Recommended Free Music Player for Windows

Now that Groove Music seems to be broken/ un supported on some of my Windows 10 Machines. (Unable to repair installations, via Powershell, sfc scans ect) I now have to look for another Windows 10 Music Player, to play my ripped CDs and OneDrive music.

I can still use Media Player, and I guess VLC. I would really like an attractive music player like the superior looking Zune player, but that no longer installs on W10 reliably (like Groove).

So does anyone have any Suggestions on a Free, Non Subscription Music Player for Windows 10? Spotify is a none starter as it posts Ads on my own music !

And where is Joe Belaforie, so I can give him a slap !

Conversation 25 comments

  • jumpingjackflash5

    12 August, 2018 - 8:18 am

    <p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent;">Foobar2000 or Winyl. Both support WASAPI (Foobar with plugin).</span></p>

    • jumpingjackflash5

      12 August, 2018 - 8:19 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#300978">In reply to jumpingjackflash5:</a></em></blockquote><p>Unfortunately I could not post the links here but google search will do it :)</p>

      • jules_wombat

        13 August, 2018 - 7:40 am

        <blockquote><em><a href="#300979">In reply to jumpingjackflash5:</a></em></blockquote><p>I had a look. Its OK, but not particualry attractive presentayion for casual consumer use. </p>

        • Rycott

          Premium Member
          13 August, 2018 - 9:34 pm

          <blockquote><em><a href="#301171">In reply to Jules_Wombat:</a></em></blockquote><p><br></p><p>foobar is as pretty or ugly as you spend time on it.</p><p><br></p><p>It's definitely not pretty by default and it has a tonne of advanced features that aren't for the casual user.</p><p><br></p><p>it's pretty great though if you need those features.</p>

  • Crypto

    12 August, 2018 - 8:55 pm

    <p>I like Musicbee. It has a lot of great themes and is very customizable.</p>

  • kherm

    Premium Member
    12 August, 2018 - 11:09 pm

    <p>I use Groove every day. Not sure why it's not working for you</p>

    • jules_wombat

      13 August, 2018 - 7:44 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#301158">In reply to kherm:</a></em></blockquote><p>Yep I can still use Groove on my Windows Phone Surface Pro, general desktop but it has stopped working on my main developer Desktop. I could only uninstall via Powershell, and reinstallations from App Store and various other attempted cleanup fixes, still does not stop Groove from crashing. </p><p>I am seeing less support and robustness in Microsoft consumer Applications(Cortana, Groove etc) these days. </p>

    • Winner

      23 August, 2018 - 1:13 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#301158">In reply to kherm:</a></em></blockquote><p>He wants to jump off the ship before the bow is up in the air.</p>

  • SWCetacean

    Premium Member
    13 August, 2018 - 2:31 am

    <p>I use Groove, but I've read about a player called Dopamine that looks pretty good.</p>

  • lecter

    13 August, 2018 - 5:33 am

    <p>Why not just transfer all your music for free to Google Play music and use its PWA? Works beautifully and will also sync with all your devices.</p>

    • jules_wombat

      13 August, 2018 - 7:45 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#301168">In reply to lecter:</a></em></blockquote><p>Would that work on Windows Phone [Edge browser based]? – </p>

      • lecter

        14 August, 2018 - 4:31 am

        <blockquote><em><a href="#301173">In reply to Jules_Wombat:</a></em></blockquote><p><br></p><p>Ah, you did not mention you also needed this to work on Windows Phone 🙂 I haven't tried it, but it might…just upload a couple of mp3s and have a look on your phone.</p>

    • Daekar

      14 August, 2018 - 11:49 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#301168">In reply to lecter:</a></em></blockquote><p>Performance is pretty poor compared to a real local app playing local files. No comparison.</p>

  • spacein_vader

    Premium Member
    13 August, 2018 - 8:38 am

    <p><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Musicbee is pretty popular, but for simplicity I prefer Dopamine.</span></p>

    • jules_wombat

      14 August, 2018 - 8:49 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#301191">In reply to spacein_vader:</a></em></blockquote><p>Dopamine does&nbsp;look pretty cool, I will give that a try. </p>

  • Patrick3D

    13 August, 2018 - 4:15 pm

    <p>If you play games at all don't forget that Steam has a built-in music player.</p>

  • lvthunder

    Premium Member
    13 August, 2018 - 5:53 pm

    <p>You can use iTunes. That's what I use.</p>

  • Otto Gunter

    13 August, 2018 - 6:57 pm

    <p>Check out MediaMonkey, though it is overkill unless you have a large media library. If so, the learning curve is well worth it. </p>

  • bbold

    13 August, 2018 - 10:29 pm

    <p>I use Groove, Spotify and iTunes. Am I the only one here who uses three? lol :D</p>

  • Daekar

    14 August, 2018 - 11:48 am

    <p>I really like MusicBee. It's like… what iTunes should be. MediaMonkey would be my second favorite. I use MediaMonkey on my Android phone though.</p>

    • Winner

      23 August, 2018 - 1:12 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#301545">In reply to Daekar:</a></em></blockquote><p>A second for MusicBee.</p>

  • generalprotectionfault

    15 August, 2018 - 8:28 am

    <p>I think you're smart to move away from Groove Music. I can't imagine it's long for this world after Groove Pass got the axe. Personally, I'd offer another vote for foobar2000.</p>

  • spacein_vader

    Premium Member
    22 August, 2018 - 9:30 am

    <p>Which (if any!) solution did you use in the end?</p>

    • jules_wombat

      22 August, 2018 - 3:32 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#303471">In reply to spacein_vader:</a></em></blockquote><p>Well my broken Groove installation is on a Test PC, not my main desktop, so not so urgent. But I am inclined to go with <span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent;">Dopamine, looks nice. (maybe Groove will self heal on this particular machine with new Windows 1809)</span></p>

  • Lauren Glenn

    22 August, 2018 - 5:09 pm

    <p>Pot Player works well for videos… I think it pretty much plays music like WinAmp used to. The only bad thing about it is that if there's an update, it stops the launch video you tell it to play to install an update which you can't circumvent. But that's really about it.</p><p><br></p><p>Not the best player, but Zune works relatively well on Windows 10 1803. I installed it on my PCs. The only thing you have to have is .NET 3.5 framework installed but if you already have that, you're fine. If you don't, it should install it for you.</p><p><br></p><p>If you want the best tagging software (and can deal with a lot of crashes), MediaMonkey is a good way to go.</p><p><br></p><p>I paid $20 for that so many years ago and haven't paid for the Gold features since. They haven't really added much to the program since either, but it works well enough.</p>

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