Windows Media Player, or WinAmp?

Windows Media Player and WinAmp are both great media players that don’t use a lot of resources, play most file formats and launch quickly (unlike iTunes which is bloated, slow, a memory hog and only handles like 3 formats.). The other day I was uninstalling extra programs on my computer and realized that I don't need WinAmp installed since Windows Media player is also installed. This got me wondering why I never use Windows Media player even through it has all of the features that I like. It can sort by file path, has an equalizer that always displays, it can play media from a library or a playlist, it handles large amounts of files with out freezing, it is fast, light on memory, has lyric plugins available, plays most files (free plugins are available for ones it can't), works with an iPod [though not a Zune :( ]and even uses multimedia keys if you have them. Both WinAmp and Windows Media Player have all of the same features that matter to me, so why do I not like Media Player?

I decided to switch over to Windows Media Player and see if there was any real reason that I never used it. I was getting it set up and when I went to play a song I realized what was wrong.

WinAmp shows you everything at a glance. You can see all of your music, the equalizer, the now playing information, a search box and even song lyrics if you have a lyric plugin installed.

With Windows Media Player, everything is divided into two main tabs. The Now Playing tab and the Library tab.

The Now Playing tab will show album art, the current playlist, various enhancements (I have the equalizer shown) and song lyrics if you have a lyric plugin installed.

The Library view in Windows Media Player displays all of your songs and a search box.

I believe that more people would use Windows Media Player if it had a more condensed interface like WinAmp has. Clicking back and forth between the Now Playing tab and the Library tab gets old rather fast if you are listening to music for a long period of time.  The easiest way to fix this problem would be to have the option of replacing the playlist pane in the Now Playing tab with a library pane, or by redesigning interface so you can see everything in one main tab or series of panes.

So, now that you're thinking about the layout and design of user interfaces for programs, are there any programs that you just love using because of the user interface? What about programs that you just hate because they are so clunky and awkward? Let us know what you think in the comments!

Read, think, learn, CaseyTech.