Good free media player?

Discussion in 'other software & services' started by Comp01, May 11, 2004.

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  1. Comp01

    Comp01 Registered Member

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    I want a good, spyware-free media player, but, can't seem to find one (I despise Windows Media Player.) So I am wondering, what are some of the best ones?
     
  2. dog

    dog Guest

    I like and use iTunes! :D it's free and I think spyware free ... Scans haven't found anything.

    See this thread .. iTunes or Windows MP Link has screen shots too! :) plus a link to the Apple download page

    HTH

    dog - *puppy*
     
  3. Detox

    Detox Retired Moderator

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    Hmmm well I use a slightly older version of WinAmp I got from a site that Prince Serendip once linked to... I'll hafta think for a day to remember since I don't see it in my favorites list!!
     
  4. Weber

    Weber Registered Member

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  5. root

    root Registered Member

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    I've been a WinAmp user for years but never could get it to play the RA files on the BBC website.
    I finally tried Cowan JetAudio and I love it. It sounds so much better that Winamp and Windows Media player. Plays RA files better than Real Player.
    JetAudio has a little bit of a learning curve but I do believe it is the best Media player around right now. I have tried most and never found any better than WinAmp until I found JetAudio.
    http://www.jetaudio.com/
     
  6. Mullyman

    Mullyman Registered Member

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    I have tried and experimented with mostly every media player available and i have found this one to be the over all best...it"s called Quintessential ...give it a try...you won"t be disappointed :cool:

    Quintessentia Playerl
     
  7. Detox

    Detox Retired Moderator

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    Ah-ha - I do believe there was a flurry of recommendation for that Q player not long ago, although I forgot to try it out myself :rolleyes:
     
  8. HandsOff

    HandsOff Registered Member

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    I took a look at the Q site linked to above...

    I can't believe I just downloaded yet another media player...

    ...but it sounds so good!
     
  9. MakoFusion

    MakoFusion Registered Member

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  10. Mullyman

    Mullyman Registered Member

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  11. Stro

    Stro Registered Member

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    I was poking around last week and ran across a PC Magazine's Best of 2004 website (you'll have to Google it to find it, I didn't record the address). PC Magazine picked these two media players as the best in this order:
    1) Quintessential Player (www.quinnware.com), and
    2) Jet Player (www.jetaudio.com)
    I don't have any experience with either of these; I'm just passing along some information.
    Regards,
    Stro
     
  12. rdsu

    rdsu Registered Member

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    Audio: JetAudio
    Video: Mv2Player
     
  13. notageek

    notageek Registered Member

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    I use Q player. I like it.
     
  14. G Man

    G Man Registered Member

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    For audio I'm now sold on Q... for video I use BSplayer, I'm very happy with both.

    Still ready to check out other video media players if you have recommendations.
     
  15. HandsOff

    HandsOff Registered Member

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    Hi, this is a psuedo-suggestion regarding video:

    There is a product called "PowerDVD" by Cyberlink. I have run it up the flagpole once or twice, but there has been a dearth of salutors! There are things i don't much like about it, in fact it is not installed at the moment, however, when it comes to playing DVD video on your computer it is so much better than the rest that I have seen that I cannot recommend another.

    The complaints I have heard seem silly to me. The program is too big and the like...well, considering the performance I'd expect it to be bigger.

    My personal complaints i take more seriously. I have two free versions, but they are so stripped down as to be worthless. I have a full version, and it has been very hard for me to compare features of my version, against various others. When I uninstalled it, it left a trail of program parts a mile wide that i suspect will be with me for the life of this computer. And, for me a major annoyance that it is very difficult to get the program to run without connecting to the internet for one reason or another. It is very much like M$ Office, or Media Player, in this respect.

    what is cool about it? well, it actually functions like a dvd player! you can scan at many different speeds both forwards and backwards. It can bookmark your place in the movie and restart were you left off (like a real DVD player) You have several zoom choices. This is sort of passe these days but it does a very good voice pitch adjustment, so that you can understand dialog in slow motion very clearly. It gives you many intellegent choices for screen size options to make a movie full screen w/o much distortion. It does something with color correction that you simply will not believe until you do a split screen comparison. Sound you ask? I have sort of paired down to the traditional 6 channel analog out for sound on my home theater, and have lost interest in surround for the computer, though i do recall that my PowerDVD version seemed to offer 8 channel sound...anyway, it should provide more sound capabilities than most.

    Why do they have to take a great product and make it suck? Or should we forgive a little sucking? I don't know the answer, but to make a long story short...If you watch DVDs on the computer, and you have the primo hardware set-up...then you could easily forget the drawbacks.

    Agree/Disagree?

    -HandsOff

    (heh, heh, heh...this sort of looks like a separate thread...i do ramble...)
     
    Last edited: May 31, 2004
  16. optigrab

    optigrab Registered Member

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    I agree (along with the majority of Winamp users) that v3 was pretty awful. I stuck with 2.95 until a few months ago, and I've got to say that I'm happy with v5.

    Have tried Q player and thought it was great - perhaps faster starting than Winamp 5 - but other than that I prefer the more "traditional" interface of Winamp. I'm intrigued by the recommendations for JetAudio and will give that a try.
     
  17. Rainwalker

    Rainwalker Registered Member

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    I thought i would check out Quintessential after reading this and then went to shoutcast to try it.....huge buffering problem...a few seconds of music and then 3 or 4 times that time waiting for buffer load...any ideas :doubt: Also it is really slowing my browser down...this may be due to constant buffer loading. Set it up for 56k
     
  18. Rainwalker

    Rainwalker Registered Member

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    Loaded Jet but same problem with buffering....i use to run Netscape Radio Plus but they got wrapped up with AOL so i dropped them....too bad as i liked it and had no buffering problems....anyone have any thoughts on what i might do to correct buffering......OS XP Home
     
  19. Rainwalker

    Rainwalker Registered Member

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    One more thing ....the Q player wants to install a globel shell hook....now why would it want to do that...and is it needed and is it safe to allow it should i get this buffering thing worked out
     
  20. Mullyman

    Mullyman Registered Member

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    Well for your buffer problem it could be caused by numerous things.... shoutcast is affiliated with Winamp...using Winamp might solve your problem[but i doubt it]maybe you have to many things running at once...i have never experienced any problems with the Q player...as for globel shell hook..see below :cool:

    Globel Shell Hook
     
  21. Rainwalker

    Rainwalker Registered Member

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    Thanks for getting back Mullyman but that thread does'nt really say much....still don't know if it's a good idea to allow the hooks.....also it is not the heart of the problem as my puter has the same problem with Windows Media Player Classic....
     
  22. Rainwalker

    Rainwalker Registered Member

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    Had a thought....should i have loopback ( 127.0.0.1 ) allowed as a UDP rule ?
    Right now i have it blocked....... except for mail
     
  23. Paranoid2000

    Paranoid2000 Registered Member

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    Rainwalker has opened a thread for his issue at the Outpost forum - if anyone would like to make a suggestion, please consider doing so there to avoid taking this thread off-topic.

    Going back on topic, I would second the recommendation for FooBar2000. It's free, mostly open source, has a minimalist UI (no skinning, which means it works better with Windows themes and global skinning programs like WindowBlinds) and the ReplayGain feature can be handy for those who have tracks recorded at differing volumes. The only downsides are it performs poorly with very low bitrate MP3s and the filetype icons it uses look awful IMHO (but can be changed).
     
  24. NICK ADSL UK

    NICK ADSL UK Administrator

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    I personally go along with root on this. I do both my recordings and my occasional radio broadcasting with jet audio. But win amp with the stream ripper plug in is also good :)
     
  25. Detox

    Detox Retired Moderator

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    Well, after reading this I went ahead and got the Qplayer and I really love it. Immense improvement over my outdated version of WinAmp :D
     
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