Desktop Media Players
I have used VLC, foobar 2000, Audacity, and several others for many years.
I also used Audacity extensively at work while doing Sound Quality Engineering work.
VLC is my favorite player for video. WinAmp and foobar 2000 are my favorite players for audio.
Foobar 2000 greatest feature is that it allows multiple play-lists to be loaded / open at the same time (in multiple tabs). You also have all the control over the player.
VLC can have some problems playing certain WAV files (compressed WAV), and I don't use it heavily for audio due to its poor and lousy playlist interface.
WinAmp (free version) is an excellent player, and has been around for a very long time. But some of the default skins, as well as the configuration of the preferences, can be confusing to the new user.
I don't use the Library features of WinAmp or VLC (or any other player due to my HUGE music collection; I do mean HUGE). I just load the playlists that I want to listen to. WinAmp can handle only one playlist at a time, like most players.
I tried MediaMonkey long time ago, and hated it, removed it very quickly. I tried the most recent version of MediaMonkey, but I did not like it or its behavior, either, so I removed it (or Revo Uninstalled it) the same day I installed it.
Another powerful audio player is Music Bee. Lots of good features, but it will not replace foobar 2000 and WinAmp on my desktop.
A few other audio players, with Portable versions are AIMP, CoolPlayer, Soundbase, and XMPlayer, to mention a few.
An open-source video player that I also like is MPC HomeCinema (MPC = Media Player Classic). Small program and light weight.
As for Windows Media Player, I think the last time I used it was in the days of Windows 95. It's the worst in its category, in my opinion, aside from its 25 MB size (just the download, before installation).
