Just curious about winamp (and possibly other media players too)

Discussion in 'Computer Science & Culture' started by curioucity, Nov 2, 2004.

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  1. curioucity Unbelievable and odd Registered Senior Member

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    Hello all.

    I'm currently running Winamp 2.81 (just in case it may matter), and I have a question:
    Is it possible for Winamp to cause a computer to crash, or at least slow down after some time? I ask this because in Winamp, when shuffle mode is selected (thus random songs are chosen after one ends), there's a starting point of the 'scarmbled' list, that is, I can no longer use the 'pervious track' button when the starting song is played, and the program keeps track on the list of songs played from the beginning to the latest song played. Doesn't this mean that Winamp can eat a lot of resources just to store the list of tracks to be played. thus possibly harming the computer after some time?

    Thanks for answering.
     
    Last edited: Nov 2, 2004
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  3. Stryder Keeper of "good" ideas. Valued Senior Member

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    Totally dependent on your OS. Windows 98 was notorious for Bad Resource Management. (XP did actually do this properly, what the problem was when a resource is no longer needed like for instance the memory assigned while playing a game, 98 didn't "empty" the memory after use. This caused Bufferoverflows in the sense that some data would still remain in memory that wasn't needed and eventually meant that 98 would crash from the lack of available RAM. XP's fix was to Zero the unused RAM and various interevals [to my knowledge] However there is RAM recovery software for win98 like Maxmem found at www.analogx.com).

    However if you are using XP then it's probably just a glitch/bug with winamp which you might want to report to the Winamp programmers. (Bug I had with Winamp was not being able to have my 5.1 surround speakers in use properly meaning that the sound is different in Winamp in comparison to Mediaplayer.)
     
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  5. cosmictraveler Be kind to yourself always. Valued Senior Member

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    I had Winamp installed on my Win 98 OS and it never ever caused any problems.
     
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  7. curioucity Unbelievable and odd Registered Senior Member

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    to cosmic:
    Well, if in 98 there's no problem, whew... but hey, I'm a worryward...

    to stryder:
    Um, if you thought I got a bug, no. I myself have never experienced slow computer or crashes for playing winamp for days. I just put up my worried thoughts about the shuffle mode in Winamp, that's all... Thanks for those memory clearing explanations anyway.
     
  8. invert_nexus Ze do caixao Valued Senior Member

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    Why are you using an old version? Just don't like to keep with the times?
     
  9. Avatar smoking revolver Valued Senior Member

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    When I was using windows I too sticked with the 2.91 (a 2.xx version)
    I love its lightweight (though I have a lot of ram) and non-bloatnesness.
    It can do all I want and it is really nice. I have tried the new versions, but I found nothing in them that would suggest to dump 2.91

    I use XMMS on Linux now, which is a clone of Winamp 2.xx

    Don't repair what's not broken. Not always the newest and the most shiny gadget or software is the best. I still prefer PSP7 over PSP8
     
  10. whitewolf asleep under the juniper bush Registered Senior Member

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    No, unless your pc is old and low on RAM.
     
  11. Closet Philosopher Off to Laurentian University Registered Senior Member

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    Minamp will only cause crashing of I run it for 24 hours straight or more. I'll only do that if I have an important assignment due the next day

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  12. Avatar smoking revolver Valued Senior Member

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    damn Murphy, yes? it crashes when you less need it

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    my pc doesn't crash from winamp (xmms)

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    actually it's been without a restart for 12 days now
     
  13. curioucity Unbelievable and odd Registered Senior Member

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    Well, about not keeping with the trend, I once tried Winamp 3, and got seriously disappointed. With Winamp 3, the next songs are played even before the previous one ends, which sucks.... So you can just call it trauma, he he..

    And,wow, that's a durable PC you have there, Avatar... 12 straight days? Even I no longer dare to run my PC more than 3 days straight (my power supply once exploded, tell ya...)
    Oh, wait, Avatar, could you tell me if that xmms is really similar to Winamp? (in particular, see my first post on the shuffle mode) Just curious, again.

    And for the relief answers (from whitewolf and ILikeSalt), thanks

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    My PC is quite a low-class for today's standard though (P4 1.7, 256M, 60G) thoughof course it's enough to last.
     
  14. Xerxes asdfghjkl Valued Senior Member

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    for windows:
    Quintessential Media Player:
    http://www.quinnware.com/

    Music just sounds better in QCD. Try it.

    In linux, I use either amarok, juk, or XMMS.
     
  15. Avatar smoking revolver Valued Senior Member

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    It's alright if the power box is powerful enough for the system. If it isn't then problems can arise. Maybe you should get a better one..
    anyways Im sorry, but I can't answer your question about the shuffle mode, because I have never used it. Neither on winamp and neither on any other player software (xmms) or hardware.
     
  16. curioucity Unbelievable and odd Registered Senior Member

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    No problem. Maybe Winamp's shuffle mode is rather unique so not everyone knows. I know another mediaplayer, Sonique, and while it has shuffle button, it merely scrambles the track list, and still play those track from top to bottom, not randomly chosen like Winamp.
     
  17. Avatar smoking revolver Valued Senior Member

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    nah, I know of it, I just like my albums being played in the order the artist intended.
     
  18. Balder1 Registered Senior Member

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    The best music player for Windows XP is definitely dBpowerAMP . Try it.

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  19. curioucity Unbelievable and odd Registered Senior Member

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    Thanks for suggestion, but for now, I'll go with Avatar, that is, if it's not broken, don't repair it

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  20. §outh§tar is feeling caustic Registered Senior Member

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    The best music player for XP is MusicMatch. It's Supertagging features alone make it in a class above the rest in absolutely every regard.
     
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