Favourite player for listening music?

[Xyresic]

Used to use Winamp, but recently switched to foobar - mostly because of it's converter.

Everyone who uses iTunes except for syncing music with their iPods should be bashed in the head 8U

[Takeshi]

Everyone who uses iTunes except for syncing music with their iPods should be bashed in the head 8U

I like its design = Apple, but yeah, it's heavy as hell, and wants to do weird shit with my files. GTFO, iTunes and Quicktime.

You can use Floola and apparently, Foobar for synching your iPods. But it needs iTunes system on it before it can be used with Floola at least.

[der richter]

i am really satisfied with iTunes for Mac and it isn't really heavy here, just 45MB of ram. don't know how it is on windows.

as an alternative i used songbird but didn't liked it that much.

[Takeshi]

i am really satisfied with iTunes for Mac and it isn't really heavy here

I wasn't referring to its memory usage, but to how much it needs to install of files in order to work. More files = slower system.

[Akecu]

Foobar on desk and WMP on Laptop. Foobar doesn't consume much power and plays the files well =)
WMP on laptop because I'm too lazy to skin foobar xD

[Xyresic]

i am really satisfied with iTunes for Mac and it isn't really heavy here, just 45MB of ram. don't know how it is on windows.

Try opening up the store or something, that number likely doubles.

Memory and CPU usage aside (considering any modern computer shouldn't have any problem with RAM or playing a audio track), iTunes is just abysmal with speeds. It takes forever to start up (I can start my internet browser and load 8 tabs faster than iTunes, that's just sad), forever to change playlists, pretty much forever to do anything. They have improved it considerably with v9, but compared to other players, it's slow as a snail. Bunch that with no FLAC support, a really crappy converter which only converts stuff to ACC, no global hotkeys, no fade-outs when switching between songs (seriously, how hard can this be?)... yea...

[Soulreaper77]

i am really satisfied with iTunes for Mac and it isn't really heavy here, just 45MB of ram. don't know how it is on windows.

Try opening up the store or something, that number likely doubles.

Memory and CPU usage aside (considering any modern computer shouldn't have any problem with RAM or playing a audio track), iTunes is just abysmal with speeds. It takes forever to start up (I can start my internet browser and load 8 tabs faster than iTunes, that's just sad), forever to change playlists, pretty much forever to do anything. They have improved it considerably with v9, but compared to other players, it's slow as a snail. Bunch that with no FLAC support, a really crappy converter which only converts stuff to ACC, no global hotkeys, no fade-outs when switching between songs (seriously, how hard can this be?)... yea...

Well that's quality from Apple eh xD

That being said I think I'll give a try to Foobar to see if it's any faster than Winamp since winamp does lose the connection to the internet stream quite often if I'm browsing in firefox. Especially when on reddit or quickly browsing the forums.

[Enzedder]

Dad used Winamp. I used Winamp. Stayed with that till about a year ago. Switched to foobar and never looked back. I still have Winamp in-case but foobar handles everything for me in a nice simple interface.

[der richter]

It takes forever to start up (I can start my internet browser and load 8 tabs faster than iTunes, that's just sad), forever to change playlists, pretty much forever to do anything. They have improved it considerably with v9, but compared to other players, it's slow as a snail. Bunch that with no FLAC support, a really crappy converter which only converts stuff to ACC, no global hotkeys, no fade-outs when switching between songs (seriously, how hard can this be?)... yea...

the situation on mac seems different. iTunes loads in just 1-2 seconds. playlist change instantly. it's not slow at all. yeah no flac support normally but for mac OS there is a "plugin" for it. iTunes convert to ACC, AIFF, Apple Lossless, MP3 and wav. i also have global hotkeys. there is an option for fade-out, maybe i didn't get it correctly.

as conclusion for mac os:
5 problems you mention which aren't present at all.
- slow start -> only 1-2 seconds
- slow at changing playlist -> instantly
- general slow
- converts only to ACC -> converts to other formats too
- no global hotkeys -> there are global hotkeys

1 problem which is solvable with a "plugin"
- no flac support

1 problem i'm not sure about
- fade outs, did you mean this

i think on mac os x iTunes (v10) is a really capable music player and doesn't have the most disadvantages you mentioned.

I wasn't referring to its memory usage, but to how much it needs to install of files in order to work. More files = slower system.

yeah on windows you need a lot more to download and install just to get it working. it's because of the way it was constructed for mac os. itunes uses a lot recourses which aren't present on windows but are integrated on mac os, like quicktime and cocoa. and you shouldn't generalize like "more files = slower system" there are much more important factors like data handling and optimization, but i won't go on any further this is not a tech talk, sorry.

[mgz]

i use media monkey, doesnt crash like winamp used to when checking my library for files at every start is also significantly faster as far as response to opening things and i enjoy the way it changes tracks.

Winamp used to crash on me all the time on several different comps on win7 and win xp pro. So i stopped using it.

Tried foobar the player worked nicely just didnt like how bare bones it looked and was to lazy to download shit to change it.

So mediamonkey ftw

[Xyresic]

(click to show/hide)

It takes forever to start up (I can start my internet browser and load 8 tabs faster than iTunes, that's just sad), forever to change playlists, pretty much forever to do anything. They have improved it considerably with v9, but compared to other players, it's slow as a snail. Bunch that with no FLAC support, a really crappy converter which only converts stuff to ACC, no global hotkeys, no fade-outs when switching between songs (seriously, how hard can this be?)... yea...

(click to show/hide)

the situation on mac seems different. iTunes loads in just 1-2 seconds. playlist change instantly. it's not slow at all. yeah no flac support normally but for mac OS there is a "plugin" for it. iTunes convert to ACC, AIFF, Apple Lossless, MP3 and wav. i also have global hotkeys. there is an option for fade-out, maybe i didn't get it correctly.

as conclusion for mac os:
5 problems you mention which aren't present at all.
- slow start -> only 1-2 seconds
- slow at changing playlist -> instantly
- general slow
- converts only to ACC -> converts to other formats too
- no global hotkeys -> there are global hotkeys

1 problem which is solvable with a "plugin"
- no flac support

1 problem i'm not sure about
- fade outs, did you mean this

i think on mac os x iTunes (v10) is a really capable music player and doesn't have the most disadvantages you mentioned.

I wasn't referring to its memory usage, but to how much it needs to install of files in order to work. More files = slower system.

yeah on windows you need a lot more to download and install just to get it working. it's because of the way it was constructed for mac os. itunes uses a lot recourses which aren't present on windows but are integrated on mac os, like quicktime and cocoa. and you shouldn't generalize like "more files = slower system" there are much more important factors like data handling and optimization, but i won't go on any further this is not a tech talk, sorry.

You do realize 2 full seconds is still pretty long compared to the alternatives out there? (Foobar and Winamp all start in the same time it takes to open a calculator program, which is generally <1 second) The seconds shaved off for iTunes is probably because apple's running some iTunes service for the mac in the background that allows instant launch anyways.

I might have exaggerated on the playlists part, iTunes 9&10 has gotten much better with that - but before (v7-v8), they took FOREVER, literally anywhere from 4-8 seconds. That was on a dual core system with a decent amount of ram, with chrome and iTunes being the only things open.

As for the converters, they suck. Any other converter out there would give far better size:quality ratio (although I'd admit it's probably because of LAME). I may be biased towards this because I only used it a few times (and one of them was a movie), but it makes no sense anyways to transcode lossy -> another lossy format, since apple doesn't support flac natively, and who know where to look to find "apple lossless" music. Haven't tested it on v9-10 yet, but I'm going to doubt any major changes have been made to that part of the code.

As for global hotkeys, unless I'm blind, I can't find them anywhere on a Windows iTunes.

And no, I don't mean crossfading, I mean fading the song when I switch to another one while the original one is still playing. I really, really, hate how all of the major players (iTunes, WMP, Zune Player) all just cut off the sound when you want to switch to another song. I could be playing something, and want to listen to something else - I don't just want my sound to SNAP! cut off, if you know what I mean. It's nice to have a transition by slowly fading the current song and then switching to the next. There isn't any mods on the internet as far as I can tell that can fix this either.

like quicktime and cocoa. and you shouldn't generalize like "more files = slower system" there are much more important factors like data handling and optimization

I wouldn't really call quicktime a "optimized" program... not sure how it's doing now, but a few years back it was pretty crappy.

Anyways, maybe iTunes works better on the mac than the PC, but one thing I do know is that for the PC, there's better music programs out there.

[TightMuffin]

Sonique all the way!  All the other players are just posers.

[tomoya-kun]

iTunes is the best player for mac. 

[der richter]

You do realize 2 full seconds is still pretty long compared to the alternatives out there? (Foobar and Winamp all start in the same time it takes to open a calculator program, which is generally <1 second) The seconds shaved off for iTunes is probably because apple's running some iTunes service for the mac in the background that allows instant launch anyways.

I might have exaggerated on the playlists part, iTunes 9&10 has gotten much better with that - but before (v7-v8), they took FOREVER, literally anywhere from 4-8 seconds. That was on a dual core system with a decent amount of ram, with chrome and iTunes being the only things open.

As for the converters, they suck. Any other converter out there would give far better size:quality ratio (although I'd admit it's probably because of LAME). I may be biased towards this because I only used it a few times (and one of them was a movie), but it makes no sense anyways to transcode lossy -> another lossy format, since apple doesn't support flac natively, and who know where to look to find "apple lossless" music. Haven't tested it on v9-10 yet, but I'm going to doubt any major changes have been made to that part of the code.

As for global hotkeys, unless I'm blind, I can't find them anywhere on a Windows iTunes.

And no, I don't mean crossfading, I mean fading the song when I switch to another one while the original one is still playing. I really, really, hate how all of the major players (iTunes, WMP, Zune Player) all just cut off the sound when you want to switch to another song. I could be playing something, and want to listen to something else - I don't just want my sound to SNAP! cut off, if you know what I mean. It's nice to have a transition by slowly fading the current song and then switching to the next. There isn't any mods on the internet as far as I can tell that can fix this either.

like quicktime and cocoa. and you shouldn't generalize like "more files = slower system" there are much more important factors like data handling and optimization

I wouldn't really call quicktime a "optimized" program... not sure how it's doing now, but a few years back it was pretty crappy.

Anyways, maybe iTunes works better on the mac than the PC, but one thing I do know is that for the PC, there's better music programs out there.

2 seconds are the worst case, normally its <=1 second. didn't want to exaggerate. but i do admit on windows foobar is a little faster, used it before i switched to mac. maybe i'm not bothered by the start time of itunes because my computer is always on or in standby also iTunes is always started, but 2 seconds are not much i think. our opinion differ there a little.
yeah it's much faster because it uses optimized/integrated resources like cocoa (gui framework mac style) or highly integrated quicktime. windows and mac os just differ to much with there OS concepts. also it is logically that apple software run smoother and faster on apple products.

iTunes store is full of apple lossless beside this, the converter from itunes is not the best, like only single core optimized. i don't like it either but it isn't as bad like you first mentioned.

yeah global hotkeys are only for the mac version. for windows you need a plugin.

thought so i did misunderstood the fade thing, and i can understand you. wouldn't like it either if i were bothered by it.

i didn't meant it that way, quicktime is just a highly integrated resource on mac os, don't like it either as video or music player. it is optimized in a way not everyone is pleased with, but the things it should handle (apple wants it to do) it is really good.

yes personally on windows i would use foorbar. itunes for windows isn't a really good music player. but for mac there isn't a better music player in my opinion.

we have some similarly in our opinion and i can fully agree on windows there a better music players than itunes.

Everyone who uses iTunes except for syncing music with their iPods should be bashed in the head 8U

didn't like this comment, because i don't like to be bashed in my head. ^^

[il_duce]

I used to be a loyal WinAmp user. After numerous faithful years it decided suddenly die on me so I succumbed and am now using Foobar. Never customized either of the programs so I can easily say that I am a backwards user. I rather stay with the stable version than start to tweak and encounter odd errors.

[Xyresic]

the converter from itunes is not the best, like only single core optimized. i don't like it either but it isn't as bad like you first mentioned.

Well, like I said - I only used it a few times, and one of the times it managed to turn a ~100mb .mp4 movie file into a ~200mb .mp4 file, all the while taking a bunch of resources :| (somehow all .mp4 files don't work for iPods... wat)

Everyone who uses iTunes except for syncing music with their iPods should be bashed in the head 8U

didn't like this comment, because i don't like to be bashed in my head. ^^
[/quote]
Sorry, didn't mean to offend - I edit my statement to "Anyone who uses iTunes in Windows except for syncing music with their iPods should be bashed in the head 8U."

[der richter]

Sorry, didn't mean to offend - I edit my statement to "Anyone who uses iTunes in Windows except for syncing music with their iPods should be bashed in the head 8U."

you made my day. XD

[kaitou-san]

I use The KMPlayer for everything.

Sometimes I'll even watch a video while listening to a soundtrack.

Hurray multiple instances.

[Xiong Chiamiov]

I use a trunk build of Clementine, which is basically a rewrite of Amarok 1.x, my previous music organizer of choice.  There are a number of things I like about it, but most importantly is the "Excel speadsheet interface", as some jokingly call it, which I find to be quite good for quickly scanning a large playlist, and the queue/filter operations on the playlist.

If I'm browsing around in a directory and want to quickly listen to a file, I use VLC.

For the brief times I'm on Windows, I'll use Winamp.  I'm familiar with it from previous usage, and it handles well the little I need it to do.

[tomoya-kun]

I don't even know what else I can use for Mac.  I'm using WMP for windows at the moment.  Works fine, even though others seem to dislike it.