Good All-purpose media player??

[ArkiStan]

I've been using Winamp for most of my viewing and listening needs, and there are just too many files that it won't play. So I have to launch MS MediaPlayer for those files. Can somebody recommend a good all-around media player application that will cover ALL my needs? I want something small and simple that will launch quickly, and yet is powerful enough to play all my media files (MP3s, avi, divx, mpg, wmv, asf, etc....maybe even mov?).

thanks in advance.

[Cantacuzene]

I think wmp is your only choice for all inclusiveness.

[seqiro]

The only problem is Windows Media Player doesn't meet his requirement of "small and simple that will launch quickly". :D

[Cantacuzene]

run>mplayer2

[mojo]

yeah...media player is the one that plays them all...but it sho nuff ain't small nor does it start quickly.

i hear that the new winamp plays video now...but i have yet to try it. may be worth looking into.

[ArkiStan]

mojo, Winamp 3.0 (currently beta) will play video, but still seems to have a lot of bugs. It wouldn't play certain files (*.asf, and some mpg, avi) so I still had to use WMP along with it. And Winamp 3.0 is much slower than 2.x. So I've just gona back to my original routine of using winamp (I've removed 3.0 and reinstalled 2.81) for my listening needs and WMP for my viewing needs. One of biggest grudges about WMP was that it was fugly. But I'm using the "hide menu mode" which makes it look a little more compact and simple. This setup seems ok for now. Hopefully one day there will be a fast and all-inclusive player.

[Cantacuzene]

winamp 3 isnt beta anymore.

[ArkiStan]

really? I wonder if they fixed the bugs and the slowness... I already uninstalled it. I'm too lazy to check it out again... :P

[seqiro]

I was a big winamp user until winamp 3 came out. Winamp 3 I just can't stand. It also has a tendency to crash on me. So I went back to 2.8, although I rarely use it now.

[Cantacuzene]

I've used 3.0 since it came out and I've nit had a single problem.