

[ChristianHJW]

If anybody was interested to test the new 'The Core Media Player' ( TCMP ), we'd be very interested to hear your comments. Its normally a very powerful, DirectShow based Video player, but it has a audio plugin API ( no, its NOT a copy of winamp or foobar API ) and we are currently testing plugins for

AAC ( 2.0 and 5.1 )
MP4 AAC
MP3
Vorbis
AC3
APE ( Monkey )
FLAC
MPC SV7

Important note :

You cant get this version from the official download site on http://www.corecoded.com , but the plugins will use the version you will find there, its a RAR file i can send you and you have to extract it to the player main folder, it will automatically detect the new plugins and you can use them ....

Thanks for comments

Christian

P.S. Reading ID3V1/2 tags is working, but there is work being done on reading APE tags as well as writing tags ...

[DonP]

dbpoweramp is my choice whenever I'm in windows. The random play can select and deselect on
various tag info so you can play all Christmas music on December 24 etc. The database is integrated with spoon's other programs for CD burning, rip, record, and format conversion.

I use xmms in linux, which is pretty much a winamp play-alike.

The main "hazards" I know of with installing a media player are

1) it may stubburnly and repeatedly take over file associations when you don't want it to.

2) Some stick your files who-knows-where, and why should you care because you will only
play them through "THIS" program.

[Chairman85]

QCD: Looks, nice, but I really miss hotkeys.

There is a hotkey plugin that works flawlessly.

[Jojo]

Windows Media Player 9

This post has been edited by Jojo: May 7 2003, 13:01

[KurtCocain]

i DONt like foobar2k cuz it looks like shit. Now ppl would say it not for the looks its for the qaulity of sound. Ok. I AGREE. Thats fien with me if i get the best quality. however, in foobar udont have the tight DSP plug ins like Enhancer , for ex., and ppl like me who dont have a SB live and 5.1 speakers cannot really enjoy music with no plug-ins. Well if foobar implements smth like Enhancer, i would go for it. Also, for mem usage -- id say f2k is the best -- it runs very lightly. i ll stick to Winamp will foobar imporves a bit more.

[Andavari]

ppl like me who dont have a SB live and 5.1 speakers cannot really enjoy music with no plug-ins.

Odd since I have what I would call a rather cheap n' crappy old setup with a soundcard that seems slightly buggy or damaged and yet I'm able to enjoy music using no plugins at all, and that's regardless of whatever player I use.