Can someone summarize audio/video file format & Apps to run them

[rcommer]

I've downloaded files from Kazaa, iMesh and LimeWire. But it seems like Windows Media, Real Player, Creative Labs (Soundblaster) and WinAmp all compete to take over the file. Then often, the file quits working.

1) There are so many different files avi, mpg, mp3, wam, wmv, etc. What do these all mean and which is the best one? Can I somehow convert them to just a couple of formats?

2)Which player is best? I like WinAmp, but , Windows Media, Real Player, and Creative Player always end up on my machine anyway. I try to make none of them the default for any file type, but inevitably one becomes the default. Then preview no longer works when downloading files in Kazaa. And worse, some files quit working altogether.

[big_buick]

hi there, i believe there always has to be a default... not sure..

i cant preview on kazaa either...but i use kazaa lite, so i just thought it didnt have that capability...

there are programs to convert files to a different format, but i dont believe that to be a major concern... here is what i use

for .avi, mpg.mpeg, .asf. files i use windows media v 6.4 i go into options and formats and check all those off...

for .wmv i use media player 7 ... it's pretty speedy so if you like it better for any of the above formats you can use it..

for .mp3 i use winamp..

real player only for .rm files...

things to know are that on kazaa some files are bogus and just wont work...as well with media player , when playing movie files the correct codec/driver is needed...

basically thats my preferences they may not fit your needs...hope it helps a little

[muno]

WMP 6.4 for everything but realmedia. (might I add, I don't have real player).
-M

[OuTpaTienT]

Me too. WMP 6.4 for everything (including WMV/ASF) but it can't play .RM/.RAM files. As for the Real Media files, if they are worth keeping then I convert them to AVI.

[VERT]

Originally posted by muno
WMP 6.4 for everything but realmedia. (might I add, I don't have real player).
-M

or my alternate is ZoomPlayer 2.71

[Inibrius]

Has anybody tried WinAmp3? It seems to play everything but DVD - quicktime, realplayer, WMV, AVI, MPEG, etc.