WinAmp Configuration

[Five]

First, I'm going to hijack my own thread:

FOOBAR2000

http://www.foobar2000.org/



Foobar can support SHN, FLAC and APE right out of the box and plays shows gaplessly without any configuration necessary. This is by far your easiest option. The only drawback? It's ugly as sin. Also, check out the kind of music listed in the foobar screenshot. Ugh.

WINAMP

http://www.winamp.com/



I prefer v2.81, old versions are available from these sites:

http://www.winampheaven.net
http://www.oldversion.com


WINAMP SUPPORT FOR SHN - FLAC - APE

Shorten:

http://www.etree.org/shnamp.html

FLAC:

http://www.winamp.com/plugins/details.php?id=131643

FLAC frontend also comes with it as I recall:
http://flac.sourceforge.net/

Monkey's Audio:
You have to install the frontend then install the plugin, in your D:\Program Files\Monkey's Audio\MAC Winamp Plugin (PIMP).exe
You can copy this and uninstall the frontend afterward if you just want the winamp plugin.

http://www.monkeysaudio.com/

Or...

It asks whether to install the plugin when you install the program. That's the easiest way I guess. If you chose not to do it then you can also open up the program, go to the general settings and press the button there.

***Gapless playback!

Also very important is to configure WinAmp for gapless audio playback for a seamless listening experience. There's a couple ways to do this:

You do not need any external gapless plugins for Winamp. Just use the default directsound/waveout plugin, go to preferences/plugins/output/configure/buffering and set the 'buffer ahead on track change' to something like 1 or 2s. Also select the fading tab and disable all fades. There, completely gapless playback without any flashy external plugins.

The other alternative (you guessed it) is to use a gapless audio plugin:

I believe Shnamp 2.02 comes with this one:

http://www.winamp.com/plugins/details.php?id=24303

I use this one:

http://www.winamp.com/plugins/details.php?id=107818

To activate after installation, use <Ctrl+P>, then go to "Output", then select one of these two.

*thanks to Kotti for showing me how to configure WinAmp for gapless playback without plugins and pointing out that Monkey's Audio Frontend asks you if you want to install the WinAmp plugin when you first install it.

[RainDawg]

Five, with your permission I'll post this tutorial to my website and take it out of the forums. I think we should keep as few stickies in the forums as possible, and just post a single FAQ with technical tutorial links in it.

Anyone else agree?

[RainDawg]

By the way, I fail to see that this is an ugly interface....notice how you can arrange the columns any way you want. By the way, did you also know that this is fully customizable? Oh, and I can click on any of those columns and sort them. Notice the status bar and window title? By the way, those are also customizable.

Ok, Ok, so the window is somewhat colorless. But functionally, I can view and sort a lot easier. I'd love the flashy colors and all, but I'll take customizable and informative over that any day.

Sorry...I had to throw in an obligatory knee-jerk defense of my favorite freeware media player.

www.audiophilia.net/images/foobar2000.jpg

[RainDawg]

www.audiophilia.net/winamp.htm

[Five]

Originally Posted by RainDawg

www.audiophilia.net/winamp.htm

perfect. Possibly you could rewrite the foobar portion including info on exactly which version of foobar to download to get support for SHN-FLAC-APE and some tips on tags, etc. Some people still have to download the plugins and are confused about where to find the full installer. Maybe this faq could become "players". If anybody wants to write something for musicmatch or sonique or whatever go for it (I sure don't ).

[Five]

Oh, we could use a similar tutorial for iTunes (mac verison)... is there any configuration necessary, and what is it?

[Five]

ps your screenshot of foobar is much better lol

[U2Lynne]

iTunes only plays wavs/aiffs right now (and mp3/aac/oog). No flac/shn/ape unfortunately.

[Five]

Originally Posted by U2Lynne

iTunes only plays wavs/aiffs right now (and mp3/aac/oog). No flac/shn/ape unfortunately.

How do you play lossless files on a mac then? decode them? Anything you can give us would be great, I'd like to make this the comprehensive "how to play lossless files" tutorial as well as winamp config.

[Rider]

Yeah I don't see what's ugly about foobar. It lists the songs it's playing and it plays them. Unlike winamp which hogs up resources with graphics, browsers all kind of useless crap. I want my player to do one thing play music well. It's a big plus that foobar can do like 500 other things although I admit it's a pain in the ass figuring out how to get it do somethings.

[Five]

dude, it looks like a folder that's all I'm saying. anyhow, I'm just providing the info for winamp because people still use it even I admit it's probably not the best choice for most people.

We also need something for linux users. Is anybody using linux here?

[RainDawg]

Yes, foobar can be trying to figure out, but is quite rewarding once you have that all done. I cut the foobar part from Five's original post when I backed it up to my site as I'm planning a more complete and comprehensive foobar configuaration section for my site. I left the Winamp configuration part alone, so that cen be linked now from anywhere. If you ever want to change it, feel free to request a change or simply forward me a revisted html doc, and I'll do the necessary update.

Lynne, if you've got any Mac tutorials I'd like to put them up on my site as well. Even if you just want to forward me some screencaps with brief descriptions and I'll edit and format it to fit nice inside the page. I have a vision of having some nice freeware tutorials on my site, and Mac stuff is certainly needed.

I will NOT post a MusicMatch to my site and would rally for no one posting on this site either. It's extremely bloated adware and nagware, uses inferior compression schemes, and AFAIK has no support for lossless files. It's totally useless software in my opinion.

[RainDawg]

Originally Posted by Five

We also need something for linux users. Is anybody using linux here?

Not me. I tired it once and it just didn't come together nicely enough, so I went back to windows. I always go by the creed that if you use Linux, you're probably smart enough to not need my advice on how to setup your software .

I'm just glad we have at least one Mac-addict here to help out with software from that side of the fence.

[Five]

[Five]

Originally Posted by Five

oh drat. we need a thumbsup please