Alright, so my old iPod Mini has finally decided it can't hack the pace and died. This means I can get rid of iTunes, something which I'd be interested in doing because it can be fucking slow. My question is, are there any really cool media players doing the rounds? I've used RealPlayer, Winamp and WMP at one point or another and can say that I prefer iTunes in almost every way: it looks cool and has a fairly user-friendly format.

I'm only really looking for something to play music on that isn't shit.

Any recommendations?

get an archos.i got a 20gb badboy and had it for 3 years now.just the music one though.not all that photo/movie bollocks.
it doesnt require software which means it just autosyncs with windows media player.
also if you download realplayer for free you can then stream songs off youtube/myspace etc.
NOTE:I ONLY OCCASIONALLY DO THIS IF THEY ARE RARE OR OBSCURE OR IF I CANT BUY THEM ON CD/THEY ARE UNRELEASED/UNAVAILABLE ETC.for example grim reaper and some of the brazilian thrash or crossover bands.which reminds me violators album is out on earache today so im gonna go straight on amazon after this post and order that.
so please dont fear any of you forumers who are in upcoming bands as i always grab shirts/e,ps and any other projects/releases you make available for me to purchase.
but yeah archos are reliable and straightforward.

I have downloaded a plug in for Windows media player and the iPod. Works a million times better than iTunes. Ive always hated iTunes.

On Windows I just use WMP11, it does what it's supposed to do with minimal complaints (rare for something made by Microsoft but hey). It syncs seamlessly with my 32GB Creative Zen and should also sync with most MTP-compatible (basically any non-iPod) mp3 player.

On Linux I use Amarok, which isn't as pretty and flashy as WMP, does an excellent job as a media organiser, and also syncs with all MTP players.

WMP is brilliant, people just hate it because they like to bitch at Microsoft about everything. WMA files kick ass as well. Fuck M4A up its incompatible with most things ass.

I don't really have anything against WMP. It was what I used before I got an iPod a few years ago. I've used it now and then since but have become so used to iTunes. I'm not particularly bothered about iPod compatibility at the moment. Is there no super-awesome, the Internet's best-kept secret kind of media player going?

I used to use the Sonique media player a few years back. It was quite good. Don't know if they are still developing it. I have become a total slave to WMP since then though.

Herzeleid wrote:WMA files kick ass as well. Fuck M4A up its incompatible with most things ass.

Screw both formats. MP3 is by far the most supported and it also isn't caught up in the Microsoft/Apple fight - which results in neither supporting each other's formats (iTunes not playing WMA and pretty much anything but iTunes not playing M4A.

It isn't completely free and open source (the rights are copyrighted to Faunhofer) but it's as close to a free format as you can get without going for OGG, FLAC etc. The only downside of MP3 is that quality can be a bit shit when you go below 128kbps, but if you encode everything at 160 or 192 then there really isn't anything to complain about.