I would like to recommend QCD as a great alternative to Winamp or Windows Media Player to play your MP3's or other audio files for you. It can be found @ http://www.quinnware.com and is freeware, regularly updated and worked on, plus the sound quality is unbelievable!

Try it out !

Coolest freebie Mp3 player / organizer / ripper around :)
http://www.mediamonkey.com/

Real Alternative will allow you to play RealMedia files without having to install RealPlayer/RealOne Player. The included Media Player Classic supports it and works very well. No advertising, no registration forms, nothing annoying! Freeware!
More Info - Download: Real Alternative


QuickTime Alternative will allow you to play QuickTime files (.mov, .qt, .3gp and other extensions) without having to install the official QuickTime Player. It also supports QuickTime content that is embedded in webpages. Freeware!
More Info - Download: QuickTime Alternative

jetAudio
jetAudio Basic is definitely freeware without some advanced features of jetAudio Plus. If you need these features, you can purchase jetAudio 6 Plus including all Extension Packs at our online store.

• Audio/Video Playback
  
• Easy to Use
  
• Best sound quality ever
  
• Supports all major file formats
  
• Internet Broadcasting

Differences between Basic & Plus

Info: jetAudio | Download

Foobar2000 is an advanced audio player for the Windows platform. Some of the basic features include ReplayGain support, low memory footprint and native support for several popular audio formats.

Features:

• Audio formats supported: MP1, MP2, MP3, MP4, MPC, AAC, Ogg Vorbis, FLAC / Ogg FLAC, WavPack, WAV, AIFF, AU, SND, CDDA.
• Full unicode support.
• Advanced tagging capabilities.
• Support for transcoding all supported audio formats using the Converter component (requires external commandline encoder executables for different output formats).
• ReplayGain support - both playback and calculation.
• Customizable keyboard shortcuts.
• Open component architecture allowing third-party developers to extend functionality of the player.

Product Info: foobar2000

Additional components for foobar2000
http://www.foobar2000.org/components/index.html

MPlayer is a movie player which runs on many systems (see the documentation). It plays most MPEG/VOB, AVI, Ogg/OGM, VIVO, ASF/WMA/WMV, QT/MOV/MP4, RealMedia, Matroska, NUT, NuppelVideo, FLI, YUV4MPEG, FILM, RoQ, PVA files, supported by many native, XAnim, and Win32 DLL codecs. You can watch VideoCD, SVCD, DVD, 3ivx, DivX 3/4/5 and even WMV movies..

The roots of MPlayer are in the Unix environment, and it shows in the way MPlayer is used: There is no graphical user interface, however there are many other 'front-ends' (GUI) available for MPlayer: QUI for MPlayer, Goo Media Center, KumaPlayer(Linux), SMplayer(Windows/Linux), only to mention a few. A search at SourceForge and Google will yield a multitude of other front-ends for MPlayer. MPUI for Windows can be found here.

Product Info: MPlayer

Zoom Player is a robust media and DVD front-end player. It was designed to be simple at first glance while being remarkably dynamic and flexible when used to its full potential. It works in two modes: a Media mode which can play any file supported by DirectShow (any file which plays in MediaPlayer) and a DVD mode which uses pre-installed DirectShow DVD filters to play DVD content. It supersedes media player in all it's functions and provides several important functions that media player lacks. It provides special zooming functions to improve TV-output quality by eliminating overscan. Completely rewritten in the last year -for the complete change list, click here. Free for Non-Commercial use.

More Info & Download: Zoom Player

Click to view attachment VLC Media Player
...the cross-platform media player and streaming server

VLC is a free cross-platform media player.

• It supports a large number of multimedia formats, without the need for additional codecs
  
• It is available for almost every OS
  
• It needs little CPU power

VLC (initially VideoLAN Client) is a highly portable multimedia player for various audio and video formats (MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, mp3, ogg, ...) as well as DVDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols. It can also be used as a server to stream in unicast or multicast in IPv4 or IPv6 on a high-bandwidth network.

Features
For more information about what features are supported on your operating system, please see the full features list.

• Windows | Mac | Linux | BeOS | Open BSD | Solaris | QNX | Source

• Skins: Portability: skins work on Windows 98/ME/NT/2000/XP, and any X11-based OS like Linux

More Info: VLC Home

Windows Media Player 11 for Windows XP offers great new ways to store and enjoy all your music, video, pictures, and recorded TV. Play it, view it, and sync it to a portable device for enjoying on the go or even share with devices around your home—all from one place.

Simplicy in Design
Bring a whole new look to your digital entertainment.

More of the Music you Love
Breathe new life into your digital music experience.

All your Entertainment in One Place
Store and enjoy all of your music, video, pictures, and recorded TV.

Enjoy Everywhere
Stay connected with your music, video, and pictures no matter where you are. Check out your new Media Sharing feature

Readme for Windows Media Player 11 for Windows XP

System Requirements: Windows XP Pro/Home SP 2 x86 and x64

Download all Windows Media Player versions.

Nullsoft WINAMP Player
"This powerful little toy was the brainchild of diabolical genius and self-made llama philanthropist Justin Frankel. Justin had but one goal in mind while coding the early versions of Winamp. He wanted to spread his proverbial seed (referring to the dna of Winamp obviously). Once that goal was realized (thank goodness), Justin decided to give the player away so that the rest of us could find that ever-elusive thang known as amore. This was a daunting task and Justin was extremely lazy. He decided to bring new friends into the fold so that he could concentrate on his new preoccupation of doing doughnuts in his truck and driving hot cars. And so Nullsoft was born."

Winamp Free & Pro: Features & Download»

VUPlayer is a freeware multi-format audio player for Windows supporting many formats.

Requirements
-Microsoft Windows 95, 98, ME, NT ,2000, XP or Vista
-Microsoft DirectX version 3 or later
-32-bit mixing requires WDM audio drivers
-Graphic EQ requires DirectX 8 (version 9 required for 32-bit mixing)
-Windows Media Audio support requires Windows Media Player version 9 or later
-QuickTime MPEG-4 support requires QuickTime version 7 or later
-MIDI support requires a SoundFont
-Audioscrobbler & freedb functionality requires an internet connection
-Audio CD support requires Windows NT, 2000, XP or Vista
-CD-Text support requires Windows XP or Vista

Features include:

• gapless playback •
• MP3/OGG/WMA internet file streaming •
• optional 32-bit mixing •
• 9-band graphic equalizer •
• volume, balance & pitch controls •
• full system tray functionality •
• timer playback/screen saver feature •
• configurable system-wide hotkeys •
• support for multiple visuals via a plug-in system •
• digital audio extraction •
• encoding to Ogg Vorbis, FLAC, APE, WMA & WV formats •
• Audioscrobbler support •
• remote freedb support •
• CD-Text support •

More Info & Download: VUPlayer

AVS Media DVD Player

GSpot is a video codec identification utility - identifies which video codec and audio compression method is used on .avi files, whether the matching codec is installed, and more.

- Establishes what video codecs (audio and video) are required to play an AVI file.
- Determines whether these codecs are installed on your system.
- Isolates problems associated with these codecs.
- Simple operation - Basic use: "File > Open", then read results.
- Identifies download induced problems (truncated files, "cooked" files, etc.)
- Shows framerate, duration, aspect ratio, bitrates, AVI structure info, and more.
- Displays and allows editing of RIFF info (title, etc); displays "hidden" ASCII info.
- Drag and Drop and "Send To" support, multi-file (batch) processing support.
- Copy/Paste or text export GSpot information - format is user configurable.
- Built-in database of 350 video and 150 audio codec types.
- Advanced UI including "dual-mode" and hyperlinked "persistent" tool tips.
- Full support for OGG media files as well as AVI stream formats.
- Identification (only) of non-AVI files (.flv, mp4, .mpg, .mov, .qt, .rm, .swf, .wmv, .asf, etc.)
- Supports VFW, ACM, DirectShow and DMO codec types (audio and video)
- Win95/98/ME/NT/2K/XP/Vista
- No Install (optional), No spyware, No advertising, No registration
- Free for personal use.

http://www.headbands.com/gspot/index.htm

Click to view attachmentKantaris Media Player
Free and open-source media player

Kantaris can play almost anything you can throw at it -- AVI, MPEG, MGEG-AVC, WMV, MOV, MKV, quicktime, matroska, divx, xvid, H264, MP3, WMA, OGG files and more. Kantaris can also play DVD's and audio cd's. The player also displays some of the most beautiful music visualisations ever seen. All this is completely free.

Kantaris is an all new media player based on code from Videolan client (VLC) and Bass audio library. Kantaris has a graphical user interface similar to that of Windows Media Player.

Works on Windows 2000, XP and Vista.
Development Status : 4 - Beta - stable.

Kantaris is completely free! No hidden fees, spyware or adware.

Kantaris @ Sourceforge.net

QT Lite
QT Lite is a lightweight version of QuickTime.
It contains only the essential components that are required for viewing QuickTime content in your favorite browser.

QT Lite will allow you to :
- Play QuickTime movies that are embedded in webpages.
- Download HD QuickTime trailers.
- Play QuickTime files in Media Player Classic or ZoomPlayer.

Features of QT Lite :
- QuickTime base components
- QuickTime ActiveX plugin
- QuickTime plugin for Opera/Firefox/Mozilla/Netscape

http://free-codecs.com/download/QT_Lite.htm

Click to view attachment
Spider Player is a fast and easy way to listen to your music.
It has a complete range of powerful options and it's totally free!

• Amazing sound quality
  Internal 32-bit sound processing adds extra clarity and fidelity to playback, even if your sound card is not capable of output in such resolution.
• Crossfading
  Crossfading effects result in a smooth subtle transition between tracks.
• Surround Sound
  Supports 5.1/7.1 Surround as well as classic stereo/mono audio files.

Features List» | Screenshots» | Skins, Language Packs, Icon Packs»

Click to view attachment
The free open-source video platform..

"Miro makes video on the internet way less frustrating and way more enjoyable....subscribe to channels of internet video, download videos, and watch them fullscreen, one after the other, all in one application.

Internet video becomes internet TV. It's free and open for everyone to watch and to broadcast.

Miro is a project of the Participatory Culture Foundation, a non-profit organization."

Systems: Mac/Windows/Linux/Fedora/Ubuntu/Debian/Gentoo/Source

Website: Miro

DivX gives you everything you need to create and play high-quality DivX videos on your PC and beyond.

The free DivX for Windows download includes:

• DivX Codec
• DivX Player
• DivX Web Player
• DivX Convertor

For: Windows XP/2000/Vista (32-bit) | Mac OS X 10.3.9 or later
Older verisons for older systems available.

More Info & Downloads: DivX, Inc.

Digital Media—BeoPlayer

One user interface for all digital media
Bring the rational organisation and elegant control of Bang & Olufsen to your computer with BeoPlayer – a piece of software that works equally well on your computer or TV screen. If you have BeoMedia 1 in your system, you can access music files, internet radio, photos and much more on your BeoVision television. BeoPlayer provides an interface that looks good in your living room and is easy to operate using a remote control. If you use BeoPort, BeoPlayer is the easy and pleasant software for BeoLink control and media organising on your computer. If you have neither, you can still get the distinctive Bang & Olufsen look in a piece of computer software you use every day – we provide BeoPlayer as a free download.

Information

Click to view attachment

XBMC is an award-winning media center application for Linux, Mac OS X, Windows and XBox.
The ultimate hub for all your media, XBMC is easy to use, looks slick, and has a large helpful community. XBMC is free & open source.

• Media Management
  XBMC supports viewing and playing a vast library of audio, video and image formats. XBMC has a sophisticated library management system that allows you to organize all your media to give you quick and immediate access
• Fluid Interface
  XBMC provides a user friendly interface that's intuitive, very flexible, and easy to use. The interface is completely customizable through user-created or downloadable skins.
• Plug-ins and Extensibility
  XBMC has a built-in Python interpreter that allows users and developers to write their own scripts and plugins that run inside XBMC using it's own widgets and controls. It also has a built-in web server that allows it to be controlled remotely.
• Visualisations
  XBMC's audio player supports many visualisations including ProjectM and Goom. In addition, it allows easy development of visualisations using a simple API.
• Lots More
  The above is just the tip of the iceberg. Try it out yourself to experience the ultimate media center experience on Linux, Mac OS X and Windows.

User-friendliness that is Next To Godliness
XBMC is easy to install and setup, and its many beautiful custom user interfaces offers simple very intuitive navigation which are very convenient and flexible, adding to great price verses performance ratio when installed on cheap hardware to this best in class software. With and experience surpases all retail media center systems.

FOSS (Free Open Source Software)
XBMC Media Center software is distributed as open source under the GNU General Public License, (with a few sub-libraries licensed under the LGPL), and as a non-profit project XBMC is run and developed by volunteers in their spare-time without any monetary gain. Team-XBMC encourage anyone to contribute to the project, submit their own source code patches for new features and functions, improve existing ones, or fix any bugs in XBMC that you might find.

Multi-platform, Internationalized, and Localized
Mac - Linux - Windows - XBMC for ATV - XBMC Live ISO - Xbox
http://xbmc.org/home/

MediaPortal 1.0 RELEASED!
22-12-2008

MediaPortal is an Open Source application ideal for turning your PC in a very advanced Multi-Media Center / HTPC. MediaPortal allows you to listen to your favorite music & radio, watch your video's and DVD's, view, schedule and record live TV and much more.

As Open Source software licensed under the GNU/GPL agreement, you get MediaPortal for free. This means anyone can contribute to MediaPortal or customize for their own needs!

MediaPortal is built on the Microsoft .NET framework using C# and currently has a growing international community of over 10,000 users.

So what is so special about this 1.0 release?
" In February 2004 Erwin Beckers (aka. Frodo) left the X-Box Media Center project to start a new project, now known as MediaPortal, that would run on the Microsoft Windows platform and not suffer from the limitations of the X-Box hardware. Initially, existing code was reused from the XBMC-project but after several releases and innumerable feature enhancements there has been almost a complete redesign. So, after a 5 year journey the Team MediaPortal is more than proud to announce the release of MediaPortal 1.0! "


Windows XP 32-bit Edition with service pack 3/ Media Center Edition 2005 with update rollup 2/ Vista 32- and 64-bit with service pack 1
Please read other system requirements

Please read all the instructions and changelogs at the site:
http://www.team-mediaportal.com/news/globa...l_released.html

AIMP

AIMP Classic is a powerful audio player that allows you to listen to your favorite music with an outstanding sound quality. Its appearance resembles that of another classical audio player (Winamp), so you'll get used to it very quickly. It can also be customized with skins. The program includes a 18-band equalizer, a visualization window to display rhythmic visual effects and a playlist editor to organize your audio files. A nice fading effect makes your list of songs look like an endless music loop and a handy volume normalizing feature avoids drastic volume changes between tracks. Also, the player's main functions can be conveniently controlled by global hotkeys. Besides playing music, AIMP Classic features three extra utilities which also enable you to record any sound on your computer, convert audio files from one format to another and view or edit tags. AIMP Classic is based on the well-known audio engine BASS, so it's easy to connect new plug-ins (from the plug-in library included in the program) and expand the player's functionalities.

Windows 2000/Vista/XP

http://www.aimp.ru/index.php

Click to view attachment

Amarok is a powerful music player for Linux and Unix, MacOS X and Windows with an intuitive interface. It makes playing the music you love and discovering new music easier than ever before - and it looks good doing it!

Screenshots | Discover Amarok!

Click to view attachment
Moovida (formerly Elisa), Entertainment made Easy
Free, open source, media center software for Windows and Linux, Mac(in future)

Moovida is more than an innovative media player with an elegant interface to manage and enjoy your digital library. It is an all-in-one media center, that lets you browse and play all your local video, music and photos, and give you access to the best media content the internet has to offer, with a single remote from the comfort of your couch.

While designed to handle the most advanced multimedia tasks, Moovida was developed with one fundamental principle: keep digital entertainment easy and accessible to users of all technical levels. By automatically matching cover art & synopsis information from the internet with your local content, Moovida transforms your digital files into a real multimedia library.

With Moovida, watching your favorite movie or family videos on your HDTV or setting up a slide show of your latest trip with the music background of your choice is just a few clicks away.

If you have been looking for an easy to use and intuitive media center all family members can use, download Moovida now and join our growing community of users.

Arm yourself with a remote control and be ready to experience digital interactivity in your living room.

See all Features & Screenshots:
http://www.moovida.com/product/