Winamp Tweak Guide
The guys over at techspot have published a large article on tweaking Winamp. Winamp is one of the most popular audio players available which can at least be partially attributed to the supported customizations.
They focus input and output plugins but cover other areas as well. The recommended Shibatch mpg123 input plugin for instance offers better audio quality and more features than the default nullsoft mpeg decoder.
The output plugin section features an extensive guide to the configuration of three output plugins. Everything is explained with screen shots and recommended settings, great if you want to see fast results. The article finally explains the general preferences of Winamp as well as file type association with the music player.
Update: The Techspot article has been written in 2006, and as such is outdated when it comes to newer versions of Winamp. While you are still able to find great tips in the article, some of the suggestions and tips may no longer work at all, or may lead to different results.
The article itself is divided into multiple pages, unfortunately without print option which usually displays all chapters of the article on a single page.
- Winamp Tweak Guide: Installation, Plug-ins
- Input plugin Shibatch mpg123
- Input plugins Nullsoft Vorbis Decoder
- Output plugins Direct Sound
- Output plugins Wavesound
- Output plugins ASIO
- DSP/Effect: General preferences
- File types and final thoughts
The biggest issue that you may run into when reading the guide is that the layout and menu structure has changed in Winamp. While you may still find the described settings in the audio player, you may find them in a different menu or page now, which involves some searching on your part to configure Winamp accordingly.
Update 2:
Here are a couple of tips that you may find useful.
- Right-click in the main Winamp interface and select Options > Preferences from the context menu. This displays the preferences that may look like overkill at first.
- Under General Preferences, disable the taskbar or notification icon if you do not want to use it. Here you can also disable the splash screen and prevent multiple instances from running.
- You can change the playlist settings here as well in the submenu. This includes changing the font size of the playlist and the sorting order.
- The Media Library menus allow you to change local folders for various media types, e.g. podcasts, and to add local media folders to a watch list. New media files get automatically added to Winamp's library if the folders are monitored by the application.
Advertisement
