Having recently gotten a very good Windows machine, i find myself switching all my sound- or graphics-intensive off my Mac and onto my Superfast Windows.
The problem is, none of the installed software on the Windows machine can do what i need to have done in one application. On my Mac, i use Audion, a piece of now freeware, which can encode to .mp3, edit mp3 tags, play mp3s and Sam_Zen's oggs (whose music i'd never hear if it weren't for this app), and has an excellent and intuitive GUI.
WMP is close but will not play oggs.
ModPlug Player will not play oggs correctly, and i don't think can encode mp3s.
I'd like to find an all-in-one player/encoder (preferably free) that's easy to use and not primitive (using command lines and such). It would be great if it can edit the actual sound data as well, though i know that's pushing it.
Anyone have any suggestions? :?
Winamp? Its free, have millions of plugins and can play everything.
Sam is using XMPlay if i'm not mistaken. I never had any experience with that player.
Winamp is the biggest shit you can get, seriously. Since years, it's bloatware, meaning that it can do more things than you'll ever need. Also, it installs adware by means of desktop links.
On the other hand, there's XMPlay (http://www.un4seen.com/xmplay.html) which is 100% free, developed by Ian Luck, the creator of BASS. Both BASS and XMPlay have the best XM replay engine to be heard in any player. It's a very good player not only for mp3/ogg users but of course for module listeners as you can set interpolation, looping, fade-out, etc. per file. And you can use Winamp plugins if there's a format that doesn't work in XMplay or one of its native plugins.
Encoding to mp3/ogg is possible if an encoder like LAME is present.
XMPlay all the way. I use it as main audio player. Nothing I've seen can top XMPlay, and you know what? Not only is it more stable than winamp and has a less big memory footprint, it can run most of winamp's plugins aswell.
That means that you can play about any format possible simply by putting a .dll file in the plugins folder. Not to mention that there are also plugins specifically for XMPlay, which are more stable.
It'll be more of a problem deciding which of the plugins you'll use to play that same music format, rather than to worry if there's a plugin that plays it. :P
And it has to be said too. XMPlay plays .ITs and .XMs as best as any player can do (trackers excluded ofcource).
Did I mentioned XMPlay is portable, and thus doesn't require installation at all?
Did I also mentioned that XMPlay is skinnable and there are alot of very good skins out there?
I didn't mentioned that? geez... But I did now right? :P What're you waiting for? Go download XMPlay, or you'll be sorry you didn't. :nuts:
and what about a screenshot of how awesome xmplay can look? :P
(http://sagagames.de/ithumb/thumbs/xmplay8178de40.jpg) (http://sagagames.de/ithumb/show/xmplay8178de40.png)
featuring the most awesome music visualization i've ever seen, the "3d spectrum" which is a standard vis in xmplay, the skin "neutron" and also the systray controls (http://www.un4seen.com/forum/?topic=7463.0) which i've created myself just for xmplay. :)
Unfortunately for all of us, LP has been replaced by a popup adbot, and according to his super-secret subliminal encoding i feel commanded to find and download XMPlay. :retarded:
OKay, okay, i'll give it a look. BTW, does it encode to mp3?
And an audio editor? Whacha got?
audio player's aren't editors and there has to be some seperation. everything else is just a pure waste of resources imo (i.e. having always loaded an editor interface if you just listen to music).
Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net/) as a well-known audio editor for windows, I can't really judge it, though, as I'm using other (commercial) tools.
Due to licensing issues, you will most likely not find any free player that has a built-in MP3 encoder. You can use external encoders (http://support.xmplay.com/file.php?cat_id=10) for mp3 and ogg encoding directly in XMPlay.
Sounds good :D, i'll give it a try, and see what can this highly praised XMplay do.
Quote from: "Jojo"Winamp is the biggest shit you can get, seriously. Since years, it's bloatware, meaning that it can do more things than you'll ever need. Also, it installs adware by means of desktop links.
While I do agree that Winamp has bad sides and has had negative evolution(e.g. for me the 10th anniversary version crashed about on every second time when playing ordinary audio cd's; what a progress in ten years), it's hardly the worst player out there. What comes to the unnecessary features, not everything has to be installed. And I can't remember having the adware problem.
Quotehardly the worst player out there
okay, make that "the worst
popular player besides WMP". :)
QuoteAnd I can't remember having the adware problem.
the last time i installed winamp, there was the infamous "get 50 mp3s for free" offering during the installation which i didn't tick of course, and a desktop shortcut or two for a "free anti-spyware search".
I prefer Winamp to XMPlay any day of the week. Possibly because I'm more used to it.
älskling, i agree atm :D, i'm so used to winamp and looks like the plain XMplay needs some more plugins and customization right after install (unpack) and i AM one of the laziest man on the earth, i love when everything is present right after the install. (couldn't play midi files example :minor shock:)
Jojo, those crapwares are "offered" on the install, and can be dechecked any time. My amp isn't polluted with them. :)
2 Harbinger
Never mind a contest about 'the best', but you can just download XMPlay from here (http://www.louigiverona.com/webarchive/samzen/links.html#xmplay) along with some useful format-plugins.
No setup procedure, as LP states, just create a directory for it, and run. Of course a plugins subdir for the plugin DLLs.
As the name suggest, XMPlay started as an XM-player, so it's a solid base to handle trackers properly.
Now it has expanded to a lot of other audio-formats as well. But of course, it's a player, not an editor. But it can make a playlist.
As far as the OGG format is concerned : Even IrfanView can play it, but only with a very simple interface.
Since you're obviously transforming to the windoze environment, I'll point to some relevant tools to handle audio things (http://www.louigiverona.com/webarchive/samzen/links.html#audio).
Having the proper format-converters is quite crucial too.
Most apps here don't need any additional external coder.
As Jojo states, it's a waste if one has to open an editor just to play a file.
To cover a lot of codecs needed for the system, you could install the 'K-Lite Codec Pack' to be found here (http://home.hccnet.nl/h.edskes/finalbuilds.htm)
ok, i did put my lazyness away for a bit and messed some more with XMplay. It IS quiet nice indeed with the right plugins and skins. I got almost completely used to it now and what i like the most, compared to winamp5, that lightning fast opening and working speed. Even it has .sf2 midi playback support, yay. :cheers:
I've updated my old ifranview from your site Sam. My my, you got a backup from the half internet there as i can see. :D
Audacity for edits, XMPlay for listening. Find the so-called Snack version from the newest build. I can email it if you need to. It works the playlists a lot better than the newest version from my XP.
Quote from: "psishock"Jojo, those crapwares are "offered" on the install, and can be dechecked any time. My amp isn't polluted with them. :)
You can also removes a virus after it affected your system. You can uninstall programs at any time? But what's the point then? The fact that Winamp
does install advertisments on your pc
makes it Adware per se.
--
I love minimalistic software which can be extended at any time. That's why I use Firefox, Miranda and XMPlay for example. Those apps don't have anything you wouldn't need when they're installed, but they become very powerful as soon as you have the right extensions / plug-ins.
QuoteThe fact that Winamp does install advertisments on your pc makes it Adware per se.
You didn't got me :D.
Before installing anything it does ask you, just like Daemon Tools example, "do you want me to install those ads or not?" with a simple checkbox. You just have to read for a few seconds before "next, next, next, finish"-ing the proccess. :D
So i wouldn't call this post-ad removal process, just a simple yes/no question before the install.
it's not like that. i wasn't asked whether i want to have a anti-spyware link on my desktop. not in the whole installation process.
=( what sick bundle-edition did you downloaded mate? The purest free version does ask you for everything and don't have those. There are some strange and dangerous sounding bundle versions even on the official download area, they are almost double size as the regular version. Now those might not ask nicely, but then, you have been warned before the download. :D
The choice was again yours.
Quote from: "psishock"=( what sick bundle-edition did you downloaded mate? The purest free version does ask you for everything and don't have those. There are some strange and dangerous sounding bundle versions even on the official download area, they are almost double size as the regular version. Now those might not ask nicely, but then, you have been warned before the download. :D
The choice was again yours.
Guys, we have a traitor amongst us. Seize him! :nuts:
i downloaded it directly from their website. but i don't care anyway since winamp hasn't been on my hard drive for quite some time now :nuts:
2 psishock
If you've got IrfanView 4.20, do mind that you also have to update the proper plugins package.
The collection on my page is the result of years of selection and testing, with certain preferences :
If possible, avoiding apps that use the dreadful registry. No hooters and bells, just fit for the task.
If possible, no setup procedure, just unpacking into its own directory and run.
As Jojo, I like a program with just the core tool, plus the choice of adding plugins.
My ascii-editor, AkelPad, is an extreme example of this, even the basic buttonbar is a plugin to be activated.
Last time I tried XMPlay the only skin I could stand was the one looking like winamp 2... :)
I'm trying out Foobar2000 now, it seems quite nice!
Hey älskling, try the winamp5 skin, its cool as far as i can tell. You can switch even to mini and full mode, so everything can fit on your titlebar, as you have used to it.
Foobar2000 is also a nice piece of software, some of my friends are using it, but winamp just dominates in our region, nobody seems to use WMP for music. :)
EDIT: quick XMplay question, is there any easy way to prevent the program from stealing the focus every time when i'm selecting a tune from TC? I've used to browse with cursors+enter and now i must do it with mouse and constant clicking can be tiresome after some time.
the first thing i did when using xmplay for the first time was of course searching for a winamp skin because i didn't want it to change. there was no classic winamp 2 skin (just one that was lightened up a bit) and i chose another (Neutron) one which I still use. It's always like that: First, it seems that you can't get used to the new software, but you'll soon recognize that its own features are maybe even better.
psishock: I always have XMplay in the tray. That way, it doesn't steal the focus. :D
DL'd XMPlay and was very happy with it. Yes, psishock, there is some setup required. I'm lazy too, but i'd rather work a little bit to get an application exactly the way i like it. I found the LAME and .ogg plugins that you guys linked me too, tried to save as an .mp3 (required a little setup), and it worked great (altho i don't like having to switch "output" from audio to LAME just to write an .mp3 file). Found a nice skin at the website, a couple of vis plugins, set up the "Options and stuff" and i now have an all-purpose player. Between WMP, Nero (both players came with the computer), and XMPlay, i should be able to listen to any kind of file (even Sammy's OGGS!). :wink:
I also tinkered around with Audacity, and for now it suits my purposes. I like that i can save directly to .mp3 from there after edting a .wav. Ill take some time later to explore it...
Thanks for all your suggestions and advice. I guess this little internet thing, with all its new-fangled web sites and forums, might not be such a bad thing... :P
BTW, this doesn't close the subject. If anybody comes across excellent players or audio editors they can bump this thread so we all know. :wink:
foobar2000 is the least offensive general-purpose music player i have used under windows
2 psishock
Good question about the XMP focus. If activated it indeed stays on top.
I don't have much trouble with that, because I can still write something in a text-file underneath it, while listening, but indeed, no choice but the taskbar, to get it out of sight. Maybe I will drop this as a suggestion on the XMP forum, to be able to toggle this property.
Harbinger: In all of my computing, in Windows, Linux, Mac, Solaris, OpenBSD, OS/2... I have never come across a better audio playback app than foobar2000 (http://www.foobar2000.org). It's lean, it's fast, it's got probably the best playback engine known to man for most audio types, and it's free. It's also got the most customisable GUI I've ever seen -- it's an app that really appeals to your inner geek. :)
I should also mention that it's replay gain is second to none. Winamp took about six hours to scan through my music database -- foobar did it in about two minutes, with better results. It really is a beautiful piece of software.
Here's a screenshot of mine (http://www.barryvan.com.au/temp/foobar.png) -- note the very pretty OSD, the clean, simple design which doesn't try to distract you (I keep mine minimised to the tray 99.9% of the time), the amount of geeky info you can display (if that's your wont), and much more. For example, you can use it as a last.fm radio player, with the ability to see tracks coming up, skip over a whole bunch of tracks, and so on! It also does all the normal stuff, like hooking through to coverart sites, lyrics sites, mass tagging, CD-TEXT reading, and so on. You can also choose to play your playlist in order, repeating, randomly, shuffled by album, shuffled by folder, or shuffled globally (random == can repeat a track, shuffle == can't repeat a track).
It really is an awesome program -- I ditched everything in its favour.
ok, foobar2000. So do you know a skin for it that fits in the window title bar (like winamp5 mini mode example)? I'm, in the other hand, having my player 100% always on top when listening to music, playing with seek and volume bars all the time. Most of the time when i'm listening to one of my favorite million of songs, stored on the disk, i'm searching for the good parts and going on to the other, also i push up the volume on very nice parts and taking back the joy on regular ones. So a minimalistic skin with seek/volume bar, time, name/artist display, basic controls and maybe playlist drop button would surely come handy. I really don't need the other "eye candy".
(http://img380.imageshack.us/img380/4037/goodbp9.jpg)
This XMplay skin could be great, but the seek bar is kinda short for ~2h mixes example and i cannot seek smoothly with it (ability to stretch out would be nice). Also you have to be very precise when you want to interact with these seek and volume bars on every XMplay skin. You have about 3 horizontal pixels and that's it. If you want to work fast you will probably miss often. (some added "dead pixels" in the upper and the bottom area would be also nice)
Well, I just use the volume control buttons on my keyboard, along with the play/pause and skip forward/back buttons... I really don't like having floating toolbars etc. :) The OSD (on-screen display) for foobar2000 that I've installed is really nice, too. And I tend to listen to songs the whole way through... :D
That being said, there *are* ways to get foobar2000 to do what you want. One is to use the Foobar2000 Google sidebar control; I'm sure there are others.
Quote from: "psishock"This XMplay skin could be great, but the seek bar is kinda short for ~2h mixes example and i cannot seek smoothly with it (ability to stretch out would be nice). Also you have to be very precise when you want to interact with these seek and volume bars on every XMplay skin. You have about 3 horizontal pixels and that's it. If you want to work fast you will probably miss often. (some added "dead pixels" in the upper and the bottom area would be also nice)
Have you tried hovering your mouse over the seekbar and then use your scrollwheel to adjust it?
Or simply get another skin. Many skins have a small titlebar mode when they're in mini version.
Don't forget that you have different skins on www.un4seen.com and support.xmplay.com
you could use the mousewheel to have a higher seek precision.
Quote from: "Jojo"you could use the mousewheel to have a higher seek precision.
Uh, thats what I said?
sorry, didn't see the 3rd page. :P
scroll wheel is a great idea, i didn't noticed it. =)
Also, i'll check EVERY skin then, i'm sure at least one on them will be ok. :D
I will check out foobar, based on your screenshot, bvan. The GUI isn't eye-popping, but i'd rather have ALL the info right in front of me. XMPlay is nice, but having to learn the icons and where everything is depending on the skin you choose is a big downside.
I tried Audacity a little more, for an upcoming project, and it worked great. I missed the Paste Into feature from other apps, but i found a decent workaround. Also, when opening a .wav, i'd prefer to save it to .wav rather than export it to .wav (i don't like the native .aup project file). Now i hafta download a SEPARATE plugin to use VSTs....that's a hassle.
I may just go back to sonicWORX for Mac. It's high-end and very technical, but at least i can do practically anything....
Some other simple wav-editors :
Wavosaur (http://www.louigiverona.com/webarchive/samzen/download/wavosaur_103.7z)
Sound Engine (http://www.louigiverona.com/webarchive/samzen/download/soundengine_412.7z)
Quote from: "Harbinger"I will check out foobar, based on your screenshot, bvan. The GUI isn't eye-popping, but i'd rather have ALL the info right in front of me. XMPlay is nice, but having to learn the icons and where everything is depending on the skin you choose is a big downside.
you don't change skins daily, do you? so why would "learning one time where everything is" be a downside?
Why you bustin my balls, jojo?
There's no need for you to put me on the defensive for evry little comment i make. Chill!! :x
If you must know, i'm still trying to find the right skin for XMPlay that has a GUI that's intuitive to me. Answer your question?
If there is a real other problem about me that's bothering you, please PM me....i'm at your disposal.
Come on Harbinger, he didn't ment to offend you. :)
He's just very enthousiastic about XMPlay, like I am. :) He doesn't want to bring you down. :)
Agreed with LP on this, i know that Jojo can make impulsive comments, but he definitely didn't wanted to offend you, i am sure.
Quote from: "LPChip"Come on Harbinger, he didn't ment to offend you. :)
He's just very enthousiastic about XMPlay, like I am. :) He doesn't want to bring you down. :)
very much so, yes. :P
Then let's remind each other of this (http://forum.openmpt.org/index.php?topic=880.0) important page. The first three points IMO are very helpful and pertinent to the previous few posts on this thread...
Yep, relax here, Harbinger. I don't see any rule : don't make a joke, don't tease, or don't be a bit ironic.
Humour can be a culture-bound country thing, so the more important is : trusting each other.
I use the default skin, by lack of any better to my taste, and just have to get used to it.
Although XMPlay still lacks a simple option to 'open file'.
You know, all of these difficulties would just dissolve away if you all realised the XMPlay is very inferior to Foobar2000. :wink:
Seriously, though, I personally like Foobar. Others like XMPlay. I think that the two players serve two very different markets. I like to have an extremely organised music library, and I found that XMPlay's library management simply wasn't powerful enough for me, whereas Foobar's has all the power I could ever want (I mean, I think you can even use regular expressions for searching/generating automatic playlists!). On the other hand, XMPlay excels at playing MODs. (Which I hardly ever listen to, and when I do, it's generally in OpenMPT or the original tracker.)
So, to choose a player, you have to decide on the features you want in it. Features like:
• Powerful music management [F][W]
• Accurate mod playback [X]
• Highly extensible [F]
• Pretty [X][W][M]
• Utilitarian [F]
• On screen display [F][W]
• Accepts keyboard control [F][W][M]
• Free [F][X][W][M]
• Accurate MP3, OGG, WMA, (anything!) playback [F][M][X][W]
• Replay gain [F][W]
\-• Calculated [F][W]
\-• Applied to each track [F][W]
\-• Applied to each album [F]
\-• Applied to each artist [F]
[F] Foobar2000
[X] XMPlay
[W] Winamp
[M] Windows Media Player
Now, this is just a quick list of my own devising... Everyone else, feel free to add to it. Try to be objective, though. :D From this list, I objectively choose Foobar -- note that I probably tended to include things that were relevant to me, and I've already chosen Foobar, so naturally it'll score well. ;)
Quote from: "Sam_Zen"Although XMPlay still lacks a simple option to 'open file'.
Huh? Are you using the latest version? I have an Open and Add button in my XMPlay. The difference is that the open button clears the current playlist, while the add doesn't. Right mouse on either will open a directory instead of a selection of files.
Oh and Barry, your list there is wrong. XMPlay has some of the features that you say it hasn't, like shotkey support that can be configured to your needs and even accepts global keys to multimedia keys. It also has a song library with search feature. And also it has a replay gain with automatic volume adjusting. So here's my list with what XMPlay supports.
• Powerful music management.
I have no idea with what you mean here, but I think xmplay has it too. [X]
• Accurate mod playback [X]
• Highly extensible [X]
• Pretty [X]
• Utilitarian.
Wha?• On screen display.
You can configure XMPlay to show info bubles which even work in full screen, so this is an OSD [X]
• Skin support [X]
• Has support for DirectX and ASIO output (http://support.xmplay.com/file.php?cat_id=12) [X]
• Create your own skins easilly [X]
• Has visualisations [X]
\-• Can show you a mod-pattern display visualisation [X]
• Is very very stable [X]
• Has a small memory footprint [X]
• Loads quickly(both songs and the program itself) [X]
• Gapless output [X]
• Is portable [X]
• Accepts keyboard control.
Yes, even the best I've seen, highly customisable. [X]
• Free [X]
• Accurate MP3, OGG, WMA, (anything!) playback [X]
• Replay gain.
Yes, XMPlay has this too. [X]
\-• Calculated
I don't know with what you mean with this, but it has an automatic mode. \-• Applied to each track [X]
\-• Applied to each album [X]
\-• Applied to each artist
\-• Optional reset on new track [X]
[X] XMPlay
There, how's that? I also added quite some options for XMPlay.
Quotethe two players serve two very different markets. I like to have an extremely organised music library
Different using is the issue of course here. I don't need any organizing, I just want to play a single track, or a single album.
QuoteAre you using the latest version? I have an Open and Add button in my XMPlay.
Well, I just checked again and finally found the Open function. I was fooled by the 'Eject' look.
I don't care a bit about visualizations, but there's a nice cover-art plugin.
It displays the first bitmap in the album directory list.
This leads to the possibility for every track to have its own image, but then every track should be in its own subdir.
Thanks for pointing all that out, LP. I should've mentioned that yes, FB2000 has ASIO etc. output.
Powerful music management: Basically, I mean the ability to organise music however you want, and recall music in really powerful ways. For example, being able to have a playlist automatically generated which includes songs which you haven't listened to for three months which you've listened to more than ten times, are in the genres 'dance', 'techno', or 'bluegrass' and which were written in the last three years. :D
Calculated replay gain means that it has the ability to analyse your music files and tag them with replay gain info, which can be used by other apps if you like. You can configure FB2000 to perform this calculation for each track individually, for all of the tracks in an album, for all an artist's tracks, and so on.
As for the rest of them -- FB does it all. :D Perhaps its downfall is its themeability -- unless you use a different UI library, it's not gonna be pretty. On the other hand, the default UI system is probably one of the most flexible I've seen in any app -- I can literally create components (tabs, panels, toolbars) wherever I like, and populate them with whatever kind of control I like (text, visualisation, various library views, playlist views, file system views, info views, coverart, lyrics, last.fm, console, whatever).
Anyway -- you gotta use what's right for you. It's all a rich tapestry. ;)
accurate mod playback is the only thing i need. therefore... guess which player is the best! :nuts:
So basically the conclusion is when you're having a difficult time to choose between Foobar and XMplay:
Get Windows Media player. :nuts:
Quote from: "Jojo"accurate mod playback is the only thing i need. therefore... guess which player is the best!
Modplug? ::)
first of all, i don't listen to mods only, so this doesn't work out. furthermore, modplug is definitely not the best player. It's far from that.
just kiddin' Jojo :luvvv:
XMplay is cool enough atm, foobar2000 seems a bit overwhelming for me. Also i haven't got any special problems with Winamp, its just starter slower than the average player because the heavy number of integrated features.
Yep, consumer favorites nearly always have a heavy number of integrated features. Which I don't need.
I like to admit, that, if my search for an alternative player had led me to Foobar first, instead of XMPlay,
I may have been stuck with that, exploring and learning the options, so maybe now would have been in favorite of Foobar.
I just finally got my new system right again to reproduce a discrete four channel output (excited!), and XMPlay does fine.
Multichannel WAV, OGG or FLAC are played correctly.
For all my non-module music I use Foobar2000, and for my modules I use XMPlay now, having switched from Modplug player because of an annoying issue which started up.
Do you know BZR Player (http://andreas.blazer.nu/bzrplayer.php) ? It knows many module file formats. :)
(http://andreas.blazer.nu/mp1.png)
More players on Woolyss Tracking (http://www.woolyss.free.fr/tracking.php) in the topic Play "exotic" modules
Else, I use mainly Winamp and its plugins. But XMplay (and its plugins) is really excellent too !
On my Ubuntu, I use Audacious and UADE (150 music formats). The best ! ...like Deliplayer ! :shock:
.
Quote from: "BZR Website"The sound engine is based on FMOD.
Throw that away, quickly! :O FMOD does neither play "a lot of module formats", nor does it play them well.
EDIT: LEETNESS! WOOTNESS! POST #1337!!!! :nuts: :nuts: :nuts: :nuts: :nuts: :nuts: :nuts: :nuts: :nuts: :cheers: :cheers: :cheers: :smile_: :gunman1: :lal:
Sure, FMOD doesn't know many formats. But BZR Player knows more, specially "exotic" formats. Test it ! :)
awwww, Jojo you're so leet :welldone:
here, lemme give you a friendly hug for the #1337 :cute:
Quote from: "psishock"awwww, Jojo you're so leet :welldone:
here, lemme give you a friendly hug for the #1337 :cute:
I've passed that loooong looooong ago.... Time flies :P
Now lets get back on-topic :)
I've settled with foobar2000. It's not as eye-catching, but it shuffles my playback list, something i couldn't get XMPlay to do. (If it does it, it's not intuitive.)
Plus, i hate the whole concept of separate playlists/libraries. with an additional "queue". With foobar, i can create one list of music and it will play it. I don't hafta worry about a main "library" which doesn't really add to anything. I can easily create a new tab with foobar for each list of music i want to play. And it's intuitive.
I've yet to explore layouts and plug-ins. But as long as it's EASILY functional, i'm on it...
Well, there are actually two ways to shuffle your playlist in XMPlay: Either shuffling the the actual entries or just playing them randomly. And there are buttons for that on the skin and in the settings. JSYK.
So far I just worked with a playlist of an album. Now I tried the library concept of XMPlay, and I must say, I'm not enthousiastic about it, and wouldn't use it. But, unlike others maybe, I don't have to manage thousands of files. And the data in the library fields depends on whether the ID3 tags are filled in or not.
I only use the library to store author / song title information of module files anyway.
I use the library to see when I played a file and to search for them :D
Best thing is that it stores a history at all times even when you cleared the playlist so you can quickly re-add some to the playlist.
I'm using last.fm for that. :D