rockinup1231
12-09-2007, 12:18 AM
I checked their site out and it said "10th anniversary". So with this in mind I figured there may be some big changes from the last winamp so I tested out their newest version, 5.5
I'm sure we all know about it, although I'm not sure how many of you use it. It currently has a new skin called Bento which pulls everything together into one big window rather than the separate windows for everything as before. Features were changed around so finding them may be a task at first but it's really not all that hard. The big lower half isn't any different than the media library window that was separate before. It keeps all the same organization as it did in the past. Up near the main controls of the player, the album art is displayed with a well organized list of the media details.
Another thing I noticed that was improved on was the milkdrop visualization plugin, which utilizes the gpu instead of the cpu to optimize performance of the machine and makes the visualizations look smoother in appearence, and operate at very good frame rates. My GeForce2 MX/ 400MX AGP 4x card with it's lowly 32mb of vram made the visualization run flawlessly at 1024x768 resolution, so it can be figured that anyone with a stronger computer won't have any problems. (Unfortunately this doesn't apply to all those cool Advanced Visualizations, which just lag up no matter what setting they run at.)
Preferences are the same as before, and the new skin has it's own set of color schemes. The past skins are usable still.
Other small changes includes the little popup that shows up in the bottom corner of the screen to announce the new song. The program itself, in my opinion, seems to start up faster with the Bento skin.
Felt I'd mention this for anyone that dislikes Windows Media Player or other media players for some reason, needs a media player that can play more formats and the codecs can all be found in one place for free (the Winamp site), or is a Winamp fan. Personally, I choose Winamp because I like how it organizes files, and the equalizer does a better job than that of Window Media Player's.
http://www.winamp.com/
Oh. There are also some extras that can be added to the program during the installation. I didn't test them, but two I remember were a winamp toolbar for Internet Explorer, and sending music too your Xbox 360 from Winamp (I'm not very clear on that. I didn't test it and I don't remember the exact description so you'd have to check for yourself).
I'm sure we all know about it, although I'm not sure how many of you use it. It currently has a new skin called Bento which pulls everything together into one big window rather than the separate windows for everything as before. Features were changed around so finding them may be a task at first but it's really not all that hard. The big lower half isn't any different than the media library window that was separate before. It keeps all the same organization as it did in the past. Up near the main controls of the player, the album art is displayed with a well organized list of the media details.
Another thing I noticed that was improved on was the milkdrop visualization plugin, which utilizes the gpu instead of the cpu to optimize performance of the machine and makes the visualizations look smoother in appearence, and operate at very good frame rates. My GeForce2 MX/ 400MX AGP 4x card with it's lowly 32mb of vram made the visualization run flawlessly at 1024x768 resolution, so it can be figured that anyone with a stronger computer won't have any problems. (Unfortunately this doesn't apply to all those cool Advanced Visualizations, which just lag up no matter what setting they run at.)
Preferences are the same as before, and the new skin has it's own set of color schemes. The past skins are usable still.
Other small changes includes the little popup that shows up in the bottom corner of the screen to announce the new song. The program itself, in my opinion, seems to start up faster with the Bento skin.
Felt I'd mention this for anyone that dislikes Windows Media Player or other media players for some reason, needs a media player that can play more formats and the codecs can all be found in one place for free (the Winamp site), or is a Winamp fan. Personally, I choose Winamp because I like how it organizes files, and the equalizer does a better job than that of Window Media Player's.
http://www.winamp.com/
Oh. There are also some extras that can be added to the program during the installation. I didn't test them, but two I remember were a winamp toolbar for Internet Explorer, and sending music too your Xbox 360 from Winamp (I'm not very clear on that. I didn't test it and I don't remember the exact description so you'd have to check for yourself).