How are you listening to what you are listening to?

Ryzza5 · July 17, 2012

What program do you use to listen to music on your PC (if you actually do that)? Are you completely boring and use Windows Media Player? Are you a crowd-following iTunes user? Or are you using something a bit more fruitylicious?

I don't actually listen to music that much on my PC, since my library has been pretty stagnant since I stopped using LimeWire, etc years ago back when I went to school. Actually I don't listen to music that much at all besides when I'm in the car. I do play songs on the digital piano though.

In any case, I've always avoided programs that mess with my files, or attempt to 'organise' them (or organise ripped audio from CDs). I've already organised them to my liking in Windows Explorer so that I can easily drag'n'drop files onto other devices without needing another program, or easily accessing them via networked devices. For that reason I've had VLC media player as my default app for more than a few years since it plays everything, doesn't install codecs onto the PC (which can cause other programs like Nero or Windows DVD maker to crash), and it's simple yet powerful (nerdy features such as allowing me to stream music or videos from my phone to the PC easily over WiFi using the VLC android app). Also like how it stays out of the way and doesn't command a large portion

Thinking of trying some other enthusiast apps out there so seeing what you all use and recommend, or perhaps you might be interested to trying something else as well.

A quick search has revealed the following contenders (I remember some of these names from yeeeeears ago so I was a little surprised to see they're still being developed:

Audacious - http://audacious-media-player.org/

aTunes - http://www.atunes.org/

Media Monkey - http://www.mediamonkey.com/

foobar 2000 - http://www.foobar2000.org/

Haven't tried any of these yet but will have a go. Ideally I'm after something that allows me to easily manage separate music libraries. i.e. I might have separate folders for classical, instrumental, trance, and commercial music and it gets annoying when an old song interrupts a good random list of newer fast-paced stuff (which is why up 'til now I've had everything in separate folders and just dragged those folders onto VLC when I want to play them). I've never really been a fan of setting up playlists either (at least spending more than 10 seconds creating one).

iNotACactus · July 17, 2012

I use iTunes.

randomsox10 · July 17, 2012

ITunes cause it's easier to download songs straight onto my iPhone

Ryzza5 · July 17, 2012

Knew this would happen... :fp:

MephistoRacing · July 17, 2012

Winamp, tons of skins (great UIs), easy to use, etc. etc. Most media players are essentially the same, I just prefer Winamp for its small mode, which makes it turn into just a small bar with the basic buttons, and because it works with a lot of crap e.i., tons of codecs, everything has a Winamp plugin, etc.

Ozzmcom · July 17, 2012

wmp works just fine, it can do all the things you said above without crashing.

The Compensator · July 17, 2012

I'm boring, because I use Windows Media Player. Also I'm crowd-following, because I use the stupid iTunes for downloading songs to my iPod and I have BS Player for watching US sitcoms with czech subtitles.

I don't know what's so bad about WMP.

hassan1995 · July 17, 2012

Youtube or my phones media player :mhmm:

superhyper · July 17, 2012

iTunes because iPhone

Andreas¹ · July 17, 2012

Spotify. Invention of the century. Couldn't live without it.

iLLGT3 · July 17, 2012

iTunes & Foobar for FLAC

Ozzmcom · July 17, 2012

Spotify. Invention of the century. Couldn't live without it.

Pink floyd, peter gabriel , Johnny Van Zant, Most Lynyrd Skynyrd releases, Tommy Bolin, Bernie Mardsen these are just some of the names aren't on spotify. I'll let you know about more major artists once they come to my mind.

Andreas¹ · July 17, 2012

Pink floyd, peter gabriel , Johnny Van Zant, Most Lynyrd Skynyrd releases, Tommy Bolin, Bernie Mardsen these are just some of the names aren't on spotify. I'll let you know about more major artists once they come to my mind.

MP3. Drag and drop. Done.

Camel · July 17, 2012

iTunes as it picks up my media server straight away and it's easy to find the music I want to listen to.

Camel · July 17, 2012

iTunes as it picks up my media server straight away and it's easy to find the music I want to listen to.

Soundwave · July 17, 2012

I'm using iTunes these days. :)

TIMELESS · July 17, 2012

Spotify. Invention of the century. Couldn't live without it.

Agreed. Under £10 a month and I can even download it all for my iPod with no additional costs! :D

iTunes as it picks up my media server straight away and it's easy to find the music I want to listen to.

*to :cheeky:

TIMELESS · July 17, 2012

Spotify. Invention of the century. Couldn't live without it.

Agreed. Under £10 a month and I can even download it all for my iPod with no additional costs! :D

iTunes as it picks up my media server straight away and it's easy to find the music I want to listen to.

*to :cheeky:

Camel · July 17, 2012

Agreed. Under £10 a month and I can even download it all for my iPod with no additional costs! :D

*to :cheeky:

:oook:

Ozzmcom · July 17, 2012

MP3. Drag and drop. Done.

why bother with spotify in the first place if you're going to drag your library into it.

Every time I try to find a song I like spotify doesn't feature it. This is however a UK issue, US version has more available songs in it.

Andreas¹ · July 17, 2012

why bother with spotify in the first place if you're going to drag your library into it.
Every time I try to find a song I like spotify doesn't feature it. This is however a UK issue, US version has more available songs in it.

I haven't dragged my library in to it. Even if I did, I would then have all my stuff in one place which is more convenient than having to use multiple programs. I use it the way it was intended, I don't care about 99% of the bands that aren't in. The only person I care about is Peter Gabriel and I dragged him on my playlist.

The questions asked was what I use to listen to my music and I answered, you don't have to agree.

Lucess · July 17, 2012

I was using AIMP3, but I need to drag & drop it from Windows Explorer, which doesnt sort it in Genres which is pretty annoying...

so I´m using iTunes and I am happy with it.

Also, because of my iPod I need iTunes and sorting my music in Win Explorer and iTunes at the same time is too much work for me and I forget to add new songs in iTunes or Win Explorer which leads to one of them lacking my new songs.

Sure, iTunes sucks a lot of RAM but with TuneUp Utilities it is disabled when I don´t need it :D