Hi,

after listening to my mp3s using WinAMP for the last five years, I (finally) ask my self whether the included mp3-decoder is really the best one could have.

I read a bit about Mad and l3dec but don´t know whether using any of them really makes sense. Actually, I´d like to stick with my old WinAMP 2.8x as I have not seen an update to mp3cue for WinAMP3 yet, but I´m willing to change my decoding engine. On the other hand I´d like to know what people think about the MP3-Decoder delivered with the latest WinAMP?

Searching the local forums for "decoder" did not help me. Thanks for any hint that points me into the right direction

Campari

Check this link for info and ff123's site for some more explaining on various decoding issues and MAD.

Problem is, that David Robinsons Site is pretty outdated as the last update was in 2001. Can´t find any information on latest WinAMP for example.

Best MP3 player? fmod. Not really a "player" like winamp, or sonique, but the best sound system for programmers.

The fmod player, basically it's just for testing things. (current version is 3.6)

Get anything more exotic than those MIDI and PCM files going and watch Mr. CPU USAGE skyrocket. Fmod is handy as a standalon player software to have on hand. Works good in computer labs where they do not let you install software and have nothing that will play OGG etc installed.

WhAt?!?
fmod supports WAV, OGG, MP2, MP3, WMA, ASF, MID, RMI, SGT, IT, XM, S3M and MOD files. And Mr. CPU usage LOVES fmod, more than any other software, just try it, Neo Neku. fmod is the best.

Hmm the features look cool indeed. But the player looks more like a debugger to me What about quintessential player or coolplayer? The latter is based on MAD, both supports winamp plugins.

Yeah, it's not really a "player" like Winamp, it's mainly for testing how things work with fmod. fmod is basically for developers.
And, you should know that MAD has absolutely no advantage over Nullsoft's plug-ins. Only disadvantages. You're way better off with Nullsoft's input plug-ins.

Winamp is pretty tough to beat IMHO.

I use 2.81 still. Very functional with an excellent selection of plug-ins.

If the visuals were as great as Sonique's,it would be perfect for me.

campari212:



I assume Winamp3 uses exactly the same decoder as Winamp 2.81 - Nullsoft have paid the massive one-time license fee for the FhG decoder, why would they switch?

Actually i don't know if they're still using FhG with their WA3 plug-in. Anyone knows?
What i do know, is that Winamp 3 in general, compared to Winamp 2, STINKS. Winamp 2 is the best general *AUDIO* player for Windows.
Damn it with the video support.. Damn AOL...

Why is everybody so unhappy with Winamp 3? Please, somebody tell me a real reason.

No no no... There are many reasons.
First of all, Justin Frankel, the original creator of Winamp, as far as i know, had nothing to do with Winamp 3's development. Makes you wonder?
Winamp 3 is not nearly as fast as Winamp 2, it requiers more system power, even with very simple skins.
It has more useless features than Winamp 2 and lacks many useful Winamp 2 features. And it is very unstable.
You really need to find out yourself... Browse the Winamp.com forums, compare the two, and get the idea.
I don't know, Winamp 3 will surely improve, but i doubt it'll ever be as efficient as Winamp 2.

QCD player is very good. It is what Winamp 2 should have developed into instead of Winamp 3.

Does FMOD support aac mp4 and mpc files?

Winamp 3 uses the exact same decoder sas version 2. No change in there according to their FAQ at least. So, theoretically, there's no difference in sound reproduction...

No. But remember, neither does Winamp , people develop plugins that support formats for it.
Maybe fmod will support aac when it is "standard". Remember, no developer untill now used or uses AAC (or MP4) in applications/games/whatever. AAC licensing is -VERY- expensive, and i guess very few will use AAC in the future.
MPC, is still a controvercial (misspelled maybe..) format...

Oh well

It would have been nice to use FMOD to compare all the different audio formats

You can still compare with OGG, MP3, WAV, IT, XM... fmod is always the fastest there is.
Check the website and see some comparisons (only with an XM module containing 8bit and 16bit data though).

And check the links section.. "Partners and companies using FMOD"
Says something hmm?

Best Mp3 Player? how about the best mp3 player and jukebox?
Mediajukebox www.mediajukebox.com

OH NO! My nightmare! Please anything but media jukebox... ahhhh!!!
I was even thinking about this jukebox when writing "jukebox"....
Oh the feeling of disgust...

I tried fmod but am disappointed - its IT playback is incomplete and fails miserably on some tracks I made a few years ago, even worse than WinAmp's IT decoder.

Guess I still need IT on my computer.

-h

No way.
What software and what version did you use to create your IT mods?

I used Impulse Tracker v2.14. There wasn't much else that could create IT files.

Anyway, XMPlay decodes my "killer" file correctly. WinAmp and fmod both fail miserably, but with different degrees of miserableness.

-h

That is strange.. How about the latest Modplug Tracker? Does it fail as well?

ModPlug tracker v1.16 decodes the file correctly.

-h

What type of effect/s is it that doesn't get played correctly with fmod?
(i too never had a problem with the last MPT)

What type of effect/s is it that doesn't get played correctly with fmod?

"g: tone portamento". It seems to be calculating both the pitch change and change duration incorrectly.

Also clicks due to sample cutoffs are very annoying. I will stick with XMPlay.

-h

Hmmm.. tone portamento! The most problematic effect of them alll to module players.. I didn't know fmod has a problem too. I will email the author about the subject (will test stuff first).
And clicks due to cutoffs.. Didn't know it has a problem there too. IT cutoffs are not common, they usually destroy the sample's quality as well..

Well i didn't know you were a "tracker" as well h, nice to know!

And clicks due to cutoffs.. Didn't know it has a problem there too. IT cutoffs are not common, they usually destroy the sample's quality as well..

Maybe I have forgotten the lingo. I just meant clicks when a sample is stopped without fading in the middle of a peak/trough.

Well i didn't know you were a "tracker" as well h, nice to know!

I used to transpose MIDI and IT tracks from SNES games, but stopped about 4 years ago now. Just around the time I started programming funnily enough..

-h

"Maybe I have forgotten the lingo. I just meant clicks when a sample is stopped without fading in the middle of a peak/trough."

Ah, so fmod is not THAT bad with ITs .

The dreaded tone portamento problem, how i hate it... He has to fix it!

Gotta love SNES games music!
(anyone interested? Zophar's Domain is THE place)

Yasunory is King! I have complete Chrono Trigger and Radical Dreamers soundtracks.

(Proud owner of Chrono Cross Original Soundtrack)

[OT]
Yeah, Winamp never played half my own .IT files right, but it was not the only one

The only players that did succeed:
-ModPlug
-XmPlay
-Cubic Player

[/OT]

You should know it, really .
Ask yourself what do you need. If Winamp's lacking the features you prefer, find yourself a better player. Check out these gizmos:

XMPlay2
http://www.un4seen.com/music/music_xmplay.html
Also visit the XMPlay support site: http://home.iprimus.com.au/seanhindley/Help/

I recently found this software, again. I used the original XMPlay years ago but stopped when v2 was released. It crashed all the time. But now, after a while, it's finally stable. In fact, I haven't got it crashed a single time. So it's even more stable than Winamp (though Winamp crashes very, very rarely).

XMPlay does all the same (well, almost) as Winamp. Winamp 2.x plugins are supported. It doesn't eat memory the same way Winamp does. So why I'm still using Winamp instead of XMPlay? I haven't got my freakin' multimedia keyboard's additional audio keys working with it. The support for them is on the way, btw.

Mpxplay
http://mpxplay.tripod.com/
If Tripod doesn't work, try this: http://www.geocities.com/mpxplay/

If you're using W9x, you might want to check this out. If you're using DOS, this is a must!

Try Deliplayer...

I remember it since it was an Amiga player...I haven't used it since then, but according to the page it supposrts about 195 sound formats...not bad