I was over to a friends house last night, and we were working on this laptop I have, trying to speed it up. We spotted my favorite media player of all time, iTunes, sucking away resources. 30,000K of memory, which is a buttload. To compare: Most internet browsers, like Internet Explorer and Firefox, use up about 15,000K. Other programs like AVG, or other security programs, sit in the background, using about 8,000K. So, if you can read numbers and think about them, you should’ve determined by now that iTunes is a major resource hog.
So we set out to find a media player equal to or greater than iTunes, in the following areas (with examples):
1)Ease of use (Was it easy to customize EQ settings?)
2)Compatibility (Does it support all the filetypes I need?)
3)Features (Does it have all the features I’m looking for?)
4)Athstetics (Is it ugly or absolutely gorgeous?)
5)Other (Are there any miscellaneous things that I really like?)
There were a few options. Keep iTunes, and deal with the resource hogging; Try Windows Media Player; try Winamp. I’ve used iTunes a TON, Windows Media Player occasionally, and Winamp never…until 24 hours ago. I narrowed it down to iTunes and Winamp, just becuase I had heard very good things about Winamp (and if I reviewed Windows Media Player this post would be unbearably long with all my complaints…).
So here is the breakdown:
1) Ease of Use
iTunes – has a very organized system for everything. Big play button here, burn playlist to CD button there. Preferences are easily changable, and not too complicated. CD ripping is another button from the CD display, and EQ settings are accessed with another button…very easy. If you had learned how to use a computer 3 days ago, you could probably use iTunes.
Winamp – varies. If you have the original skin, its easy shmeasy. If you want more advanced controls, try a more complex skin. Everything is easy to locate, I imported my music to the library in 30 seconds, and EQ settings are a breeze. Yes, if you had just learned how to use a computer you could probably get by with Winamp, but there are also some very advanced options and such.
2)Compatibility
iTunes – supports the major audio formats: mp3, ogg, maybe wma… If even has its own special encoding: AAC. Its supposed to be the next best audio format, cutting file size down considerably, while still maintaining quality. iTunes DOESN’T play video.
Winamp – plays everything under the sun…including any video file. I was amazed at the list this program supports. If you do happen to find something that isn’t supported, you can pick up a plugin for anything. You will have no compatibility issues with Winamp.
3)Features
iTunes – The reason I’ve been so happy with iTunes for such a long time is becuase it has everything I need. Playlists, CD ripping and burning, great EQ options, and cover art! The only thing I didn’t like was using a seperate program for video files :-/
Winamp – Same features, plus some I had only dreamed of. If you can think of it, there is a plugin to do it. Simple as that…and it supports video.
4)Athstetics
iTunes – iTunes is beautiful. For a while I was really really really into the look of Mac PCs. I was just amazed whenever I saw them. So iTunes hit the jackpot with me. Now, I’ve kind of gone off the path of Macs and really like simple modern looking computers. iTunes is simple and modern…but only has one skin. Click here for some screenshots of iTunes at work.
Winamp – Whatever you want. Again, think of it, and have it. You can make your own skins too! So I can make Winamp look a lot like iTunes, but have all the Winamp goodies. If I liked ugly media players, I would have an ugly looking Winamp. If I want a dark media player, I’ll make Winamp dark. Anything goes! Click here to see some screenshots of Winamp.
5)Other
iTunes – Since iTunes is a Mac product it will, of course, couple with other Mac programs and accessories. One would be Quicktime. Quicktime and iTunes walk hand in hand doing their own things to put together a nice media “suite.” I’m looking for a media player… iTunes also couples with the famous iPod. Without iTunes our iPods would be useless. I don’t have an iPod, so….
Winamp – One word…plugins. Plugins make Winamp what it is. Awesome. Want an alarm clock with your media player? You got it. Want to burn mp3 discs? You got it. You want your coffee to automatically come on at 6 in the morning? You could probably have Winamp do it…if you did some MAJOR rigging. lol.
Did I mention Winamp uses half the resources iTunes does?
24 hours ago I was a hardcore iTunes fan. Seriously. But in that amount of time Winamp has shocked me…utterly…completely. I think after I’m done writing this I’m going to uninstall iTunes…:-( for Mac. haha. So, from me, a person that constantly uses his media player, and is constantly is involved with both music and computers…I’m, hands down, going with Winamp.
More next time!