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Uhhhh...excuse me, when did it NOT have a single windows interface? At least on Windows going back as far as I can remember the thing it was a standard single windows with the file/edit/view style layout on top. Now if you want a "fancier" VLC you can always use Kantaris which is based on VLC and has more of a "One UI to rule them all" kinda thing going but I don't think I ever saw VLC with a Gimp style MDI.

Frankly while I liked some of the features when Firefox went bloaty so did Songbird naturally so I switched to Kantaris and since its based on VLC it is NOT bloaty. Its also FOSS so if anybody wants to code a Linux or Mac version feel free! Its really nice BTW, great UI and makes handling large media libraries quite friendly. I give it to all my customers still on XP (those on 7 like me are happy with the new WMP) and they are quite pleased.

TFA does show one of the nice things about FOSS though, if somebody cares about a piece of software and has the skills it can continue, even if the devs quit giving a shit. KDE 3, GNOME 2, still alive thanks to those that liked them over the new bling bling heavy versions. I'll probably get hate for asking this but WTF, what is it with Linux DEs lately? I thought Linux was supposed to be the LIGHT OS, now with KDE 4, Gnome Shell, and Unity it looks like you guys are trying to give MSFT a run in the "pointless bling bling bullshit" dept, what gives? At the rate things are going by gnome 4/KDE 5 you'll need a quad and GPU with 1Gb of RAM just to run the desktop. Geez if you want to rip something off of MSFT rip the jumplists or breadcrumbs, not the bloat.

Uhhh...why would you need to "configure" anything? I have to deal with end users all day, and if anything needs to be configured it is DOA. One of the nice things about VLC is it is pretty much "clicky clicky" although it still has some PITA quirks, hence the switching to Kantaris. And does SMPlayer have an easy to pop up EQ? For those of us with hearing problems having an easy pop up EQ can mean the difference between enjoying a show or not. But the screenshots look nice (had to Google, your link is broken) so if I can catch a break this week I'll give it a shot.

Meanwhile while a CLI junkie would probably hate it you might want to give Kantaris a shot. They have a portable version, and my users like the built in library and LastFM support, as well as the nicer UI. It runs quite well on a 1.0GHz P3 with 384Mb of RAM, thankfully the oldest machine I have to deal with anymore. The only nice thing about Intel bribing the OEMs is the market being flooded with late model XP P4s. It has allowed me to get even my most tightwad customers to finally let go of the real dinosaurs and upgrade to 2.6Ghz+ P4s, which is a hell of a lot nicer to deal with than those stone age P3 machines!

Having never used MPlayer I can only comment on VLC, but I've found VLC will pretty much play ANY AV file, from the truly rare and funky to the badly ripped, which is why it became popular with P2P. From what I understand it is also butt simple to code for, hence the emule part file plugin. And how is MPlayer on memeory usage or working with older OSes? Because IIRC VLC for the longest time supported Win9x, and will probably support WinXP long after it is EOL. Maybe it is because MPlayer just don't advertise? I frankly hadn't heard of it until you mentioned it, at least not for windows, as I always thought of it as a Linux app.

Personally I give my customers Klite Mega codec, which has Media Player Classic Home Cinema, and usually give them VLC as a backup player. If nothing else will play it VLC will, although lately I've been switching out VLC for Kantaris which is based on VLC but folks here seem to like the UI better. It also makes a great Media Center for those that don't have windows 7 and need a way to organize and listen to their MP3s.

I'd prefer Kantaris as it has the VLC core but a MUCH nicer UI IMHO)

I decided to take a look, but they immediately lost me with this line: Kantaris has a graphical user interface similar to that of Windows Media Player.

The problem is nobody uses Quicktime for actually playing media files (BTW on Windows I'd prefer Kantaris as it has the VLC core but a MUCH nicer UI IMHO) anymore but like Safari Windows users get stuck with it if they want to use their iStuff.

That is why I've told customers unless they want a really shitty experience if they want to play with iStuff they better be ready to shell out for a Mac. The Windows version has always been completely shitty, the red headed stepchild of Apple. Sure it'll work, but it is buggier, slower, and generally more crappy in every way than the native Mac version. Personally I'll stick with my Sandisk and if I wanted all the bling bling I'd get a Cowon and since funnily enough I prefer my phone to just make phone calls and actually like typing on a keyboard I don't think I'm in any danger of getting an iPhone or iPad (damn that is the WORST name, I still can't believe Steve came up with that.)

If you are on Windows and want a FOSS media player I would suggest Kantaris which is based on VLC (which means it doesn't use much memory-currently using 28Mb listening to LastFM- and will play just about everything) and has a much nicer interface than VLC IMHO when it comes to managing music.

Now if someone in the FLOSS community wants to convert it to Linux the source code is there to be had. While I don't know how hard converting C# code to Linux would be (not a programmer or Linux guy) considering VLC already runs on Linux then pretty much all that would need to be done is porting the interface. Considering how nice it plays as well as how little RAM it uses it might be worth doing for a Linux programmer as a side project. Since it has Windows and OSX ports all it needs is a Linux port to have the trifecta that Songbird used to have (although I agree it was baaaad slow) and would probably be a better player in the long run.

If you are on Windows and want a FOSS media player I would suggest Kantaris which is based on VLC (which means it doesn't use much memory-currently using 28Mb listening to LastFM- and will play just about everything) and has a much nicer interface than VLC IMHO when it comes to managing music.

Now if someone in the FLOSS community wants to convert it to Linux the source code is there to be had. While I don't know how hard converting C# code to Linux would be (not a programmer or Linux guy) considering VLC already runs on Linux then pretty much all that would need to be done is porting the interface. Considering how nice it plays as well as how little RAM it uses it might be worth doing for a Linux programmer as a side project. Since it has Windows and OSX ports all it needs is a Linux port to have the trifecta that Songbird used to have (although I agree it was baaaad slow) and would probably be a better player in the long run.