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has a plan
Location: middle of Whywouldanyonebethere
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[anchor]MEDIA PLAYERS[/anchor]
[anchorlink=RECENT UPDATES]Augi's list[/ANCHORLINK] | [ANCHORLINK= The Open Source/Freeware/Gratis Software Thread]Biznatch's List[/anchorlink] Foobar2000 (*****)(W) - "Foobar2000 is an advanced audio player for the Windows platform. Some of the basic features include ReplayGain support, low memory footprint and native support for several popular audio formats." CHOICE. BEST DAMNED MEDIA PLAYER. Oh FooBar2000, how do I love thee.Let me count the ways: click to show - Can play everything I can think of (minus RA... a dead codec to me)
- Advanced tagging operations (from online database, other tags, filename...)
- Customizable media library sorting
- Advanced physical library organization
- Native CD Ripper to any format or preferred ripping scheme (I use EAC for that now, please FB2K, forgive me!)
- Built in and customizable conversion tools, any codecs acceptable
- Customizable user interface
- uses about 36~40MB RAM
but only for Windows (works in Wine).Lower Foobar2000's Memory Footprint click to show
From HA Forum:
Go to the installation directory of FB2K (usually "C:\Program Files\foobar2000") and remove all but the components foo_albumlist, foo_cdda, foo_input_std, and foo_ui_std. I recommend installing another instance of FB2K to another directory (Mine is "C:\Program Files\foobar2000\light\") and removing all but those components. Media Player Alternatives click to show  musikCube (****)(W) - "Don't be square. musikCube is an mp3 player for the modern generation." Damn great. Actually supports all formats I throw at it (with the help of some plugins on their site, except for images with CUEs). It has advanced playlist features to figure out what you like. It is lightweight, less than 10MB to run (7~9MB), and super fast. Comes with a media library. Excellent for the average and advanced user.
 Songbird (*)(W,M,L) - "Songbird is a desktop Web player, a digital jukebox and Web browser mash-up. Like Winamp, it supports extensions and skins feathers. Like Firefox, it is built from Mozilla, cross-platform and open source." Like it says. It's pretty, it gets the job done, it supports some not so common formats. All OS's, however large footprint, ~140MB. If you don't like iTunes and are looking for a replacement, check it out.
- More listed at the HydrogenAudio Forum, "Choice of Light Weight Music Player"
Codec Alternatives for Windows Media Player click to show - Illiminable Directshow Filters (**)(W) - "Directshow Filters for Ogg Vorbis, Speex, Theora and FLAC" Not big into the super mega ultra codec packs since they often have spyware. Also, I use FB2K and VLC. If you just want to listen to tracks that are not your norm in WMP, install this.
 QuickTime Alternative (**)(W) - "QuickTime Alternative allows your system to play QuickTime movie files (.mov) without having to install the full version of the Quicktime Player." Again, not a fan of Apple... so this is the compromise if you don't like VLC. VLC plays MOV... and whatever else there is.
 Real Alternative (**)(W) - "Real Alternative allows your system to play Real Media files (.ra .ram) without having to install the full version of RealPlayer." Very nice. I am not a fan of Real Player, or their codecs... so this is the compromise. Plus, VLC doesn't not play RA and RAM
Media Information Alternatives click to show - Mr Questionman (*)(W) - "Mr QuestionMan is an audio inspector. You can browse through your audio collection and it will show you useful information, like average bitrate, used encoder and settings, etc. It supports many audio formats." It is handy to have around when checking music files. It supports plenty of non standard codecs.
 VLC Media Player (*****)(W,M,L,+) - "VLC (initially VideoLAN Client) is a highly portable multimedia player for various audio and video formats (MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, mp3, ogg...) as well as DVDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols." My personal favorite video player. Supports all OS's, small RAM footprint, but no library. Still great.
[anchorlink=RECENT UPDATES]Augi's list[/ANCHORLINK] | [ANCHORLINK= The Open Source/Freeware/Gratis Software Thread]Biznatch's List[/anchorlink]
[anchor]MEDIA RIPPERS[/anchor]
[anchorlink=RECENT UPDATES]Augi's list[/ANCHORLINK] | [ANCHORLINK= The Open Source/Freeware/Gratis Software Thread]Biznatch's List[/anchorlink]- AccurateRip (*****)(-) - "It gives a confidence when storing your CD collection onto computer that the resulting audio files are free from error, without having to listen manually to each track." The technology in short: the audio data of each track ripped is hashed (CRC32) and submitted to a GIANT database. Your results are compared to the database, instantly giving confidence that your rips are accurate, or inform that your rips are incorrect and you must rerip. A time and trouble saver. Currently only supported by two rippers: EAC and dBpoweramp.
- Spoiler: DVDFab HD Decrypter (*****)(W) - "It copies entire DVD movie to hard disk, and removes all the protections (CSS, RC, RCE, APS, UOPs and Sony ARccOS) while copying. It also comes with full HD-DVD and Blu-Ray support (Removes AACS)." Really good when your DVDs have a lifespan of 3 months because of roommates, parents of roommates, and /or kids. Please be smart if you use this program!
 
- Exact Audio Copy (EAC) (*****)(W) - "Exact Audio Copy is a so called audio grabber for audio CDs using standard CD and DVD-ROM drives." Choice. Undoubtedly one of the best audio rippers. Supports many features. Secure ripping schemes. Image based ripping styles. Audio editing tools. AccurateRip database support. Multi-rip-encoding processor REACT2. Go to Hydrogen Audio Forums for real in depth help and advice.
CD Ripping Tool Alternatives click to show - CDex (*)(W) - "Open Source Digital Audio CD Extractor" An open source version of EAC (uses the same secure rip technology) that no one wants to keep up to date anymore (damn them!).
 dBpowerAMP (*)(W) - "Often called a Swiss army knife of Audio, dbpowerAMP is able to: Digitally Rip Audio CDs and compress to a multitude of audio formats, Convert between audio formats whilst preserving ID Tags. Practically every audio type is supported: mp3, mp4, m4a, Windows Media Audio (WMA), Ogg Vorbis, AAC, Monkeys Audio, FLAC, Apple Lossless (ALAC) and many others from Codec Central..." A really intuitive solution for advanced audio ripping/encoding. I do not use this program, but I once did. It supports AccurateRip like EAC. Can use MAREO to have REACT like abilities. I currently use EAC, REACT, and FB2K to handle all my audio media concerns.
- Deep Ripper (*)(W) - "DeepRipper is freeware utility that is capable of converting audio CD tracks to a first-grade MP3, OGG or WAV files. It features a number of presets for less experienced users and full set of manual settings for experts." A very simple and quick solution for ripping tracks.
[anchorlink=RECENT UPDATES]Augi's list[/ANCHORLINK] | [ANCHORLINK= The Open Source/Freeware/Gratis Software Thread]Biznatch's List[/anchorlink]
[anchor]MEDIA EDITORS / ENCODERS[/anchor]
[anchorlink=RECENT UPDATES]Augi's list[/ANCHORLINK] | [ANCHORLINK= The Open Source/Freeware/Gratis Software Thread]Biznatch's List[/anchorlink] Audacity (***)(W,M,L,+) - "Audacity is a free, easy-to-use audio editor and recorder for Windows." Bingo, use it a lot when I need to edit gaps and tracks for mixing.
 DVD Shrink (*****)(W) - "DVD Shrink is a freeware tool for fitting a DVD-Video disc on a single DVD-R." Yeah another good one. I use it to compress home movies that I convert to DVD, real intuitive to use.
Enable Batch Processing of DVD Shrink Jobs click to show - MultiShrink (***)(W) - "A small tool to enable DVD Shrink batch processing" Damn I use this one at Christmas time to batch process home videos of/for family and friends. Somewhat counter-intuitive, but simple nonetheless. One need only have multiple DVD Shrink jobs waiting at the backup screen just before DVD Shrink actually begins processing a job. You run Multishrink and it will start those jobs one at a time.
- FLAC (***)(W,M,L,+) - "FLAC stands for Free Lossless Audio Codec, an audio format similar to MP3, but lossless, meaning that audio is compressed in FLAC without any loss in quality." A very good lossless audio codec. Supports embedded CUE-sheets, embedding album art, lyrics, and tons of other metadata elements.
- Gordian Knot (**)(W) - "...[A]n integrated package or tool for the entire process of DivX/XviD encoding." Some words that describe GK. Confusing. Convoluted. Backwards. Powerful. Semi-automated. Use this to convert DVD video to portable AVI/OGM/MKV video in popular DivX/XviD/x264 codecs. I recommend getting your feet wet with AutoGK first.
DVD to Video Alternatives click to show - AutoGK (***)(W) - "This site is a homepage for THE tool for DivX / XviD backup utility. With support of DVDs, MPEG2 (such as DVB captures and transport streams), MPEG1 sources along with AVI/DV sources encoding into your favourite MPEG4 format was never as easy as now!" A fairly powerful DVD to MP4/AVI program, built as a parallel to the popular but convoluted Gordian Knot, sacrificing some control of your video for much needed simplicity. Exceeds my expectations of a one click program, superior quality for/from the average encoding user.
- DivX (***)(W,M) - "DivX for Windows gives you everything you need to create and play high-ality DivX videos on your PC and beyond." I use Dr. DivX all the time to convert FLVs I download from YouTube with FDM.
- Simplified Universal Player Encoder & Renderer (SUPER) (*)(W) - "If you need a simple, yet very efficient tool to convert (encode) or play any Multimedia file, without reading manuals or spending long hours training, then SUPER © is all you need." Eh, it is OK, not my favorite and not as powerful as AutoGK or GK. Simple as all hell though.
- VOB2MPG (*)(W) - "VOB2MPG goes through a whole DVD VIDEO_TS folder and joins up the various vobsets to produce mpgs for the different titles." This tool is not much good, unless you are converting video clips into something else with programs that do not accept DVD vobsets as input. When that happens just use this.
- LAME (****)(W,M,L,+) - "LAME is considered the best MP3 encoder at mid-high bitrates and at VBR, mostly thanks to the dedicated work of its developers and the open source licensing model that allowed the project to tap into engineering resources from all around the world." Highly regarded at Hydrogen Audio Forums, I used it extensively before switching to Vorbis. MP3 is a proprietary format. This means if you wanted to sell MP3s of your music, you must pay some of your earnings to Fraunhofer, the patent owner of MPEG-III codec. Please: root for the the underdogs: WavPack, FLAC, Vorbis. You must download a windows encoder from RareWares.
- [Windows] Media Encoder (*)(W) - "Windows Media Encoder is a powerful tool for content producers who want to capture audio and video content using the many innovations in Windows Media, including high-quality multichannel sound, high-definition video quality, and support for mixed-mode voice and music content." Used a lot when I would take VOBs from DVD clips and needed them to be WMV for Movie Maker. Really helpful at times.
- REACT (*****)(W) - "REACT (Run EAC Tasks) can be used in conjunction with Exact Audio Copy (EAC), as an external compressor. It is, however, not an encoder ... REACT allows you to run multiple tasks on the audio extracted, instead of only one." Definitely one of the greatest things to come along for audio archiving. I have mine configured to do many tasks for my media library such as: zip-archive to be burned to DVDs, audio hashing for extra security, file hashing, it is loaded.
Multi-Format Rip Encoder Alternatives click to show - MAREO 6 (?)(W) - "special program for CD rippers and other audio compression frontends that has the ability to execute multiple encoders for each track ripped, allowing to encode to multiple audio formats at the same time." I never got to use this since I prefer to rip to images. While I don't use this, it is highly regarded at HydrogenAudio Forums. You must download it from here.
- Vorbis (**)(W,M,L,+) - "Ogg Vorbis is a completely open, patent-free, professional audio encoding and streaming technology with all the benefits of Open Source." My favorite low-bitrate lossy encoder. Similar to MP3 but performs better at low bitrates for my bad ears. I support it because it is free to use, and works well.
- WavPack (***)(W,M,L,+) - "WavPack is a completely open audio compression format providing lossless, high-quality lossy, and a unique hybrid compression mode." My favorite lossless codec. To me, faster than FLAC with almost all the same features (minus embedding album art), and a unique hybrid mode which provides high bitrate lossy files, comparable to MP3 at 200kbps, which can be returned to lossless with the WVC, WavPack Correction file.
[anchorlink=RECENT UPDATES]Augi's list[/ANCHORLINK] | [ANCHORLINK= The Open Source/Freeware/Gratis Software Thread]Biznatch's List[/anchorlink]
Last edited by Hain; 06-21-2008 at 11:40 PM..
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