Winamp. For reasons (in order of importance, highest first):

I like the Enqueue function, I like to queue the next track while the current track finishes. Not found a linux player which does that yet. This is an essential function.

It must play tracks seamlessly. There should never be a gap between the last track finishing and the next one starting, however slight. This also is essential, as a gap between tracks that flow into each other is annoying and crap.

A library is unnecessary, i'm quite capable of browsing my own file-system. A disabled library should not appear on screen at all.

It mustn't look like a cheap car stereo.

I don't want any visualisations, nor do i want a large black rectangle where the visualisations would be if I hadn't turned them off.

Graphic equaliser is a nice feature, but maybe that's just me. :-)

@Emma77 - have you tried audacious which is what has replaced xmms which was the winamp for linux and uses the same skins and equalizer settings also, although I don't use it, it has an enqueue ability which you can find here: http://linux.softpedia.com/get/Multi...us-37529.shtml.

Hope this helps

Hmm, that looks interesting. I'll give that a try when i'm back up and running. Thanks.

PortableApps!

Seriously, I love this little tool kit, but they don't have a cross-platform version of it (even though most of the apps originated on Linux).

Something perhaps analogous to PortableApps is Zero Install. It should be easy enough to tweak it to be self-contained on a usb stick, but I haven't really looked into to that...

EDIT: BTW, has anyone gotten PortableApps (platform and/or apps) working in wine? Since it's all open-source, I assume they would be open to wine support.

That looks promising. Not there yet, but I'll keep my eye on it.

I gave it a shot, but had very limited success with it. With wine it never hurts to keep trying, since only very simple things are 'slam dunk'.

After years of using Winamp on Windows, I turn to Amarok on KDE. There are several interesting functions including queueing. I think you should give it a chance.
Best wishes

There is also custom rating system, and possibility of custom and dynamic playlists, etc... I use GNOME but I only run Amarok of audio players.

I feel similarly, but my software of preference is Finale. Both already port to mac.

Again, have a look at Rosegarden. It may or may not meet your needs, but it is a pretty nifty piece of software.

CAD programs
all of adobe products
most financial programs ie. turbotax

What about a live distro on USB? I'm using Wolvix, and I used it on about 100 computers (on friend's houses and workplaces :-) There are other live distros, too.

That looks freaking awesome - I will check it out post haste
Not sure it fills the niche of "ultra-lightweight non-installed tools that are cross platform", but it might!

itunes and dreamweaver, although alternatives like banshee and quanta are OK.