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2014 LinuxQuestions.org Members Choice Awards This forum is for the 2014 LinuxQuestions.org Members Choice Awards.
You can now vote for your favorite products of 2014. This is your chance to be heard! Voting ends on February 3rd.


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View Poll Results: Audio Media Player Application of the Year
amaroK 45 11.57%
Aqualung 3 0.77%
aTunes 0 0%
Audacious 50 12.85%
Banshee 16 4.11%
Clementine 47 12.08%
cmus 8 2.06%
DeaDBeef 16 4.11%
Exaile 1 0.26%
gmusicbrowser 2 0.51%
MOC 8 2.06%
MPD 18 4.63%
mpg123 7 1.80%
mpg321 1 0.26%
Nightingale 1 0.26%
Quod Libet 5 1.29%
RhythmBox 16 4.11%
Sonata 1 0.26%
VLC 120 30.85%
XMMS 19 4.88%
XMMS2 5 1.29%
Pragha 0 0%
Voters: 389. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 02-08-2015, 01:16 PM   #61
273
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Quote:
Originally Posted by smeezekitty View Post
Use a script?

Its probably a use case thing because I usually don't like random play
I don't see how that makes mplayer a better music player than MOC though?
As I said I'm not disputing that mplayer can be used to play music just that it is somehow better than dedicated audio players.
 
Old 02-14-2015, 08:12 PM   #62
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Sonata the best, huh? I've never heard of it. But that's not surprising. I have my head buried in Slackware and rarely venture forth. I'm just not the adventurous type now that I'm an old codger.

I'll just stick with VLC (Alien Bob's build).
 
Old 02-14-2015, 08:16 PM   #63
vtel57
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Hmm... Sonata is available as a SlackBuild. Maybe I'll give it a shot just for funzies...

http://slackbuilds.org/repository/14.1/audio/sonata/
 
Old 02-14-2015, 08:23 PM   #64
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Quote:
Originally Posted by vtel57 View Post
Sonata the best, huh? I've never heard of it. But that's not surprising. I have my head buried in Slackware and rarely venture forth. I'm just not the adventurous type now that I'm an old codger.

I'll just stick with VLC (Alien Bob's build).
So, can you tell me why VLC is a better audio player than MOC, Amarok, Clementine or any other? What features make it a better audio player?
I am sorry I seem to have become a little more concerned about this topic than perhaps I ought but I am trying to work out whether people really think that VLC and mplayer (to me they're functionally equivalent as audio players) are actually better than the dedicated applications or it it's just a "netcat is the best browser" thing and being minimalist.
As somebody who used to love Amarok but gave up with it after "the KDE change" and has finally ended up with mpd -- which is great but has some problems on a Pulse Audio system -- I really am interested in knowing about these things but so far nobody has given a reason why VLC is better in day to day use than any other audio player.
 
Old 02-14-2015, 08:47 PM   #65
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 273 View Post
So, can you tell me why VLC is a better audio player than MOC, Amarok, Clementine or any other? What features make it a better audio player?
I am sorry I seem to have become a little more concerned about this topic than perhaps I ought but I am trying to work out whether people really think that VLC and mplayer (to me they're functionally equivalent as audio players) are actually better than the dedicated applications or it it's just a "netcat is the best browser" thing and being minimalist.
As somebody who used to love Amarok but gave up with it after "the KDE change" and has finally ended up with mpd -- which is great but has some problems on a Pulse Audio system -- I really am interested in knowing about these things but so far nobody has given a reason why VLC is better in day to day use than any other audio player.
Why does it bother you so much that people prefer VLC or mplayer?

I like them because they play anything you throw at them. Not everyone wants the same thing out of a music player.
I love the controlibility (new word?) and available tweaks.

VLC is a much better music player than netcat or telnet is a browser.
 
Old 02-14-2015, 08:58 PM   #66
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Quote:
Originally Posted by smeezekitty View Post
Why does it bother you so much that people prefer VLC or mplayer?

I like them because they play anything you throw at them. Not everyone wants the same thing out of a music player.
I love the controlibility (new word?) and available tweaks.

VLC is a much better music player than netcat or telnet is a browser.
It bothers me, as much as it does, because I am always on the lookout for a better music player. I am also not completely convinced that people who like to listen to music on their computers on a regular basis do prefer to script mplayer for the night or set up playlists in VLC. As I mentioned I have used VLC to play music and I know it does it but how, for example, would I tell it to search for Rammstein then play it?
What does a typical listening session using VLC or mplayer look like? I know that VLC can be controlled remotely using a web page but never got that to work well -- does that help in playing music?
I really am looking for positives and not just "it plays music". I think it is a bit sad that an application wins the "best of" category but nobody can really say what it does better than anything else. For example, for video VLC seems to play anything that is thrown at it so I voted for it. What does it do for audio?

Last edited by 273; 02-14-2015 at 08:59 PM. Reason: typo
 
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Old 02-15-2015, 01:07 AM   #67
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 273 View Post
It bothers me, as much as it does, because I am always on the lookout for a better music player. I am also not completely convinced that people who like to listen to music on their computers on a regular basis do prefer to script mplayer for the night or set up playlists in VLC. As I mentioned I have used VLC to play music and I know it does it but how, for example, would I tell it to search for Rammstein then play it?
What does a typical listening session using VLC or mplayer look like? I know that VLC can be controlled remotely using a web page but never got that to work well -- does that help in playing music?
I really am looking for positives and not just "it plays music". I think it is a bit sad that an application wins the "best of" category but nobody can really say what it does better than anything else. For example, for video VLC seems to play anything that is thrown at it so I voted for it. What does it do for audio?
I think your frustration is well placed. But futile. Reason being that few of the folks voting here know much about audio playback, and fewer still are anything close to being even entry level audiophiles. I mean, heck, if you're accustomed to iTunes, mp3's, etc., your objective is convenience, being hip, etc, rather than quality playback. And then there is the fanboy component, wh/explains a lot about many (most?) of these polls.

If you're into audio, rip your stuff to flac. Then find something that is not gstreamer based (although I'm told recent version is much better). This is predicated on playback device that uses dedicated rather than onboard card. Whoops! There's another reason for you - cheap onboard hardware of mobile devices, smartphones, etc. has become the norm. So much so that recordings are now tuned for them! And totally suck if you playback on actual stereo sporting preamp, amp, and real speakers.

Presuming you've got a desktop rig, installing a decent sound card is more difficult than you'd initally imagine, as most aftermarket cards are tuned for gamers rather than hi fidelity music playback. While you're in audiophile hunt mode, also try to find a card supported by ossv4 (maybe envy24 Audiotrak Prodigy, etc.). Or better yet, dedicated DAC if you've got the bucks. Whooops! Here's another one, as ALSA and Pulse stacks suck by comparison, but... most Linux users/platforms/hardware/encodings are too low end to tell, so an acceptable level of mediocrity is the target.

Moving on... get a decent set of cans, e.g. Sennheiser 600/650 and/or maybe some entry level actively amped, near field studio monitors.

Then sit back and enjoy

So.... enough of a rant. Quality audio playback on Linux is there, but you have to work for it. And spend some time hanging out places catering to folks who care about such things.

Peace- gotfw
 
Old 02-15-2015, 02:18 AM   #68
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Quote:
Originally Posted by gotfw View Post
I think your frustration is well placed. But futile. Reason being that few of the folks voting here know much about audio playback, and fewer still are anything close to being even entry level audiophiles. I mean, heck, if you're accustomed to iTunes, mp3's, etc., your objective is convenience, being hip, etc, rather than quality playback. And then there is the fanboy component, wh/explains a lot about many (most?) of these polls.
And that is surprising why? This isn't an audiophile forum. Most "normal" users, like me, are happy when their music sounds good to them

If the music coming out of the speakers or headphones is of quality to be enjoyable, then why pour tons of money and effort into next to imperceptible improvements.
Quote:
If you're into audio, rip your stuff to flac. Then find something that is not gstreamer based (although I'm told recent version is much better). This is predicated on playback device that uses dedicated rather than onboard card. Whoops! There's another reason for you - cheap onboard hardware of mobile devices, smartphones, etc. has become the norm. So much so that recordings are now tuned for them! And totally suck if you playback on actual stereo sporting preamp, amp, and real speakers.
Clearly if you are after quality you would choose a lossless format like FLAC or even uncompressed samples. MP3 audio compression artifacts are actually one thing
that annoys me to no end. The onboard audio on some systems really isn't that bad. The headphones and speakers really make the system more than anything in that case.
Quote:
Presuming you've got a desktop rig, installing a decent sound card is more difficult than you'd initally imagine, as most aftermarket cards are tuned for gamers rather than hi fidelity music playback. While you're in audiophile hunt mode, also try to find a card supported by ossv4 (maybe envy24 Audiotrak Prodigy, etc.). Or better yet, dedicated DAC if you've got the bucks. Whooops! Here's another one, as ALSA and Pulse stacks suck by comparison, but... most Linux users/platforms/hardware/encodings are too low end to tell, so an acceptable level of mediocrity is the target.
Once again proving most so called "audiophiles" are massive snobs.

Keep in mind a lot of music isn't even RECORDED to standards that you want so all the playback equipment in world can only help so much
if the recording wasn't of that high of quality in the first place.
 
Old 02-15-2015, 02:50 AM   #69
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Quote:
As I mentioned I have used VLC to play music and I know it does it but how, for example, would I tell it to search for Rammstein then play it?
I use an organized directory structure for that.
 
Old 02-15-2015, 05:02 AM   #70
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Quote:
Originally Posted by smeezekitty View Post
I use an organized directory structure for that.
How is it better to search through a folder structure in the file dialogue than saerch by artist?
I'm seeing a lot of "ways things can be done with VLC/mplayer" and not many explanations as to how that is quicker, easier or in any other way "better". This is why I persist in asking because I haven't yet seen an explanation of how these players are better than dedicated music players.
gotfw: I ditched my envy24 based card when I realised that, given its age, the onboard sound was likely not that inferior after all though I do use a cheap offboard DAC to aleviate ground loop problems I experienced with my active monitors (Wharefedale Diamond 8.1s). I only use cheap headhpones also (ATH M50) so the onboard sound is fine for them too.
 
Old 02-15-2015, 08:06 AM   #71
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which audio player

Quote:
Originally Posted by 273 View Post
How is it better to search through a folder structure in the file dialogue than saerch by artist?
I'm seeing a lot of "ways things can be done with VLC/mplayer" and not many explanations as to how that is quicker, easier or in any other way "better". This is why I persist in asking because I haven't yet seen an explanation of how these players are better than dedicated music players.
gotfw: I ditched my envy24 based card when I realised that, given its age, the onboard sound was likely not that inferior after all though I do use a cheap offboard DAC to aleviate ground loop problems I experienced with my active monitors (Wharefedale Diamond 8.1s). I only use cheap headhpones also (ATH M50) so the onboard sound is fine for them too.
I think you are trying to read too much into this. Which player is preferred is very much an individual thing depending on a number of personal factors. If the factors lead 90% of users to favor some product, so be it. If your needs are different and you need a different solution, that's fine. It's great that we have the choice to use what works for us specifically.
Case in point - I use mplayer. Why?
Terminals - I am mostly in terminals (20 at the moment) so I want a cl player.
Scripting - I do a lot of time-shifting and recording using my own scripts off-hand and with crontab.
Playing - I know what I want to listen to and when and where it is. I simply tell it to play it.
Low footprint - I have 24/7 background processing, so I want efficiency. I tried Audacious once, liked it, but it was a huge resource hog.
Success - It plays almost everything I throw at it, audio and video, with the very rare exception. I guess nothing is perfect.
So, mplayer is my choice because it is a single program that does a great job of meeting MY requirements. Maybe many others have similar needs that make it right for them, that's okay, but it doesn't mean that it's the perfect player for everyone. That why we have choices and aren't stuck trying to use Windows Media Player, thank god. We each find what works for what we need.
 
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Old 02-15-2015, 08:12 AM   #72
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Thanks wolsonjr that's the kind of answer I was hoping for. It seems silly to me to have a poll for the best of something but not say why it's the best. I agree that we're lucky to have a choice and I think explanations like your help others to make a choice.
 
Old 02-15-2015, 05:28 PM   #73
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 273 View Post
So, can you tell me why VLC is a better audio player than MOC, Amarok, Clementine or any other? What features make it a better audio player?
Hi, 273...

I have no idea if VLC is better. It's just the one I've always used.
 
Old 02-15-2015, 05:45 PM   #74
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You run Slackware for gods sake, try some of the other audio players that come with it, just for the sake of exploring options.
 
Old 02-15-2015, 09:11 PM   #75
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Oh, I've played around with a few. I still come back to VLC, eventually.

http://i.imgur.com/xOulpRk.png
 
  


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