[vorbis] Winamp alternative: XMPlay2 (was: New Winamp release)

[Glenn Maynard]

On Thu, Dec 20, 2001 at 10:36:52PM +0100, smoerk wrote:
> The user interface is really bad, worse than sonique. I cannot figure
> out how to open a url. Why have all audio players their own GUI? It's
> stupid stupid stupid!!!
> 
> Windows Media Player 6.x had a very good UI...

WMP6's UI is horrible for audio (though, frankly it's the single best
one I've seen for video.)  I don't have a problem with audio players
doing their own UI; I don't see why it's so often done poorly, though.

(Of course, allowing skinning makes UI design an order of magnitude more
difficult, and is generally a poor use of time; Winamp pulled it off
because they didn't go overboard, but now everyone seems to think all
apps need to be skinnable.  Fireburner.  Skinnable CD burning program.
To copy and paste, "stupid stupid stupid!!!")

I wouldn't even have a problem with players mimicing the Winamp API.
It's decent, it actually does have keyboard shortcuts, and it's
simple--it wouldn't be a major project to clone it.  (XMMS/"x11amp", for
example.)  Failing that, at *least* copy the keyboard shortcuts and
other basic stuff (like scrollwheel for volume, shift-scrollwheel to
seek, etc.)  Some people have some basic distaste for cloning; I think
that's foolish for UIs, though.

(All of this applies to video players, too.  I can't stand many video
UIs; mplayer 6.4's is functional, clean--in "compact"--not quite ideal,
but the best I've seen.  Every single other player I've seen--wmp7, RP,
all DVD software, "The Playa", some X ones--is horrible.  (I havn't seen
the recent "mplayer", though.)

(All of this applies to all UIs.  A cloned, functional interfaces beats
an originally, pretty, useless interface, every time.)


-- 
Glenn Maynard

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