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DoubleTwist, MixZing, bTunes, Cubed... best media player?

R

RhoninFire

Lurker
So many applications and some are are paid. Yet, googling around there's just so little of articles or threads that actually compare them head to head. There's one that talks about "Will DoubleTwist become Android's answer to iTune?" Then there's one thread from early 2010 from this forum talking about media players. Then there's a Palm Pre forum with a similar discussion. Just none really gave a strong statement. Perhaps I might just have to try them all and write my own article, but I hope it doesn't have to come to that (and that takes time and some cost money!). More likely, I'll just stick to one.

Currently, I have tried out DoubleTwist, MixZing, and the default music app (not sure if it is Sumsung's or Google's). However, that still leaves Cube, bTunes, TuneWiki, and there's still might be other I haven't notice yet. Currently, I'm liking MixZing better than DoubleTwist or the default. So far, MixZing have the same functionality (like the ability add to playlists from the list of songs and delete songs) plus it have that make playlist for me feature (though it needs more testing). DoubleTwist's desktop software is pretty awesome so far for me and I don't have the same complaints that have have of its speed. Though MixZing is lacking things like "recently played" and etc.

Which in your experience is the best one? Can anyone tell me the pros and cons of each app and also how they compared to iTunes (love it or hate it, it is the gold standard)? What do each app have? What each app is currently missing.

Also, on the desktop side, there seems to be a number of software like Media Monkey, Songbird, and others. Can anyone give an comments on how they stack to each other?
 
I use both MixZing and Meridian because you can create and update playlists on the fly. I prefer Meridian because it sounds better and the free version has an id3 tag editor (MixZing has this only available in the paid version). Also, MixZing tends to create duplicate playlist entries. But MixZing allows you to dump an entire album or artist onto the playlist while Meridian requires you to add the songs one at a time (this may be a limitation in the free version, I am not sure). I have both installed so I can use the features I need, as the same playlists can be shared by both programs.
 
I like Cubed the best. It has the best UI to me, and it while it might not offer as much as other players in terms of playback functionality, it does what I need it to do. I love the Queue feature, and getting album art with Cubed works so much better and is more accurate than any other player I've tried.
 
I use bTunes, I have played around with some of the others like Mixzing and doubletwist, albeit not for very long, but I keep coming back to bTunes. I like the layout of everything. Im used to the iTunes way of things, but I DO want to branch out I am just not very good at adapting to a new UI
 
Mixzing.

One thing I really didn't like about Doubletwist is how it keeps starting on it's own. Would see it whenever I accessed System Panel.
 
SL4VE said:
if you use itunes, just get iSyncr and be done with it, its all you will ever need
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+1 on iSyncr. It doesn't add any more than is necessary (do I really need another player in addition to the native player?), syncs flawlessly with iTunes, and is a simple UI. The initial sync took a while, but I added 16GB of music from my iTunes. Brought over album art and album info as well.

Where it really stands out though is that it just pulls down playlists as selected and will remove existing songs not on the playlist(s). I moved my entire library into a playlist, and iSyncr picked it all up. I'll back down to a smaller list of songs later, but I have 12GB open on my 32GB card so I won't do that for a while.
:)
 
My primary choice has been MixZing because in my opinion it offers the most functionality. I'm also a stickler for album art. This past week and half though I've been using Music Mod (Froyo only) which is basically a heavily modified version of the stock player. I think the interface is the slickest out there. I use Easy Phone Tunes to sync my iTunes.
 
jacquestbr said:
Hi, I have tried out PlayerPro (search for "Music Player Pro" on the market).
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Personally, I wouldn't be buying this app just because you spammed the forums and posted this in 5 different threads. I don't care how good the app is, I don't buy products from spammers. If everyone did the same, we wouldn't have all of the spammers around anymore.
 
My main concern was a player with Bluetooth Controls, which I think doubletwist is the only music player with that capability. (I heard mixzing has it, but haven't had the chance to try it)

My take on each player:
Doubletwist - decent interface, but runs SLOW on my phone (Captivate) even with speed hacks. Supports Bluetooth controlling (back and forward) - NO LANDSCAPE. Plays ALL media files from SD card, even game sound files = BAD

Mixzing - UGLY interface, runs a little faster on my phone. Has landscape, most features of all, even allows you to select which folders your music is in, which is a HUGE plus especially if your SD card has other game sound files.

Cubed (^3) - Best looking interface, a little too simple for me though. I use the boring interface theme anyways, which just shows words (no art). Wish it showed the artwork when you select the song though.. Has landscape and album art grabber, runs really quick on phone

Stock Samsung Music Player - Fastest player for the Captivate (or SGS phones), but lacks a lot of functionality. Has fake-5.1 mode when you have headphones on. Limited landscape mode, no bluetooth controls, no widget. Has lockscreen controls.
 
Cubed? Really? That app looks as if a 10 year old designed it.

I much prefer Lithium, as someone else mentioned above. That is the nicest player UI I have seen. I have yet to try DoubleTwist, as I do not need/want a full fledged syncing solution with the PC, but DT does look nice in the pics. Mixzing is somewhat less nice than Lithium, but it does have some compelling features, such as artist info look-ups and its own built-in "genius-like" function similar to that of iTunes. Museek is nicely minimalistic, but it uses its own database, unlike most of the other players, which rely on the native Android media database. Museek maps your collection onto a 2D or 3D map so you can see conceptually how closely albums relate to one another in terms of genre. The downside of Museek seems to be that it doesn't recognize synced playlists from iTunes, synced by iSyncr (M3U format). But, you can easily create your own playlists.
 
floepie said:
Cubed? Really? That app looks as if a 10 year old designed it.

I much prefer Lithium, as someone else mentioned above. That is the nicest player UI I have seen. I have yet to try DoubleTwist, as I do not need/want a full fledged syncing solution with the PC, but DT does look nice in the pics. Mixzing is somewhat less nice than Lithium, but it does have some compelling features, such as artist info look-ups and its own built-in "genius-like" function similar to that of iTunes. Museek is nicely minimalistic, but it uses its own database, unlike most of the other players, which rely on the native Android media database. Museek maps your collection onto a 2D or 3D map so you can see conceptually how closely albums relate to one another in terms of genre. The downside of Museek seems to be that it doesn't recognize synced playlists from iTunes, synced by iSyncr (M3U format). But, you can easily create your own playlists.
Click to expand...

Regarding Doubletwist, it has no interaction with the syncing program for the PC, its fully a standalone music player. I would use it over anything else if there was landscape mode and if it was faster.

Cubed is minimalistic and very sleek looking if you set the Theme to "boring."
 
I've tried most of them except for Lithium, I'll take a look at that, but I'm still a MixZing fan.

I think I'd like Museek the most if they put better widgets in it and had playlists that actually carried over to and from the other Android music players. I really like the gapless playback feature and I like the way it adds a single song to your playlist, almost like a pandora/last.fm with your music. I like MizZing's playlist creation feature of adding similar music as well but I kind of don't like how they add a bunch of similar songs at once.
 
I can't understand why so many think Cubed had a good interface. I think it looks terrible!

The most polished UI for me has got to be DoubleTwist without a doubt. However it doesn't have some of the 'shiny bits' Lithium or the HTC music app has.

I still haven't gone to one as a default yet :P
 
Is there a player which will allow you to import a playlist (and the mp3's) from your computer that also contains streams (from streams like Digitally Imported).

Basically, it would be a combination of XiiaLive and DoubleTwist. I use both, but neither does what I want a player to do... make a playlist on my computer with my favorite mp3's with my favorite streams mixed in.
 
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