There is a pretty high number of media players out there for download, but unfortunately, the majority of computer users only use the mainstream ones. Players like Windows Media Player, and iTunes obviously. Of course, Winamp and VLC are pretty mainstream now too.

I’ve tried a few media players, but I’ve never had one that was really “it”. “It” meaning the ultimate media player. Of course nothing is perfect, but alot of these players have issues that are so ridiculously obvious that I’m not sure why they are always avoided. Windows Media Player for example doesn’t support very many codecs (but then again, there are a good bit of media players that don’t) and it’s also pretty bloated. The user interface, especially on the latest version (I think 10?) is pretty out of whack as well. By that I mean it just isn’t convenient. It’s much more of a pain than it should be. There is really nothing good about WMP that I can say at all. Same deal with iTunes as well. RealPlayer, aside from the easy CD burning capabilities, has the same exact problems as WMP does, only worse; even more bloated. It’s been a good while since I’ve used iTunes though, so I can’t say much about that, but I do remember that I didn’t like it. Most likely because of the user interface.

Alot of people consider VLC to be the best media player out there right now, mainly because of the very simplistic UI and the fact that it supports most popular codecs out there right now. I’ll agree with that part. It’s very good with the UI (despite looking bland) and the amount of file formats it will support. My problem with VLC is its performance. Compared to other media players when using features such as the equalizer, VLC falls flat on its face. I cannot stand listening to music on VLC unless the EQ is set to flat. Luckily, I have an analog EQ, but not everyone does. VLC does do video pretty well, however some formats I’ve noticed run horribly compared to other players. MKV files, at least on my computer (which isn’t really a bad machine at all) are extremely choppy.

I don’t really have a problem in particular with Winamp. I just want something new. Winamp has been virtually the same for around 10 or so years now. Sure they’ve added modern skins, DSP plugins which can be pretty cool, etc. but, it isn’t a universal player still. I’m not sure why. The interface is by far the best UI I’ve seen on a media player, and it always has been. It’s a VERY fast process to make a playlist on Winamp, and no media library hassle is required. At the moment, I use Winamp as my main music player.

For video, I use SM Player. So far, SM Player has been excellent for video. Great quality, no lag at all, and will play pretty much everything I throw at it so far. No complaints there. I have yet to try it for audio, but it doesn’t support LastFM! I want my LastFM! That is also a main issue I have with alot of players. I’m a LastFM addict. I’ve got to have that feature.

I haven’t tried it extensively yet, but Foobar2000 seems pretty nice, and has alot of potential for improvement, since it is open source. The interface is pretty simple, but it still has the media library thing that I despise. Maybe that’s just a personal preference. Who knows?

So yeah, there’s not really much else to say besides the common complaints. Of course there are other players that were not mentioned, like Adobe Media Player and Songbird, but the main point of this whole article is for you guys to answer the questions: What media player(s) do you use? Any particular reason why you use them? What do you think is the best out there? Do you know of any that were not mentioned in this?