[khaos974]

I just came across Musicbee and was absolutely stunned, I immediately thought that it was what Songbirg tried to be but failed at being.
So why it is good, just check the features.
 
Unbuggy library management?               Check
Even with 10000+ files?                            Check again
WASAPI/ASIO support?                             Check
Auto tag, Album art search?                      Check
Transcoding (including lossess)?          Check
Smart playlists?                                          Check
Auto lyrics?                                                  Check
Last.fm artist biography, genre... ?         Check
DAP management?                                   Check
Cue files/AccrurateRip                     Check
 
All of the above out of the box?    CHECK
Free?                                             CHECK
 

 
And best of all it's has a reasonable memory footprint and runs without lag when searching for something.
 
As for the cons, fb2k is remains faster and more responsive and it only runs with windows. Still a super app though.
EDIT: More cons, not open source, but it's a philosophical issue rather than one of functionality.

 

[darknessproz]

So what does it offer over foobar2000? The GUI turns me off though, i find my columns UI without much tinkering looks much better. 

 

[Dynobot]

Very nice.
 
Windows offers so many nice music softwares.  There are sure to be a few that meets the needs of someone, although some of the smaller players like XMPlay have their niche following and won't change no matter what.
 
Now all these programmers have to do is work on making a fully functional player for Mac OSX.  iTunes still has the Lions share, which is very sad because it generally sucks.
 

 

[khaos974]

Everything works out of the box with no component to download and configure, maybe?
I would stay it's for people who want the possibilities offered by a fairly tweaked foobar with the convenience of itunes, or the people who want a Songbird that works.
 
Quote:

So what does it offer over foobar2000? The GUI turns me off though, i find my columns UI without much tinkering looks much better. 

 

[krmathis]

MS Windows only?               Check

That and the lack of open source mean that it is far from being what Songbirg tried to be (or am) - a cross-platform, free and open source audio player. 

 

[darknessproz]

Foobar2000 works fairly well out of the box as well, just need to add a wasapi or asio component for bitperfect. And like krmathis said, not open source
Quote:

Everything works out of the box with no component to download and configure, maybe?
I would stay it's for people who want the possibilities offered by a fairly tweaked foobar with the convenience of itunes, or the people who want a Songbird that works.
 


 

 

[khaos974]

To be fair, iTunes works pretty well on OSX, and I even listed its sole windows compatibility as a con in the OP.
Besides I was speaking in terms of functionality, not in term of design philosophy.
You don't get lyrics, artist info, covert art, search dap management with fb2k out of the box.

 

[khaos974]

You may want to try Clementine, it's both open source and cross platform, it is still very new and unpolished though.
 
Quote:

MS Windows only?               Check

That and the lack of open source mean that it is far from being what Songbirg tried to be (or am) - a cross-platform, free and open source audio player. 

 

[recorder]

musicbee has, indeed converted many foobar/songbird, etc.users just because it is easily configured right out of the box.
Look, if open source & mac compatible is your thing, look elseware, but don't knock this player without giving it a try, after all, it's free.
 
The developer of musicbee is open & receptive to all suggestions, and puts out updates weekly, based on user feedback.
Support on his website  is 1st rate.
 

 

[darknessproz]

True about the lyrics etc.. seems like a good player, but i'll still be sticking with my as yet unconfigured foobar2000. 

 
Quote:

To be fair, iTunes works pretty well on OSX, and I even listed its sole windows compatibility as a con in the OP.
Besides I was speaking in terms of functionality, not in term of design philosophy.
You don't get lyrics, artist info, covert art, search dap management with fb2k out of the box.

 

[HeatFan12]

This player looks interesting indeed.  How does gapless playback perform with it?  I like to try new players out and will give it a shot if the gapless is truly gapless. 
 
Thanks for the heads up.

 

[JulioCat2]

It's a nice promising player.

 

[Aiml3ss]

I LOVE Musicbee!
 
Only problem is that I can't seem to get WASAPI to work. It stutters and sounds like crap when I use it. Anyone know what I am doing wrong?

 

[recorder]

Quote:

This player looks interesting indeed.  How does gapless playback perform with it?  I like to try new players out and will give it a shot if the gapless is truly gapless. 
 
Thanks for the heads up.

Gapless is, truly gapless, both with Direct Sound and ASIO.

 

[recorder]

Quote:

I LOVE Musicbee!
 
Only problem is that I can't seem to get WASAPI to work. It stutters and sounds like crap when I use it. Anyone know what I am doing wrong?

I'm on XP, so I haven't had an opportunity to try it, but there is an ongoing thread here