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Best Free Music Player and Organizer

Updated 13. May 2013 - 15:45 by cdissler

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Introduction
 

This article compares audio software that enrich the music experience or enhance everyday listening, and provide impressive music centric features. The best MP3 and audio player ought to quench our passion for music, such as by inspiring us to rip or download music, organize our music libraries, learn more about our favorite artists or music, or just listen to music.

The reviews evaluate products on sound enhancements, usability and unique features, support for common and useful audio formats (MP3, WAV, FLAC, WMA, and others), performance, security and privacy.

Thanks to our faithful followers, who have been pitching their favorite players and organizers, we have a set of carefully considered selections. We have 26 listed music players and counting!

Latest article update: Added more quick links at the top (8-27). Current product reviews in the discussion section are from a previous editor (they are his "I" statements).
Discussion
 

Light Music Players and Organizers

The following had to have light resource efficiency while impressing us with music centric features. They were the best candidates to be our primary music player and organizer, satisfying avid audiophiles for daily listening. They aren't the best for managing music files (ripping, converting, tagging), but they often have unique advantages over bulkier programs depending on your tastes and needs.

 

Jaangle

Jaangle is one of my least favorite players. This player is more of a playlist generator than a be-all player. If I know what I want to listen to, It isn't economical use Jaangle, however if I am just looking to listen to random music this is exactly the program to look to.
 
Jaangle has a small memory footprint, not the smallest but still negligeble.
 
Since the entire program is hugely dependent upon panes, I will refer to the panes throougout this review. Below is the pane list which is primarily used.
 
 
1. Pane A - Artist/Album/Genre list. This list can be sorted any of the three fields listed here.
2. Pane B - Single Album song list
3. Pane C - Track list
 
After installing, it took almost no time to import my music. I imported 15,000 songs in about 10 minutes, with the tags and album art. I didn't realize it until I imported my music into Jaangle, but my library contained about 300 m4a files. This isn't a huge problem I converted them to mp3 right away, but Jaangle wasn't able to read the tags from them though I don't believe any non-apple music player can play them.
 
That was where the ease of use ended. I didn't realize at first that you need to work off of the panes provided in order to play music. You move from panes A and choose your artist/album/genre, to pane B where you choose the song from a single album list, to panes C, which will play ONLY the selected track. If you want to play and entire album you cannot simply play the first song in pane B and expect it to play. No, no, no that would be too easy. You need to populate pane C with all the tracks you wish to play. If you run out of tracks in pane C Jaangle starts to randomize your music library. 
 
Most of my library consists of Jazz, with a very small percentage of obscure indie artists and some psych-folk. The random generation of music actually was pretty impressive, it played songs that I would be interested in hearing back to back. I cannot tell if this is by design or just coincedence. If the first song I chose was a soprano sax player from the 50's it did well to keep it inline with that style.
 
By default, Jaangle sets a cross fade between songs. If I skip a song there is a couple of seconds of fade from the previous song even though the next song is going at full force. This is hugely annoying and couldn't ever be useful for me. They couldn't have put the off button for this in a more inconspicuous place. A tiny button above the time bar at the bottom needs to be clicked for off.
 
Jaangle makes far to many assumptions as a music player and on my list of No's. There are several things that I like about Jaangle, but without the additional features that make up a music player/organizer it makes this program almost useless to me. The only easy thing about Jaangle is the download and installation. There appears to be a learning curve to this program that I haven't seen before. 
 

Foobar2000My first impression of Foobar2000 was that it was the workingman's media player. As it comes Foobar2000 is a basic player. Those with a bit of computer savvy can easily modify the way Foobar2000 looks with internal controls in the View menu. The interface is customizable as to what windows appear, how they look, background colors, etc. I especially liked the large cover art window, which is four times the size of the normal view of most media players. It brought me back to the days of being in a music store, during the heyday of 12-inch vinyl, and you were listening to some new music being played. If you liked it, all you had to do is look towards the register and above it would be an album cover with a "Now Playing" sign under it. That's enough with the nostalgia.

As stated previously, Foobar2000 is a basic player, very basic. The library is adequate and mildly configurable. Tagging is manual and limited. Play list editing is also manual. There is an eighteen band equalizer, but it can only be accessed through menu and cannot be viewed by default. As it comes, there are no ripping or converting capabilities.

While it's beyond the scope of this review, more advanced users may want to enhance the looks of the player or add more functionality. Foobar2000 does not use skins, but uses, what would be more aptly described as, themes. A simple search on the internet will turn up a multitude of themes and plug-ins, but be aware that these third party items are written specifically for particular versions of Foobar. Most of these items I've seen were written for older versions of the player currently available and may or not work in the current version.

The 7.80 MB footprint of Foobar2000 makes it useful as a portable (USB Drive) player. It can be setup as such upon installation. This could be the player of choice for those, like me, who use separate ripping, conversion, burning and tagging software. (Thirty-five years as a service technician dedication was a key word. It taught me that all-in-one's just don't cut it. As the old saying goes, "They're the Jack-of-all-trades, but the master of none."

 

AIMP 2

AIMP3 is a great little music player with a tiny size and a great punch. It has all the features that one looks for in their favorite player from small running size to association with any music file type. The new version appears to have several fixes that were not available in version 2. It can import and export standard .m3u playlists, has a new design, quicker tag scanning feature as well as a laundry list of other features. 
 
On initial open it began scanning all my folders and sorting through my almost 20,000 songs with their tags and ratings. This actually took longer than I expected but the result was normal. I did a second test with a smaller folder and it finished quickly. Sorting through the list when all the music is imported is extremely clunky and if this were something I intended to use, I wouldn't use it for more than playlists. 
 
From the utilities menu at the top you can access a couple of additional features. 
 
First, there is a tag editor which can edit the tags of selected album or folder. This feature only seems to be useful as a single album or artist tag editor since the sort features are limited. As nice as it is that this feature is available I choose to use an external program for tag editing like MP3Tag. 
 
The second feature is the audio library, which is a more navigable list than what is attached to the player, but is lacking the ease of  sort ability that I look for. I did find myself looking to this feature when I was sorting through more than just a playlist, but I wouldn't use this program for more than a playlist. 
 
Third, which I haven't experimented with yet, is an audio converter. I will update this review as I use this feature.
 
There is a lot of customization available in setting, which if you play around with them are quite useful. There are several appearance and sort options for the playlists. You can choose the file type associations and assign hot keys for several actions like play/pause, stop, pull up the audio library or preferences. The skins that are preloaded are not my favorite but a quick Google search returned several that I intend to play with.
 
The program while open and playing is the polar opposite of a ram-hog. It barely registers usage at all, which is very standard for small players but great over-all.
 
One problem I found while playing with the settings menu was a few second lag every time I opened the settings menu.
 
Unfortunately, when I choose my favorite music player for the computer, aesthetics are everything. If a player is clunky looking or even remotely difficult to navigate I find myself looking to other application for my music needs. AIMP3 has several great features but I just didn't find myself latching to it when I thought music. 

 

 

Full Music Managers

The following are the best for managing music files and creating complex music libraries or play lists. They don't have light resource efficiency (sometimes doubling the light players above on some resource measures), but on modern computers they could serve as primary music players.

 

MusicBeeMusicBee is a musical Swiss Army Knife and I can see why so many people like it. Where do we begin?

Let's start with music management. You can listen to your music and categorize your collection in an appropriate manner with help of the program's array of utilities to help edit and find tags. You have your music arranged by genre, artist and album in the three top panes while other small panes display the current play list, song details, artwork and lyrics and a search tool to quickly locate any specific artist or track. Another panel helps you access internet services such as Shoutcast, internet radio, podcasts and audio books. You can import music from your personal music folders as well as from your iTunes or Windows Media Player libraries and sync with iPods and other MP3 players

The player itself has an impressive range of controls such as a 10-band equalizer with presets, along with a preamp, digital signal processing plug-ins, an AutoDJ and a volume analyzer to normalize your collection so that you never have to touch the volume control again.

The package also includes a CD ripper with secure CD ripping with AccurateRip verification and a file converter. MusicBee supports the following formats: MP3, OGG, WMA, AIFF, ALAC, APE, BWF, CDA, FLAC, M3U, MP4, PLS, TTA, WAV, TAK, SPX.

With all this functionality, I am surprised that I didn't find a CD burner lurking inside. I guess you can only pack so much into 40.6 MB.

MusicBee does require a bit of extra software in order to function. You'll need Microsoft.NET Framework 2.0 and the file converter requires the Lame encoder (Lame isn't a MP3 Encoder) to function.

 

MediaMonkeyMediaMonkey is on my "Nay" list, but I will review it because of its popularity.

Right from installation, my immediate impression of MediaMonkey is that it is not a monkey, at all, but a 1000 lb. gorilla. Just like another well-known media player that will remain nameless, it wants flex its muscles all over your computer and be your be all-do all media player. It instantaneously began searching my hard drives for media files, without my permission, while registering itself as the player of record making it necessary to go through my files and reset their associations so that all would be well once I uninstalled this beast. With all that off my chest, let's get on to the features as there are many.

First and most important MediaMonkey can organize music and edit tags in your audio library with a potent and insightful interface. It will rip and burn cd's. Its audio converter can convert MP3s, OGG, FLAC and WMA files into other formats. It will download and show album art. For those who want to play DJ for your church group or social organization, there is a Party Mode which lock down your media files while still allowing requests. Last of all, but most important some, is MediaMonkey's ability to synchronize with iPods and other MP3 players. There are more features, but they are too numerous to mention here.

While I shouldn't concern myself with the following, but believe I must bring it up for reasons which will become immediately apparent. There is Gold Edition with additional features available for $19.99 and $39.95 for a "Lifetime license for all future updates." In the computer world there is no such thing as "Lifetime." Does anyone remember music software known as MusicMatch? It's still around, but totally commercial payware. At Version 1.0 it was a fairly good program for its time and I purchased a "Lifetime license" for $39.95 for full program. Two years into the "Lifetime license," I began to have difficulty upgrading the software. The good folks at MusicMatch were very accommodating and issued new registration codes. A year later the company was sold and my continuing references to the fact that, "I wasn't dead yet." Fell on deaf ears. Despite the good intentions of the people at MediaMonkey, they cannot realistically, offer a "Lifetime license."

I have no idea how they managed to fit all this functionality into 34.2 MB, but as far as I'm concerned MediaMonkey is just bit too over the top and is far more than I or the average music fan needs and far more than the novice can handle. If I were a professional DJ, then all bets would be off.

 
 

A Note on Sound Quality

Occasionally I see claims that a particular piece of software has superior sound quality, and I too would want the player with the best sound quality (regardless of its features or lack thereof). Sometimes I've played individual products and thought “gosh that sounds crystal clear and rich”, but then found that the volume was maxed on the player's initial settings (and that other players sounded the same at their max volume settings).

It's difficult to rule out wishful thinking and inexact comparisons until you try out many players on your sound system to judge for yourself. I've opened music players side by side, gone through their settings to ensure equivalence, and found that it's seemingly impossible to detect sound quality differences on the sound equipment that came with my computer (Foobar's FAQs and forum posters make this argument as well).

However, Gizmo noted in some of the first comments on this article that sound enhancement plug-ins, such as ASIO, have a noticeable improvement in sound quality on expensive equipment. Note that your sound card must support higher output settings, or the settings could degrade sound quality. And if you maximize the settings on your sound card, then music players will use significantly higher system resources.

 

Note 2: Lightest Players

Here is a list of music players with the best average of three measures: CPU use, I/O bytes, and RAM. The overall test list included MP3, FLAC, and WAV files (using Process Explorer and Vista Ultimate to measure).

  1. Cool Player
  2. Evil Player
  3. XMPlay
  4. Winyl
  5. VUPlayer
  6. Winamp Lite
  7. Trout
  8. Foobar
  9. AIMP
  10. Jaangle
  11. JetAudio
  12. Spider

The lightest player above was measured as an MP3 player (and is included because no other product did better as an MP3 player).

Some micro players (that are light on RAM memory) didn't make the top 10 (they often have high CPU or I/O bit activity).

By the way, mini player modes and tray icon modes (that shrink or hide the visual size of a player's interface) don't decrease the consumption of system resources, but some players have graphics that subside when the player loses focus (resource hungry visualizations were disabled for this comparison).
Micro Music Players
 

There are also basic and further stripped down music players that either didn't make the cut for the main review or don't fit the review criteria. They are listed in order of impressiveness (for sound enhancements, usability and unique features, support for music formats, state of development, performance and security).

  • Winamp Lite: I recommend the separate lite download (you have to scroll to the bottom of the download page) since the lite installer doesn't have the controversial OpenCandy, but it still has a pre-checked option to send off your usage stats. Privacy issues aside (just be sure to carefully inspect all the installation options), it plays an impressive number of audio formats for such a lightweight and resource efficient player, and mimics the wide array of options and feature richness of the full version. It lacks a library for organizing music (unless you already have the full version and use the 'Winamp classic' skin). Quick tip: save your eyes and use 'Double Size' from the options.

  • XMPlay: Has a wide range of sound enhancements (gapless output, 32 bit output, DSP and MOD settings), additional downloads (skins, visualizations, ASIO), and hidden capabilities (Internet streaming). It didn't support my primary music format (FLAC), but the site has many additional 'native input plug-ins' that expand XMPlay's compatibility. A minimal library sorts by various categories based on tag information (use control + A to select your folders and drag and drop them into the play list or queue or library).

    The negatives: a scattered interface (with many independent components) may not be to your taste, and the random play feature didn't work (random play only worked for me by manually right-clicking the play button each time, which I would only do to test whether it works). Developed by un4seen (known for the BASS audio library and MO3 audio format). Portable installation, very lite download.

  • Spider Player: Solid 'middle weight' music manager and player. It uses the trustworthy BASS engine, has many impressive enhancements (32 bit output, DSP effects support, 9-band equalizer and many presets, cross fading) and music managing tools (CD ripper, converter). One of the most interesting capabilities is an auto lyrics down loader, which displays lyrics in a pane next to your play list (you can manually save lyrics to tags), and an Internet radio player and recorder. If only it came with a library organizer it could have been a contender. And I couldn't pretend that a 'favorites editor' was good enough since I ran into error messages with it. The Pro version is now free and unlocks many extra features (mentioned above).

  • VUPlayer: Plays many audio formats and has a simple and user friendly interface (though some of the icons seem outdated). Comes with several sound enhancements (32 bit mixing, gapless playback, adjustable cross fade, 9-band graphic equalizer, and MOD/MIDI mixing) and other tools (converts files, grabs/rips CDs, retrieves freedb tags). In the forum some users report that it works in Windows 7. But it hasn't been updated since 2007 (it uses an old BASS library version) and has 1 moderately critical Secunia advisory (related to opening un-trusted play list files).

  • Winyl: Refreshingly simple and lite BASS player that is well worth watching for future improvements. For now it has a few basic enhancements (32 bit processing, equalizer) and tools (tag editing). More interesting is the care that went into its design. The library comes with long lists of radio stations and a few 'smartlists'. The smartlists automatically display your most played or highest rated songs, and you can create additional smartlists. The 6 skins that come with it are diverse and useful to fit your taste. To further please music fans, Winyl needs to work on additional sound enhancements and play options (I'd also like a random play option or perhaps better play list access).
Cuts: The Other Players
 

Here are music managers and players that are impressive enough for a quick mention, but not quite enough to get featured in the review:

  • Quintessential Media Player (qmp) had great potential, but testing was mired by equally great difficulty in finding a FLAC plug-in. Otherwise, it surprised me with a small download size, a thorough MusicID updater, and feature richness. Massively edits tags, renames files, and writes MusicID info to tags (or updates its library info from tags). It has flashy visualizations, three mode sizes, and automatic online radio lists.

  • JetAudio: Surprisingly lightweight and efficient for such a feature rich, flashy, and capable music/media player. It has many features to help build and manage your media library. Rip, Convert, Record, and Burn all in one program. Use countless auto play lists (the most I've seen, but some are based on tags you must create) in its library, view a simple lyrics windows, get radio stations (many languages), browse to music stores and fan sites from within the player, and choose between several unique skins. However, I found its separate media center/main window setup confusing (the media center does not reduce to a mini player and I kept accidentally exiting the whole program). Other negatives: limited tag editing, no 32 bit output capability in the free version, and 1 'less critical' Secunia advisory (and four past advisories in a previous version).

  • Songbird: An open source, refreshingly simple interface that highly integrates to Internet resources like a browser (integrating many Mozilla Firefox features). One advantage is the ability to expand and customize it through add-ons, but the underlying interface is still the most bulky and inefficient of all tested music players (nearly as heavy as Firefox and getting heavier all the time). But I keep going back to it, so maybe they have something for the future there. It's in constant development, with nightly Beta versions for testing. See its "Roadmap Wiki" for information on its ever growing list of new features.

  • Winamp Full has privacy concerns and now includes the controversial OpenCandy in its installer. Read its privacy policy to see if you agree with its automated data collection of non-personal information (some of which you can only opt out of by hiding or not using certain features). Privacy concerns and nags aside, the program is popular and professional with excellent support for many music file formats, good integration with Internet resources, and top-notch library and music organizing features (it's somewhat incorporated as the media library in The KMPlayer).

 

Some of these have fans, but didn't impress me in comparison to other players in the review. The quick negatives beside each aren't comprehensive comments; visit the respective sites for plenty of positives. Listed alphabetically.

  • 1by1. High I/O bit activity, limited support for music files.
  • Billy. High I/O bit activity (esp. for WAV files), limited support for music files.
  • Clementine. Stealthy association of files.
  • Cool Player. Unpatched Secunia advisories (related to using un-trusted play lists and skins).
  • Cool Player+. High memory use (near Media Monkey size).
  • Evil Player. Simplistic interface, problems running in a standard account.
  • iTunes. Ad-supported: promotes purchasing Internet products as an essential feature.
  • J. River Media Jukebox. Ad-supported: promotes purchasing Internet products as an essential feature.
  • Moo0 AudioPlayer. High CPU use, limited support for music files.
  • QuuxPlayer. Poor interface design/usability.
  • Trout. Problems with interface usability (slow loading of audio files, error messages).
  • Xion. Problems with interface (CPU spikes, crashes), Secunia warning (un-trusted play lists).
Related Products and Links
 

Download Music

Related Hot Finds and Articles

Additional Third-Party Tools

  • SharePod: Allows you to manage and sync with iPods ("Change, Backup, Share") to replace iTunes.
  • Free Music Zilla: Helps you record and download songs from members of online music-sharing communities.

Audio Editor and Music Creation

Play and Organize Media

Manage Media -- Rip, Tag, Convert, Burn, Record

Guides
Quick Selection Guide - Light Music Players and Organizers

Jaangle
9
 
Gizmo's Freeware award as the best product in its class!

Runs as a stand-alone program on a user's computer
Nothing but pure entertainment. Attractive and easily customizable interface with large album art, artist's photo, bio and easy access to lyrics
Doesn't display some some extended tag info, not yet fully 7 compatible
http://www.jaangle.com/
http://www.jaangle.com/download
0.98i.977
2.3 MB
Unrestricted freeware
A portable version of this product is available from the developer.
Windows XP/2003/ Vista

Portable version available (files only version)

Audio Formats: MPEG audio (MP1/MP2/MP3), M4A, MP4, AC3, AIFF, APE, CDA, FLAC, MIDI/MID, Musepack (MPC), Tracker Music (UMX, MOD, MO3, IT, S3M, MTM, XM), OGG, WMA, and more based on directshow filters installed

Play List Formats: opens and saves M3U

Screenshots | Skins | Wiki | Forum | Change Log

Foobar2000
9
 
Runs as a stand-alone program on a user's computer
Very customizable interface, many extra components at the download site, decent library capabilities, and includes all necessary tools for building a collection
Not very flashy design, no mini player, the other choices have better library features
http://www.foobar2000.org/
http://www.foobar2000.org/?page=Download
1.2.3
3.5 MB
Unrestricted freeware
There is no portable version of this product available.
Windows XP/server 2003/Vista/server 2008/7

Portable version available (the Foobar2000 installer gives an option between a standard and portable installation; just select the portable installation)

Audio Formats: MPEG audio (MP1/MP2/MP3), MP4/M4A/M4B, 8SVX, AAC, AIFF/AIF/AIFC/AFC, APE, AU, CDA, CUE, FLAC/FLA, MKA, MIDI, Musepack (MPC, MP+, MPP), SND, Speex, OGG/OGA, WAV, WavPack/WV, WMA, and more with additional components

Play List Formats: opens/loads ASX, FPL, M3U, M3U8, PLS, WAX, WVX, but saves FPL, M3U, M3U8

Screenshots | Components | Wiki | Forum | Change Log

AIMP 2
8
 
Runs as a stand-alone program on a user's computer
Visually stunning design, special focus on sound enhancement features, excellent mix of features and light design, comes with two other utilities (tag editor, online radio browser), decent library and history features
Security concerns, requires patience finding features, most support materials not in English
http://www.aimp.ru/index.php?do=lang&lng=en%22
http://www.filehippo.com/download_aimp/
3.20.1165
7.3 MB
32 bit but 64 bit compatible
Unrestricted freeware
A portable version of this product is available from the developer.
Windows XP/ 2003/ Vista/ 7/ 8

Portable version available (the AIMP installer gives an option between a standard and portable installation; just select the portable installation)

*Note: I don't recommend downloading from the main website because it links to a download site (Brothersoft) that receives yellow ratings from WOT and block status from certain Host file providers (hpHosts, MVPS). A previous version had an unpatched Secunia advisory (may still be present).

Audio Formats: MPEG audio (MP1/MP2/MP3), MP4, M4A, AAC, AC3, AIFF/AIF, APE, CDA, FLAC/FLA, MIDI (MIDI/MID/MI/KAR), Musepack (MPC, MP+, MPP), OFR/OFS, OGG/OGA, Speex/SPX, Tracker Music (UMX, MOD, MO3, IT, S3M, MTM, XM), TTA, WAV, WavPack/WV, WMA

Play List Formats: opens/adds PLC, M3U, M3U8, ASX, PLS, CUE, XSPF, but saves PLS, PLC, M3U, M3U8

Screenshots | Skins | Forum | Change Log

Quick Selection Guide - Full Music Managers

MusicBee
9
 
Gizmo's Freeware award as the best product in its class!

Runs as a stand-alone program on a user's computer
All-in-one music manager without the shady background connections, excellent tagging and music managing features, many sound enhancements
Some tag categories not updated. Not much else, but it's still a bit buggy - online help didn't always connect, memory use jumped extremely high (in very rare instances), experienced a few bug/error messages (without program crashes or data loss)
http://www.getmusicbee.com/
http://www.getmusicbee.com/download/
2.0
25.5 MB
32 bit but 64 bit compatible
Unrestricted freeware
There is no portable version of this product available.
Windows XP/ Vista/ 7/ 8

Has a "run as portable application" option.

Audio Formats: MPEG audio (MP1/MP2/MP3), AC3, AIFF/AIF, APE, BWF, CDA, FLAC, Musepack (MPC, MP+, MPP), OFR/OFS, OGG/OGA, Speex/SPX, TAK, TTA, WavPack/WV, WAV, WMA (see the vendor 'Help' link if you need AAC)

Play List Formats: opens/saves M3U, ASX, PLS, CUE, WPL, XSPF

Screenshots | Addons | Help | Forum | Change Log

MediaMonkey
8
 
Runs as a stand-alone program on a user's computer
All-in-one music manager, excellent for organizing complex music collections, user friendly navigation
Heavy on system resources, simplistic mini-player
http://www.mediamonkey.com/
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Multimedia/Audio/Audio-CD-Rippers-Encoders/MediaMonkey.shtml
4.0.7.1511
14.3 MB
32 bit but 64 bit compatible
Free for private use only
Windows 98/ME/2000/XP/Vista/7, WINE (Linux)

Audio Formats: MP3, MP4, AAC, APE, APL, CDA, FLA, FLAC, M4A, M4B, M4P, Musepack (MPC, MP+, MPP), OGG, WAV, WMA

iPhone 5 / iOS 6 and iTunes Compatibility

Play List Formats: opens/adds M3U, ASX, PLS, XSPF; saves M3U

Screenshots | Addons | Help | Forum | Change Log

Editor

This software category is maintained by volunteer editor cdissler. Registered members can contact the editor with any comments or questions they might have by clicking here.
Tags

best free music player and organizer, MP3 and audio software, MP3 player, media library, lite music player for windows, music manager, sound enhancements or effects, online radio browser

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Comments

by Reznov (not verified) on 23. December 2010 - 0:56  (63099)

Agreed.
by George.J on 19. December 2010 - 2:52  (62913)

I second you. Nice comment
by poinsy (not verified) on 2. March 2011 - 2:21  (67274)

Could not agree more. Just removed MediaMonkey and installed MusicBee. Decided to recode my entire collection to FLAC after getting a 4TB NAS. Looking very good so far; it just works.
by Sabine (not verified) on 1. December 2010 - 16:11  (61894)

I had the same problem with Songbird when I tried it the first time last year, couldn't blink as quickly as it had resorted all my library that I had sorted lovingly over the time. Needless to say that nasty bird didn't survive 24 hours on my PC. But I gave it a second chance, since that problem occurs if one clicks on OK too fast...it actually asks if it should start to sort the files or just watch. Now actually I like it. But it was Mediamonkey that was my favorite long time. Though I couldn't decide between the monkey, the bird and the bee (Musicbee), like them all. So I switched to Foobar, which I like most because of its tabs.
All that until I found Spiderplayer and fell in love with it. I even bought the full version. It does indeed highly improve the sound quality, which even suprisingly changed the horrible sound on my netbook to good sound and makes the whole thing "listenable".

There is another player that is worth mentioned, its a mini tiny thingy, that loads in a second, very simplistic, but has lots of features. No skin, no nothing. I use it for prelistening my media files, if I don't want to open a full grown player, but just quickly wish to hear whats in, as its a directory player. With the unspectacular name "Billy"
http://www.sheepfriends.com/?page=billy

There is also another very good player / organizer I recommend for review: Mediajukebox.
http://www.mediajukebox.com/
Can play ANY format, has iPod support, album art, burn, rip features etc.
by George.J on 20. November 2010 - 11:25  (61422)

Great review Steamwhistle. Good job.
Down here i prefer going with MusicBee. i prefer a good music manager and player and this ones ought to be the best in its field. I loved the review for the best music player :-)
by Dr Noodle (not verified) on 19. November 2010 - 6:41  (61379)

I believe you should review this player as well: http://www.quuxplayer.com/. it has some amazing features and excellent format support. Quux Player.
by Anonymous234789456 (not verified) on 17. November 2010 - 0:55  (61300)

I do not think Songbird should be avoided like the plague, and given another chance. There is an option to let Songbird manage your files where is copies all your files into a songbird folder where it renames and restructures the files into Artist and Album folders. Alternatively, you can select to have Songbird just watch a music folder you select, to create its database. I like Songbird's Library and Playlist Manager, I think it is better than winamp's library manager. Smart play lists can be created that dynamically change according to the criteria selected.
by bas12 on 14. November 2010 - 13:01  (61187)

Spider Player is already mentioned. It has a tiny 3,4 mb installer, and needs 12,4 mb disk space.

It uses just 10,4 kb memory when opened, and is very simple to use.

It has a nice equalizer.

The best part is internal 32 bit-sound processing, even if your sound cart is not capable of output in this resolution.

The result is excellent output, the best I know of. When sound is all that is important, you can't beat Spider Player. To get the best quality, use CD's, WAV or FLAC.
by Anonymous121564 (not verified) on 15. November 2010 - 3:21  (61199)

Foobar has custom output depth including at 32 bits. I suspect it might perform internal calculations at 32 bit anyway.

Xmplayer might have 32 bit depth but I cannot recall.

You should keep in mind the noise due to resolution errors in calculations is tiny..the noise due to microphone noise, background noise, acoustic distorsion, speaker imperfections is vast. Sort of like changing from 192 to 256 mo3 while standing next to a jet engine.
by Anonymous121564 (not verified) on 15. November 2010 - 3:40  (61201)

mp3 not m03.

Also it is possible to hear sub-division level wavedata when the waveform is multiplied by dithering, foobar2000 supports it, as might xmplayer and winamp with dsp plugins.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dither

But again the improvement is miniscule.

Foobar2000 used to have different types of dither but they decided it was overkill.

Resampling is another area, particularly if the soundcard's hardware resampler is not good. There are software resampler plugins for winamp I imagine, and also builtin for foobar2000 I think.

..again improvement is theoratical.
by bili_39 on 15. November 2010 - 8:14  (61215)

You must really love foobar2000. I've used many players and loved Spider also. Tried to use fb2k several times, but learning curve was just not steep enough.
I would call it geeks player (not workingman's).
On the other side, I didn't stayed with spider neither. These are all awesome players and choice is obviously subjective (I'm sticking with XMplay for now).

Just my 2 cents.
by MidnightCowboy on 14. November 2010 - 16:27  (61190)

This qualifies my own experience with Spider when I was using Windows. I really loved it :)

by Anonymous12345 (not verified) on 14. November 2010 - 0:41  (61165)

My last post appears to have been deleted, possibly as it mentioned other features, going by other comments. This was inspite of it pointing out inaccuracies. I will endeavour to stick to arguments.

There are errors of --fact-- in the foobar2000 review (as opposed to taste).
These should be corrected.

******************************
Also note, from the screenshot a beta version of foobar, 0.96 was reviewed. Although the beta quality was good it lacked a lot of user friendly aspects that have been added lately.

The current version is 1.11.

The other software were all post v1
releases so it is a little unfair to the creators reputation and future expectations relating to the program not to be mentioned.
******************************

"A simple search on the internet will turn up a multitude of themes and plug-ins, but be aware that these third party items are written specifically for particular versions of Foobar."

With regards to plugins, these do not relate in the same way to the foobar core as other plugins do to media players. Therefore third party components should not be treated dismissively.

1. Foobar core programming only covers few things like internal data structures, playback functions, and dealing with meta data internally etc. The interface, interface philosophy and other aspects of user interaction are not covered.

The core is written/maintained by Peter Pawlowski.

Given this structure, fb2k, works more like a large opensource project in which there are no 'third parties' as such.

2. There is a third party plugin, called facets, by a developer bundled with the installer since 0.95, along with a lot of other plugins.

This was bundled to provide very basic,simple, minimalist library organisation/music data display functionality for extremely technically challenged people who cannot download/extract a componentt.

This was done recently as the original default ui was almost featureless.

Facets was created by Frank Bicking and not Peter Pawlowski and the plugin can be deleted like other plugins. Some plugins by foosion etc. are bundled for the same reasons as facets in the installer, but their other plugins are not. This does not imply a difference in quality etc.

Some basic sub-plugins for facets are also included, but there are other such plugins not included.

In the normal use of foobar users are expected to seek out other functionality unless they just want a elementary player, there is a lot of essential functionality as most people would consider it not included.

Perhaps they should have just left no major plugins bundled like before, so the idea of foobar project is not misinterpreted in reviews (even the volume control was not bundled originally) and the relationship to third party plugins cannot compared to that of other players.

In most other programs third party plugins are often a casual hash job by some bystanders, whereas they are essential part of fb2k and receive far more discussion combined than the core from the community.

If you have issues understanding this I suggest posting on the forums for clarification.
************************************

"While it's beyond the scope of this review, more advanced users may want to enhance the looks of the player or add more functionality."

The relationship of foobar to additional functionality is not the same as that of other players. Even average users are expected to add functionality as the idea of the core is to provide common internal infrastructure and not interfaces with various philosophies.

If, by 'more advanced users', you mean users who are technically able to download and extract files, you should state that the intended use of the player is also beyond the scope of this review. (As of now it is considered a trivial matter by fb2k community, and although there is an auto update for plugins, there is no integrated component browser yet.)
***********************************

"Most of these items I've seen were written for older versions of the player currently available and may or not work in the current version."

Misleading, the wiki clearly sorts plugins by version of foobar they work under.

Also http://pelit.koillismaa.fi/plugins/ has been around for a long time ,probably not deprecated at all during v9.6 which was used in this review, and enables searching components by version/type. It appears to have been missed.

As of late the foobar homepage has a component repository.

Currently the default wiki components page is for current version compatibility only.
*******************************************

"As stated previously, Foobar2000 is a basic player, very basic. The library is adequate and mildly configurable."

It depends on your definition of 'adequate and mildly configurable', but it is very possible you missed out on the power of the bundled plugin, facets, or you made this review before it was bundled
(It has been included for a while, but it might have been with an earlier version or something).

The greatest power of foobar user interfaces (various plugins including the bundled one) are the ways of customising the library/play list views.

At the very least it should give infinitely more customisability than winamp, wmp, qcd player etc. (which I am familiar with) just using the default user interface, facets.

Can you clarify what customisability you think it lacks?
***************************
"Tagging is manual and limited."

Incorrect. There is multiple file tagging/renaming/moving ability, automated scripts, ability to create custom function menu commands and so on. Tagging via freedb etc. is also bundled in default installer.

************************************

"Playlist editing is also manual."

There is smart/auto play list generation ability, with full tweakability in the bundled user interfaces and has been for a long time. This is done through the search facility where a complex search can be created and saved with a custom sort pattern as an autoplaylist.
**********************************************
"My first impression of Foobar2000 was that it was the workingman's media player."

I assume you do not mean this was a first impression review.
********************************************

Foobar2000 does not use skins, but uses, what would be more aptly described as, themes.

The themes are just other peoples setups..a collection of plugins and the configuration scripts etc. for those plugins which can be changed/added to after installing.
by MidnightCowboy on 14. November 2010 - 6:25  (61172)

Your comment appears to contain some good arguments which no doubt the editor will respond to. Maybe it was the tone of your previous post which forced its deletion? I'll try to find out :)

MC
Site Manager
by Anonymous121564 (not verified) on 14. November 2010 - 10:22  (61177)

Unimportant, now that the comment appeared... The second version is more clear..
I apologise for the tone, it was not constructive and mostly due to the fact I had misread that it was a quick first impressions review of a very advanced and subtle program.

*************************

I should like to add that even with default plugins, that a lot of the highlights mentioned for other programs is already there.

Given the tagging/renaming/moving according to custom text created by a combination of meta data, file/directory names and properties edited by string operators and regex the organisational functionality is that of a dedicated tag editor.
by MidnightCowboy on 14. November 2010 - 11:22  (61178)

Thank you for your contribution which I'm sure the editor will find useful.

I should add that we normally delete large comments of this length as being better suited to the forum where space is not an issue. In this instance we felt that the content posted here was worth preserving.

by Bill Smith (not verified) on 12. November 2010 - 3:57  (61067)

AIMP 2 is conflicting with Skype since a few month and I can't find out why so I had to change. I do not need a library as I'm fine to play songs via folders and surprise surprise... after two years and testing all media players here I'm back to Winamp Lite. Does a decent job with a small footprint in my system. I do understand why other users wonder why this little player is dismissed here. The Lite version does not nag and is had to beat in terms of handling it. Thanks winamp :-)
by Keth (not verified) on 30. October 2010 - 8:27  (60464)

Which is the player that uses the least memory and can play several songs one after another? If MPC-HC could do this I'd use it everywhere, it uses just 7k memory, but can't play songs one after another. I just need a non-complex player that I can use to drag and drop random songs and don't have any set play-lists. I'd use Jaangle if it wasn't for the annoying empty collection dialog each time I start it that can't be disabled.
by Anonymouse (not verified) on 22. January 2011 - 20:25  (65029)

I use Foobar for everyday playing. Just drag and drop and right clik to remove the track from the player. Really, really simple and it plays one song after another.
I use MusicBee (for classical) and Spider(for popular)for cataloging my music CD's.
by Keth (not verified) on 30. October 2010 - 11:42  (60466)

And Jaangle can't play midi.
by John 1234567890 (not verified) on 16. December 2010 - 16:03  (62685)

I think aimp2 is the best. It uses memory of about 5K in my comp(I dont know about others). With some winamp dsp plugins like ozone or dfx, aimp goes beyond the sky limit
by George.J on 21. October 2010 - 14:02  (59857)

Well i love MusicBee because of its tag updation features which is the best out there for any player i guess and automatic updation of mp3's by digital sound signature . i wish QMP had larger album arts.
by George.J on 20. October 2010 - 13:50  (59790)

Ratings are all confusing and there's no rating for jaangle too!
by MidnightCowboy on 20. October 2010 - 15:08  (59792)

Thank you for pointing this out. The editor is currently working on his review page but has other commitments to attend to outside the site. Please bear with us until this can be corrected.
by George.J on 16. October 2010 - 6:32  (59616)

hey seems like your new player u mentioned down here is quite good. am mentioning about Quintessential Media Player.seemed to blow me off.loving it. but what made jaangle to top above this player Steam?

Anyway i appreciate your quality work and thank you for taking time. am just waiting to edit your ratings on various players.Keep up the good work.
by George.J on 16. October 2010 - 13:10  (59627)

@Steamwhistle:-hey can u tell me is there a function like identify the track and update the tracks as in musicbee,identifying the signature in QMP. i also wanna know how to search for album art in the QMP
by Steamwhistle on 16. October 2010 - 13:26  (59628)

I think you'll find that QMP has an excellent support forum at: http://quinnware.com/forum/index.php
by George.J on 15. October 2010 - 15:08  (59583)

isnt jaangle and Quintessential Media Player too simple as a player compared to MusicBee?

The latest 1.2 beta on the downloads topic now supports artwork and lyric plugins.
just check out its forum and how the developer responds to all the comments. Truely a one man show. Dedicated!Especially with the weekly updates including many new features and bug fixes.
by Steamwhistle on 15. October 2010 - 19:01  (59599)

George,

I'm sorry that MusicBee wasn't high on my list. Just in case it wasn't clear in my introduction, I used the following criteria to evaluate the players.

1. Entertainment value
3. Attractive interface
2. Ease of use
4. Stability

Quite frankly, MusicBee did not rate highly in any category. Simplicity is a virtue in my opinion. I want to be entertained. I want my computer to work for me, not the other way around. The title of this category is Best Free Music Players and Organizers not Best Free Music Players, Rippers, Burners, Converters and Organizers.
by MidnightCowboy on 15. October 2010 - 15:11  (59585)

Your other long post containing a list of features was removed. This is a comments section, if users wish to see the features for a particular product they can see these on the respective website, or here in the review.