Best Music Player

[sharpuser]

If we talk hardware, my favorite music player is an iPod Classic 256GB SSD 7th Gen. Upgraded this from 160 GB.

This way, I have all of my tunes all the time.

 

[Eldergeek]

If we talk hardware, my favorite music player is an iPod Classic 256GB SSD 7th Gen. Upgraded this from 160 GB.

This way, I have all of my tunes all the time.

View attachment 4886

SharpC...that's a nice hack...Did you do the SSD install yourself? If so, more info would be great! My Classic is 6th Gen with the original 160GB drive. It does syncs using JR Music Center without any problems. What format are your tunes?
Mahalo..

 

[drolem]

Winamp: it really whips the llama's ass.

 

[sharpuser]

SharpC...that's a nice hack...Did you do the SSD install yourself? If so, more info would be great! My Classic is 6th Gen with the original 160GB drive. It does syncs using JR Music Center without any problems. What format are your tunes?
Mahalo..

I ordered it from ebay new, with the upgrade. Seller sold me 240 GB but upgraded to 256 GB for free.

Price was $400. I think this sturdy Classic was well worth it. Leather case, too. Battery life using SSD and 7th gen is great. Compare the cost to lugging a PC or tablet around, with that much hard drive space devoted, or space or airtime on a smartphone.

The Classic was a node of genius by a Apple, but alas, is no more.

 

[rquellet]

I've recently picked up a Google Play music subscription. Its fantastic, but the big drawback is no dedicated local app to browse and manage your library on a windows setup. I'll be looking to switch to Xbox music pass next month, which offers a similar experiences across all platforms, unlike Google Play if your looking for offline playback support that is. A dedicated app is key on windows.

There is a third party Google Music Windows Store app that even lets you download Google Music tracks for offline playback:
http://apps.microsoft.com/webpdp/app/939f0859-1413-4a52-9ab6-6e50405c8c2e

I've been using it for almost a year and it's been pretty stable. Enjoy!

 

[vsherry]

If we talk hardware, my favorite music player is an iPod Classic 256GB SSD 7th Gen. Upgraded this from 160 GB.

This way, I have all of my tunes all the time.

View attachment 4886

I was struck when I saw the capacity. But then you said you upgraded it. My music collection is just over 100GB, so my iPod actually covers it. But I'm about to move on from an iPod Classic to my Samsung Galaxy S5 once my 128GB microSD card comes. It would be nice to have one fewer thing to carry around.

 

[GreyFox7]

Ok, time for a poll... we have a lot of Best Music player nominations with no clear winner here.

Sorry @sharpcolorado as awesome as your iPod Classic with 256GB SDD is the competition must be limited to Software Players for the Surface. You do however take first prize in the envy dept.

 

[rjwerth]

I use MediaMonkey on all my Windows devices. Absolutely the best for management.

 

[jimmad02]

I agree that Foobar2000 and J Rivers are the best music players for Windows 8.1 but to get the most out of it on the surface pro 3 you MUST use an external dac that has an ASIO driver. The built-in DAC is pretty limited and not clean as is the Windows audio infrastructure without bypassing via an ASIO or WASAPI driver. I use a GeekOut 1000 DAC. The combo of Foobar2000 and GeekOut with decent quality headphones/in-ear monitors is awesome!

Your answer is almost exactly what I'm looking for -- I have a Marantz 6005 CD player with an external USB input to the DAC (e.g. can connect an iPOD directly to it) but I'm not sure how to connect my Surface Pro 2 to the DAC? what output port do I use? Thanks!!!

 

[zhenya]

Your answer is almost exactly what I'm looking for -- I have a Marantz 6005 CD player with an external USB input to the DAC (e.g. can connect an iPOD directly to it) but I'm not sure how to connect my Surface Pro 2 to the DAC? what output port do I use? Thanks!!!

Looking at the specs for that device, it doesn't look like its USB connection is designed for connection to a computer like the Surface Pro. It has a usb-a jack for connection to an ipod or usb stick.

 

[jimmad02]

Looking at the specs for that device, it doesn't look like its USB connection is designed for connection to a computer like the Surface Pro. It has a usb-a jack for connection to an ipod or usb stick.

Hmmmm. So no output from Surface that will work? that would be a bummer.

 

[Haldi]

as i have my whole music on the NAS and the drive mounted via CIFS i simply use the preinstalled Music app from Microsoft (with this crappy Xbox Music integration ~.~) but i rarely do that on my Surface... the Speakers are bad quality. Well... not Bad for a Tablet... but bad if you want to enjoy music. And most of the time when i listen something it's from Youtube.
When i'm at home i use DLNA and stream from my NAS directly to the MediaCenter/speakers.

On my home PC i use WinAmp with the Hellgate London skin. Simply because it works and looks damn epic!