Windows users have several choices when it comes to selecting a music player. The Windows operating system comes preinstalled with Windows Media Player which is a valid option. And then there are half a dozen popular music players from third parties like iTunes, Winamp, Foobar, AIMP2 or MediaMonkey.
XMPlay is still mostly unknown to the majority of Windows users can be explained with the dominance of the other players that are available. Who needs yet another player if there are many available that do their job just fine?
XMPlay on the other hand is different than most. Its developer has concentrated the efforts on producing a lightweight portable music player that is packed with features and compatible with all popular music formats that users might encounter.
Version 3.5.1 of XMPlay has just been released, reason enough for use to take another look at this music player underdog.
XMplay is a music player that can play popular music formats like mp3, ogg or wma automatically with the option to add other formats as plugins. Those plugins are for instance provided to add Flac, Realaudio or Midi support. Plugins are also available to extend the player’s functionality. There are several plugins for popular archiving formats for instance that can be used to play music right from the archives without unpacking them. Themes are also available for the player to change the looks of it.
What you can do with XMPlay:
- Net streaming – All supported file types (including MODs and archives) can be streamed from FTP and HTTP servers (inc. Shoutcast/Icecast/Icecast2), optionally writing a copy to disk, FTP directories and HTML webpages can be scanned for playable files
- Gapless output – Gapless playback of all supported formats, crossfading
- Track information – Displays file/format information, messages/tags, and instrument/sample texts, open webpages from the texts
- Library – A database of your tracks, with directory monitoring, for quick and easy access to the tracks you want to play
- DSP – Automatic gain control (and Replaygain), 9 band equalizer, reverb, plugin support
- Keyboard shortcuts – Fully customizable shortcuts, including global hotkeys
- Integration – Open files/folders from Windows Explorer, drag’n'drop files/folders/shortcuts/URLs, monitor the clipboard for playable URLs, drag’n'drop tracks from XMPlay into other programs, icon customization
The music player is divided into different panels, more precisely in side panels that can be slid into the main panel in the center of the player.
The support site for the player hosts a guide that explains the ins and outs of the player. XMPlay is a solid alternative to the popular audio players that are usually installed on Windows. Its main advantage are its portability and low resource usage along with providing access to all the features and functions one would expect from a software player.
XMPlay 3.5.1. can be downloaded from the developer’s website. It is compatible with all 32-bit editions of Microsoft Windows from Windows 95 to Windows 7.
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when I was on Windows, it was my default player … has everything that a minimal player must have : light and compact (only 8 mb ram!). Too bad there is not a version for Linux
when I was on Windows, it was my default player … has everything that a minimal player must have : light and compact (only 8 mb ram!). Too bad there is not a version for Linux
Thanks for keeping me updated!
For me, XMPlay is the best music player!
Thanks for the update. Pound for pound, it is the best music player ever. I used to use Foobar until I found out about XMplay. Foobar is pretty clunky as far as configuration goes (kinda like MirandaIM, no relation) and it only looks good if you bloat it up with plugins to add menus etc, which defeats the purpose of using it in the first place. XMplay handles everything I need it too, looks good, and has a small footprint.
Glad to see XMplay get an update.
Forgot to mention it also supports Milkdrop 1 and 2. ;)
As its name implies, xmplay has a native support for XM, MOD, S3M, IT module files, which is a huge advantage over other players (if you’re into these oldschool formats).
It’s also the only player capable of scrobbling modules files on last.fm (without converting them!).
At last but not least, Xmplay is powered by the BASS lib (same creator actually): good audio quality guaranteed.
very nice,well explained review. I am alos using this player along with winamp
http://techchand.org
There is linux support.
Time has passed and still is in my opinion the best, an excellent audio player. Just add skins, visualizations and plugins you need and it becomes a top notch audio player!
Little RAM resources, fast and responsive. Another thing I like about XMPlay is when you right-click almost all it’s buttons and windows it has additional features.
This player needs more recognition, it is definitely the best (Tried all the other top AUDIO players).
Here’s a link to download my latest custom version of XMPlay:
http://www.4shared.com/file/B5FsBiEe/XMPlay_v35.html
Cheers.