Audio Player of Choice

[vonn]

...what do you think of AIMP2...

Of course, each player will do something better the others, and something worse. That being said, I think AIMP2 is a great choice for an audio player. I actually use the portable version on my thumb-drive. I'm a HUGE fan of it's EQ's quality. A fully customizable 18 band EQ that works well beats just about every competitor and can really stand as AIMP2's strong point. It can be compatible with plug-ins for WinAmp, which I've heard can really enhance the sound. It has great play-list support, and if you're looking for a play-list based player, it takes my pick. One thing I didn't like, and what stops me from using it more, is the support for library based music collections. Especially horribly unorganized ones (read: mine). Another thing I didn't like was the lack of information about how it decodes and encodes audio streams. I like to know why my tracks sound good, so I can build upon the developers ideas and enhance them with a balanced EQ.

a) play-list based player

I'd have to say AIMP2 for play-list based. And as much as I love WinAmp, the reason it didn't get my vote for this category is for the problems it gave me with FLAC playback. For some reason it would crash, lag, or just say the file was "unreadable". On their forums, I was told to convert it to MP3 or WAV. That's not a fix to the problem, that's a slap in the face to a lossless user.

b) library-based player

Although people might be expecting to see JetAudio here, I'm actually giving my library-based award to MediaMonkey. What a great player. Auto and customizable MP3 and Replay Gain. A full featured EQ. Plug-in support that can directly effect audio playback in a good way. It's just an overall, great sounding player. And out of any player I've ever used, it takes Library support to a whole new level.

JetAudio isn't my pick for either type because it's neither. JetAudio, pre version 6 or 7 (can't remember which), never used to be JetAudio Media Center. It had the look and feel of AIMP2, with the quality and customization of BBE ME and ViVa. It had easy smart playlists, and what it called "albums", making it both a wonderful library and play-list type player. You can still get it back to the look and feel of the older versions with some fixing and fiddling, but it's not all that easy. In my opinion, when Cowon decided to try take JetAudio mainstream with the "Media Center" update, they killed the chance it had at being taken seriously by Audiophiles.

AIMP2:
http://www.aimp2.us/index.php

WinAmp:
http://www.winamp.com/

MediaMonkey:
http://www.mediamonkey.com/

JetAudio:
http://www.jetaudio.com/

[safeguy]

@vonn

What a nice surprise....it seems like we both favor the same applications for audio, despite my lack of knowledge in this "field". I just use whatever I 'feel' is good for me. I've used Mediamonkey before and I admit I was impressed by it as a library-based player. I like how it organizes my music files into different categories - genre, singer, etc..it didn't felt 'limited' unlike others I've tried. The only reason why I'm no longer using it now on my PC is that I don't have a large collection of music files on it unlike I used to have and that I needed something quicker to play my music (MediaMonkey takes some time to start up on my PC)

On the other hand, I'm definitely not a fan of WinAmp - it simply crashes on me often..I didn't even get to evaluate it properly.

But do you know of a music player that is good in both categories (playlist and library)...something like WMP (which I think sucks) but way lot better??? And what do you think of the discussion here:

http://www.techsupportalert.com/cont...organizers.htm

Have you tried Jaangle?

[vonn]

On the other hand, I'm definitely not a fan of WinAmp - it simply crashes on me often..I didn't even get to evaluate it properly.

I'm glad I'm not the only one if did that too

But do you know of a music player that is good in both categories (playlist and library)...something like WMP (which I think sucks) but way lot better???

This is why I use JetAudio. As a library player that turned into a play-list based, it ends up doing both very well out of the box. I don't find any player will do that well without some configuration. That being said, I don't know of any player, JetAudio included, that will organize my music and play it back to my standards without major configuration. Most people won't have the pet-peeve I do when it comes to audio, so that point will be completely moot though.

It's all about who's using the program and what their audio needs are. Can they tell the difference between a 128 and 320 MP3? Most people can't, and don't care either. I'd suggest any media played that is library based but has play-list support. Amarok, Exaile, FooBar2000, anything like that.

If music quality really matters to you, and anything under a 320 kbs MP3 makes your ears bleed, chances are you'll be doing a lot configuring just to get the sound right, so some more to get the look and feel right shouldn't be too much of a hassle. For that person, I would suggest using JetAudio. Although MediaMonkey also has playlist support through M3U and PLS files if you're looking for a good alternitive.

And what do you think of the discussion here:

http://www.techsupportalert.com/cont...organizers.htm

Have you tried Jaangle?

I tried Teen Spirit a while ago. I didn't know it was still an active project. This calls for a review!

Okay. I tried the portable version of Jaangle and found the same reasons not to like it as when I used it while it was called Teen Spirit. To start off, it takes FOREVER to load music into the library. I used a folder in my collection to load in 5000 songs and it took almost 20 minutes to load in. If I were to add my whole collection, I'd be sitting here for over an hour. Okay, people without unusually large music collections (read: almost everyone) will have nothing to worry about.

Once it loads the files it does a very good job organizing the files based on it's tags. But if you're like me and you use file names instead of tags, get prepared for a world of hassle. I noticed the problems when it started auto-fetching album art for me. I've never seen such a bad "auto album art" feature. Yet again, most people will have their music correctly tagged and won't have any problem.

Okay, so I've got my music organized and looking pretty and want to play it. This is where I'm met with something I can't stand. A 3-band EQ that has no savable settings. If I'm wrong, please point me to where I can save and gain more bands on my EQ. Now, I can be picky at times, but if you hand me 3 bands that I can't even save and call it an EQ, I consider that to be an insult. Yes, it has a half-decent 32bit playback with a flat setting. Yes, that's about the best you'll get from it.

The majority of people won't take any of the issues I've noted here to be a concern and will love this program. The most I can say is, try it for yourself. Worst case: you spent 20 minutes and had a delete the folder for the program.

I realize I find myself in the niche here, as my music collection is vast and horribly organized. But that's how I like it, and I'm able to use it that way.

If I had my choice, I'd still do what I did years ago and use the bigger, and in this case better, programs it appears to be a clone of. Amarok (pre-2.0) or Exaile. They each have the exact same look and feel, and do everything very similar. But the underlying components are better. Although Linux based, each can run on Windows, either through the unofficial packages or using some type of emulation.

Amarok:
http://amarok.kde.org/

Exaile:
http://www.exaile.org/

FooBar2000:
http://www.foobar2000.org/

Jaangle:
http://www.jaangle.com/

Teen Spirit:
http://teenspirit.artificialspirit.com/