Digital music: I'm stuck in picking the best media player... help please...
I'm stuck in picking the best media player... help please...
by computer_genius - 3/18/05 9:28 AMI have Windows Media Player 10, MediaMonkey 2.3 Gold, and ZoomPlayer Standard. I like iTunes but it's a memory hog and it requires QuickTime. If anybody knows how I could get iTunes without QuickTime, please tell me how. And about the media player issue, what's the best? Do I already have the best or is there something better? I have tried JetAudio, WinAmp, iTunes, QuickTime, MediaMonkey, Windows Media Player, ZoomPlayer, and RealOne Player. I only kept Windows Media Player, MediaMonkey, and ZoomPlayer. Are there any suggestions? I would really appreciate them. 
(NT) WinAmp.
by R. Proffitt
- 3/18/05 1:22 PM
In reply to: I'm stuck in picking the best media player... help please... by computer_genius
Media Player
by dragonstorm - 4/1/05 3:58 PM In reply to: I'm stuck in picking the best media player... help please... by computer_geniusI like the MusicMatch player better then any of the others I have tried. Don't know about your itunes problems because I get all my music right there at MusicMatch. Good luck. I hope you figure it out.
Which Media Player to use...
by johnpriore - 4/2/05 12:43 AM In reply to: I'm stuck in picking the best media player... help please... by computer_geniusGenius:
If I'm not mistaken, there is NO WAY to get iTunes without QuickTime. I like KaZaA lite, version 2.7.
If you have an MS operating system, I recommend staying with the Windows Media Player, as I did. I downloaded one song from iTunes. I am able to listen to it ONLY IN QUICKTIME WHILE ON MY COMPUTER, and although iTunes provides one with the option of a so-called choice of format assocaition (such as Windows Media Player, it failed to work for me.
In other words, using the option to associate Windows Media Player with a downloaded iTunes song so that one can listen to the song in Windows FAILS TO WORK.
My inability to convert the iTunes song into Windows Media Player format has not only hampered---but precluded---my ability to listen to that song on a CD that I would be able to burn suing the popular Roxio (version 7, I might add) software. Um that would be the CD I'd like to have for listening pleasure in my car or stereo, for example!
iTunes, in my opinion, is best used for listening pleasure ONLY WHEN ON YOUR COMPUTER, or perhaps if your computer in an Apple, or quite possibly if you're using an iPod, which I do not own and know nothing about. Like you, I am not crazy about QuickTime, perhaps larely due to my greater familiarity and subsequent bias toward Window Media Player.
Good luck and I hope this helps.
-JP
iTunes
by mrmacfixit - 4/2/05 11:21 AM
In reply to: Which Media Player to use... by johnpriore
QuickTime is the engine used to drive the iTunes software playback and is also used to navigate the DRM encoding on a purchased track. If QuickTime launches separately when you choose to play a track from iTunes, then something got set incorrectly during the installation process. Nobody ever claimed that you could take a track, purchased at the iTunes store, and convert it to WMA format. You cannot play purchased tracks using anything other than iTunes, or the iPod, because of the DRM that is encoded in the track. However, you can burn this track to a CD and the DRM is then removed. The same thing happens with a track purchased from another store. The track, in WMA format, is protected and only certain players support the playback of protected WMA files. I don't recall seeing the option to associate MP4 files, purchased tracks in iTunes are MPEG-4, with WMP. I may have missed it but I didn't know that WMP could play MPEG-4. Tracks you import from your own CD's can be any of a number of formats. Check out the Import Preferences.
You should be able to burn a CD, regardless of whether the track is a purchased one or not, directly from iTunes. As long as the track is in the library, you should have little difficulty. Millions are doing it already. It appears that sometimes there may be a driver issue, with the CD Burner drivers, but this is usually solved when the latest version of Roxio is installed. It's drivers take over and it all works.
Replacements
by Kamasutra - 5/10/05 10:52 PM In reply to: I'm stuck in picking the best media player... help please... by computer_geniusIn my experience, Media Player Classic is the best media player out there (as long as you have the needed codecs). I've never used iTunes, but I do use Quicktime Alternative instead of Quicktime, which allows streaming and lets MPC play anything QT can. Also, while you didn't ask for this, Real Alternative is another great codec to replace an unneeded media player. Finally, another popular media player not on your list is BSplayer, but I still prefer MPC.
Foobar/MPC/FFDSHOW/QT, Real Alternative
by Bryanhoop - 5/12/05 12:34 AM In reply to: I'm stuck in picking the best media player... help please... by computer_geniusFirst, remove all your media players. Next, download FFDShow from sourceforge to handle all your video codecs. Install Quicktime Alternative and Real Alternative, and install Media Player Classic that comes with either of those installers. Open media player classic, go to options, formats, and associate mpc with all video types. Next, download foobar2000, and associate it with all audio types and head on over to the hydrogenaudio forums to learn how to create a lean, completely customized media player that fits YOUR needs.
Re: FFDShow
by - 5/12/05 5:23 AM In reply to: Foobar/MPC/FFDSHOW/QT, Real Alternative by BryanhoopI advise novice users to NOT use FFDshow. Some of the default filters FFDshow uses will have unsatisfactory results on some systems, or even worsen the quality of playback performance. It can even cause other programs not to work properly. Here is one example I myself have experienced:
I have a Sony Hi-MD recorder, which uses the SonicStage software to convert MP3's into Sony's format and put them on the player. Well Sonicstage uses some sort of DirectShow trick to code from MP3 to ATRAC3. And SonicStage expects the decoding of the MP3 to be done in 16-bit, as Windows normally does.
Enter DirectShow. By default, DirectShow decodes MP3 at a higher bit depth, either 24 or 32, I forget... and this makes SonicStage choke on some MP3's - it will encode up to a certain percent of a track, let's say 74%, and then just sit there.
Yes, but....
by Bryanhoop - 5/12/05 12:17 PM In reply to: Re: FFDShow bySourceforge has the older *better* versions of FFDshow, not the new ones with the cute installer and bad components. I have never had a problem with this version.
Another Option:
If you want an all-in-one solution you could try VLC (VideoLan) player.
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