Media Players

[nsxtasy]

My favorite internet radio station (the classic underground radio portion of 3WK) offers a choice of four different media players: Windows Media Player, Real Player, Shoutcast, and Ogg Vorbis. I'm familiar with the first two. Can anyone give me a brief synopsis of any advantages to using either of the latter players over the two biggies?

 

[PHOEN$X]

Hi Ken, Windows Media Player and Real Player are media players, whereas Shoutcast is the technology used by the Winamp player to stream MP3s, and Ogg Vorbis is an open source codec that can also be streamed (however I'm not very familiar with it).

I'm sure the radio station offers the different types of media to ensure maximum compatibility among its listeners, as some people have preferences regarding their choice of codecs and media players.

For your purposes, I would go with Windows Media Player as I assume you already have the software loaded on your PC, and it is supposed to sound better than MP3 at lower bit rates. However, you can do your own research and decide. Here's one article to get you started:

OGG vs. MP3 vs. WMA vs. RA

HTH.

 

[NeoNSX]

I like OGG, but i think the technology is still immature.

For web radio, Windows Media player is good. Real player is good also, but it installs so much bloatware it loses my vote. WinAMP is pretty good from my limited experience. But honestly, there are better ways of wasting bandwidth.


So you're into underground radio? Where's Mr.Wolf when you want him???

 

[hlweyl]

VH1.com gives a pretty good selection of radio stations. I play it at work everyday.

 

[lemansnsx]

VLC seems to be worth a look:
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

 

[PHOEN$X]

VLC seems to be worth a look:
http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

Seems cool, thanks for the link!

 

[lemansnsx]

Seems cool, thanks for the link!

actually, thank YOU because I only found VLC while following links from the stuff that you linked to in the MP3 threads!

Side note: have you any experience with Übernet - the high quality mp3 sharing (p2p) site?

 

[PHOEN$X]

Side note: have you any experience with Übernet - the high quality mp3 sharing (p2p) site?

Not yet, I've been meaining to look into it but haven't had the time!

 

[lemansnsx]

Not yet, I've been meaining to look into it but haven't had the time!

I'm very paranoid so I'm put off by their requirement of sharing 25 rips to sign up with them and they don't seem to have any particular privacy or security. Their thinking is that they are flying below the RIAA's radar because they are still so small. I wouldn't bet the ranch on that...

 

[PHOEN$X]

Their thinking is that they are flying below the RIAA's radar because they are still so small. I wouldn't bet the ranch on that...

I'm inclined to agree with you.