# Recommend media players **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 25, 2010, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-media-players/555028 "2010-09-25T17:46:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![cosmosdan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a6a055/32.png) [@cosmosdan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cosmosdan)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-media-players/555028/1 "2010-09-25T17:46:09Z")
I have been using the new version of Windows Media that comes with windows 7. Works fine but I find the menus are a pain in the ass. They are not intuitive. When I try to make a new song list or video list or create a burn list it’s always a hassle. Has anyone found media player to be easy to use? Is there a different setup that makes it easier? Is there another media player that is much simpler to use? I create songs lists for playing, and burning and occasionally video lists. I need to create mp3 files for emailing as well. Something that plays real player would be helpful. Suggestions? ---
**Author:** ![\_cc](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/e19b73/32.png) [@\_cc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_cc)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-media-players/555028/2 "2010-09-25T19:56:12Z")
For videos, [Media Player Classic](http://mpc-hc.sourceforge.net/), hands down. For music, it’s much more up to personal preference… I still find [Winamp](http://www.winamp.com/) to suit all of my needs, though you have to keep your eyes open during installation and disable all the useless cruft. It has a decent-enough library module and playlist organization capabilities, and can download podcasts without any hassle. Winamp also DOES support video playback if you really want to consolidate all your features in a single program, but I still prefer the above-mentioned MPC myself. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-media-players/555028/3 "2010-09-25T20:13:03Z")
I’ve had to stop using MPC, since it’s started stuttering something fierce, both video and audio, and I don’t know why. It was a fine program for video up until that crap started though. (Didn’t much like it for audio - just used it occasionally so as to not screw up playlists in Winamp.) [VLC Player](http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-windows.html) is the best I’ve tried since…although the controls are a bit…‘soft’, for want of a better word. Its interface is still lightyears better than WMP, however. (And WMP has some weird issues with subtitles.) I find Winamp to be lousy for video (though it may be better if I ran it fullscreen, but I don’t always want to do that), though it’s my preferred player for music. ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-media-players/555028/4 "2010-09-25T20:41:40Z")
VLC is going to win this thread hands down. ---
**Author:** ![johnpost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f17d59/32.png) [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-media-players/555028/5 "2010-09-25T21:01:15Z")
winamp for audio and vlc for video are both good. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-media-players/555028/6 "2010-09-25T21:34:40Z")
GOM player is my favorite for audio and video. You need to install Madflac (codec) to play Flac’s with GOM. > **[madFLAC 1.10 Free Download : madFLAC is a decoder](https://www.free-codecs.com/download/madflac.htm)** > > Download madFLAC 1.10 : madFLAC is serving as a DirectShow decoder filter for FLAC files. It should work with any FLAC files ---
**Author:** ![ramel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eb8c5e/32.png) [@ramel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ramel)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2010, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-media-players/555028/7 "2010-09-26T14:31:25Z")
x2 for GOM. It was my favourite media player back when I used windows. It’s VERY good at playing damaged files, which was a life saver when one of my hard drive backups turned out to have not worked very well. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2010, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-media-players/555028/8 "2010-09-26T16:23:41Z")
> [@Tengu](#): > > I’ve had to stop using MPC, since it’s started stuttering something fierce, both video and audio, and I don’t know why. It was a fine program for video up until that crap started though. I’ve been using MPC for quite a few years now, and i recently started getting the same behavior. It doesn’t happen all the time, but on some files it happens when i skip forwards or backwards in the video using the mouse to move the progress bar. It’s odd. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2010, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-media-players/555028/9 "2010-09-26T18:08:01Z")
Since the OP is seeking recommendations, this is better suited for IMHO than GQ. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2010, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-media-players/555028/10 "2010-09-26T18:42:35Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > VLC is going to win this thread hands down. This. ---
**Author:** ![pricciar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@pricciar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pricciar)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2010, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-media-players/555028/11 "2010-09-26T19:23:16Z")
> **[foobar2000](https://www.foobar2000.org/)** > > foobar2000 Is my favorite audio player. I don’t usually use the library function. Just add the music I want to listen to. After getting an iPhone I was kind of forced to try out iTunes. It is not as bad as I expected. But, it does not hold a candle to how awesome foobar2000. It’s small. It’s extendable. It’s reliable. And, yeah. For video on the computer nothing can beat VLC. ---
**Author:** ![Blut\_Aus\_Nord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Blut\_Aus\_Nord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blut_Aus_Nord)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2010, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-media-players/555028/12 "2010-09-26T23:29:33Z")
Media Player Classic Home Cinema within [CCCP](http://www.cccp-project.net/) is easily the best for video playback. Seconding [foobar2000](http://www.foobar2000.org/) as the best for audio playback, both in terms of audio quality and customization. ---
**Author:** ![Jaledin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jaledin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaledin)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2010, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/recommend-media-players/555028/13 "2010-09-27T06:25:18Z")
> [@'\[cc](#): > > ;12955312’]For videos, [Media Player Classic](http://mpc-hc.sourceforge.net/), hands down. > > For music, it’s much more up to personal preference.. I still find [Winamp](http://www.winamp.com/) to suit all of my needs, though you have to keep your eyes open during installation and disable all the useless cruft. It has a decent-enough library module and playlist organization capabilities, and can download podcasts without any hassle. Winamp also DOES support video playback if you really want to consolidate all your features in a single program, but I still prefer the above-mentioned MPC myself. I use Media Player Classic for most all video files, with either Matrosjja codec pack or Combined Community Codec Pack when needed to just view directly from DVD to FLV and any other more bizarre things. I like how customizable and low-usage it is. I often go ahewad and use the pre=-installed WMP to rip tracks for my mp3 player, but for arguably higher-quality and more options, I often use FooBar 2008 w/ LAME.EXE, to convert from lossless audio to heavily .compressed formats, especially mp3