It's Boogie Time!

Media players come in many wrappings and selections. Their main purpose is to play music and some make a good effort to handle video too. Every human has his own likes in tonal quality, timbre, mix, audible range, etc. You have to play around with each interface and find what meets your needs and suits your nature.

Windows Media Player is the most popular. You'll know why a few sentences down. Make sure you have the latest version that matches your operating system. Also, do updates. You don't have to worry about downnloading it, the WMP comes installed on Windows automatically. Now you see why it hits the top of the list? This is a great player, the later the version the better. It's ability to seek is very good and playback quality is very, very good. Be forewarned; This player uses a lot of resources. Make sure you have enough memory and CPU if you want to play music in the background while gaming. It's a hoot to see how your favorite tunes will match your game of choice!

JetAudio has had many loyal users for quite some time and will work on all Windows platforms from 98 through Windows 7. The sound quality is outstanding. It's not much of a resource hog either. A feature that makes this player stand out is its sound effects. Not only do they work, Cross-fader, Reverb and Wide Sound can really enhance listening. Start small and slowly when using these tools. Have fun and see what results you get. Nice interface too.

Winamp is another player that has been around for a while. Many like its file system while others like all the neat "skins" available. One neat feature is that Winamp can track your listening history. This could be useful on several levels. This is one of the oldest players around and has proven worthy in sound quality and ease of use.

Songbird is an open source extremely versatile media player. As are many open source applications this will work across Windows, Linux, Apple, etc. It even works on some cell phones. This is a neatly constructed site and something that may interest all you iDarthphone and Crackberry users. Still playing with it. More later. Used it? Tell me about it in the comments.

I have to mention Quicktime and iTunes. Many people like the iTunes filing system, but, sorry, the sound quality won't even come close to many others. No need to fuss at me and there's no need to offer links. If you are an Apple person you have all this information. Personally I think the WMP filing system blows iTunes away. Remember, this is just one man's opinion.

Download at your own risk. Don't whine to me if you mess something up. Always be on the lookout for malware, READ the Privacy agreements. I know many have been left out. This post is meant to get you curious. If you have a favorite please comment and let us know! Online streaming radio is a discussion for another time. We will talk about Pandora, etc. at a later date.

"Billy Gibbons often uses a peso instead of a guitar pick for his guitar. The peso helps produce a distinctive chirping sound which can be heard on La Grange as well as other songs. Drummer Frank Beard, curiously, is the only band member who does not wear a beard. ZZ Top is the only known American rock band to have the same main band members (3) for a over 35 years."
~ZZ Top trivia