Best media player.

[KamiKatze]

Hey guys,

 

i am searching for an alternative to organize my music on my PC and smartphone.

 

I recently finished my gaming PC build, which is now my main Computer, after using my laptop for 2 years as my main driver. Back then i had an iPhone and i used iTunes to organize my music and sync it to my phone. I sorted my music in many many playlists as opposed to just import whole albums so i have put much work into my library.

 

Later i switched to a Nexus 4 and kept syncing my music over iTunes via an app called iSyncr. The reason why i did this, is obviously the amount of organizing work I've put into my iTunes already and the fact that iTunes was a program to flawlessly sync my playlists to my phone without messing up the order of the songs or anything like that.

 

Now with my new gaming PC i decided to finally cut off the last apple dependency and switch to a new media player.

 

Honestly i don't know what to pick because there are just so many!

 

 

Here are some points that i am looking for in a media player:

 

- Easy creating and managing songs in playlists

 

-sync the playlists flawlessly to a smartphone (!)

 

-import my exisiting iTunes library (optional)

 

-being overall appealing and nice to use

 

 

If you have read all of this so far i really appreciate it and i would be glad if someone has similar issues and needs for a media player or maybe has experienced/used a media player the way i want to use it and give me some advice. ;)

 

[SSOB]

VLC

[Samdb]

Foobar2000 for audio, VLC for video.

[defunkt]

Foobar2000

[glutesontheloose]

You should check out Foobar2000 for Music and watch the videos that Logan from teksyndicate made for it.

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5um6NEMZGZo

[swifty7]

avoid vlc like the plague it is.   The king of all media players is non other than Daum Pot Player.  It can't get any better.  You can tailor it to your needs in every way possible.

[LogicalDrm]

+1 for foobar.

[robobeat]

foobar, or mediamonkey.

and don't touch VLC, it rocks...

[eshbop]

Yep, foobar is leagues above anything else.

 

But can you sync to Android phones with foobar?

[KamiKatze]

Thanks you guys so far.

 

I've tried foobar and i really like it. I followed Logans vids and created my own skin and imported some of my music etc.

 

But now the question: Is there any trustworthy component for android syncing?

I've found some dubious beta component:

https://code.google.com/p/foo-androidsync/

 

As he states, his component isn't perfect nor finished.

I didn't want to try it because maybe someone knows a better component to install,

preferably something very similar as the iPod component, that Logan also showed off in one of his vids.

[R4STABAN]

Why are you dropping itunes? To satisfy the rabid anti-apple horde?

 

You said yourself it is great at organizing music. If you've got a good way to sync to android as well as ios devices then I don't see why you should make the switch.

[eshbop]

Why are you dropping itunes? To satisfy the rabid anti-apple horde?

 

You said yourself it is great at organizing music. If you've got a good way to sync to android as well as ios devices then I don't see why you should make the switch.

It slaughters your file structure, uses a database file to store song info which just causes problems, doesn't play .flac, doesn't nearly have the file sorting, naming and track editing features of other players, layout isn't customizable, etc.

 

Essentially the user experience just isn't there for me, but I understand that I'm pretty picky when it comes to these things.

[rashdanml]

But can you sync to Android phones with foobar?

You don't really need to. Most android phones support USB Mass storage mode, which allows you to just drag and drop the files into the SD card and have Google Play music sort out the rest. As long as the music is tagged properly, it'll sort itself out.

 

+1 for Foobar. If you want an all-in-one package, XBMC might be an option. Haven't used it personally.

[eshbop]

You don't really need to. Most android phones support USB Mass storage mode, which allows you to just drag and drop the files into the SD card and have Google Play music sort out the rest. As long as the music is tagged properly, it'll sort itself out.

 

+1 for Foobar. If you want an all-in-one package, XBMC might be an option. Haven't used it personally.

Yeah true, was more curious that anything, I haven't sync music for years.

[MiracleMan]

Winamp!

I use Winamp on my PC and on my Galaxy Nexus, sync works perfect. 

 

And the GUI of Winamp is less confusing than Foobar (only use Foobar for stack converting audio files though) :D

[ViperGTX88]

For music I would say Winamp is the best player out there that will do all that your asking.

[Lyons]

Why the VLC hate? It does the job of playing videos perfectly...

[obsidian1200]

I use songbird for easy syncing between my PC and android devices. It's not as feature rich as Foobar, which I use for non-android stuff, but it works in a pinch. Plus, there's an android app for Songbird, so you get a nice interface on both ends and can keep your playlists in one place.

 

For best of the best, they've already been mentioned. Foobar2000, VLC,

[Z3G]

I heard Tomahawk  is pretty good for a media player although haven't tried it by myself.  ;)

[neon]

I was in exactly the same position as you a month ago tried Foobar out but did not like it at all, then found out about Musicbee and loved it, it's newer than most old school music players like Winamp, but it doesn't lack anything you would want.  It supports any format you want, looks great and works out of the box but is still extremely customisable.  I imported my iTunes library into it and all it's playlists duplicated perfectly, it syncs great with MTP for Android devices, can't ask for more really.

It works a lot like any music player does (ie it works like iTunes).

 

There is a portable version which doesn't need installing and is great for testing it out because it doesn't leave any files about the place, if you don't like it delete the folder you extracted it to and it's gone, I'd definitely recommend checking it out.

[KamiKatze]

Why are you dropping itunes? To satisfy the rabid anti-apple horde?

 

You said yourself it is great at organizing music. If you've got a good way to sync to android as well as ios devices then I don't see why you should make the switch.

 

I had an iPhone, it was great. But after 2,5 years of apples dictatorship you want something else. :D

 

 

 

Winamp!

I use Winamp on my PC and on my Galaxy Nexus, sync works perfect. 

 

And the GUI of Winamp is less confusing than Foobar (only use Foobar for stack converting audio files though) :D

 

Good point about the GUI. After getting more into foobar i think it is indeed a bit overcomplicated. I'll give winamp a try.

 

 

I was in exactly the same position as you a month ago tried Foobar out but did not like it at all, then found out about Musicbee and loved it, it's newer than most old school music players like Winamp, but it doesn't lack anything you would want.  It supports any format you want, looks great and works out of the box but is still extremely customisable.  I imported my iTunes library into it and all it's playlists duplicated perfectly, it syncs great with MTP for Android devices, can't ask for more really.

It works a lot like any music player does (ie it works like iTunes).

 

There is a portable version which doesn't need installing and is great for testing it out because it doesn't leave any files about the place, if you don't like it delete the folder you extracted it to and it's gone, I'd definitely recommend checking it out.

 

 

Sound legit, will try it!