[Dony150]

I searched through this board a little and was surprized no one had asked a broad question like this recently (feel free to point me in the right direction if I'm wrong).

I was a Musicmatch user, as a few others have mentioned, and have been wandering aimlessly between players since the program's demise. Newly purchased tracks are just sitting on my computer not being played, it's a shame. I've tried Windows Media Player, Yahoo Music, Winamp, iTunes, and even my old version of Musicmatch but they all fall short one way or another. I have multiple networked Windows-based computers and a non-Apple MP3 player - does anyone have a suggestion on how to best play my music at home? how do other people manage their home music listening? Any advice appreciated, I'm about to go back to cds!

[piyushsingh]

Do you know what,a coincidnece or something else - I was trying to make a poll on this very topic but could do that because of errors past 2 days. :(

Windows media player 11 + KLM codec is the only player I use. Sometimes i also use media center in vista.

[Flashorn]

Hey Dony!1


Welcome to PCWorld Community!



OK, I also use Windows Media Player but, I also downloaded and

installed the "Vista Codec Pack" . It is a hefty file ,about 17mb , but

there is nothing I cannot play in WMP, be it Video or Music files.



You can view readers comments and download the file at :

Softpedia .

If you are to download this file , make sure you use this download link: (view pic. below),

!http://forums.pcworld.com/legacyimages/
1!



Use the= (US) - Stable link .







Now , If you are looking for a Really good media player,

I suggest that you take a good look at "MediaMonkey" .

I had this media player on my XP machine and was not disappointed.

You can Play, Organize , Convert almost any file format available.

View and download from :

MediaMonkey . Look around the site

and see for yourself ( I feel like a salesperson right now ) . But seriously,

I don't think you will be disappointed .

If you select this player , use the free version as it should have all

you will need to play , rip , burn , sinc and convert. (see pic. below)









This is just to show you that this is a free version and along side there

is also a Paid For version. Scroll down to the bottom of the page where you will

see the Free Download. You could also download from :

Download.com , just below the download link, if that makes you feel more secure.







FLASHORN. !http://forums.pcworld.com/legacyimages/
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[snorg]

They all fall short Dony, one has this feature but not the other feature.
I like realplayer plus the best, for equalizer settings and visualizations, but it costs money to get the plus, so Windows Media Player is your best bet.
No one player has every nice feature just the way you like it.
BUT stay away from quick time it will hijack your PC and its garbage.

Its the same with many other types of software, like the way i havta use 3 different programs to do my graphics work.

[lilxkid24]

I use itunes because its easily grouped plus i use an ipod and itunes only software that works with ipod

[Kilme]

I use the GOM Media Player. It does what I need it to do.

[Dony150]

I appreciate the input!



How about a media player that has a library that can play from a central source on a network? I have all my music on a shared network drive M:. I could always navigate to M: to open the files manually but I have too many songs to want to use Windows Explorer to manage. One problem I have is if I'm on computer1 and I say I like a song and give it 5 stars. Then I go to computer2 and that one doesn't retain the rating because the rating was stored locally on computer1.



How do your favorite players stack up in that kind of environment? I've seen some hardware solutions like network attached storage that is supposed to address that but I've never seen one, anyone ever use those?



Thanks

[coastie65]

I have both Windows Media Player 11 and Real Player. I mostly use Real Player though. coastie65

[Dony150]

I need to give a big thanks to Flashorn to recommending MediaMonkey. I just downloaded this player about 3 hours ago but it is plainly obvious that this is far superior to others I've tried. If you are even slightly dissatisfied with your current player I would highly recommend this.

www.mediamonkey.com/

Flashorn, why would you still be using WMP when you know of this gem! The level of customization is spectacular, From what I read in Help the Gold edition ($20) will allow auto-updating of track tags so that if you're on a network if you update a track tag that change will reflect in the libraries of other computers. (And if you didn't want to go gold they suggest the Forums for people that have had success using one shared library). Built in links take you to Amazon.com to purchase tracks (like an iTunes store). Amazon is DRM free and is what I was using to legally purchase anyway so that was a bonus. Also a bonus, offering to add my customized ratings from iTunes so I don'r lose all that work giving songs 3 or 4 stars (wish it could transfer from my old musicmatch tho...) Adding tracks went superfast. I'm able to filter and sort by many criteria. The one thing I couldn't figure out how to change (the default action when double-clicking), a quick search of their forums found the answer. Even the sound quality seems excellent (maybe I'm just excited).

I am officially with the monkey!

Edit: I have found on the MM forums a script to import ratings information from Musicmatch. I just tried it and it worked great! Gotta love the MediaMonkey

http://www.mediamonk...sicmatch+rating
Message was edited by: Dony150

[Flashorn]

Hey Dony!!



You are very welcomed!



I'm just glad I could be of service.



The reason I'm not using this "Gem" is because I have very little time

for cataloging my music. I am too busy with trying to find good and free

products. I then try them out and report my findings here at PCW.



This way I can make suggestions to members who are looking for new and

reliable programs.

One thing you must understand is that, not everyone will have the same needs and wants.

By researching the web I am able to recommend more than one product or program

that Might meet the needs of our members.



For the moment WMP does what I want it to do. When I have time, I will then place

more emphasis on organizing my collection which, by the way , is all backed up.



One more place that might interest you is Gizmo's Tech Support alert .

There, you will find a bevy of utilities for all of your needs. All Free.

One note of caution: Be very careful that what you choose to download does match your OS's needs.



Enjoy!





FLASHORN. !http://forums.pcworld.com/legacyimages/
1!

[swccman]

VLC totally rules, and it has great a server api as well. Winamp is cool too, any thing but M$ Media Player

[cold]

I would have to agree MediaMonkey Pro is excellent, and it handles my 50Gb music library with ease and the search is fast and it handles podcast subscriptions very well. The music folder monitoring is excellent as is the id3 editing features. It may be a blessing in disguise that it is not the best video player. Having tried iTunes (ugh!), Songbird (slow, crash happy, very beta feel), VLC (crash happy, but pretty decent), I generally use WM + Klite codec pack for videos and Picasa for pictures. MediaMonkey will also do a timed shutdown so you can play yourself to sleep, musically of course!



ov

[swccman]

vlc, videolan client rules for video, and it does well for audio although it has very sophitacted streaming capabilities for video. I now use it under XP Pro although I started with this little miracle player under Linux.