What is the best music player (software)?

[Schonen]

It did not give me any such option upon opening JRiverMC, it auto scanned my PC and added every possible file to my library. Game files, porn collection, you name it. Yes, I could have cancelled the scan and done it manually but ti should offer that option when starting it up and not just go into auto-scan mode, same with that Store software. Ask first!
 
Doesn't matter now because I have already uninstalled JRiver and won't be demoing it again. Didn't even like the library layout anyway. Musicbee is the best for me and it is free.

 

[NyquistRate]

 They want me to pay $59.99 for this abortion? Seriously?

Is it possible that you meant "abomination?"

 

[Ari33]

Is it possible that you meant "abomination?"

'Abortion' = Bl***dy mess.. so no probably not

Maybe a new feature with the latest version?With JRiver MC19 mine auto imported all media automatically on installation too. I actually thought that was quite neat... but if you do have a porn collection I can see why that might really bother some!

 

[Schonen]

  try media monkey... or look for equivalents
 
edit: yes iTunes is great for music playing

I was just reading about the Bonjour program that gets installed along with iTunes (on Windows too). Always wondered what that garbage was that they had auto-loading on boot up. Apparently it is a network sharing discovery service and provides zero configuration for network devices, and yes, it has had security issues in the past and has messed up peoples networking settings so that they can't even get on the Internet. Pure garbage and is why iTunes will never be allowed to run on my PC again.

 

[Schonen]

Is it possible that you meant "abomination?"

Freudian slip.

 

[Schonen]

'Abortion' = Bl***dy mess.. so no probably not

Maybe a new feature with the latest version?With JRiver MC19 mine auto imported all media automatically on installation too. I actually thought that was quite neat... but if you do have a porn collection I can see why that might really bother some!

I don't have much of a porn collection and just added that for drama, but why would anyone want game files in their library? Some of the files it added can't even be viewed. I had to clear the library and do it all over again manually because the only thing I want in my library is music, which is kept in one folder and it is not MyMusic on C:.  Jriver was a time waste for me.

 

[swspiers]

I just installed JRiver19 on a second computer about fifteen minutes ago.  It performed flawlessly, and gave me the options on what files to scan as soon as it opened, just like did on my first install.
 
Just sayin'...

 

[hogger129]

foobar2000.  recognizes all my metadata and embedded album artwork.  plays all my aac and flac files.  it's not a memory hog like iTunes.  i understand it can rip cd's with accuraterip too.

 

[Schonen]

  I just installed JRiver19 on a second computer about fifteen minutes ago.  It performed flawlessly, and gave me the options on what files to scan as soon as it opened, just like did on my first install.
 
Just sayin'...

Another person in this thread has confirmed what I said is true, it auto-scanned with no options ever asked. Same with that store link, it auto-installed with no yes/no option. Maybe it is a bug depending on which OS you have, I was using Win8.1.

 

[pervysage]

Foobar2000! Nice and simple to use and awesome looking once you find the right skin.
 
Tried Jriver and did not like it. Perhaps it was just the look and feel of the software. I guess people who use it want a software that can do it all, but that's not what I'm looking for. I already have VLC media player for video files and have never had problems with it EVER. I simply want a nice dedicated music player, and that's what Foobar2000 gives me.
 
There is no difference in sound quality between Foobar2000 and Jriver, so I simply went with the one that works better for my usage. Did not try skinning Jriver, but I did not like the stock look it has. But then again, Foobar2000 doesn't have the greatest stock look either.... you gotta skin it.

 

[A1Dan]

Would like to give JRiver another go, using Musichi Suite at the moment, the UI is not great at present, hope it gets updated in time, it's got some very good tagging functionailIty built into it esp. for classical, There's a free one month trial here http://www.musichi.eu/

 

[StudioSound]

  Another person in this thread has confirmed what I said is true, it auto-scanned with no options ever asked. Same with that store link, it auto-installed with no yes/no option. Maybe it is a bug depending on which OS you have, I was using Win8.1.

It asks, but it only gives you a 45 second countdown before it will automatically start scanning your drives for media.
This process can be cancelled, and it takes all of 5 seconds to create a new library and delete the old one.
 
Hardly a reason to avoid using the player.

 

[hogger129]

  Foobar2000! Nice and simple to use and awesome looking once you find the right skin.
 
Tried Jriver and did not like it. Perhaps it was just the look and feel of the software. I guess people who use it want a software that can do it all, but that's not what I'm looking for. I already have VLC media player for video files and have never had problems with it EVER. I simply want a nice dedicated music player, and that's what Foobar2000 gives me.
 
There is no difference in sound quality between Foobar2000 and Jriver, so I simply went with the one that works better for my usage. Did not try skinning Jriver, but I did not like the stock look it has. But then again, Foobar2000 doesn't have the greatest stock look either.... you gotta skin it.

 
Same here.  Foobar2000 for music, VLC for video files.  Never had a problem with either one.  

 

[Busted]

I haven't tried that many media players but here is what I have tried in the past.
 
- Quintessential Media Player (QMP) :  Used this a long time ago, was better than Windows Media Player had some decent features.  I don't think it's a good option anymore.
 
- iTunes:  iTunes for some is great, for me I hated it.  Still hate it, it's layout, it's features, everything about it.  However, it's better than WMP, and QMP.
 
- KMPlayer:  This is actually a decent player I think, supports plenty of file types and provides decent features.  The sound quality is better than VLC for music.  VLC is a better video player I think in both sight and sound.  Overall not bad, never hurts to try it.
 
- VLC:  This became my go to media player for a while, still use it for video.  Nice features, supports pretty much any file type, and simple to use.  I find the EQ to be lacking.  Overall, you cannot go wrong with this player.
 
- Foobar2000:  Recently discovered this while looking for a better player for music that had a better EQ.  I find this to be a much nicer player for music, more features, easy on system resources, and nice sound quality.  Personally I think this needs to be on everyone's list.
 
 
I cast my votes for Foobar2000 for music and VLC for video.

 

[Schonen]

  It asks, but it only gives you a 45 second countdown before it will automatically start scanning your drives for media.
This process can be cancelled, and it takes all of 5 seconds to create a new library and delete the old one.
 
Hardly a reason to avoid using the player.

Guess I missed the window of opportunity. 5 seconds to create a new library? Maybe if you only have 5 songs. Try it with 22,000 and it is far longer than 5 seconds. I only installed to see what it offered and it offered me nothing worth $59.99, not even close.