NationStates Jolt Archive

Seriously. I currently have WMP 9, because I can't upgrade to 10 for no reason at all. 9 looks like shit. 10 looks like shit. And 11 has that crappy interface that abandoned the full library view for no reason at all. But my number one reason is the shuffle system. I like to just click a song, press next if I don't like it, but WMP likes to play twenty songs in a row, by the same artist. I can't even change the frequency of this, like I could with iTunes.

So why haven't I switched to something better already? It's my MP3 player. I'm pretty sure it doesn't work with anything decent. It's a Creative Zen Photo Sleek, a 20 gig. And I'm planning on getting a Zune sometime in the future, which I'm also not sure about.

Any recommendations?

Yeah, screw it. I can't seem to upgrade either, even though my stupid new phone needs it to be able to put music on the phone. Argh!

My Windows Media Player suddenly will not show the image, just the sound. Yesterday, it did. Today, not so much. I also cannot upgrade to 10 or 11 because they don't do that for Macs.

Get an iPod instead of a Zune. Trust me.

The only thing I like about Windows Media Player is the visualizer, which is slightly cooler then iTunes's visualizer...

Get an iPod instead of a Zune. Trust me.
Both suck. Trust me.

no idea about recommendations, but i can share stories of woe. apparently WMP11 plugin thingy doesn't work properly with firefox so i can't watch half the streaming video that comes off tinterweb, including Beeb news.

Get an iPod instead of a Zune. Trust me.
Because I want my battery to die for no reason at all? I've had 3 iPods, my sister has had two, and my mother has one that's a month old and it refuses to charge. Not to mention I refuse to deal with iTunes ever again.

I use WMP/DivX/VLC for movies, iTunes for mp3s.

I use WMP/DivX/VLC for movies, iTunes for mp3s.
Totem(xine backend) and Amarok for me.

Can those sync with my mp3 player? Or at least with a good deal of them?

Can those sync with my mp3 player? Or at least with a good deal of them?

Amarok can sync with Apple, Creative, and iRiver devices, apparently. But I thought that Creative could be synced via dragging and dropping the music in the file browser?

EDIT: The Windows client of Amarok is in beta, it will probably require allot of other downloading too as it will need some KDE4 things (which is also in beta).

Does it like .flac files? A lot of my music is in .flac, and it's a pain to convert it. And I've never used my creative like that, it seems to hate me with a passion. I'll try that sometime though.

Does it like .flac files? A lot of my music is in .flac, and it's a pain to convert it. And I've never used my creative like that, it seems to hate me with a passion. I'll try that sometime though.
Yes.

*cough (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VLC_media_player) cough (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SanDisk_Sansa)*


But that's just me.

Doesn't the Creative Zen just work as a USB Mass Storage Device, so you can copy crap straight onto it?

As for media players, I mostly use WinAmp (http://www.winamp.com/) and Media Player Classic (http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=82303&package_id=84358&release_id=403110) (you probably want mpc2kxp6490.zip, unless you're on Win9x or can decompress 7Zip). No idea if either talk to mp3 players, I do it manually. I don't like things like that requiring software.

Any recommendations?

Get winamp.

It's nice, easy, simple, free, adjustable.

You'll still need WMP to rip music from any of the cds you've bought, but you can then switch that music over to winamp, which is far superior in terms of playing music and which isn't entirely bad in terms of playing videos (though you'd really want DivX for videos).

I use WMP10. I tried to upgrade to 11, first it completely rewrote all my library information because it found "pretty close" information in its database. Then I took one look at how much of the library information you can actually see and went straight back to 10.

So why haven't I switched to something better already? It's my MP3 player. I'm pretty sure it doesn't work with anything decent. It's a Creative Zen Photo Sleek, a 20 gig. And I'm planning on getting a Zune sometime in the future, which I'm also not sure about.

Any recommendations?
Don't get a Zune! Don't get an iPod. Get an MP3 player which shows up to the OS as mass storage device. These work OS and software independently. And for music get a better player, which is free/libre/opensource.

Get winamp.

It's nice, easy, simple, free, adjustable.

WinAmp is not really free. only free of cost.

VLC owns WMP!

i don't like 11 over version 10... i really liked the collapsable folder tree artist thingy - it was way quicker than the new artist thumbnails thing they have now. that old feature was what kept me loyal to WMP, but now its gone i'm open to change

WinAmp is not really free. only free of cost.

So..? It doesn't have any ads in it, it doesn't cost anything to download, that's good enough for me...

Unless you mean it's not open-source? But why would most people care about that? Most people can't program, and most of those who can have better things to do than fiddle with the code of an mp3 player...

Oh, someone mentioned needing WMP to rip CDs... Nope, I use CDex (http://cdexos.sourceforge.net/).

i don't like 11 over version 10... i really liked the collapsable folder tree artist thingy - it was way quicker than the new artist thumbnails thing they have now. that old feature was what kept me loyal to WMP, but now its gone i'm open to change

I have the WMP10 installer on my HDD, I don't need to change for a while. Also have you noticed that all of Microsofts new products are sacrificing functionality for purdyness, IIRC WMP11 and the new IE have the menus turned off by default.

Unless you mean it's not open-source? But why would most people care about that? Most people can't program, and most of those who can have better things to do than fiddle with the code of an mp3 player...

Oh, someone mentioned needing WMP to rip CDs... Nope, I use CDex (http://cdexos.sourceforge.net/).

Well, you can never be sure that it does no contain ET-ware if it is not OSS :)

WMP stopped working on our PC for no reason that I can fathom. I used winamp on my old laptop, and I don't have music on my new one(the hard drive is too puny).

Get winamp.

It's nice, easy, simple, free, adjustable.Winamp Rocks!!

MicrosoftMediaPlayer is the llama :D

Stop moaning about WMP being awful, try using Sony SonyStage for awfulness (I have a Sony MP3 player).

WinAmp is not really free. only free of cost.

Explain to me how it isn't free.

Winamp Rocks!!

MicrosoftMediaPlayer is the llama :D

Winamp!

It really whips the llama's ass :D

Explain to me how it isn't free.

Perhaps TANSTAAFL?

Don't get a Zune! Don't get an iPod. Get an MP3 player which shows up to the OS as mass storage device.

You mean...like an iPod does?

I have the WMP10 installer on my HDD, I don't need to change for a while. Also have you noticed that all of Microsofts new products are sacrificing functionality for purdyness, IIRC WMP11 and the new IE have the menus turned off by default.

ditto the latest versions of msn. i like my menu's... they're useful!
what about Office 2007 with its weird "ribbon" menu thingy? at least MS are trying to innovate, but its just weird (haven't used it myself yet)

Explain to me how it isn't free.
In the computing world, most noticeably in the UNIX and UNIX-like part, there are two types of free: gratis and libre. The first means no cost. You get the thing free of charge. People like this as they don't have to spend any money.
The latter typically means you get the source code and are free to do as you please to the program (modify it, sell it, steal sections of code for your own program). People generally like this as someone with coding skill can check the program for spyware, adware, or ETware.

I love winamp and you can get it for free i think its the best:D

In the computing world, most noticeably in the UNIX and UNIX-like part, there are two types of free: gratis and libre. The first means no cost. You get the thing free of charge. People like this as they don't have to spend any money.
The latter typically means you get the source code and are free to do as you please to the program (modify it, sell it, steal sections of code for your own program). People generally like this as someone with coding skill can check the program for spyware, adware, or ETware.

^ What s/he said. Another way of phrasing it is:

Winamp is free of charge - it doesn't cost any money to use

However Winamp is not free software - the source code is still proprietary, you haven't got the faintest idea what it might be doing behind the scenes, and the company who own it can do whatever they damn well like with it and you can't stop them. True free software, software that is free as in speech as well as in beer, is not controlled by any single company or organization, and gives you the rights to do what you wish with both the compiled program and the source code, and provides you with the source code if you choose to ask for it.

You may not see the point of having the source code available, but it means, among other things, that you, or a computery person you trust, can read the code and know exactly what the program is doing - no nasty concealed spyware anywhere here. If the company who control Winamp go bankrupt, that's it, no new versions, no nothing, and you can't do anything about it. If it were true free software, you or somebody else would still be able to keep the program up to date and add new features.

Basically, it takes the ownership of the software out of the hands of the corporations, who use it to make money, and into the hands of the people, who use it to do cool things.

Think about what you would do if ads were inserted into the next version of Winamp. A version that has a killer feature over the current one in some way. You can't remove or control these ads, and you have no choice but to view the ads every time you used the program or not use the program. With free software, you don't have to make that choice. That is the difference, and that is why free software=good and unfree software=bad.

of course open source means nothing if you're not a programmer because you wouldn't be able to understand the code to begin with.

Totem(xine backend) and Amarok for me.

I normally go with Xine Front and back end and Amarok ... sometimes VLC depending on the machine

of course open source means nothing if you're not a programmer because you wouldn't be able to understand the code to begin with.Not necessarily. As long as someone not associated with the project has access to and understanding of the code, the can raise an alert if something nasty like ET/spy/ad-ware is added. At that point, the fault becomes fairly well known and either the project developers can justify it, the developers will remove it (most common), or the project will fork and capture much of the other projects userbase. Not everyone needs to be able to understand the code, only enough people to cause a ruccas when something unwanted is done to it.

I don't use WMP except to play some videos while listening to music with WinAmp. Otherwise, WMP is terrible I won't use it for music any more. I do use Quicktime for the occasional movie trailer, and typically use VLC for DVDs. WinAmp, however, is forever up and running, playing music on my machine, and I have grown very fond of the "jump to file" ability, and the availability of plugins, particularly audio enhancing plugins (http://www.geocities.com/i_adryan/).


Also, the Sandisk Sansa > *

I have the 4GB e260 model and it has been absolutely awesome and flawless so far.

I normally go with Xine Front and back end and Amarok ... sometimes VLC depending on the machine
I have VLC too. It is actually what I am using now as the newest fglrx drivers have a bug that prevent xine from being used for video. So Xnie and Totem both crash at init.

of course open source means nothing if you're not a programmer because you wouldn't be able to understand the code to begin with.

You do not have to be a heavy coder to make modifications

I have VLC too. It is actually what I am using now as the newest fglrx drivers have a bug that prevent xine from being used for video. So Xnie and Totem both crash at init.

Yeah I dont find it bad for single view sort of thing ... its pretty adaptable

Yeah I dont find it bad for single view sort of thing ... its pretty adaptable

It plays absolutely everything.

It plays absolutely everything.

Yup when the fancy cool features players fail ... vlc is there

VLC (http://www.videolan.org/) for video and Foobar2000 (http://www.foobar2000.org/) for audio.

I don't know & don't care how they play with mp3 gizmos. Never tried. However, both are lightning fast, extremely userfriendly, extremely light on resources, requires no skill or additional paraphenalia to use (like codec's), don't data-mine, don't spam you with shit advertising, and don't undermine your online security.

And they are, of course, completely free and are infinitly better supported than all the other shit media players mentioned in this thread, Media Player Classic included (though MPC isn't bad compared to the norm).

WinAMP and the like, are all unstable, poorly supported, data-mining, spamming, resource hogs. There's no reason to use them, and doing it is simply inviting trouble than you probably can't solve yourself, without hours of research. Windows Media Player v.9+ all suffer from an extra massive failing; they routinely fuck up the codec library on any MicroSoft OS, and a couple of the update versions have the ability to fuck up driver libraries as well, effectively rendering your machines useless. Using that particular piece of shit media unplayer, is about as sensible as taking a sledgehammer to your machines.

VLC OWNS.

Every other player I've found refuses to play DVDs on my computer. VLC, however, works like a charm. (In all other players, for some bizarre reason, I'm only getting audio or video, never both, except in VLC.

.

WinAMP and the like, are all unstable, poorly supported, data-mining, spamming, resource hogs.

WinAmp is unstable, spams me, hogs my resources, and mines my data?

Coulda fooled me. That program has been infinitely stable and reliable for the several years that I've used it. It never spams me and doesn't hog resources, as is evident when I play games like BF2, Rise of Nations, two Dark Age of Camelot clients, or Ghost Recon: AW while WinAmp is playing in the background without a hitch. It's also easy to to use and I have yet to need codecs or anything extra to get it to work. Wtf version of WinAmp have you used to arrive at your conclusion?