# Please recommend a better music player for Win7 **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 6, 2011, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-better-music-player-for-win7/598825 "2011-10-06T21:51:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2011, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-better-music-player-for-win7/598825/1 "2011-10-06T21:51:22Z")
The one that came with the computer is awful. I cannot pause a record; I cannot stop a disk once it starts and it doesn’t even display the length of track. ---
**Author:** ![Covered\_In\_Bees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7ab992/32.png) [@Covered\_In\_Bees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Covered_In_Bees)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2011, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-better-music-player-for-win7/598825/2 "2011-10-06T21:54:04Z")
That’s all user error, big time. I have no idea how to begin helping you as I don’t know what “record” refers to because I assume you don’t mean a vinyl record. Next, when you’re playing a disc, there’s normally a bar at the bottom that has all the controls, if that’s not there or you don’t see it, I don’t know how to help you. Lastly, if you do happen to see where there’s a countdown during a track, double click on it and it will cycle through various time stamp options, such as showing the full length of the track and how much has played or just how much time has elapsed. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2011, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-better-music-player-for-win7/598825/3 "2011-10-06T22:02:28Z")
**Covered\_In\_Bees!** is right. However, every computer (IMHO) should be running VLC. It’s just too handy. ---
**Author:** ![Jaledin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jaledin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaledin)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2011, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-better-music-player-for-win7/598825/4 "2011-10-06T22:09:47Z")
Nar, Media Player Classic! I guess in every thread like this I come in for MPC – simple, don’t have to mouse or learn odd shortcuts for transport. If you have specialized needs, like cue/review, then something else, maybe. I use other things when I need to cue/review precisely to the 0.1 sec or thereabouts, often with audio playing the cued/reviewed segments. But on average, just for playing audio/video, MPC is easy, very light, and doesn’t look like a fancy program (which is a major plus for me – just transport buttons, in plain old OLD style Windows style – can’t stand fancy GUIs). Maybe I’m wrong and VLC and WinAmp can be made to look like, essentially, nothing, with no skinz or any stylized buttons, and my experience with those is a decade old, probably, so maybe it’s all been improved. ---
**Author:** ![Jaledin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jaledin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaledin)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2011, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-better-music-player-for-win7/598825/5 "2011-10-06T22:16:55Z")
> [@Hari\_Seldon](#): > > I cannot pause a record Aw, take it easy **Covered**! I still say “album” even though that’s hardly accurate today. Re-reading, yeah, I will agree user error – even the crummiest media player will let you pause/stop/track visually the temporal progress of a track. In fact, to pause, even space bar or ctrl-p will often get 'er done, then repeat to start it up again. ---
**Author:** ![Jaguars](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaguars/32/5879_2.png) [@Jaguars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaguars)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2011, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-better-music-player-for-win7/598825/6 "2011-10-07T00:13:07Z")
Foobar 2000 is pretty good. It loads almost instantly and you can play a music file by selecting the files you want and dragging them into the window, along with the usual ways. Help files aren’t all that great. [Site](http://www.foobar2000.org/download) ---
**Author:** ![Dragwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dragwyr/32/2855_2.png) [@Dragwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragwyr)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2011, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-better-music-player-for-win7/598825/7 "2011-10-07T01:23:26Z")
Here is a page that has an excellent list of the best free media players. > **[The best audio/video software in the year of 2022](https://www.techsupportalert.com/the-best-audio-video-software-in-the-year-of-2022/)** > > You love to create things? You're an artist with a love for music & the colors of life? Then we have the best audio/video software for you! ✅ ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2011, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-better-music-player-for-win7/598825/8 "2011-10-07T01:55:12Z")
I would like to see a media player that has no stop or pause button. Maybe a dos command of somesort could play a disc without an ability to stop it??? ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2011, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-better-music-player-for-win7/598825/9 "2011-10-07T04:54:57Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > I would like to see a media player that has no stop or pause button. Maybe a dos command of somesort could play a disc without an ability to stop it??? And then it gets moved into your startup applications, with an explicit command to play Never Gonna Give You Up. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2011, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-better-music-player-for-win7/598825/10 "2011-10-07T06:08:23Z")
> [@Nars\_Glinley](#): > > **Covered\_In\_Bees!** is right. However, every computer (IMHO) should be running VLC. It’s just too handy. Agreed. . ---
**Author:** ![chaosshifter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/90db22/32.png) [@chaosshifter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaosshifter)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2011, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-better-music-player-for-win7/598825/11 "2011-10-07T06:25:25Z")
hmmm for video I use VLC or MPC depending on the codec needed since sometimes MPC doesn’t catch some subtitle files. But in response to the OP for music I am still a fan of Winamp. Mostly because it’s free and easy to understand and I allready have most of my playlist stuff saved to it. ---
**Author:** ![Hari\_Seldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hari_seldon/32/5173_2.png) [@Hari\_Seldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hari_Seldon)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2011, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-better-music-player-for-win7/598825/12 "2011-10-07T13:05:30Z")
Well, the windows media player that came with my computer (bought last winter) has no controls. No volume (I can set that on the keyboard), no pause, no stop. Even closing the window didn’t stop it; I had to mute it and wait for the album to end. These albums (which I still think of as records, sorry) are all ripped from CDs (that I own, incidentally). I think I will try VLC. ---
**Author:** ![cantara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6f9a4e/32.png) [@cantara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cantara)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2011, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/please-recommend-a-better-music-player-for-win7/598825/13 "2011-10-07T19:33:02Z")
So Grampa, there is something wrong with your [gramophone](http://www.google.ca/url?q=http://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DdSINO6MKtco&sa=U&ei=51KPTufgKOby0gG--cBQ&ved=0CCIQtwIwAA&sig2=of05-x3WgrwrHJ9DEn9WRg&usg=AFQjCNGy8h1kFJjWq-4uk8aY8jfVXUmJag) is there? (hope that works, can’t test it at work) I still call them albums. My kids are amazed when I put on one of ‘those things’. I don’t know what’s wrong with your player, but try one of the others suggested above. My Media Player 11 is buggered so I can’t scan through a song or see how much is left. I can start it but if I try to get to a specific part, the whole song starts over.