Music is something we can all get behind. Music helps you relax, pumps you up, makes you dance, or is just great art. Of course, in some cases, it can be terrible.
One of the first things you’ll need is a great music player to play that library of yours. These days, there’s a lot of choices. There are cloud-based utilities and local ones. There are ones that can only play specific file types. Then there are those that are extremely customizable but perhaps a bit confusing.
Regardless of what your needs are, we’ll cover ten of the best music players fitting all different levels of need in this article.
foobar2000
OS: Windows
Foobar is by far the most customizable music player out there. Not only can you download themes and skins for it to give it that personal touch, but you can also customize what information about playing music it displays and where it displays it. The interface is entirely changeable. Aside from that, it plays all music formats, including all the lossless formats, and it supports WASAPI, Microsoft’s exclusive mode to ensure no sound quality is lost by other programs trying to access your sound card.
iTunes
OS: Windows, Mac, iOS
Yes, people would riot if we didn’t put iTunes on the list. Of course, iTunes is a solid music player, and if you have a purchased iTunes collection or an iDevice, you’re likely already using it to transfer media anyway. Luckily, it’s a solid music player. The only downfall is its inability to ply certain file types.
Windows Media Player
OS: Windows
WMP has come a long way since the early days. These days, it’s fully capable of being your go-to media player if you really want it. Again, it doesn’t support every file type, but the ability to double as a video player is pretty handy as well. These days it also supports all the features you love like playlists and the like.
Google Play Music
OS: Windows, Android
Google Play Music is an awesome source for those interested in a cloud music service. Not only can you buy music and stream it to your device, you can also upload your own MP3s to the cloud and stream those to your device, effectively removing your collection from any local source. It’s pretty awesome.
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Winamp
OS: Windows
Winamp used to be one of the go-to powerful media players. These days, Foobar has edged it out a bit in popularity, but it’s not due to functionality. Winamp is still incredibly powerful and a powerful media player. It’s certainly worth a look.
MediaMonkey
OS: Windows
MediaMonkey is something I never got into myself, but it’s a powerful app with an amazing interface. Huge playlist functionality and ability to sync with mobile devices are huge features raising this one up. It also supports CD ripping and other cool stuff.
Groove
OS: Windows 10
Zune is dead, right? Well, yeah, but the player is not, and the player is honestly really awesome looking. It’s been replaced by something called Groove, but it’s much the same. The interface is still really nice, and the ability to sign up for unlimited streaming plans much like those offered by Apple Music is also helpful for Windows users.
MusicBee
OS: Windows
MusicBee is a powerful music player that honestly looks a lot like MusicMonkey. It’s pretty customizable like foobar, and it supports CD ripping and the like, much like both foobar and MediaMonkey. Best of all, it’s totally free.
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Audacious
OS: Linux, Windows
Linux needs love too, right? Audacious is an amazing audio player on the Linux platform that will play anything you throw at it. The GUI is super-intuitive, and there are a lot of cool features in the player. Linux users have to check this one out.
Tomahawk
OS: Linux
If a polished UI makes or breaks for you on Linux for some reason, then Tomahawk is your best friend. It’s also available on Windows, Mac, and Android as well! It even incorporates popular online music streaming services directly into the program for easy access. It’s kind of cool.
Did you try and love one of these players? Did we miss your favorite app? Let us know in the comments.
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