A Pirate Named Jake
Arrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr..........
Winamp, the most wonderful media player of all. From its lovely skinnable interface to all the possibilities opened up by its plugin interface, Winamp is all that you need and more. In this post I am going to outline my favorite features of and plugins for Winamp, because I feel like shouting it from the mountaintop.
First, we'll start with Winamp's skinnable interface. Currently there are two options for the type of skins you might want to use: modern and classic. Modern skins are fully freeform, and can take any fantastical shape the designer desires. Classic skins are held to a more rigid standard form, but are my favorite by far. Head on over to the Winamp Skins Page to see what I mean.
Skins are cool, but the real reason I love Winamp is for its plugins. Instead of needing to download huge updates to add functionality, as is the case with other media players, with Winamp all you need to do is download a small plugin file. And the novel developers network they have set up allows all sorts of developers to create and share their plugins with the world. Need an alarm clock, or a way to play a new file format, or whacky visualizations to appease your eye? Just go to the Winamp Plugin Page and search for what you need. Following is a list of my current plugin setup, and a few nifty tricks you can use.
Album List
Album List is a nifty little tool that lists all your albums in a specified folder and lets you play them with ease. Its similar to the Media Library plugin that Winamp comes with, but with less hassle. The window will take on the appearance of your classic skins. If you use modern skins, Album List 2 will work for you.
Enhancer
Enhancer is a DSP plugin, which means it makes you music sound tasty. Created in 2001, it still is the best DSP plugin in my book. It is skinnable, but does not do so automatically. In order to easily create skins for Enhancer out of classic skins, download the Enhancer Skin Maker. Enhancer is guaranteed to make your listening experience better.
*note: Enhancer does not need to be open to work, just to change settings.
Global Hotkeys
Nullsoft Global Hotkeys comes bundled with Winamp. The genius of this plugin is that it allows you to control almost every aspect of Winamp while another application is on top. You can pause, play, change the volume, toggle shuffle, etc all while browsing the web or playing a video game! Control your music with the touch of a key.
AVS
AVS, or the Advanced Visualization Studio, is another of those wonderful plugins that come bundled with Winamp. AVS allows users to create their own visualization presets fairly easily, and you can download other user's presets from the Winamp AVS Page. While offering the standard windowed and fullscreen options, it has one nifty feature I'm going to tell you about. Once you open the visualization window, right click on it and select "AVS Editor". On the new window that opens, go to the "Settings" menu and select "Display". Over on the right there is a section called "Overlay Mode" when you check the two checkboxes in that section, your desktop will show the visualization! If you click on the "color" box and choose a color, every instance of that color on your screen will be replaced by the visualization. Choose white and you can IM or browse while watching your visualization.
Milkdrop
Milkdrop is by far my favorite full-screen visualization. If you have a decent video card, give this one a try. There are also presets available online from other users. Similar to AVS, it can run in windowed or full-screen mode, and it also has an option to run on your desktop. It uses more advanced algorithms than AVS, but you can create your own presets if it tickles you.
That's it for my Winamp walkthrough, hope you enjoyed it. Don't forget to post comments.
First, we'll start with Winamp's skinnable interface. Currently there are two options for the type of skins you might want to use: modern and classic. Modern skins are fully freeform, and can take any fantastical shape the designer desires. Classic skins are held to a more rigid standard form, but are my favorite by far. Head on over to the Winamp Skins Page to see what I mean.
Skins are cool, but the real reason I love Winamp is for its plugins. Instead of needing to download huge updates to add functionality, as is the case with other media players, with Winamp all you need to do is download a small plugin file. And the novel developers network they have set up allows all sorts of developers to create and share their plugins with the world. Need an alarm clock, or a way to play a new file format, or whacky visualizations to appease your eye? Just go to the Winamp Plugin Page and search for what you need. Following is a list of my current plugin setup, and a few nifty tricks you can use.
Album List
Album List is a nifty little tool that lists all your albums in a specified folder and lets you play them with ease. Its similar to the Media Library plugin that Winamp comes with, but with less hassle. The window will take on the appearance of your classic skins. If you use modern skins, Album List 2 will work for you.
Enhancer
Enhancer is a DSP plugin, which means it makes you music sound tasty. Created in 2001, it still is the best DSP plugin in my book. It is skinnable, but does not do so automatically. In order to easily create skins for Enhancer out of classic skins, download the Enhancer Skin Maker. Enhancer is guaranteed to make your listening experience better.
*note: Enhancer does not need to be open to work, just to change settings.
Global Hotkeys
Nullsoft Global Hotkeys comes bundled with Winamp. The genius of this plugin is that it allows you to control almost every aspect of Winamp while another application is on top. You can pause, play, change the volume, toggle shuffle, etc all while browsing the web or playing a video game! Control your music with the touch of a key.
AVS
AVS, or the Advanced Visualization Studio, is another of those wonderful plugins that come bundled with Winamp. AVS allows users to create their own visualization presets fairly easily, and you can download other user's presets from the Winamp AVS Page. While offering the standard windowed and fullscreen options, it has one nifty feature I'm going to tell you about. Once you open the visualization window, right click on it and select "AVS Editor". On the new window that opens, go to the "Settings" menu and select "Display". Over on the right there is a section called "Overlay Mode" when you check the two checkboxes in that section, your desktop will show the visualization! If you click on the "color" box and choose a color, every instance of that color on your screen will be replaced by the visualization. Choose white and you can IM or browse while watching your visualization.
Milkdrop
Milkdrop is by far my favorite full-screen visualization. If you have a decent video card, give this one a try. There are also presets available online from other users. Similar to AVS, it can run in windowed or full-screen mode, and it also has an option to run on your desktop. It uses more advanced algorithms than AVS, but you can create your own presets if it tickles you.
That's it for my Winamp walkthrough, hope you enjoyed it. Don't forget to post comments.
