Product review: Winamp 3
Oct. 3rd, 2003 02:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pseydtonneI've been avoiding the upgrade from Winamp 2.91 to Winamp 3. I have come to trust the 2-series as a very stable, albeit slightly bloated, application. I consider MP3 players as important to the modern computing experience as text editors, spreadsheets and compilers. Being able to play my silly collection of tunes and samples while I bang away at LiveJournal entries or code assignments is vital to my sanity.
I'll admit that I don't use the Linux equivalent of Winamp, XMMS. It's too bloated and cumbersome, and I can't find any decent skins. Oh, I like skins a lot -- my favorites being a replica of a tube amp and a weird block of LED characters calling itself "Zenith". When I'm in Linux, I run mpg321, which is a command-line player that lets you tweak playback speeds and even pass arguments such as "play any mp3 in this folder that has H through Q as the second letter in its title" (it's more like ?[h-q]* when you type it).
Since I'd installed everything else I needed on my computer (oh yeah... except AIM), I decided to experiment with the new Winamp. I noticed right away that it was too cute for its own good.
There are some features that I'd dreamt of -- a better randomizer, an option called "enqueue" that lets you select an order of tracks from anywhere in your playlist, crossfading between tracks, and a more efficient use of RAM. All good so far, right? It even allows you to search for a track in your playlist based only on the name of the album it came from. Whoo!
I decided to grab a bunch of skins while I was at it. There are only 330 skins so far. This may sound like a lot, but keep in mind that's fewer than the number Winamp 2 skins related only to automobiles.
The skins are more original because skins no longer need to follow the rectangular frame of the old Winamp base. For example, one skin is a rounded edge for the lower left corner of the desktop -- the buttons follow the curved hypotenuse and the display is inobtrusive.
Another skin looks like a pocket watch. I hated this one at first because I couldn't figure out the controls. Then I clicked on the 6 o'clock position and "Search and Destroy" started playing. The watch's second and minute hands began to count down to 0:00, which is high noon. I also found that the size of the watch is adjustable, yet its analog sweep means I can tell where I am in a track even though the display is about an inch and a half in diameter. If only this skin had a proper playlist editor.
Then I grabbed a skin that looked nice but crashed Winamp. I thought it could be my failure to reboot after installation, so I rebooted. Nope. The skin was causing the problem. When I switched to a less "simple" skin (Minima), I had no more crashes.
This means the skins must have a lot more control over the function of the application. This may be a concession that allows for weirder skins (similar to the goofy face from Windows Media Player). Such a feature should also be coupled with a stronger encapsulation of the packaging from the operation of the player -- in other words, the skin's lack of a special set of pretty things for a playlist should not crash Winamp.
The skins take longer to switch. Also, Winamp seems to take longer to load even when the Winamp Agent is sitting in the system tray. Once it's working, it has the features I'd really wanted in Winamp 2. I'll give it a week to see how well it sits with me. Winamp's FAQ warns that many 2-series skins won't work with 3, but development is still ongoing.
You'll have to excuse me now -- Dean and Jean are in my headphones.
-you can get another drop of this yeah you wish, Ps/d
I'll admit that I don't use the Linux equivalent of Winamp, XMMS. It's too bloated and cumbersome, and I can't find any decent skins. Oh, I like skins a lot -- my favorites being a replica of a tube amp and a weird block of LED characters calling itself "Zenith". When I'm in Linux, I run mpg321, which is a command-line player that lets you tweak playback speeds and even pass arguments such as "play any mp3 in this folder that has H through Q as the second letter in its title" (it's more like ?[h-q]* when you type it).
Since I'd installed everything else I needed on my computer (oh yeah... except AIM), I decided to experiment with the new Winamp. I noticed right away that it was too cute for its own good.
There are some features that I'd dreamt of -- a better randomizer, an option called "enqueue" that lets you select an order of tracks from anywhere in your playlist, crossfading between tracks, and a more efficient use of RAM. All good so far, right? It even allows you to search for a track in your playlist based only on the name of the album it came from. Whoo!
I decided to grab a bunch of skins while I was at it. There are only 330 skins so far. This may sound like a lot, but keep in mind that's fewer than the number Winamp 2 skins related only to automobiles.
The skins are more original because skins no longer need to follow the rectangular frame of the old Winamp base. For example, one skin is a rounded edge for the lower left corner of the desktop -- the buttons follow the curved hypotenuse and the display is inobtrusive.
Another skin looks like a pocket watch. I hated this one at first because I couldn't figure out the controls. Then I clicked on the 6 o'clock position and "Search and Destroy" started playing. The watch's second and minute hands began to count down to 0:00, which is high noon. I also found that the size of the watch is adjustable, yet its analog sweep means I can tell where I am in a track even though the display is about an inch and a half in diameter. If only this skin had a proper playlist editor.
Then I grabbed a skin that looked nice but crashed Winamp. I thought it could be my failure to reboot after installation, so I rebooted. Nope. The skin was causing the problem. When I switched to a less "simple" skin (Minima), I had no more crashes.
This means the skins must have a lot more control over the function of the application. This may be a concession that allows for weirder skins (similar to the goofy face from Windows Media Player). Such a feature should also be coupled with a stronger encapsulation of the packaging from the operation of the player -- in other words, the skin's lack of a special set of pretty things for a playlist should not crash Winamp.
The skins take longer to switch. Also, Winamp seems to take longer to load even when the Winamp Agent is sitting in the system tray. Once it's working, it has the features I'd really wanted in Winamp 2. I'll give it a week to see how well it sits with me. Winamp's FAQ warns that many 2-series skins won't work with 3, but development is still ongoing.
You'll have to excuse me now -- Dean and Jean are in my headphones.
-you can get another drop of this yeah you wish, Ps/d
