Which player is worthy of your multimedia files

A multimedia player enables you to play movies, music, video clips, TV shows and any audio and video file. Multimedia players have become essential applications for any PC delivering the highest audio and video quality. Next, you´ll get to know the most popular players covering all multimedia aspects. We introduce you to Windows Media Player, Winamp, iTunes, Songbird and VLC Media Player. These players present features of their own, some of them allow users to manage their files, and others feature hundreds of plug-ins.

Windows Media Player

As with almost every type of program in the world of the PC, the influence of Microsoft Windows is strong when it comes to choosing a multimedia player. So what better place to begin talking about these programs than with the one that is installed by default on this operating system?

Windows Media Player strength lies in the use and management of multimedia files, mainly thanks to its Media Library, with which users can arrange and catalogue their files, thereby making it easier to find exactly what they want to play. What’s more, it features tools for ripping and burning CDs, together with another for synchronizing with portable devices.

This player also comes with a collection of accessories and enhancements with which you can, among other things, change various aspects of the audio output, link the program to Windows Live Messenger, and more.

Without a doubt, the weakest aspects of Microsoft’s media player are the options for playing podcasts and the lack of features it offers users for playing videos.

Winamp

Historically, Winamp has always been the most popular multimedia player, thanks to its winning combination of interesting tools, low resource consumption, and ease of use.

Nowadays, Winamp comes with various different tools for playing audio and video, podcast subscription options, playlists, m3u support, support for streaming radio, a multimedia library, and synchronization with all sorts of mobile devices.

As if all that wasn’t enough, this player also stands out for the large amount of plug-ins that can be added to it, thus achieving unique sounds, professional-standard automatic track mixing, and much more.

iTunes

iTunes is the multimedia player of Mac OS, which Apple has now ported to the Windows platform, resulting in a rather strange hybrid.
In themselves, the player’s features are good. It has multiple features for playing audio and video, supports podcasts, plays internet radio stations from all over the world, and can burn and rip audio to and from audio CDs. Plus, it features a wide variety of options for the Apple iPod and iPhone, even if the same can’t be said for other portable devices.

However, after using it for a while you can see that, despite being a great player, there’s no justification for the amount of system resources that it uses up, mainly due to the fact that it is not a program that has been designed for use under Microsoft Windows. Add to this certain other limitations and it becomes very clear that Apple launched iTunes thinking almost exclusively about iPod and iStore users, rather than the possible needs of those users open to other options.

Songbird

If by now you were thinking that there’s no player out there capable of beating the ones already mentioned, you’d be very wrong. Just as Web 2.0 continues to make headlines, Songbird could be described as a sort of Player 2.0. The central portion of its user interface features a Mozilla-based web browser, complete with tabs, that is sure to make this program a hit.

Songbird is able to play some of your favourite tracks even if you don’t have them stored on your PC since it provides you with access to sites where you can search for and play free-to-download songs and other audio files. What’s more, you’ll have a large number of online plug-ins at hand which will notably enhance and build upon the performance of the player.

It goes without saying that this program also comes with support for many different audio and video formats, along with different models and types of portable media devices.

VLC Media Player

Last but not least we have VLC Media Player, a program that may not look like much of a threat to the other players talked about here but that, once you start to use it, you’ll see just how handy it can be to have around.

VLC doesn’t have any library for organizing and administrating your multimedia files. Instead, you simply make a playlist to listen to right now or load a previously saved one. The user interface is pretty basic – and not in the least attractive to be honest – but, despite this, this program is one of the most popular media players around.

The secret lies in the large bundle of codecs that it comes with and which let it play practically any multimedia file that you can get your hands on. No matter what challenge it’s faced with, VLC responds without hesitation, consuming very few system resources whilst achieving an enviable play-back quality.

Choosing just one single player would mean missing out on the features and possible benefits of all the others, for which reason combining more than one and then making use of the features that you need or want the most is surely the best answer when it comes down to kitting out your PC.

In this way, it´s important to know which player is the most convenient according to the multimedia content we wish to play. We consider that Windows Media Player, Winamp, Songbird and iTunes are all great players with similar features and the same audio and video quality level. Only VLC makes a difference thank to the user friendly codec installation. But as we all know, the appearance in a player is also important, that´s why Winamp and iTunes are both great looking players with a wide variety of wonderful skins and great functionality.

Apple will feature an application to add social networks as Facebook and Twitter to its OS X

What will Apple borrow next? Year after year, during September in Apple Campus located in Cupertino, California is where this software company frequently acquires new technologies and developments.

To its traditional launches related to iPod, iPhone or iTunes products, this time rumors have surfaced that this time Apple will surprise us with an item of news that has been long-expected by many Mac users. It is said that this software company could feature a new application to integrate social networks with its MAC OS X. A step forward that nowadays with the rage and enthusiasm that web 2.0 and social network as Facebook or Twitter has brought, this company cannot leave it unattended.

Although this application will be integrated with most social networks, it could also add iTunes, matter that make some users uncomfortable. This is seen as a problem by many users, as the matter of fact, the application was first developed or thought to access music files, videos, etc. On the other hand, we found some enthusiastic users about this news. Above all, we can say that companies like Apple never develop or launch a product if this wasn´t previously accepted on the market and this remind us, the well-known long waiting queues whenever a new product from this company is on sale.

One of the advantages this utility (iTunes) could bring as a result of its integration is that we could publish the song we are listening to in different sites. Furthermore, this utility could enable us to access social networks directly from any application we have in our computer being this comfortable compared with accessing form the web. For instance, those MSN users that have any of this versions installed on their computer can access it by going to www.webmessenger.msn.com.

All in all, the majority of Apple´s users or consumers has accepted their products and might not be long since MAC OX S is integrated with social networks as Facebook, Twitter or Friendfeed. This could be a great opportunity so as the companie can take full advantage of their success. What´s more, this could be the best occasion to announce on September, its launching month, the development of their own social network.

iTunes 9

Apple promised big things for the launch of iTunes last September and everybody is talking about it. The result? User’s hope that their dreams can came true. A new report suggests that the next version of Apple’s iTunes could carry support for Blu-ray discs, visual management and rearrangement capabilities for iTunes Store software, and integration with social media Web sites. Rumors have grown and now people doubt of it.

If we carefully think about these options one by one, we can´t stop thinking that there is no support for Mac regarding Blu-ray. We can only wish and hope that the next iMac will have the possibility of adding this format.

On the other hand, the organization in iPhone and iPod Touch devices is one of the iTunes actual disadvantages, being much useful the direct download from Smartphone than using this software. The version 9 should try to improve this feature.

Last but not least, regarding social network integration, we should consider the public changes from the beginning until iTunes Store consolidation.

Different music streaming service such us MySpace, the possibility of accessing new disc from p2p or file sharing sites and the grow of social network as Twitter or Facebook to share content shows that these is a field in constant changing. Perhaps, this is exactly where Apple needs to strengthen, offering iTunes users the possibility of sharing in their profiles a play list o track they are listening to.

As they said, “It’s good fishing in troubled waters” so we only need to wait to September to see what news Apple has for us.

It´s common nowadays to have issues when transferring music files from our PC to our iPod. To make thing easier, we´ll need an application such as iTunes that will enable users to transfer multimedia files easily and quickly. Therefore, we introduce you to iTunes, a multimedia player that will enable you to copy music to your iPod with just a few clicks.

IPods are the most popular portable multimedia devices due to the handful of interesting features they deliver. However, when we plug our iPod to the PC we run into some complications, we cannot copy files using Windows Explorer as we would usually do for instance.

The solution is installing an application that features the necessary support for your iPod device so you can use it properly with your PC. That application is iTunes, Apple´s most popular application, designed to transfer music, videos and photos to the device. Once we downloaded the file and installed iTunes, connect your iPod to the PC.

First, we must add songs to the “Library” in the music tab. Once music files are there we can work with them or just play them. There are two of ways of adding tracks. You can either add tracks by dragging files of folders to the music tab, or by going to File > Add File/Folder to Library.

When having lots of audio tracks in our library, the next is to create Playlists. We can do it either by clicking on File > New Playlist Folder or by clicking on the + button found on the lower left portion of the screen. Once the Playlist is created we can rename it and drag and drop the songs we want to include in such playlist.

You can also use iTunes Music Store to buy songs or albums. iTunes Music Store has more music titles and genres available than any other music service we’ve seen. The service also offers a strong feature set, including an integrated music player, in-depth information on artists and albums, music videos, audio books, movies, television shows and games.

When you have finally organized your playlist, you can either drag and drop separate songs or the entire playlist to your iPod player. The process may take some minutes depending on the number of songs you are copying to the player.

Even though iTunes may not seem very user-friendly at the beginning, you will realize that adding music to our iPod can be done in a matter of seconds.

Following these simple steps, you´ll be able to load music into your iPod in no time. Its interface may seem a bit confusing at the beginning, but it´s very easy to master and it´s the essential complement for your iPod player.

Dowload iTunes

Apple managed to revolutionize the multimedia world by releasing iTunes, a whole new multimedia concept for iPods that combines audio and video playback as well as Radio, TV and podcast broadcasting while purchasing music online. In this report, we’ll analyze this popular player’s potentials.

iTunes

The revolution we are talking about is not unconnected to iPod’s appearance in the market. This Apple mobile device massiveness ended up in the positioning of iTunes as its ideal and essential complement. Nowadays, most iPod users organize their music with iTunes.

The program´s interface differs from other players since it was made for using the iTunes Store, the online shop for purchasing applications, music and videos.

This is –among others- the reason why iTunes is a program that doesn´t require a great deal of computing knowledge, since most of its features are introduced by using a Wizard.

Moreover, files managed by iTunes are automatically sorted in playlists and libraries (depending on file types), inside which the user can easily add, sort and eliminate multimedia files. One thing to bear in mind though, is that iTunes may duplicate files, therefore we have to pay attention to the indications shown during this process.

As previously mentioned, iTunes features a complete audio, video, radio, TV and podcast player, as well as compatibility with most popular formats such as .mov, .avi, .swf, .mp3, .aac, .wma, and more.

Also, it has an equalizer with a wide range of music presets and 10 audio channels to configure manually. Moreover, it includes a large amount of radio and podcast signals for you to listen to radio online, and the possibility of adding streaming TV channels.

iTunes Store has a tab of its own where users can create an account so they can immediately start purchasing and downloading applications, programs and videos from its varied and colorful catalog.

Without any doubt, the greatest issue is the amount of system memory it consumes due to its visual complexity since it´s an interface developed for MacOSX and adapted to Microsoft Windows. We can notice this when launching the program, performing a search or even while playing files.

To sum up, iTunes is a player that emphasizes its original way to manage multimedia files, as well as purchasing online while playing videos or music, listening to radio stations or synchronizing your iPod.