10 Alternatives to WinAmp Desktop Music Player (Freeware)
October 25, 2007 – 11:38 pmWinAmp is one of the earliest and most popular desktop music (MP3, WAV, Ogg Vorbis etc.) player that you might still have installed on your desktop. However, there are also other good alternatives if you are looking for one. I’ve scoured some of the most popular download sites on the World Wide Web and found some nice desktop audio players that will definitely satisfy your musical needs.
Here is my list on 10 alternative to WinAmp desktop MP3 player:
1- Quintessential Player (QCD)
Notable Features:
Lightweight design, low memory consumption, CD ripper, save skin layout, remote skin (save desktop space), better sound quality than WinAmp
Download QCD Player - Homepage - Complete Features
2- MediaMonkey
Notable Features:
Auto-search music files, music organizer, iPod / mp3 player sync, CD ripper, audio format converter, tag support, cd burner, auto DJ, automatic volume corrector (Replay Gain technology).
Download MediaMonkey - Homepage - Complete Features
3- musikCube
Notable Features:
Blazing fast, dynamic play list based on listening habits, support synching with removable devices
4- Billy
Notable Features:
Lightweight and minimalist audio player (no skins, tag, equalizer), quick entire directory player, 100% shortcuts support, fast - loads 1000 mp3 files in a second (2 to 8 times faster than WinAmp), high-quality Un4Seen Bass sound engine
5- XMPlay
Notable Features:
Accurately plays audio file, 32/24 bit multi channel support, net streaming, no installation needed, skinnable like WinAmp
6- CoolPlayer
Notable Features:
Open source, freeform skins, support for WinAmp plugins, no installation needed, simple user interface
Download CoolPlayer - Homepage
7- iTunes
Notable Features:
Source list, cover row (cd flipper), one click playlist CD burner, iPod / iPhone / Apple TV synchronization, buy music online and instantly store it inside iTunes, developed by Apple (cool factor!)
Download iTunes - Homepage - Complete Features
8- foobar2000
Notable Features:
Full unicode support, advanced tagging support, highly customizable, lightweight, open architecture means high extensibility support by third party coders, ReplayGain support.
Download foobar2000 - Homepage
9- Sonique
Notable Features:
Unsupported but still a highly usable music player, dynamic windowless interface design, complete set of audio controls.
10- SongBird
Notable Features: desktop web player (a digital jukebox and Web browser mash-up), supports extensions, cross platform, multi language support, dynamic playlist, music watch folders, integrated web search.
Download Songbird - Homepage - Complete Features
There are so many other players that I have not listed here. Above are those that I’ve tried and feel right to compete with WinAmp as alternatives. Tell me which desktop music player that you use by leaving some comments below!
Extra: More cool free software
Tags: mp3 player, audio player, foobar2000, mediamonkey, qcd, musikcube, itunes, songbird, sonique, billy, xmplay, coolplayer, freeware, free software
Love this post? You may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
27 Responses to “10 Alternatives to WinAmp Desktop Music Player (Freeware)”
Great list here! I use Foobar and Quintessential quite frequently.. In fact, I’ve stopped using Winamp because it seems to be bloated!
By Vijay on Oct 27, 2007
By TechMalaya on Oct 27, 2007
Great post there, I’ve to try Billy player. It looks cool.
By Shankar Ganesh on Oct 27, 2007
Wow, so much player which I never heard before. Recently I am using the new Winamp 5.5 which I think too much functions and RAM consuming.
My choice is iTunes!
By Bat on Oct 27, 2007
@ Shankar : yeah, one of the coolest player that i’ve seen. very minimalist indeed.
By TechMalaya on Oct 27, 2007
Nice compilation, I have tried 1,2 and 9.
By Nirmal on Oct 28, 2007
@Nirmal : you should try Billy. it is quite awesome.
By TechMalaya on Oct 29, 2007
Nice list of player there.
Hmmm…one notable player missing from the list though, VLC.
It play almost every format.
Although one minor drawback, still have problem displaying Chinese song title.
By kahfei on Nov 13, 2007
By Syahid Ali on Nov 13, 2007
Hi,
i think Jet Audio can also be the best alternative to Win Amp and Windows media player too. I am using that from last 6 - 7 yrs. I’m loving it.
By ssdspi on Feb 14, 2008
By Syahid A. on Feb 16, 2008
I’ve been using Spider Player for quite some time it is idiot-proof and sounds clean and clear.
By Ken on Feb 25, 2008
I am looking for a player that is similar to the old musicmatch…(pre yahoo player) anybody have any ideas? Not a fan of itunes.
By Rocco P. on Mar 11, 2008
By Syahid A. on Mar 12, 2008
you should try cocaine player 2.0 it’s the best by far it enables you to get music to sound like it does when you are on cocaine.
By Raphael on May 20, 2008
I’ve been searching for a replacement for Musicmatch Jukebox, and I have come to the conclusion that every other player out there sucks hot balls. Why those Yahoo bastards bought it and allowed it to die I will never know, but fuck them in the ass. None of the other players really even do anything, except allow you to play songs one at a time. I don’t see why people aren’t clamoring to be the next Musicmatch. I guess nobody cares anymore, now that you can plug your iCrap into everything, including the dog and a watermelon. Go to hell, iTunes.
By Anaughtybear on Jul 1, 2008
To Anaughtybear - I couldn’t agree with you more! Have you found anything? Everything else I find to be unuseable. This sucks.
By Eric on Jul 14, 2008
try K-Lite Codec Pack 4.17 (Full)its free, warks good with Windows Media Player classic
By Marc on Sep 11, 2008
By Syahid A. on Sep 11, 2008
what about
QuickTime Alternative 2.7.0,
Real Alternative 1.84, AIMP 2.11
and KMPlayer 2.9.3.1431 Beta
By Marc on Sep 12, 2008
By Syahid A. on Sep 12, 2008
try some cool media players
Slawdog DOJO Media Player 2003,
Target Longlife Media Player 2.0.2,
Gold Media Player 1.1,
CoolPlayer 217,
DSPlayer 0.889 lite
By Marc on Sep 15, 2008
Softe Audio Player 1.41,
Winamp Alternative 1.1,
TPlayer 1R10,
By Marc on Sep 15, 2008
Player 0.9.3,
MV2Player 07 RC2
FreeMP3 Player 2.4
JPlayer 1.10
XPlayer 2.3.0.8
By Marc on Sep 15, 2008
XMPlay is good!
By fincanbey on Sep 24, 2008
xion by r2 studios is one of the players i use with so many awsome downloadable skins from http//r2studios.com you can’t go wrong with this player and so far i have not discovered any bugs at all and as far as i can tell its totally free.
By Phil W on Oct 3, 2008
I find that Billy is the one for me; despite the lack of skins and updates, I find the ability to give every function a shortcut to be really useful. It’s fast and doesn’t take as much memory as WinAmp.
By Melancholych on Oct 7, 2008