Desktop music player suggestions

Luke1206

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Hi,

I'm looking for a decent Windows 10 desktop music software. Free or not. My requirements are:

1. FLAC compatibility
2. Can play local library
3. Has some kind of plug-in or compatibility with Airplay (ideally, but could settle for just Chromecast).
4. Podcast functionality

I have iTunes at the moment, but my low-end surface struggles with it and I don't like the interface much anyway. MusicBee looked like the solution, but the Airplay plug-in doesn't seem to like streaming to my Cambridge Audio CXNv2, whereas it works OK with my other portable speaker. I'm not that keen on Google Music either.

Any suggestions?

Thanks
 
Hi,

I'm looking for a decent Windows 10 desktop music software. Free or not. My requirements are:

1. FLAC compatibility
2. Can play local library
3. Has some kind of plug-in or compatibility with Airplay (ideally, but could settle for just Chromecast).
4. Podcast functionality

I have iTunes at the moment, but my low-end surface struggles with it and I don't like the interface much anyway. MusicBee looked like the solution, but the Airplay plug-in doesn't seem to like streaming to my Cambridge Audio CXNv2, whereas it works OK with my other portable speaker. I'm not that keen on Google Music either.

Any suggestions?

Thanks

 
foobar2000 will do all you need with the relevant plugins / components

 
VCL, Mediamonkey
 
I used Mediamonkey for years but I prefer WinAmp. It is old but I like it more. It has flac support from a plugin. It also does Podcasts but not used that feature.
 
I am still with Windows Media Player because it supports ratings and allows you to create a dynamic playlist - e.g a playlist of all classic genre with rating of 5 stars.
It has a built-in media catalogue which players can browse over the network.
Drawbacks - mine wont cast to a player cos it cannot find players. Oh, and if skins impress you then no good.
 
I am using Albumplayer for many years now, I find it has a nice interface, and is quite fast with indexing large libraries. But I do not know if it supports Airplay, Chromecast or podcasts. Maybe I will migrate to Roon soon as I read good things about it.
 
I am still with Windows Media Player because it supports ratings and allows you to create a dynamic playlist - e.g a playlist of all classic genre with rating of 5 stars.
It has a built-in media catalogue which players can browse over the network.
Drawbacks - mine wont cast to a player cos it cannot find players. Oh, and if skins impress you then no good.
Fully support what you say about dynamic playlists. I wont move from WMP unless another player can support this.
WMP cannot find Google Chomecast devices cos it is a DLNA media server. So will find TVs, radios and DLNA-enabled apps such as BubbleUpnp
 
Fully support what you say about dynamic playlists. I wont move from WMP unless another player can support this.

Don't almost all media servers/players support that kind of 'smart playlists' functionality now?

I know Roon and LMS both support it, assumed it was fairly standard.
 
Don't almost all media servers/players support that kind of 'smart playlists' functionality now?

I know Roon and LMS both support it, assumed it was fairly standard.
Jamieu, thanks thats useful. Do Roon and LMS offer any advantages over WMP?
 
Jamieu, thanks thats useful. Do Roon and LMS offer any advantages over WMP?

I’ve never really used WMP but I’d imagine the two main advantages LMS and Roon offer over WMP are the ability to play/stream to devices other than your local PC and a better/richer user interface (LMS needs the material skin plugin enabled otherwise it looks very bare bones/dated). They can also both be consoled remotely via a phone or tablet.

Also not sure if WMP can retrieve additional metadata, artwork and artist/album notes (from the internet) above what is already in the files meta-tags. Roon and LMS both offer this. Roon in particular has very strong ‘discovery’ features that will recommend other albums and artists based on what your currently listening too.

It may not be applicable to your usage, but Roon and LMS can also integrate streaming services like Tidal and Qobuz into your local library.

LMS is free and Roon has a free trail and it’s easy to point both at your existing music library - which they’ll then scan in. So easy enough to try both and see for yourself.
 
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I use Roon, expensive but the best money I have ever spent on anything music related !
 
jriver mc,superb.
 

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