What's the best media player

[Trigger_Happy]

I have a terrible feeling I'll get 100 different answers to this question, but here goes:

What's the best media player? I used to use Real Player because I liked the layout a bit better than the rest, but I am sick of its quirks. I want to be able to record tracks to my minidisc player (well, the discs inside the player ) so...does that narrow my options? Thanks for the help!

[Person]

Windows media. It is allready on your computer. All the Real and Quicktime stuff has all these other things in it you dont need, random stupid popups for new unnecesary updates you must have or die. If you can get away with using only windows media player, do it. Some websites only have their video's in quicktime or only in real, thats just something quicktime <apple> and real do in order to get people to download their unnecesary trash.

I have a quicktime and real alternative that plays those formats in Windows Media Player Classic, its a bootlegish thing.

BTW most people dont mind, or notice the difference if they have all three of those main players on their computer, the popups and startup programs are things most regular computer users can ignore... for me they make me go insane and reformat my hard drive if that is what it takes to get them to go away.

[WickeDKlowN]

I've been using WMP 10 for a while now and befor that I used BSPlayer.

[thecavemankevin]

WMP is ok, i use it for vids

i like jukebox for music though

[TraXeR]

RealOne is my favorite, runs damn near anything, free, and has some nice features.

[Bluestrike_2]

Some call me biased. Anyhow, here you go....

iTunes - Very good media player. Gets better with each version. 4.6 is coming out in a few days which will include AirTunes(uses Airport EXPRESS). Very cool. http://www.apple.com/itunes and http://www.apple.com/airportexpress/ [free]

Quicktime - Nice media player. Has it' fair share of quirks. Just like WMP and Real. Main reason for QT is, of course, my home theater. Building a intro DVD with the apple movie trailers..... http://www.apple.com/quicktime and http://www.apple.com/trailers/ [free]

TheaterTek(Windows only) - Good DVD player. Very nice. What I will be using in my Home Theater PC. [Pay] http://www.theatertek.com

That's it, the best of the crop in the Windows universe, IMHO. I chose them all for different reasons, and for different purposes.

Go to http://www.avsforums.com for more information on many media players. Go to the HTPC forum. Good luck!

[Vash02]

Personally, i LOVE winamp. So many different options, and i really enjoy the TV thing they have on there. Its free, and you can watch everything from anime, to music videos, to family guy/simpsons/futurama.

[pputkowski]

Win-amp.

[xmetal2001]

Winamp 5 for audio.

WMP for video.

This IS the way to go...trust me

[personman]

Winamp 5 for audio.

WMP for video.

This IS the way to go...trust me

Ditto.
Winamp 5 pro is awesome!

[LudavicoSoldier]

iTunes 4.6/QuicktimePro 6.5.1. Neither have failed me. I dislike anything Real immensely. WMP ony for WMVs.