2012 Audio Player Poll Suggestions, Making a list of software people use to play music for the poll Options

[Canar]

What software are people using to play music on a computer? Forum poll limitations restrict us to 10, which means 9 actual selections and the "Other" marker.

Obvious candidates include:
foobar2000
iTunes
Winamp
dBpoweramp
J River Media Centre
Amarok
deadbeef
Windows Media Player
XMPlay

If I had to go with 9, it'd be these ones. Persuade me otherwise!

This post has been edited by Canar: Jul 25 2012, 16:45

[yourlord]

VLC
Audacious
Banshee
Rhythmbox
Songbird

[dhromed]

Since there are many more valid players than there are possible options in this forum's rather arbitrarily limited poller, and if you're interested in real data, I would suggest finding better polling software?

[trout]

I suggest dividing the poll into 3 q's by OS - Win // Mac // Linux/BSD ; with something like "Other OS or Player" as the last option in each category. This way more info is presented in the actual poll results, and less software - that may be worth interest - being buried in the comments.

<edit>

Windows:
iTunes
Winamp
Windows Media Player
foobar2000
dBpoweramp
J River Media Centre
MediaMonkey
VLC
Songbird

Linux:
Amarok
Rhythmbox
Banshee
Exaile
deadbeef
VLC
Songbird
MPD

</edit>

VLC might be worth listing under all 3 categories? Also Songbird? Others?

This post has been edited by trout: Jul 25 2012, 17:45

[tawd]

I'd add AIMP 3 to the list, but I really have no clue as to how popular it is and whether it has enough of a user base to merit inclusion in the poll.

[Canar]

The Unix (Mac/Linux/BSD/whatever) sector isn't large enough to warrant two separate sections. Windows / Unix would be a good split. I'll go with that idea, trout.

I'm not super concerned about valid results, I just want something half-decent.

Revision 1:

Windows
------
foobar2000
iTunes
Winamp
dBpoweramp
J River Media Centre
Windows Media Player
XMPlay
VLC
[to be decided]
Other

Unix (Linux / Mac / BSD / whatever)
------
iTunes
VLC
Audacious
Banshee
Rhythmbox
Songbird
deadbeef
Clementine
[to be decided]
Other

This post has been edited by Canar: Jul 25 2012, 17:26

[trout]

The Unix (Mac/Linux/BSD/whatever) sector isn't large enough to warrant two separate sections.

Ah, sounds like a good call ... as I'm not too familiar with Mac. Thanks!

[Porcus]

There's always room for nitpickery over whether e.g. Squeezebox Controller is a computer running Linux, or just a remote control for the server on your computer. Or whether iDevices are computers. I have no idea whether the troublesome solutions have enough users around here for this to be any issue.

[godrick]

Sometimes I just stream from a website to my computer using a site's browser plugin or proprietary app. Perhaps it would be insightful to make one of the choices in each OS all browser-based or site-specific streaming app usage.

[Carledwards]

Vox for Mac?

[Brazil2]

I'd add AIMP 3 to the list

Yes AIMP must be in the list IMHO, but don't specify a version number as I know many people who are happy to still use v2.6x and won't bother to update (something to do with the converter and the skins IIRC).

My suggestion goes to 1by1 which is light and can use both the BASS libraries and the Winamp plugins:
http://mpesch3.de1.cc/1by1.html

For the record, there are also builds of Audacious for Windows and I know few people who are using it.

Anyway, on this forum we know pretty well which one is going to win, at least on Windows

[yourlord]

Amarok really needs to be in the list for *nix-like OS..

I don't use it, but I know a lot of people do.

[Canar]

Hm, perhaps it might make sense to include derivatives with the flagship, ie. Winamp and derivatives (ie. MediaMonkey, etc.), XMplay and derivatives (ie. 1by1, AIMP, etc.)

I know that AIMP3 isn't BASS-based any more, but it gives a bit more structure...

Of course fb2k is going to "win" around here, but winning isn't the point. Musepack ranks highly in lossy format polls here, despite the fact that outside of HA, practically no one uses it. :'(

Windows
------
foobar2000
iTunes
Winamp (and derivatives, ie. MediaMonkey, etc.)
XMPlay (and BASS derivatives, ie. 1by1, AIMP, etc.)
dBpoweramp
J River Media Centre
Windows Media Player
VLC
Spotify
Other

Unix (Linux / Mac / BSD / whatever)
------
iTunes
VLC
Amarok
Audacious
Banshee
Rhythmbox
deadbeef
Clementine
Songbird
Other

Do people actually use Songbird?

This post has been edited by Canar: Jul 25 2012, 21:27

[2012]

mplayer2/MPlayer

I put mplayer2 first because it supports gapless playback, a relevant feature in an audio player poll.

MPD (and XMMS2) with their server-client model(even if storage and playback are on the same device) require a stricter definition for audio players, I guess.

This post has been edited by 2012: Jul 25 2012, 20:52

[smok3]

Obviously putting OS X and Linux into the same basket won't work.
Moc and mpd are two nix cli players that seem to be used a lot (at least outside of ubuntuisem).
(but i doubt many people are actually bothered to install those on osx).

[2012]

Moc and mpd are two nix cli players that seem to be used a lot (at least outside of ubuntuisem).

MPD is not a "cli player". It's a daemon (that's what the D stands for in the name).

MPD clients range from simple CLI (e.g. mpc) to curses-based (e.g. ncmpc) to GUI-based (e.g. sonata).

This post has been edited by 2012: Jul 25 2012, 20:51

[Porcus]

Should Spotify be part of this? It can play your local files, and it certainly is installed on many computers.


I will assume that Spotify users use it primarily for internet streaming. Then what is the purpose of this poll? Is it to find out what is used to play local files, or is it to find out what is used to play music from computer? In the latter case, it should be included on par with everything else, and if people stream from Spotify more than they play from hard drive, they should vote for Spotify. Simple as that.
If this is against the purpose of the poll, then one either has to rule the application out, because it could (/would) cause confusion -- or one has to specify the restriction very clearly.


And like VLC, Spotify is multiplatform. Indeed, I would assume that the biggest player for iStuff is iTunes, and that is multiplatform. Is it a major point of the poll to differentiate over platforms, or isn't it? If not, what about
- Windows-only
- Multiplatform
- Others
?

This post has been edited by Porcus: Jul 25 2012, 20:54

[Canar]

Obviously putting OS X and Linux into the same basket won't work.

I don't think this is "obvious" at all. In other places, there's no end to Mac users whinging about there being no good alternative to iTunes, despite the fact that pretty much all "Linux" players run on OS X. OS X is Unix-certified, FFS! Proprietary vs. Free/Open might be a good place to divide, though.

Porcus: Yeah, I know many Spotify users in #foobar2000. I'll ditch Songbird for Spotify. I know users of the latter; I know no users of the former.

This post has been edited by Canar: Jul 25 2012, 21:27

[JJZolx]

There's always room for nitpickery over whether e.g. Squeezebox Controller is a computer running Linux, or just a remote control for the server on your computer.

Are we specifically talking only about software used to play music from a general-purpose computer?

If so, you needn't include Squeezebox or similar streaming players from from audio companies like Sonos, Meridian, PS Audio, Cambridge and others. Nor the network media players from consumer electronics companies like Western Digital and D-Link. Nor the audio streaming capabilities of many DVD players and smart TVs.

Or whether iDevices are computers. I have no idea whether the troublesome solutions have enough users around here for this to be any issue.

Nor any other smart phone or digital audio players from the likes of SanDisk, Samsung, Creative etc.

A more interesting question might be how many people even use a general purpose computer for audio playback? In this forum it's probably fairly high. Outside of it, I imagine non-computer playback devices are becoming much more prevalent.

This post has been edited by JJZolx: Jul 25 2012, 21:42

[smok3]

Moc and mpd are two nix cli players that seem to be used a lot (at least outside of ubuntuisem).

MPD is not a "cli player". It's a daemon (that's what the D stands for in the name).

MPD clients range from simple CLI (e.g. mpc) to curses-based (e.g. ncmpc) to GUI-based (e.g. sonata).

ok, then moc and mpd+ncmpc.

@Canar, Dunno about itunes (even if i'am OSX user), the only reason i even kept them installed is that Lion is complaining when trashing (trashcan worked well under snow leopard).

This post has been edited by smok3: Jul 26 2012, 00:03

[Takla]

The *nix section really has to include MPD, which can be taken to mean "mpd+client(s)". It's rather hard to imagine running MPD but no client, or trying to use one of its clients without MPD, so there isn't much point in either splitting hairs or in caring much which exact client is favoured. Anyone with both headless and GUI machines may well use two different clients; add tablets and phones and MPD's native http streaming server and a single user might use 3, 4 or even 5 different platform or desktop specific clients plus a plain www browser at different times, all in fact controlling MPD. Simply listing "MPD" is concise and sane.

mplayer is another application that probably should be in any list. The command line application is a useful player (can play gapless with a named pipe) and also serves as a back end for lots and lots of other players (see http://www.mplayerhq.hu/design7/projects.html). Again it would make sense imo for "mplayer" to mean all the various GUIs and front ends.

[2012]

mplayer is another application that probably should be in any list. The command line application is a useful player (can play gapless with a named pipe)

mplayer2 ,a well-maintained fork*, supports gapless playback natively without residing to external players (for PCM playback) and shell/FIFO hackery.

A (possibly-biased) list of differences between mplayer2 and the original MPlayer can be found here:
http://www.mplayer2.org/differences

---------------------
* mplayer2 used to be known as mplayer-git or mplayer-uau before becoming a fully independent project.

[Meeko]

Daum Potplayer uses the BASS directories from xmplay and would probably fall under that category. I use it as an audio player just to change things up every now and then.

[RobertoDomenico]

On Mac OS X i would totally recommend Enqueue above iTunes. Enqueue

[TuNk77]

1by1 Anyone?