Entertainment For Lively Minds
Media player help please
Just a request, are there any really good alternatives to either windows media player (WMP) or I-Tunes for playing and organising digital music?
I use I-tunes only for downloading podcasts, I know there are other ways to do this but most podcasts seem to send you to I-tunes so I’ve stuck with it. I don’t use I-Tunes for music because it won’t sync with my phone (my chosen mobile listening device*) so I use WMP on my pc laptop for playing mp3s etc which I can stream through my stereo.
The problem with WMP is some of my tunes are on an external hard drive and if I use WMP un-connected to this drive WMP deletes all the tunes from the library “catalogue” and then has to re-sync next time I’m on the “network”. Also a nicer interface which can be customised a bit more would be good. I do use Windows Media Centre for watching TV and recording shows but don’t fancy it for music.
So is there an alternative media player/library that can rip CD’s, recognises lots of formats, is easy/attractive to use and doesn’t involve penguins! If it was worth swapping to I’d even consider paying for it!
*The media player that Nokia produces for its phones is a worthless piece of buggy rubbish that crashed every time I tried to use it so got deleted. Avoid.
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Songbird
Have you tried Songbird? I've not used it myself, but I know a couple of people who are slavish in their enthusiasm for it.
I might try this one
I missed out being able to scrobble to last fm (I do like a chart).
Mr Husband uses Songbird
He likes it. It's browser based, rather than being a separate application. Lots of additional functionality to download.
Personally I've been using Media Monkey for a few years now and I'm very happy with it (as I've just said further down!). You can do more with MM than SB though...
Songbird is quite nice,
Songbird is quite nice, although appears to be a bit close to itunes in the way it looks and acts..(I haven't looked at it for a few months so it may have changed). It does seem to take up more memory than itunes, which is saying something...
MediaMonkey
I used to use MusicMatch but it got taken over and ruined by Yahoo (I think it was).
I recently got MediaMonkey and find it does everything I want - plays lots of different types, has playlists, rips and all that stuff. i keep my music on an external hard-drive and that works fine: it rips straight to it, but still starts up and shows you your library even if the drive itself isn't plugged in.
It does have a podcasting section, but I've never used it as I get podcasts sent straight to my phone. Couldn't agree more about the Nokia software, btw. Possibly the worst software of the decade.
when you say sent straight to your
phone doesn't that take ages and which service do you use?
Podcasts to phone
That's using wlan at home.
not much different
from syncing via a usb cable then.
Another vote for Media Monkey
It's brilliant. I love it.
Another for Mediamonkey
Great and makes keeping your files tagged and tidy a breeze (well its easier than itunes anyway).
do you use the
paid for version or the free one?
I liked it
so I bought the paid version. It was really helpful at tidying up a number of duplicate files that itunes had helped me create with its default setting. I use itunes to sync my ipods but MM to keep things tidy and sortout art and tags.
The free one is fine to be honest.
Paid
but only because I wanted to use it to sync with my Sansa. the free version is great anyway.
Winamp
Is good free and flexible
http://www.winamp.com/
Going in a different direction, I know, but
this might work with your phone http://www.doubletwist.com/dt/Home/Index.dt - [it's a free application which allows you to upload just about anything from your computer to your phone - it looks and works in a very similar way to iTunes]
which would then allow you to use iTunes for your music and as that is the sane choice this is worth a look.
think I read about this lot
in the guardian. Must admit I always found itunes a bit clunky but I think if anyone did produce one universal media player they might clean up.
Foobar2000
fits the bill:
http://www.foobar2000.org/
It is the knees of the
penguinsbees.Thanks Everyone
I am trying out Mediamonkey, seems good so far liked the way it incorporated my podcast subscriptions automatically. Only downside so far is on the free version you have to rescan folders manually rather it happening automatically when you add a new podcast etc.