# What is a good alternative to Windows Media Player?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-good-alternative-to-windows-media-player/479570>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 2, 2009, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-good-alternative-to-windows-media-player/479570 "2009-01-02T07:02:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8491ac/32.png) [@Fake\_Tales\_of\_San\_Francisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fake_Tales_of_San_Francisco)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2009, 7:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-good-alternative-to-windows-media-player/479570/1 "2009-01-02T07:02:54Z")

</div>

I’m open to any and all suggestions.

But what I’m looking for is something with a wide variety of skins available (so I can find something that fits with my theme) and that plays DVD’s.

I’ve tried VLC and can’t get it to play DVD’s.

I’ve been using Mplayer, but it doesn’t have any functions to look at the DVD menus. This is a problem because I want to use the special features and turn audio commentaries on, and it won’t let me.

Also tried Winamp with the mplayer plug-in but it was a no go.

Media Player Classic has the same problem as Mplayer.

I don’t mind if it can’t play music, I have another program that I’m happy with, that does that fine.

Any help appreciated!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Myglaren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f1d935/32.png) [@Myglaren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myglaren)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2009, 7:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-good-alternative-to-windows-media-player/479570/2 "2009-01-02T07:27:00Z")

</div>

Have you looked at [DivX](http://www.download.com/divx-player/)  
I don’t use it but my son does and presumably it is OK as he hasn’t asked for any help with it.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![gladtobeblazed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85f322/32.png) [@gladtobeblazed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gladtobeblazed)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2009, 7:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-good-alternative-to-windows-media-player/479570/3 "2009-01-02T07:29:03Z")

</div>

I’ve never had a problem playing dvds with VLC, but I would recommend The KMPlayer.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Madgolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Madgolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Madgolf)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2009, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-good-alternative-to-windows-media-player/479570/4 "2009-01-02T07:36:18Z")

</div>

> [@gladtobeblazed](#):
>
> I’ve never had a problem playing dvds with VLC

Same here. VLC Version 0.8.6d fires right up at DVD insert for me (as I selected it to at one point) and if you right click on the DVD drive any other time when there is a DVD in the drive, there is a “Open with VLC Player” option.

I have had oodles of other DVD players that did not have any visible means of starting if you did away with the initial Windows prompt feature.

I find I am using VLC for most everything lately due to bloatware features on other players driving me nuts. Divx treated me well also but the nags turned me off after a while (updates, upsells)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![IAmNotSpartacus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@IAmNotSpartacus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IAmNotSpartacus)\
**Post date:** [January 2, 2009, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-a-good-alternative-to-windows-media-player/479570/5 "2009-01-02T08:03:31Z")

</div>

You probably don’t have the right codecs for VLC, try defilerpak to start with