If not WMP 9 then what else???

[Yomek]

Having reading post in this forum and others i realized that Window Media Player 9 is one of the worst media players to use. All that said and done, i do not get any comments on its media library capabilities. I must admit that as media player, WMP9 is not the best. However as a media library the functionallity of WMP9 is great. I have a collection of 6000+ music files (mp3 & wma) that is have ripped and the media library is wonderfull at keeping my music organized.
So if the general concensus is to avoid Windows Media library as it is such a yttihs media player, what about the media library.
What i am gettin at is... can anyone recommend an application that has media organizing capabilities comparable or surpassing WMP9.

[Tuning]

For music files,i would suggest foobar2000 (http://www.foobar2000.org). It has almost all features for normal audiophile.

For the most accepted media players look this poll (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=62834&highlight=Favourite+Media+Player)

[theReal]

I like Winamp 5 very much - and I think it also has all this organizing stuff (which I'm not using, that's why I can't say how good it is).

Also there's iTunes for Windows which is a good media library with included player.

These two I'd recommend for audio only, my video player choices would be The Core Media Player or Media Player Classic (because they just play everything and you have a million useful tweaks and settings to make watching videos as enjoyable as it should be)

[hellfred]

<not trying to start a flamewar>
I have heard some people mention that the library function of the Real Player 10 is quite good. And concerning spying and behaviour, you should read the thread "RealPlayer 10, installation, performance, etc." in this section of the forum. Maybe ripping to AAC is interesting for you, too. On my PIII 550MHz i am quiet satisfied with its performance, even when playing avis. For playing ogg you have to download a plugin from xiph available form helixcomunity.org. I think the download location is mentioned in the thread.
</not trying to start a flamewar>

Hellfred

[theReal]

I agree! Realplayer is quite good. The nagging stuff is not too bad, and once it's installed, I like it pretty much (I have a big collection of captured Simpsons and Futurama Episodes and they're all encoded with Helix Producer 9, that's why I'm using Realplayer quite often)

[McoreD]

If anyone was wondering...

How to back up Windows Media Player Library (http://blog.kevindonahue.com/archives/2003/08/how_to_back_up_.php)

[DAvenger]

Try RadLight 4. It has a very good playlist :p