Alternatives to Windows Media Player

[Sunset Shalom]

I used VLC for awhile but I switched to Foobar eventually, I forget why now but I believe it just worked better for my music listening needs.

The one thing I preferred about VLC was you could actually boost audio not just cut it which is handy for quiet live music.

Foobar worked the best with FLACs though I want to say which is what I mostly listen to these days.

 

[mikew31]

For the purposes described in the OP, BestPractice is about as good as it gets. It's small, free, and does everything Joe wants. I use it often when learning songs.

BestPractice, an open-source audio time-stretching tool for Windows

 

[Double E]

I love Media Player Classic for all of my video needs, but I think what the OP really wants is something like Audacity, a simple audio editor.

No, he has already dismissed Audacity and uses Cubase for editing... he needs a player with fast and slow speed capability which WMP has, but is looking for an alternative. Probably wants the same library and playlist management features that WMP is good for too.

 

[Sunset Shalom]

What portable audio players have you all been using?

I switched from the standard Play Music app on my android to one called BlackPlayer which is pretty sweet. The free version has 4.5 stars and has plenty of features and their is a premium version for 2.50 with extra features. I might have to try out a few random new ones with good reviews though.

 

[Bolsyo]

I'm using VLC for videos, so I get why everyone recommends it. But for audio, I think AIMP does a much better job. I have used most of the mentioned programs in this thread earlier (Winamp, Foobar2000, Audacity, Media Player Classic, VLC etc), but AIMP is just perfection. It loads files up to 250MB into RAM, which makes the playback silky smooth.

I think we have a winner right out of the gate . Quick download, and does the same job as WMP but seemingly, so far, even better. More EQ options, and lots more you can do with the speed. Going to go play with it a bit now, see what else it can do. I want the skin in the pic, too...

Thanks.

There are lots of skins you could try out if you want, and also some nice plugins:
Invalid Link Removed

 

[Joe Nerve]

Hey Joe, Any updates in this software? How do you like it?

I assume I have the latest version, so I don't know about updates. As I said, it's the clear winner for me for its both it's EQ options and the speed functions. I liked VLC too, but, yeah... this has it beat, IMO. I wonder if all those loving VLC have tried AIMP?

 

[Bolsyo]

What portable audio players have you all been using?

I switched from the standard Play Music app on my android to one called BlackPlayer which is pretty sweet. The free version has 4.5 stars and has plenty of features and their is a premium version for 2.50 with extra features. I might have to try out a few random new ones with good reviews though.

I like Poweramp (costs a few bucks, but there is a free trial available so you can try it first). It has a very nice music library/folder view, which makes it easy and fast to navigate, and a nice widget pack. It also has EQ and tone knobs (bass/treble).
Poweramp Music Player (Trial) - Android Apps on Google Play

 

[Sunset Shalom]

I haven't had any spendable cash on my phone in awhile sadly as I have no card right now.

There are a few 1-3$ audio apps I want to try out though, I need to get another debit card.

 

[Dana R Gregory]

Have you considered iTunes for Windows. I use it on my iMac and swear by it. I see sooooooo many problems with Windoze that I am glad I switched to Mac back in the 90s and never looked back.

 

[40Hz]

I gave up on Windows for my own use after Win7. Rather ironic in that I have an IT business and about 70% of my work revolves around supporting the Windows environment. The rest is BSD, Linux and Apple.

A few years ago I finally selected Linux for all my personal computing needs and the Harrison Consoles Mixbus software for my DAW. And I haven't booted Windows for anything I need to do since. Nor have I missed Windows one bit. Truth is, I feel like I'm wearing handcuffs when I'm working in Windows. Especially once Win 10 came out. There's just too much going on under the hood you have little or no knowledge about, let alone control over. Too many secrets and unknowns for my taste.

Note: Multiplatform support is super important to me. That's why I use VLC and Mixbus. Both run natively on Windows, Mac and Linux. So you're never locked into a single OS.

 

[Joe Nerve]

Ya know... I'm realizing now, that my problems all started when I did a Windows update about a month ago. Someone suggested earlier that I retrace my steps, and I'm pretty certain it was that update that caused the problems.

I like the new player better, so this is one of those instances where a door closes and a better one swings open. Yay!

 

[Matthew Fisher]

I'm really concerned for the future of Windows, in general, and have been a Win 7 hold-out for the last year. I've turned off all upgrades and have managed well, but I'm not sure where to go if 7 becomes unusable in the future for whatever reason. I can't go to apple, I gave them a go a decade ago and regretted it immediately (bad hardware issues).

 

[DavC]

Joe ; is your Windows 10 the upgrade ... or new/fresh install from disc ..?

maybe some Compatibility crap ..??

if it's a New Win 10 install ... have you used the install CD to check for errors .?

one of my computers ( laptop ) is a Win 7 to Win 10 upgrade ... when it first came out ... but now i have soundcard issues ... as in No Drivers , company out of business , so no Win 10 drivers ...

my Win Player is working OK on all 5 computers ... Xp , Win 7 , Win 10 upgrade , Win 10 new tower ...

 

[Joe Nerve]

Joe ; is your Windows 10 the upgrade ... or new/fresh install from disc ..?

maybe some Compatibility crap ..??

if it's a New Win 10 install ... have you used the install CD to check for errors .?

one of my computers ( laptop ) is a Win 7 to Win 10 upgrade ... when it first came out ... but now i have soundcard issues ... as in No Drivers , company out of business , so no Win 10 drivers ...

my Win Player is working OK on all 5 computers ... Xp , Win 7 , Win 10 upgrade , Win 10 new tower ...

Upgrade

I'm thinking too that it might have something to do with my computer being 64 bit, while I'm pretty sure WMP is 32. Or at least the one that was installed in my upgrade.

 

[40Hz]

Upgrade

I'm thinking too that it might have something to do with my computer being 64 bit, while I'm pretty sure WMP is 32. Or at least the one that was installed in my upgrade.

WMP 12 is the current version. Having a 64-bit OS and 32-bit software shouldn't be an issue of it's from Microsoft. They're very good about making sure their own stuff is backwards compatible. And removing things that are problems.

If it's still an issue, follow the diagnosis and troubleshooting procedure [Invalid or Expired Link Removed].

 

[BusyFingers]

View attachment 1036356

I tried Linux Mint for a few months last year, but finally had to go back to Windows. The lack of decent software for meeting my needs was one part.

The other was my total inability to figure out how to set it up so it didn't pile up data and become useless to run after a few months. I know there is a way to fix this, it was just beyond my understanding and all I really wanted was a simple OS to do basic things.

 

[davy4575]

Audacity is overkill. Plus you have open the songs within the program which is an added hassle. I use Cubase for recording, and could have used that to do what Audacity does...

Just wanted a simple player. I think I'm done here. Going to use AIMP. It's super simple, does everything I need, excellently, and I especially like that you can keep the various windows open while tweaking EQ and stuff. WMP had become a pain in the butt with that. Anytime I wanted to re-EQ or adjust the tempo, I had to open the menu again. This is all right there at your fingertips.

Only thing I'm bummed about is that the cool looking skin is mircroscopic . Couldn't use it. Default skin works excellently.

Thanks everyone for the input.

If youre already using cubase, why not use wavelab. all your plug ins will work

 

[40Hz]

I tried Linux Mint for a few months last year, but finally had to go back to Windows. The lack of decent software for meeting my needs was one part.

The other was my total inability to figure out how to set it up so it didn't pile up data and become useless to run after a few months. I know there is a way to fix this, it was just beyond my understanding and all I really wanted was a simple OS to do basic things.

Interesting …

I'm not sure what data you were piling up. I've set people up with Mint and they've run for years with no drama or problems using just he default installation parameters. No tweaking or customization needed. It doesn't get much simpler than Linux. It's a far more straightforward and clean system than Windows is.

But so be it. If it didn't work for you, there's other OS choices. Use whatever works best.

 

[BusyFingers]

Interesting …

I'm not sure what data you were piling up. I've set people up with Mint and they've run for years with no drama or problems using just he default installation parameters. No tweaking or customization needed. It doesn't get much simpler than Linux. It's a far more straightforward and clean system than Windows is.

But so be it. If it didn't work for you, there's other OS choices. Use whatever works best.

Perhaps that wasn't the issue, but when it was freezing up and working slow I searched and the symptoms implied there is a thing Linux users must do periodically to clear out old data. I could not for the life of me figure out how to execute the code, though, so I gave up and went back to Win 7.

 

[40Hz]

Perhaps that wasn't the issue, but when it was freezing up and working slow I searched and the symptoms implied there is a thing Linux users must do periodically to clear out old data. I could not for the life of me figure out how to execute the code, though, so I gave up and went back to Win 7.

News to me. I've been using Linux since back when it was an ubergeek exercise and Slackware Linux ruled the roost. I'm not aware of a user ever needing do that. It's possible to enable logging of debugging or process monitors, and there might be enough data collected such that it could max out a disk or something. But that's not something a regular user would know how to enable or ever need to deal with. You don't even get the disk fragmentation issues you used to run into with Windows.

But whatever. Too little info for me to know what happened on your machine. And we could speculate endlessly about what might have gone down. Suffice to say if you're happy Mand comfortable with Windows there's nothing wrong with sticking to that. I can justify screwing with this stuff because I do it for a living. People that have normal lives and real jobs shouldn't have to worry about this stuff most times. Life is too short to be fighting with technology unless you're getting paid to do it.

Or so I think anyway.