Best media players and must-have features

[hdkhang]

Back when the iPod Mini came out, my sister got one for her birthday... which was cool since she was thinking of getting a portable mp3 player anyway. Being that she isn't the computer type, i had to install iTunes for her and get everything set up. It took me quite a while to figure it all out without resorting to the manual... so intuitive it was not (on the other hand foobar met no resistance from me - other than the volume control not being a default gui control - blessing in disguise really). I read that it has improved in strides since then so I am in no way bashing the product.

I'm more of the opinion that general statements like "apple is the best at usability" is not true and borders on fanaticism. It's like saying, nobody builds driving machines like BMW. Everyone is different.

The latest foobar for me has been a huge improvement in user interface, it is not as fully featured as j. river in it's default form. For the members of my household, they use WMP11/VMC which does what they need. They aren't ones to explore various options, they rely on me to show them what is available and they will pick based on what they are most comfortable with. For my mum, she prefers remote controls and would be perfectly happy to just have a massive playlist of her fave songs. For my dad he is new to computers as well but would like to learn as much as he can so he is open to all ideas and just likes to see what he can do, my younger brother uses whatever software I use as he is in the same room and has become accustomed to how I use my computer, my other brother and sister don't spend much time in front of the computer and they just use explorer and double click songs to play in foobar... they aren't after library management at all - folder structure + vista search is all they need.

 

[[L]es]

and i'm sorry but i was referring to itunes on MAC OS X. windows is completely flawed when it comes to music playback, doesn't matter if it's xp or vista...

 

[Redo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by [L]es /img/forum/go_quote.gif and i'm sorry but i was referring to itunes on MAC OS X. windows is completely flawed when it comes to music playback, doesn't matter if it's xp or vista...

iTunes on Windows you mean? Or do you mean all music playback irregardless?


If it's the latter, that's quite a bogus statement.

 

[[L]es]

itunes on windows. though xp is no slouch at hard-to-get bitperfect output as well. redo, why ? have you compared output ? why do you say it's a bogus statement ? were you able to go through the motions of comparing os's ?

 

[Redo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by [L]es /img/forum/go_quote.gif itunes on windows. though xp is no slouch at hard-to-get bitperfect output as well. redo, why ? have you compared output ? why do you say it's a bogus statement ? were you able to go through the motions of comparing os's ?

I don't know about iTunes on MAC, but I do know bit-perfect is easy to achieve on Windows (XP and Vista). So long as you have an ASIO or KS capable media player and sound card (which is anything competent), bit-perfect is EASILY achieved. A simple DD or DTS .wav file to a receiver confirms this quickly.

 

[[L]es]

Quote:

I don't know about iTunes on MAC, but I do know bit-perfect is easy to achieve on Windows (XP and Vista). So long as you have an ASIO or KS capable media player and sound card (which is anything competent), bit-perfect is EASILY achieved. A simple DD or DTS .wav file to a receiver confirms this quickly.

thanks for clearing that up.. but how come bit-perfect in xp and vista sound different ?

 

[Redo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by [L]es /img/forum/go_quote.gif thanks for clearing that up.. but how come bit-perfect in xp and vista sound different ?

If it sounds different, either one isn't bit-perfect or neither are, or placebo.

 

[Ham Sandwich]

I really like J. River Media Center. It is fantastic for playback, browsing my muisc and organizing my files. It gets addicting the way it helps you organize your media files.

Media Jukebox is their free version. It does music only (no pictures or video). It has a few limited features regarding audio compared to Media Center, but nothing significant. If you want to use Media Jukebox to rip to MP3 you'll have to pay for their MP3 license. You can always just use EAC and LAME for ripping and not use Media Jukebox for ripping.

Media Center is their paid version. It does pictures, video, and media center. It also has support for remote controls.

I can't imagine not using Media Center or Media Jukebox for music playback and managing a digital music library.

 

[doctorcilantro]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Redo /img/forum/go_quote.gif I don't know about iTunes on MAC, but I do know bit-perfect is easy to achieve on Windows (XP and Vista). So long as you have an ASIO or KS capable media player and sound card (which is anything competent), bit-perfect is EASILY achieved. A simple DD or DTS .wav file to a receiver confirms this quickly.

Yep, this has been proven over at the forums on J. River's Interact. It's a simple test. What players have you tested, [L]ES, on Windows. Using iTunes and WMP are ill advised. J .River or Foobar are the way to go.

DC

 

[dvessel]

Quote:

Actually, the iTunes interface just doesn't cut it for classical music. J. River Media Center and Foobar are the best choices I found for browsing using a wider variety of tags than Genre, Album and Artist.

There's groupings too which can be used for anything.

 

[Al4x]

i hate itunes, i cant get on with its interface display

i tried foobar but couldnt get the skins to work, so scratch that

i tried media jukebox, but the free one wasnt good enough


so my favourite player is media plyer
i find it the easiest t use genre search
the way the artists are displayed in a grid with album covers makes it so easy to pick
i love the blue/green colour
eq
karaoke lyrics plugin

tis ace

 

[Ham Sandwich]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Al4x /img/forum/go_quote.gif i tried media jukebox, but the free one wasnt good enough

When did you try Media Jukebox? J River did a significant update to Media Jukebox at the beginning of the year. The free Media Jukebox is now just like their current Media Center program minus the media center features, photo features, and video features.

 

[variable114]

just popping this question in...

foobar2000 freezes on me regularly, as in after a song or two. it will just keep playing about 1 second of the song on loop and I have to restart the program. needless to say I rarely use it and I know it's hard to give specific diagnosis on such a thing but does anyone have any ideas? it sucks having to use itunes when I don't want to.

 

[thomaspf]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ham Sandwich /img/forum/go_quote.gif When did you try Media Jukebox? J River did a significant update to Media Jukebox at the beginning of the year. The free Media Jukebox is now just like their current Media Center program minus the media center features, photo features, and video features.

Do they now offer playback over ASIO as part of the Jukebox?

Cheers

Thomas

 

[Headdie]

Here is my updated which list a few days later. I'd like to have :

Crossfeed
A full equalizer (why not a classic 31 bands)
Automatic equalization (Auto EQ)
Tube sound simulation

I also understand that most of these won't come with the media player, but via a DSP plugin, addon, driver, middleware or whatever...

Please, tell me if you want to suggest tools that would fit my wish list.

Tnaks,

Quote:

Originally Posted by Headdie /img/forum/go_quote.gif I'm new to computer music and wonder what are be the best media players and must-have features for a headfier... I'd like to play hi-def 24/96 formats (FLAC, WAV and others) I'd like to use crossfeed I'd like to have an full equalizer Maybe an auto-setup (for my room and speakers) What else would you suggest ? I read that Foobar is for the real men and Windows Media Player for the quiche eaters... Just kidding Take two : I read that Foobar and Winamp can read FLAC, but Apple and Microsoft don't help you very much this way... I wonder if I should go for a specialized music player or general audio/video player... Hey you bits and bytes headfiers ! What media players have you tried and wich one have you kept on your mighty machines? What features have you tried and... you know? Thanks again,