[Douglas256]

After testing, I concluded that the sound coming from Windows Media Player (WMP) and Foobar2000 are the same.

For the test, I maxed out the volume of WMP and turned off ReplayGain in Foobar. Then fed the digital out on my soundcard to the digital in on my soundcard and recorded the input as 32-bit 44.1 kHz wav's in Cool Edit Pro. I then inverted one of the files and mixed the sum into a new file.

For the wav file, the difference was -93 dBFS. For the mp3 (the same wave encoded with LAME at --alt-preset extreme), the difference was -92 dBFS. In either case, the difference is inaudible.

 

[scottder]

Even if they sound the same, I still like the fact that foobar is reporting what I am listening to, to ANYONE. Let alone Microsoft.

Scott

PS - I'm waiting to see whose music service Winamp 5 will be connected to. and now you have to pay for the full version. That settles it for me...foobar....we loves our precious!

 

[Douglas256]

Regardless of what a program sends or doesn't send, Foobar is still my favorite player. Foobar is much faster and oh so customizable.

Besides, I really don't see a problem with WMP sending anonymous usage statistics back to Microsoft (doesn't WinAmp do the same thing?). If you actually read the privacy policy statement for WMP, there isn't anything suspicious going on. Do you really think Microsoft has a file on what music you listen to? I'm sorry, but Microsoft isn't nearly as evil as people make them out to be.

 

[fewtch]

Quote:

Originally posted by scottder PS - I'm waiting to see whose music service Winamp 5 will be connected to. and now you have to pay for the full version. That settles it for me...foobar....we loves our precious!

There's a reason why the full version of WinAMP 5 costs: AOL/Nullsoft has to pay an additional fee for MP3 encoding capability to Fraunhofer (who holds the patents). I doubt they're making much money, if that makes you feel any better

.

Edit -- oh yeah, "as usual" there's a crack/keygen floating around for the full version of WinAMP 5. Why anyone would want to use it for ripping/encoding/burning is beyond me tho, when there are other good apps available that are completely free.

 

[scottder]

Quote:

Originally posted by Douglas256 Regardless of what a program sends or doesn't send, Foobar is still my favorite player. Foobar is much faster and oh so customizable. Besides, I really don't see a problem with WMP sending anonymous usage statistics back to Microsoft (doesn't WinAmp do the same thing?). If you actually read the privacy policy statement for WMP, there isn't anything suspicious going on. Do you really think Microsoft has a file on what music you listen to? I'm sorry, but Microsoft isn't nearly as evil as people make them out to be.

I don't think Winamp does, but I can't speak for Winamp 5. But I'll stick with the app that doesn't need to report back ANYTHING, I'm not normally a paranoid on this stuff, but a media player should play, period. Just my feeling.

Scott