Ok, thanks anyways.

However, Sonata is a front end to MPD. And it may well be argued that Rhythmbox, Quod Libet, etc. are all just different front ends to Gstreamer.... Although I guess the key difference is that, at least as far as I'm aware, you cannot play audio from the command line with just Gstreamer ;-P

The main thing is that front ends implement usability features such as libraries, play lists, tag editing, etc., and in these areas ncmpcpp really shines. And practically speaking, this is the primary thing that distinguishes many Gstreamer based players.

I've been using Rhythmbox for years without any qualms. I tried Banshee and just came right back to Rhythmbox. I'm sincerely confused as to why Ubuntu chose to use Banshee as the next default media player.

Quod Libet for its customizability and use of Regex to organize music.

I have been enjoying Exaile. It works well for me and I like the way it is setup.

Yes, these are nice indeed. But, imho, switching to Gstreamer, while good for Quod in terms of toeing the gtk family line, made it a lesser player at it's primary task - audio playback. Am I the only one around here that listens to genres such as Trance and Classical, where seamless merging of one track to the next is part of the art of the performance and the enforce gaps of inherent to all Gstreamer based offerings a major blemish on the enjoyment of such?

I like RhythmBox's interface, but being unable to sort playlists really irks me. :(

My choice is Audacious. Nice and lightweight, but sometimes I do miss having a 'Library' :P

I've pointed this out earlier. If ncmpcpp is disqualified for being a frontend, then it makes no sense for Sonata to be on the poll. If Sonata is allowed to run, then it makes no sense for ncmpcpp to be disqualified. One is not more or less of a frontend than the other.

oh my darlin, oh my darlin, oh my d-a-r-l-i-n, c _ _ m _ _ t _ _ e (secret ballot).

what about vox (OSX)?

Rhythmbox; the one I have found to be most reliable and with the best interface. I'm sorry to see that Ubuntu will be replacing it with Banshee, which I've always had trouble with.

Amarok allows me to connect to my MySQL database and store all of my ratings of my music there and statistics. That way it can be smarter when choosing songs in random shuffle. I like that because I can easily back up the tables and move them if I change computers or reinstall.

seriously no ncmpcp++? does anyone even use the command line here?
Its by far the best MPD client out there, and the best curses music player as well.

oh, and don't agree with the FE argument -- probably almost all these players are 'frontends' to something like gstreamer or similar...and Sonata is in the list so the point is moot anyway.
Thats like saying your terminal client is a 'frontend' to your shell, so its not a separate category, or the window manager is a frontend to X11, etc, etc.

XBMC! It love it... especially the visual effects and audio server functions

I use Decibel Audio Player. It's a simple no nonsense player that quickly organizes your files, and on restart, remembers where you left off.

MOC.