I have used VLC once before, but didn't return to it for some reason. On my (recently accidental-linux-format-partway-and-crashed-and-recovered) desktop PC I use:

- Media Player Classic Home Cinema (noninstalled) for non-standard files (DVD VOBs, FLV, and others).
- foobar2000 for all my audio needs (extremely fast and small),
- Win Media Player 11 for videos (not too frequently),
- QuickTime for .movs (barely ever, but still),
- MidiNotate Player for watching MIDI files (yes, you can watch MIDIs, in terms of notes all across your screen)
- ModPlug Tracker (OpenMPT) for Impulse Tracker, MOD, MO3 (after converting to IT with unmo3) for game music from various (including GGAOTD) games.

On my laptop... (sorry, this is getting a bit long)

- Media Player Classic for practically everything
- foobar2000 for everything it handles
- WMP 11 for WMV and ASPs
- HP QuickPlay for Blu-Ray only (IMO, it is such a crappy piece of bloatware. It doesn't even want to play Blu-Rays these days)

I think that's all... LOL

I have four in use,....Cowon Media Centre-Jet Audio.
.......................Quick Time Player.
.......................Nero Suite.
.......................Windows Media Player,...set as default!.
I tend to use Windows Media Player the most,.due to the amount of WMV video's i send and receive,....most of those sent are opened by people who use Windows Media Player,...i also make daily use of Sony Motion Picture Browser,..to add photographs and convert video's to WMV,...before forwarding to YouTube or a Photo Sharing Site,...prior to posting in forums.

Crystal Player (Use's less system resources for those watching a moving while doing 100 more tasks LOL)
VLC

I'm coming in a little late to this, but I like MPlayer Portable. I can stick it on a flash drive (with my other portable apps) along with a movie and watch it on anyone's computer without having to worry if they'll have the correct codecs installed. It plays loads of different files, too.. I don't have to have Real Player or QuickTime installed, I just drag and drop. It's not as fancy as VLC Portable but I felt VLC was too bulky. It will also play partial downloads, it just skips the portions not yet downloaded.

http://portableapps.com/apps/music_video/mplayer_portable

Lots of other good stuff there too, all open source.

Don't really listen to music, so it's just media player when I do...

-Duane.

i only use WMP11, WinAmp and VLC :)

Just wimboz media player.

Hi Canis.
Any particular reason for preferring winamp over MPC for audio?

Because i am set up opposite of yours. I use MPC as default for audio (three reasons: only player i got Real audio files .rm to work on; has the smallest memory usage; and most importantly, a subjective opinion but i found the audio output quality to be best in MPC, comparing among MPC, Real, Gom, Zoom and VLC PLayer. However, must admit default Windows MP sounds best for mp3 files). In my previous mails, forgot to mention that i use the K-lite codec pack.

I dont use MPC as default for vidoe because most of my files are flv, and MPC starts FFDshow to decode them. For videos, i use Gom.

Good old Winamp for audio, and Media Player Classic v6.4.9.0 for video.

Here is a good article related to the topic under discussion.

http://www.techsupportalert.com/best-free-windows-media-player-replacement.htm

@ Whiterabbit-uk care to share what enchancement app you use with Winamp? I currently use DFX and SRS Sandbox. I am however on the lookout for something better, well something that rivals the sound of DFX yet universally or can be accessed via DirectX filters.

On the topic: I use a slew of media players, much like Bubby puts it, a different player for a different purpose.

Generally VLC is my first choice for video playback, secondly MPC w/ K-lite codec set. For Audio I use Foobar2000 and Winamp for online media. For pesky proprietary formats I use their respective players if not supported via VLC or MPC which is rare.

It seems popular consensus so far is to stick with default WMP 11.. with Media Player Classic (MPC) being the other alternative for the media files it cant play.

But the discussion so far shows that almost everyone is using a different single/set of media players.. so i guess there is no one 'best' option.

Here is a nice guide on how to set up MPC (and even WMP default) to play .flv files (those from youtube.com etc.): afterdawn.com

And a comparison of available media players:
Wikipedia

@whiterabbit
Completely off topic, but i had to specifically thank you once i saw your name on this thread. You are really a 'guru' as your name says. Like the word association game, the first word that comes to my mind on hearing 'gotd' is 'whiterabbit'! :-)

I use WMP too for both video and audio.

I use Windows Media Player 11 for my audio needs. I also use it some for videos but I tend to use Real Player 11 for most of my video needs. I also use VLC player and in the past I have used Veoh player (they have now changed that to Veoh web player and I do not like it as much).

I use Windows Media player 11 and winAmp. The latter because I have an enhancement program that gives a richer sound to the music. I no loner have a traditional stereo, so use both players quite a lot and even bought a decent surround sound system to support it. Though it's not quite as good as a decent stereo set up it's acceptable.

I'm looking to buy one of those wireless speaker systems when I can afford it and a USB controlled record deck (thanks to those who PM'ed me about where I could get one from :)

Inclined to agree with HOSS on this one.

- VLC Player
- GOM Player
- and Looking & testing like VLC best so far.

BuBBy, you sure keep amazing me with your bookmarks ...high CPU usage with this FLV plugin in MP11 though...must be this 'old' computer of mine.
I wonder if there is an alternative for Real Player...

@cimmind
I use Eltima's SWF & FLV Player for FLV playback.

I tend to go through stages of liking various players for different reasons - but end up finding something I don't like and always seem to return to

VLC or MPC 6.4.90

@cimmind - if you haven't already, take a look at http://www.playflv.com/ which gives you flv playback in media player (don't know about 'improving resolution' - if the detail isn't in the original file - no software is going to create it for you).

Media player 11 and RealPlayer 11, both work fine for my needs!

I like RealPlayer 11's ability to download video clips, although it doesn't work with Firefox 3...

Suki

Windows Media Player 11 - I don't use it much so I never found the need to look for a better one. It usually does what I need it to do.

Picaview is what I like to use.

Or also, Media Player Classic v6.4.9.0

Hi. Can there be a discussion about which all media players are being used, and about their pros & cons..

I have personally used the following:
- Windows Media Player 9 (inbuilt)
- Media Player Classic
- Real Player 10
- VLC Player
- GOM Player
- The KM Player (different from KM Player)
- Zoom Player
- Foobar2000 Player

The ones i currently use are only two:
For audio files: MEDIA PLAYER CLASSIC
For video files: GOM PLAYER

Reasons:
- Media Player Classic offered the best sound quality (for audio files)for me, with the lowest resource use and fastest startup time.
- GOM Player: because it plays all formats with decent resource use, faster startup than VLC and has a little feature that i really like - '+'/'-' to increase/decrease video playback size.

I am still looking for a video player that would play FLV files with best resolution/ improvement of low resolution flv files.