MP3 Players/library managers

[Vectracious]

Have completely given up on Windows Media Player - sick and tired of it crashing, hanging and generally just being a c*nt to use. Not sure if its the size of the library thats doing it, or some Dell rubbish that is conflicting with it.

In any case, have had to resort to downloading and installing Winamp - but just like 10 years ago when I used to use Winamp, I just didnt like it that much and I still dont. It doesnt crash and will use it if there is no alternative, but out of interest, what other MP3 managers/players do people use?

(Again, please dont say iTunes - I only use it to sync the iPod and thats it)

[poita]

TBH Pete I use WMP or iTunes.

Have over 70gb of music and both handle it fine.

I haven't had to resort to anything else, so I'm really not sure what else there is with the capabilities.

HTNH (here to not help) :)

[Neeko]

have you updated WMP lately? mine has never really crashed.

[Vectracious]

yep - fully up to date

ver: 12.0.7601.17514

Music library is 120GB. It's the same size as what I had on my desktop before I packed it away - that was running windows 7 and never had an issue with WMP crashing or hanging. On my laptop though (which is much better specced than the desktop) I it will Not respond at least every 3rd time I try to do something.

Must be some of that Dell bloatware that they put on these things - will try uninstalling some of it (never used it before - havent even run it so I thought it wouldnt be doing anything) and see if it helps.

[benzino]

i have the same version as you on a dell inspiron 15r and have never had a problem (still has dell bloatware as well...)

it must be the size of your library or some other conflicting software (maybe itunes... hahaha- i don't have it)

[Vectracious]

well, uninstalling the Dell crap has not helped either.......

[poita]

Have you tired using Windows Media Centre?

Otherwise download and install Klite Codec Pack, this will install Windows Media Player Classic with it.

Also VLC Player, but I've heard it sometimes fights with Win7

[poita]

Have a read up here too, has a heap of different players mentioned throughout the thread

http://www.sevenforums.com/music-pictures-video/22186-best-video-player.html

[benzino]

Have you tired using Windows Media Centre?

Otherwise download and install Klite Codec Pack, this will install Windows Media Player Classic with it.

Also VLC Player, but I've heard it sometimes fights with Win7

yeah, i forgot to mention that i have k-lite...
maybe that will fix it (even if it doesn't, it's really useful and media player classic that comes with it is great for movies)

[Vectracious]

no issues with video - run VLC and that is perfect for basically anything video related. Even running video through WMP has no issues, its the minute I go into the Audio library that everything turns to sh*t...

[benzino]

then i'd say it's the size of the library

is your music all in one location or are there lots of files/folders spread out?
you said you have itunes, the last time i was using itunes, i remember it duplicated the library for it's own folder, could WMP be accessing that?

[Vectracious]

then i'd say it's the size of the library

is your music all in one location or are there lots of files/folders spread out?
you said you have itunes, the last time i was using itunes, i remember it duplicated the library for it's own folder, could WMP be accessing that?

My Music folder has everything split into artists then in each artist folder the albums are split into their own folders.

Made that mistake with iSuck(Tunes) the first time I installed it and stopped it from doing it again. There is a folder that it has created for whatever reason with some things in it, but its not songs and is only about 100MB.

[Alix]

I've not long ditched the iPhone for a Android phone and I'm looking for a way of keeping the thing full of music. I'm not too impressed with iSyncr or Doubletwist so I'm about to start trying alternate music library managers too. Songbird, Media Monkey and WinAmp are my current shortlist, but without trying them I can't give you a recommendation.

[benzino]

i've used media monkey (about 5 years ago)
i was impressed by it

quite similar layout to iFail though (well it was 5 years ago...)

i would try getting k-lite before anything else

also, silly question, but are you up to date with windows update?
another option could be to downgrade to 11 and see if it's any better

[Dahlia]

Windows - MediaMonkey (www.mediamonkey.com)
OS X - iTunes (already installed)

[Vectracious]

yep - windows is up to date.

Just found a how to do downgrade to media player 11 - but will try songbird and mediamonkey in the meantime as well.

Thanks for the suggestions :)

[Dahlia]

yep - windows is up to date.

Just found a how to do downgrade to media player 11 - but will try songbird and mediamonkey in the meantime as well.

Thanks for the suggestions :)
I like media monkey because it still syncs perfectly with your iPhone/iPod. But doesn't take up as much system resources as iTunes.