Tuesday, October 26, 2010

foobar2000 + Plugins = Awesomeness

foobar2000 is a lightweight audio player known for its extensive SDK. That means it has loads of plugins that pretty much makes it a popular choice among pedophiles audiophiles. The default interface might not be as pretty as MediaMonkey, Winamp, or even Windows Media Player, but it is no short of features.


Trust me, this is the best audio player for Windows. And it's free.

First off, you can grab a copy here: http://www.foobar2000.org/download

So it plays music. Nothing much special eh? Time to grab the plugins.
  • Noise Sharpening -  Improves the clarity of the sound. The main reason why foobar2000 rocks. Hard.
  • ALAC Decoder - Support for M4A files, which is usually downloaded from iTunes.
  • ASIO Output - Allows foobar2000 to directly use the sound card, allowing bit-exact output. The sound card must support ASIO though.
  • WASAPI Output - Allows bit-exact output and mutes other sounds. Only works on Vista SP1 and above.
  • Audioscrobbler - Tells Last.fm the song you're playing in foobar2000. This will allow Last.fm to generate a web radio designed specifically for you.
  • Last.fm Radio - Allows you to play your generated Last.fm radio in foobar2000.
  • Soft Playlists - Also allows you to play Last.fm playlists.
  • Win 7 Shell Integration - Adds Windows 7 taskbar features, such as progress indicators, player controls, jumplists, etc.
  • CUE Playlist Filter - Prevents duplicate songs from showing up, caused by playlists. Also removes lost references.
These are my recommended plugins. If you want more, you can check out these websites:

Oh, and if you're a bit clueless on how to install:

These plugins generally must be configured before use, so check the preference page first. For example, Noise Sharpening must be activated in the DSP preference.

If you can't live with that interface, well there is an alternate interface called Columns UI. Much more customizable, although it can be quite tricky. Some of them might even require older versions of foobar2000, since some components are outdated. You can take a stroll here:

So that's about it. Have fun customizing.

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