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    Media playing software

    Discussion in 'Windows OS and Software' started by AW794, Jan 16, 2009.

  1. AW794

    AW794 Notebook Enthusiast

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    Hey guys, i did a search but the results were less than satisfying. I'm interested in finding a all around good media player for my new laptop. I have a ton of music that needs to be organized! Ive only used windows media player for my MP3's. I have used winamp as well. When i searched, i came across mediamonkey, which i have yet to use.

    Whats your opinions, i'm open to anything. Just looking for something better. I don't even know if it exists. What do you use?

    Also i seem to remember downloading a program some time ago (last 2-3years) that helped in labeling MP3's correctly by downloading information from the net. I dont know what it was, but it helped. Does anyone know of anything similar? Thanks in advance!
     
  2. whizzo

    whizzo Notebook Prophet

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    i use itunes for all my music, and so do many friends of mine, even those who don't own ipods.
     
  3. crash

    crash NBR Assassin

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    I use the Zune software and like it quite a bit. I only started using it because I got a Zune, but I like it so much that I'd probably still use it even if I got rid of my Zune.

    You can also try out foobar2000, Winamp, and Songbird.

    I don't like the layout of iTunes nor the fact that it takes up so many resources and starts like 3 services when you run it. Also, songs bought on iTunes are unusable on anything other than an iPod or iTunes, which makes it extremely impractical to use if you don't have an iPod (and yes I know there are ways around that but they are either illegal or extremely cumbersome or both).
     
  4. olyteddy

    olyteddy Notebook Deity

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    Just use WinAmp. The latest version allows you to re-tag songs by 'listening' to them. It's eerily accurate too!
     
  5. AW794

    AW794 Notebook Enthusiast

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    Really? I didnt know that. Does it change the information on the MP3 file itself or does it change the way winamp views the file.
     
  6. Cin'

    Cin' Anathema

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    WinAmp is good :D
    Here is the linky if you decide to try it out:
    http://www.winamp.com/


    Cin ;) :)
     
  7. Silas Awaketh

    Silas Awaketh Notebook Deity

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    Winamp does that, but there's a software named Mp3tag (there're screenshots as well), which does it better. It's small, and it's free.
     
  8. purplegreendave

    purplegreendave Has a notebook.

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    MediaMonkey ftw
     
  9. olyteddy

    olyteddy Notebook Deity

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    WinAmp scans the song, and creates a 'signature' that it then checks against GraceNote's huge data base. You then have the option of transferring the results to the tag fields. How would being able to look up the song on FreeDB be better or easier than that? Especially since you can play the song in the same program...
     
  10. Silas Awaketh

    Silas Awaketh Notebook Deity

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    Because most of Winamp's tags are hit and miss, even of very popular artists like 50 Cent or Celine Dion or Eminem. And, it does not embed the artwork in the mp3 file, but it saves the artwork image file in the same folder, and loads it from there, while mp3tag embeds it in the mp3 file itself. And then you have a lot more results while using mp3tag, and you can chose from them, while with Winamp, you get one result which it throws your way, and that's that. Also, mp3tag not only looks up the results on freeDB, but on discogs, Amazon.com, and Amazon.de as well,
     
  11. streather

    streather Notebook Evangelist

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    i use foobar2000, its light, uses little memory and highly tweakable :p
     
  12. AW794

    AW794 Notebook Enthusiast

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    Im in the process of trying mp3tag. It seems to be on 90% of the time when i have the album info on the mp3. If its without the album info, its on about 30%. I find it easier to search the mp3 in google to get the album and go from there. Overall the program is pretty effective.
     
  13. pixelot

    pixelot Notebook Acolyte

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    iTunes is bloated. I really like foobar2000, but I can't guarantee it will fit your needs. :) :cool:
     
  14. Silas Awaketh

    Silas Awaketh Notebook Deity

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    You can search by "Artist" as well, instead of "Album".
     
  15. AW794

    AW794 Notebook Enthusiast

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    I tried it, and it works. Thanks man.
     
  16. Silas Awaketh

    Silas Awaketh Notebook Deity

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    Ah well, there's no need to make a big deal out of it, I'm just a modest guy. :)
     
  17. KarenA

    KarenA Notebook Evangelist

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    Tag&Rename does this. But it is not free like Mp3Tag (30 days trial). However, I do find Tag&Rename easier to use.
     
  18. surfasb

    surfasb Titles Shmm-itles

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    I second MediaMonkey. It might be overkill as its list of features bewilders my friends who sees it.
     
  19. Changturkey

    Changturkey Notebook Evangelist

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    Mediamonkey or MusicBee.
     
  20. magma_saber

    magma_saber Notebook Consultant

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    winamp + iZotope Ozone ftw!
     
  21. Huskerz85

    Huskerz85 Notebook Evangelist

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    Amen to that.......great organization + integrated tag editing
     
  22. davea

    davea Newbie

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    i didnt find Mediamonkey to my liking but i haven't heard of MusicBee - where is it found?
     
  23. Althernai

    Althernai Notebook Virtuoso

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    Can any of these media players be used to convert media from one format to another? Or is that a different animal? More specifically, I'm trying to convert a .mov file (video of a cat) to something I can burn to a DVD for my parents.
     
  24. Nocturnal310

    Nocturnal310 Notebook Virtuoso

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    Mediamonkey is favourite for organizing music and tagging