what about http://www.musicmatch.com/ I switched over to it recently and really like it too...

Posted by: Gordon on September 10, 2003 11:59 AM

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Yahoo's Launch is excellent, but not quite the same as Winamp. I use Winamp extensively and think it's pretty nifty although the UI and skins really could use some work from a UCD standpoint.

Posted by: Lyle, Lyle, Croc O' Lyle on September 10, 2003 01:14 PM

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Winamp 2.x is a far better and bug-free product than Winamp 3. Fancy that!

Posted by: MadMan on September 10, 2003 02:14 PM

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God, are you using the same version of WinAmp I just deleted from my computer?

What a flaming piece of unusable crap! What the hell is a "Thinger"? Not only did it have a stupid "trying to be cute" name, it seemed completely worthless.

And forget stuff like playlists. It was just an incomprehensible nightmare, with way too many options about what windows were displayed and which weren't, and how you could clump them anyway you like...ugh. And ugly whenever you took advantage of its resize feature.

Posted by: Kirk on September 10, 2003 04:47 PM

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I have to agree, I'm surprised to see WinAMP mentioned here. I consider it a usability nightmare. The non-standard interface window is always too small for my medium-resolution screen, and using the sole resizing option - 'Double Size' - turns it into a blocky eyesore that takes up way too much of my desktop. In the regular size mode, the vital window gadgets like 'minimize' and 'close' are nearly impossible to click on the first attempt. Double-clicking the title bar reduces the whole thing to a tiny bar that would be excellent for background music except that the buttons are too small to use.

Its navigation is riddled with an assortment of bizarre gadgets that behave in different and seemingly random ways. (Anyone notice the nearly-invisible "OAIDW" options to the left of the time display, usable only by the most accomplished precision mouser?)

The song title either doesn't fit in the tiny window or endlessly scrolls in a jumpy fashion, distracting me from other applications. The virtually useless bookmark mechanism for audio streams makes even Internet Explorer Favorites a joy to use by comparison. The Equalizer's presets require so many clicks to save and load that it's easier to adjust the 10-band EQ manually.

I've spent hours downloading and trying various 'skins' in the hope that one of them will actually improve usability. None of them do.

And the sad thing is, it's still the best there is. (I'm using 2.x, I agree that 3.x makes new leaps of unusability and should be avoided at all costs.)

Posted by: Michael on September 11, 2003 06:11 AM

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I think if usability testing was done on WinAmp the results would be horrible. I definitely see what people are saying too. However, I really like WinAmp and it works great for me. WinAmp is a "great product" for me but perhaps not many others. I can dig that.

Posted by: John S. Rhodes on September 11, 2003 07:51 AM

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John, I installed WinAmp as I wanted to review a competitor to Windows Media Player. As I do with most quick reviews, I uninstalled it. Unfortunately, it left all its software 'poo' in the right mouse click on media files etc and all the files still have a Winamp icon look. How do you completely uninstall programs that do this?

Posted by: Daniel Szuc on September 11, 2003 09:38 PM

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Winamp 2.91 -- "I finally got around to downloading and installing Winamp 2.91. It's fucking awesome. Makes winamp3 look like complete shit."

Posted by: John S. Rhodes on September 11, 2003 09:48 PM

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Remove Unwanted Right-Click Menu Items in IE

(Pain in the butt, but does this help?)

Posted by: John S. Rhodes on September 11, 2003 10:07 PM

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Thanks John, but its the items in the pop up menu on right mouse click on the desktop.

Posted by: daniel szuc on September 12, 2003 06:46 AM

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