Well, color us surprised. The actual device is long gone, and the Zune Music service is now Xbox Music, but many of you nominated and voted for the Zune Music desktop player. Whether it's the player's gorgeous interface, podcast organization and downloading options, auto-generated backgrounds, seeded and custom playlists, or unique look and feel, it's earned a lot of love from many of you, and even though it's possible Microsoft will pull downloads for it tomorrow, we have to agree: Just because an app isn't in development anymore doesn't mean people shouldn't use it if it's great at what it does. The Zune Music Player is indeed good at what it does. It supports a ton of file types, and while it's not the most flexible or customizable, it's fast and can handle large libraries, and in full-screen mode, it's fun to use.
Those of you who praised it specifically notes that you liked the fact that it's "not an Excel homage" like so many other players, according to reader sab0tage, and the auto-generated backgrounds, downloaded artist art and information, and other visual cues won over many of you. It's free, and it's still available, but we're not sure for how long. If you want to give it a try, grab it now and save the installer in case you ever need to reinstall.
That's all she wrote! Now it's time to put them to an all-out vote to determine the Lifehacker community favorite:
Honorable mentions this week go out to the two media players that come with every Windows or OS X machine: Windows Media Player which, as many of you pointed out is bundled with Windows, works just fine, and while it's not the most robust or powerful, it's very effective, easy to use, and while you won't find yourself fiddling with custom audio settings or plug-ins, it gets the job done. In fact, while it's a bit dated, one of our former writers had a good defense of it here, and it's still an interesting read. On the flip side, we should also give a nod to iTunes, which was surprisingly distant from the top five, unlike the last time we asked you guys this question.
If you're looking for a solid, cross-platform alternative player that works in Windows, OS X, and Linux, many of you rallied to the banner of Clementine, a richly featured desktop jukebox app that supports music stored at Google Play Music, internet radio from Spotify, Grooveshark, and more. It's also a podcast catcher, supports copying and syncing music to USB devices, the list goes on. If you're looking for an alternative to the names above, take a look.
On a personal note, I'm bummed that AIMP didn't make the list this time around, since it's a more than solid player that deserves a little more attention. Similarly, I'm saddened the Linux users didn't turn out in large enough numbers to get any Linux players like Amarok or Tomahawk into the top five. Maybe next time.
Finally, although Google Play Music is a webapp, a number of you mentioned that you use it as your primary music player—partially because it just works so well in a web browser, but also because you can upload all of your music to it, generate and seed playlists with it, stream genre or song-based radio using it, and buy music through it all in the same app. Just shows you there's a trend towards cloud-based players.
Have something to say about one of the contenders? Want to make the case for your personal favorite, even if it wasn't included in the list? Remember, the top five are based on your most popular nominations from the call for contenders thread from earlier in the week. Don't just complain about the top five, let us know what your preferred alternative is—and make your case for it—in the comments below.
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
5-Zune Music (Windows)
Well, color us surprised. The actual device is long gone, and the Zune Music service is now Xbox Music, but many of you nominated and voted for the Zune Music desktop player. Whether it's the player's gorgeous interface, podcast organization and downloading options, auto-generated backgrounds, seeded and custom playlists, or unique look and feel, it's earned a lot of love from many of you, and even though it's possible Microsoft will pull downloads for it tomorrow, we have to agree: Just because an app isn't in development anymore doesn't mean people shouldn't use it if it's great at what it does. The Zune Music Player is indeed good at what it does. It supports a ton of file types, and while it's not the most flexible or customizable, it's fast and can handle large libraries, and in full-screen mode, it's fun to use.
Those of you who praised it specifically notes that you liked the fact that it's "not an Excel homage" like so many other players, according to reader sab0tage, and the auto-generated backgrounds, downloaded artist art and information, and other visual cues won over many of you. It's free, and it's still available, but we're not sure for how long. If you want to give it a try, grab it now and save the installer in case you ever need to reinstall.
That's all she wrote! Now it's time to put them to an all-out vote to determine the Lifehacker community favorite:
Honorable mentions this week go out to the two media players that come with every Windows or OS X machine: Windows Media Player which, as many of you pointed out is bundled with Windows, works just fine, and while it's not the most robust or powerful, it's very effective, easy to use, and while you won't find yourself fiddling with custom audio settings or plug-ins, it gets the job done. In fact, while it's a bit dated, one of our former writers had a good defense of it here, and it's still an interesting read. On the flip side, we should also give a nod to iTunes, which was surprisingly distant from the top five, unlike the last time we asked you guys this question.
If you're looking for a solid, cross-platform alternative player that works in Windows, OS X, and Linux, many of you rallied to the banner of Clementine, a richly featured desktop jukebox app that supports music stored at Google Play Music, internet radio from Spotify, Grooveshark, and more. It's also a podcast catcher, supports copying and syncing music to USB devices, the list goes on. If you're looking for an alternative to the names above, take a look.
On a personal note, I'm bummed that AIMP didn't make the list this time around, since it's a more than solid player that deserves a little more attention. Similarly, I'm saddened the Linux users didn't turn out in large enough numbers to get any Linux players like Amarok or Tomahawk into the top five. Maybe next time.
Finally, although Google Play Music is a webapp, a number of you mentioned that you use it as your primary music player—partially because it just works so well in a web browser, but also because you can upload all of your music to it, generate and seed playlists with it, stream genre or song-based radio using it, and buy music through it all in the same app. Just shows you there's a trend towards cloud-based players.
Have something to say about one of the contenders? Want to make the case for your personal favorite, even if it wasn't included in the list? Remember, the top five are based on your most popular nominations from the call for contenders thread from earlier in the week. Don't just complain about the top five, let us know what your preferred alternative is—and make your case for it—in the comments below.
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