So... forgive me. I need a good music player for Windows.

forkbomb · #1 20th November 2007, 03:21 AM

I know I should refer this to a Windows forum, but honestly I'm finding people who use Linux primarily often know more about Windows than people who think they're really good with computers because they know Windows. I read the Windows manual, and it told me to ask the Linux gurus.

Plus, you guys are more likely to have your fingers on the open source pulse, even for Windows, right? (I hope.)

I'm booted into Windows XP right now for some homework. I've actually managed to find some good open source software for most intents and purposes (even a good virtual workspace tool), so Windows feels as little like Windows as possible, but there's a big gaping hole (besides that I can't find a good OSS Firewall - no pun intended).

I can't find a decent music player for Windows to save my proverbial soul. One that scrobbles, one that handles a big library (and search/filtering), and one that has playlist support. Amarok-style queuing would be capital. Though usually when I want to listen to specific music I'll run a filter of the whole library, but having playlists occasionally helps. Let's see, I have tried (open source and otherwise)...

iTunes - memory hooooooggg. Don't know if you can scrobble? Either way, it's too much of a hog even for my 2GB system.
musikCube - it's okay, but no native scrobbling support. Apparantly there was once a plugin for scrobbling but I can't find it anywhere. Think it's been taken offline.
Songbird - looks great for being devel software, but it's not far enough along yet to be my main player (e.g. memory leaks, crashes, community isn't very robust yet). It lacks native scrobbling and whether there's a scrobbling plugin for a given devel version is a question determined by the winds.
WinAmp - love XMMS, but it doesn't work well on my desktop box (too much music to mess around with playlists all the time) but never could get into Winamp. Especially with large amounts of music, when making lots of playlists seems tedious.

And some others that are evading me right now. Anybody have any suggestions? I "need" to scrobble, but don't mind if that comes from a plugin or natively. It has to be nimble at handling a large library (another reason iTunes is out) - I'm currently scraping 50GB in mp3 and .ogg with a handful of FLACs.

Sigh... maybe I'll have to wait for the Windows port of Amarok.

***bob*** · #2 20th November 2007, 03:27 AM

Just curious, but since you're dual-booting anyway and like the Windows options, why not stick with them for that purpose? Sure, you can try any number of different open-source music options, but if you're not happy with them, then by all means use Windows for that purpose. It's a computer and just different OS's after all. Use what works for you!

forkbomb · #3 20th November 2007, 03:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bob

Just curious, but since you're dual-booting anyway and like the Windows options, why not stick with them for that purpose? Sure, you can try any number of different open-source music options, but if you're not happy with them, then by all means use Windows for that purpose. It's a computer and just different OS's after all. Use what works for you!

I think I'm missing the point.

I'm grudgingly using Windows to game and for homework (sometimes I need MS Office, and I'd rather not emulate). When I'm doing that (when I have to), I don't have a good music player.

Besides, WMP sucks. Don't even get me started. (Memory hog, DRM bull.)

Everything else on my Windows install is mostly covered with some decent OSS that makes the Windows ride less bumpy. But no media player.

schwim · #4 20th November 2007, 03:36 AM

1) Amarok states that it will never port to Win, so unless a third party picks it up, you're going to want to find another player.

2) Quintessential Player is the one I used for years before moving to linux. If you download their dev release, you'll get the full media player they're working on and not just the smaller player. Either one is pretty dandy.

thanks,
json

forkbomb · #5 20th November 2007, 03:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by schwim

1) Amarok states that it will never port to Win, so unless a third party picks it up, you're going to want to find another player.

I know they said that, but I was under the impression that some time later the devs said it was in the works. What's this about then?
http://amarok.kde.org/blog/archives/...n-Windows.html

***bob*** · #6 20th November 2007, 03:40 AM

Sorry, I didn't catch it correctly first read. You don't like Windows media players! Ah...been years since I've booted into Windows so no idea on that one. I think I was looking for a decent way to transfer my 8-tracks back then. Sorry! I'll let others give you good info. Outta here....

forkbomb · #7 20th November 2007, 03:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bob

Sorry, I didn't catch it correctly first read. You don't like Windows media players! Ah...been years since I've booted into Windows so no idea on that one. I think I was looking for a decent way to transfer my 8-tracks back then. Sorry! I'll let others give you good info. Outta here....

Ah. okay. Hence my confusion. I grudgingly use WMP only to sync my mp3 player. It's the only player I've found that doesn't hose the format on the drive.

schwim · #8 20th November 2007, 03:45 AM

I'm not sure, since I don't have any inside info. I guess you can stack up your music in the corner of your room and wait for it's release.... or you can download another player if if you don't feel like waiting

thanks,
json

mistergoodbytes · #9 20th November 2007, 03:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bob

Sorry, I didn't catch it correctly first read. You don't like Windows media players! Ah...been years since I've booted into Windows so no idea on that one. I think I was looking for a decent way to transfer my 8-tracks back then. Sorry! I'll let others give you good info. Outta here....

When I boot into Windows, I use Winamp. If you read the docs for Linux's XMMS player, they baldly state that they ripped off Winamp's structure, skin, functions, etc. In addition to Winamp being a really good (and free) player, when you use XMMS in Linux, you'll see that the two operate exactly alike.

forkbomb · #10 20th November 2007, 05:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mistergoodbytes

When I boot into Windows, I use Winamp. If you read the docs for Linux's XMMS player, they baldly state that they ripped off Winamp's structure, skin, functions, etc. In addition to Winamp being a really good (and free) player, when you use XMMS in Linux, you'll see that the two operate exactly alike.

I know. The problem is XMMS only works for me on my laptop where I have hardly any music. For my massive library, playlists based on directories don't work for me because my library is so disorganized.

I don't know. Maybe I'll try it again.

kona0197 · #11 20th November 2007, 05:35 AM

Say what you will about WMP. It plays everything I through at it. I have yet to find a Linux player that plays as many formats as WMP.

I use WMP 9 and 10. I have yet to see anything bad or DRM related come from playing what i need it to play.

forkbomb · #12 20th November 2007, 07:01 AM

Mostly it's just that I never could get myself to like the interface. Just not particularly intuitive.

PatMcLJr · #13 20th November 2007, 02:28 PM

I'll through in here but I dout if it will do much for you at 50GB, maybe a seperate application to handle that and brake into collections in a data base?

I like foobar2000
http://www.foobar2000.org/

schwim · #14 20th November 2007, 02:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PatMcLJr

I like foobar2000
http://www.foobar2000.org/

Man, that's a nice looking app. That would be my choice on Windows, I think.

Thanks for sharing that one!

thanks,
json

forkbomb · #15 20th November 2007, 03:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PatMcLJr

I'll through in here but I dout if it will do much for you at 50GB, maybe a seperate application to handle that and brake into collections in a data base?

I like foobar2000
http://www.foobar2000.org/

Well, when I say "can handle my 50GB of music" I don't necessarily mean something that renames and automatically organizes my music, iTunes style. In fact, I never use those things. I just need an app that doesn't get confused and/or slow and chunky when I import a large library (like iTunes does).

Thanks for the tip. I've heard of foobar2000 and I couldn't think of its name. Been meaning to try it.

EDIT:

Okay, I've only been trying it for a bit, but it looks perfect! Except the Audioscrobbler plugin isn't working.

Oh, the humanity! So close.