Media Players for PC

[Shawn]

Okay, I'm sick to death of the bloat of most media players (WMP). Any recommendations for a lightweight media player for MP3's, etc.?

[Claude]

I use Winamp Lite and Foobar 2000. I mainly listen to lossless FLAC files. I use Winamp to preview files (it loads faster), and Foobar to listen to complete albums.

Foobar is extremely powerful, with many useful functions and optional extensions. I particularly like the ASIO support (higher quality driver) and the possibility to re-tag files (or the CUE-file in case of a CD image) using FreeDB.

Don't be fooled by "uncool" looks. It's a no-frills non-commercial software, supported by many connoisseurs.

http://www.foobar2000.org

For videos I use VLC and Media Player Classic, which in terms of usability and flexibility are miles ahead of the big commercial products (Windows Media Player, Realplayer, Quicktime)

http://www.videolan.org

http://www.free-codecs.com/download/Media_Player_Classic.htm

Foobar 2000 for audio and VLC or MPC for video are the favourite media players in the "geek community", so there is lots of information available on how to use and customize them.

Edited May 16, 2007 by Claude

[mmilovan]

Another vote for foobar2000.

Small, reliable, fast and free software.

[Shawn]

Thanks for the recommendations! I downloaded Foobar and I'm really digging it.

[mikeweil]

I'd love to switch, but as the name says, foobar2000will not run with Windows 98 .....

Can't find system requirements for the two video players.