Best media player for windows

[admin_exported]

I have been putting all my cds on my laptop ripping with itunes. What is the best way to organise and play them? Ive heard itunes isnt great with windows?

I have my laptop usb into an alesis io2 external soundcard and phono out of that into my amp.

Ant help appreciated as always.

 

[Anonymous]

• Foobar 2000 + WASAPI running under Windows 7
• Rip into FLAC format using EAC
• Album art downloader to find cover art at ~ 500 x 500 resolution

Works for me!

 

[simonpascoe]

Hi,

Foobar is definitely well respected and worth trying for yourself. WinAmp is also good and the free version will probably do everything you need, though I think you have to pay a small amount for the version that allows you to rip. It's worth trying a few for yourself, as user interfaces are a matter of personal taste.

Personally I'm a big fan of JRiver Media Centre - it's easy to use, and I really like the "Theater View" mode which you can drive from a cheap IR PC remote to flip through albums by the artwork, and easily build playlists on the fly. There's a 30 day full demo available for download.

I built a dedicated Media PC to run JRiver Media Centre for my music, and Window Media centre for recording and playing back stuff off the telly. It's in a decent case, sitting in my rack, hooked up to a Chord DAC64 via optical link to keep the PC out of the signal path. I'm very happy with the sound quality, and the convenience of being able to access all of my non-vinyl music this way is a real luxury.

If you've not ripped all of your CDs yet, and you're ripping to FLAC or other lossless formats, and you want to be paranoid about the quality of your rips, then I'd recommend DBPowerAmp for ripping, which compares the checksums of CD tracks to a central database, so you can be confident about the quality of the data that was read from the CD. NB: This is just my preferred software, there are several other ripping programs that can do this if you Google.

Hope this helps,

Simon

 

[Anonymous]

note that only windows 7 does true bit playback. Apple does true bit and itunes is good. If you are more technical - afore mentioned tools are good and customisable.

 

[Alec]

I'm not sure even Win7 does, strictly speaking. And other systems that do it have too many caveats involved for a lazy so and so like me when not enough people are saying "yes, you'll hear a difference".

 

[Alec]

But to be a bit more helpful; i would use whatever player you are most happy with from a library and playback interface point of view.

often, the ripper with that player will be sufficient, but as has been said, EAC and poweramp are good rippers for the paranoid (tho you will hear the occasional story from people who were dissatisfied with them).

i should rip losslessly, but which lossless format shouldnt really matter; if using WMP, i would use WMA Lossless. If using itunes (i see no reason why its not good in windows but i stand to be corrected), i would use ALAC.

Last time i checked (a while ago) winamp supported FLAC ripping for free.

One thing i havent mentioned so far is that your format choice may of course be influenced by other factors. you may want to use that format on other devices, so you would select a format thats compatible with all devices you will use, if possible. or you may want a heavily compressed version of your rips, in which case you could transcode later or use a ripper that will rip losslessly and MP3s at the same time, such as dbpoweramp or ripstation micro DS.

 

[Anonymous]

I shouldve said ive ripped 90% of them in Apple lossless. I use windows vista aswelL. Am I able to move the lossless to another player? What is the supposed problems with Windows and itunes? no one seems to say exactly what these are.

Sorry for all the questions but I am clueless with this stuff.

 

[Alec]

Then i would carry on as you are and use itunes. If you wanted to change player, you would be better off finding another that supports alac, or transcoding your alac files to something else.

* I personally dont like itunes, but i dont see why people say theres anything specifically wrong with it in windows. for me, its just a usability preference. So if you do like it, knock yourself out.

 

[Anonymous]

Thats good to know. As far as im concerned I was quite happy just flicking through my music folder in windows and adding them to a VLC playlist. If its just an interface thats different ill stay how i am.

Thanks folks.

 

[Alec]

oh right. i somehowe decided you were using itunes. but vlc supports alac natively so, as you say, might aswell carry on.

 

[Gerrardasnails]

simonpascoe:
Hi,

Foobar is definitely well respected and worth trying for yourself. WinAmp is also good and the free version will probably do everything you need, though I think you have to pay a small amount for the version that allows you to rip. It's worth trying a few for yourself, as user interfaces are a matter of personal taste.

Personally I'm a big fan of JRiver Media Centre - it's easy to use, and I really like the "Theater View" mode which you can drive from a cheap IR PC remote to flip through albums by the artwork, and easily build playlists on the fly. There's a 30 day full demo available for download.

I built a dedicated Media PC to run JRiver Media Centre for my music, and Window Media centre for recording and playing back stuff off the telly. It's in a decent case, sitting in my rack, hooked up to a Chord DAC64 via optical link to keep the PC out of the signal path. I'm very happy with the sound quality, and the convenience of being able to access all of my non-vinyl music this way is a real luxury.

If you've not ripped all of your CDs yet, and you're ripping to FLAC or other lossless formats, and you want to be paranoid about the quality of your rips, then I'd recommend DBPowerAmp for ripping, which compares the checksums of CD tracks to a central database, so you can be confident about the quality of the data that was read from the CD. NB: This is just my preferred software, there are several other ripping programs that can do this if you Google.

Hope this helps,

Simon

I also use dbpoweramp and J River. J River's artwork finder is so quick and the quality is fantastic. I use an RF remote bought from Amazon for £14! Brilliant not having to point at the pc.

 

[Anonymous]

al7478:oh right. i somehowe decided you were using itunes. but vlc supports alac natively so, as you say, might aswell carry on.

Up until now Id been using VLC but was going to use itunes as that is what I used to rip the cds. Just wonderedif there was a sound quality issue or if it is about the interface. Ive noticed thread about bit perfect playback and its all left me a bit puzzled. Just want to get the best sound I can.

 

[idc]

I had a problem with itunes, but it was specific to the laptop I was using (a Dell) and not all Dells have the problems I was. During my searches for a solution I saw various complaints of problems with itunes and Windows, but they were all user specific. A lot were people doing daft stuff by accident, like muting the PC and wondering why they were getting no sound from itunes. To say there is a problem with itunes and Windows as a generalisation is completely wrong.

 

[Craig M.]

having done a little bit of reading, i think the issue is that in xp at least, itunes can't bypass the k-mixer. different views on whether or not this is a problem, some say the k-mixer can provide bitperfect.

 

[Craig M.]

al7478:
I'm not sure even Win7 does, strictly speaking. And other systems that do it have too many caveats involved for a lazy so and so like me when not enough people are saying "yes, you'll hear a difference".

pete321:

No doubt about in my mind (and ears!) that bit perfect is noticeably better. With PJPro's help, I've set up Foobar2000 with the WASAPI component and the difference is very noticeable when playing my lossless PC based music. For a start, my DacMagic automatically changes to the sample rate of the music file playing, but more importantly, the sound is far more spacious and detailed, lossless music played via WMP sounds a bit flat and compressed by comparison.

Gerrardasnails:

Should the DacMagic (device) show up in the audio properties on the pc? I'm using J River and it sounds fantastic using WASAPI and listening to bit perfect music for the first time. However, I have a few albums ripped 24bit 96khz and it doesn't seem to like them. Any ideas?

out of the people i've seen who've actually compared both, i'd say it's conclusive. haven't seen anyone who's tried saying it makes no difference.

 

[Alec]

Well, in my thread in this section, at least one long standing member says i wont hear much difference if any. what that person has tried, i couldnt say.

 

[Gerrardasnails]

al7478:Well, in my thread in this section, at least one long standing member says i wont hear much difference if any. what that person has tried, i couldnt say.

if you have a half decent system, you will notice a difference for sure. Soundstage being the biggest - playing in your front room sort of thing. Bass is definitely tighter and deeper - and I was happy before.