a good, free mp3 player with all the accessories

[Laplacian]

Here's what I'm looking for (all in one single free program, for use in Windows XP):
- mp3 player with music library, ability to tag mp3s with lyrics, etc.
- songs in the music libary are viewable next to the play window
- [rip] mp3 encoder (convert music CD or other format to mp3 with different bitrates)
- [burn] CD burning software (to convert and burn mp3s to regular music CDs), preferably NOT speed limited (like the free musicmatch)
- [most important] loads up quickly

I am using Musicmatch Jukebox version 10 (free version) right now and it does most of these things, but I'm getting fed up with it taking forever to load. And it limits how fast you can rip CDs. I don't like Windows Media Player.

What do you guys use or recommend? I know very little about music playback and burning software, so I'd like to get an all-in-one app that does everything. I know this is a lot to ask of freeware, but there's gotta be something that does all this better than Musicmatch. I don't need any other fancy features or the ability to buy songs (like Musicmatch).

Winamp Pro looks very nice, but I'd prefer something free, if available. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

[Sephiroth]

WinAMP, it does limit recording speed, unless you wish to by it.

[Joonas]

Hmm... WMP. http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

[Descent]

Windows media player all the way..

[Bludd]

www.foobar2000.org (http://www.foobar2000.org)

It's the player I use exclusively now. I'm not sure about library since I don't use that anyway, but I recommend it if you're looking for a player with no visual flash, just power.

[DudeMiester]

WinAMP with the Giess 2 visualization as your desktop == OWNAGE!

Although, it might have slow loading if you have a large library. However, to solve this you can disable loading Media Library At Startup, and you might want to disable Check For New Online Sources At Exit too.

Anyways, even with the vis, it loads in about 5 seconds for me.

[Kevin Wolff]

I don't like Windows Media Player.



Windows media player all the way..


Somebody can't read.

[Descent]

That's my opinion, I don't care about others?

Windows media players load up time takes about 2 seconds for me, as I don't have many background programs up and running!

[Usurper]

Bludd said:
www.foobar2000.org (http://www.foobar2000.org)

It's the player I use exclusively now. I'm not sure about library since I don't use that anyway, but I recommend it if you're looking for a player with no visual flash, just power.



I don't recommend it unless you want to spend an assload of time trying to configure basic features as addons with an interface that makes no goddamned sense.

[Laplacian]

Sephiroth said:
WinAMP, it does limit recording speed, unless you wish to by it.


Are you sure? Their website (http://www.winamp.com/player/) says that rip and burn are not included in the free version.

[Kevin Wolff]

Descent said:
That's my opinion, I don't care about others?


The first quote there was the guy who started the thread.

[Bludd]

Usurper said:

Bludd said:
www.foobar2000.org (http://www.foobar2000.org)

It's the player I use exclusively now. I'm not sure about library since I don't use that anyway, but I recommend it if you're looking for a player with no visual flash, just power.



I don't recommend it unless you want to spend an assload of time trying to configure basic features as addons with an interface that makes no goddamned sense.


It's not the best UI, but it's very powerful and the new beta version promises a better UI but it's quite unstable as of yet.

[Sephiroth]

Laplacian said:

Sephiroth said:
WinAMP, it does limit recording speed, unless you wish to by it.


Are you sure? Their website (http://www.winamp.com/player/) says that rip and burn are not included in the free version.




Positive http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
http://www.winamp.com/player/free.php

[Laplacian]

Okay, cool, thanks for the suggestions everyone. I'll try Winamp (free full version), but it limits rip/burn to 2x. I guess I can use Nero to burn, but then I'll be stuck with 2x rip--is that for AAC only, or for mp3 also? Maybe I'll try foobar also. If there are any other suggestions, keep them rolling in...

[ADM]

Winamp is definitely worth buying. I love the pro version http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

However you could just use Nero to burn and CDex (http://cdexos.sourceforge.net/) to rip stuff.

[DudeMiester]

You could also try Sonique. Although development has stopped on the program, it's pretty cool. The Sonique 2 beta has an extremely nice interface.

[Lain]

ADoomedMarine said:
Winamp is definitely worth buying. I love the pro version http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

However you could just use Nero to burn and CDex (http://cdexos.sourceforge.net/) to rip stuff.




well said ADM, that's what we do right?

[the pineapplehead]

Agree with Cdex - fantastic free program to rip CDs.

I use Winamp.

If you want a USB media player (similar to PortableFirefox), then use XMPlay - it's one tiny exe file that runs off a USB flash drive.

[Simon Charles]

Winamp. Best MP3 software ever, especially the latest 5.x versions. Loads quickly, does everything you need, free of charge. For me, Windows Media Player loads slowly, plays like crap, and has an absolute nightmarish and needlessly complicated interface for setting up music lists and libraries. I hate that program, I find it loathsome.

Winamp does everything I need quickly and efficiently. For the ordinary, casual user, it's the best there is.

[DudeMiester]

Don't install the Sonic buring support, the sonic driver doesn't interface properly with the WinAMP core, and on many computers (e.g. mine) causes the media library to load EXTREMELY slowly.

[IwantMORE]

Itune all the way http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

[Kevin Wolff]

Would've helped your credibility if you had spelled iTunes correctly. http://forums.3drealms.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif