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phillipluther | April 27, 2009 07:49 PM | in Technology & Internet

I'm questing for the be-all, end-all of media players for Windows Vista/7.

Anybody have anything they can swear by as far as Video/MP3/Podcast subscription/Internet Radio players go? And ... built in tuner support would be asking too much, right?

I've tried Winamp and hate the interface; too many frames, too clunky, and the podcast support leaves a lot to be desired.

I'm currently using MediaMonkey - which I dig for audio, but it doesn't have any video support.

Windows Media Player requires all kinds of codec patches to play some of the more obscure file types.

Is there anything out there that's a phenomenal 1-stop solution for playing video (both from disc and digital), supporting multiple audio formats, and a handy podcast subscription manager?

To further be a pill, I'm adamantly anti-iTunes.

Thanks in advance,
/phil

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BEST ANSWER chosen by asker | orange | April 27, 2009 08:27 PM

I would strongly suggest VLC Media Player. It is even free. I've never had a file that it couldn't play, for audio and video. It also allows you to subscribe to podcasts and manage internet radio ( http://www.linux.com/feature/60700 ). - Linux link but it just shows you how to manage podcasts-

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

Asker's rating:

thanks for the insight on VLC; still not convinced it's the fit i'm looking for, but it's giving a noble effort, indeed.

voted helpful: phillipluther, daigakuinsei, robbrown, cp24

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phillipluther | April 27, 2009 08:31 PM

wow, really? i have VLC installed on my machine and always wrote it off as "just a video player" ... never really delved into the audio side of it.

i'll definitely give it a shot.

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robbrown | April 28, 2009 01:18 AM

I <3 VLC

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hellboythegreat | April 28, 2009 03:49 AM

+1 for VLC, it's played anything I've ever needed it to, and I occasionally find some pretty obscure file types.

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phillipluther | April 28, 2009 01:21 PM

in playing around with VLC, it seems great as far as what it can play.

the interface leaves a lot to be desired, though - i'm not a fan of the modular component of it. that is, how the playlist shows up in a separate window, and the library shows up in a separate window, and they don't seem to "lock" together into a whole, unified player/library.

am i missing something with that?

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orange | April 28, 2009 04:55 PM

You never said it had to be pretty :) just kiddin! Check out the different skins here, see if any of them work better for you:

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/skins.php

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mrnemo | April 27, 2009 08:28 PM

I don't know if it will do everything you listed, but I feel that VLC player is the best all around solution. It plays basically every type of audio and video file, is open-source, and free. You can also watch or listen to streaming shoutcast radio and video.

I have used this as my primary player for years.

source(s):
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-windows.html

voted helpful: phillipluther, daigakuinsei, robbrown

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phillipluther | April 27, 2009 08:33 PM

right on; same comment as on @orange's post ... i'll check it out.

i've been familiar with VLC for eons ... well, maybe not eons ... but a long time, and never really gave it much of a shot aside from whipping it out to view those obscure video files one finds every now and again.

thanks.

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mrnemo | April 27, 2009 08:52 PM

LOL Yeah, Orange can have this one =)

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soundboy | April 27, 2009 11:06 PM

I would suggest give winamp another try. I have been using winamp for years and I still love it better than any of the other players. I recommend using the classic skin. The new ones can get overly technical on the interface like you mentioned, but the old ones are good.

voted helpful: phillipluther

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