WinMX vs. WinAmp -- IT AIN'T PRETTY

[the SASS Man]

One problem I've noticed that may be important to resolve very quickly in the new release will be the conflict between WinMX and WinAMP, NullSoft's popular .MP3 player.

Of course, it IS very popular, and that's because it is also the BEST, and in my humble opinion, (Yes, I wrote it out...) the ONLY .MP3 application worth having. WinMX, in fact, is designed to take advantage of WinAMP with it's "Enqueue" option on the right-click menu--a feature that is not supported by any other player.

Yet, because of the way both applications allocate resources--in this incarnation, WinMX version 3.22, and WinAMP version 8.1--I cannot seem to run both applications during the same operating session without crashing this computer!!! I am able to run either app alone without incident, and I usually can run WinAMP once WinMX has exited. But once I have run WinAMP, whether concrrantly with WinMX (as it's expected to do), or prior to running WinMX (and then exiting WinAMP first), I will have corrupted SOMETHING in memory. This is sufficient to cause either WinMX or WinAMP to freeze, cause Explorer to crash, and/or cause the computer to lock up...and it is only a matter of time until they do. And usually, once WinAMP has left a footprint on the memory that WinMX loads into, the computer will no longer shut down normlly.

I have been testing this theory with many different configurtions of applications and utilities, and I am continuing to the conclusion that it is WinAMP and WinMX that are causing the problem. So long as I re-start the computer before running the other app, my system seems stable. Once I run WinAMP while WinMX is in memory, or run WinMX after WinAMP exits, my stability deteriorates rather rapidly.

It is my hope that those who design BOTH applications will look further into this situation, and try to resolve these conflicts so that future versions of THE BEST file-sharing program will work properly with future versions of THE BEST MP3 player.

Thanks again for your support.

[Rickio]

you might add some more memory and see what happens.
I have had such problems but there are usually more than one way to fix it.
More memory or use applications which use less resources. There are a few mp3 players which are useful as they are small and efficient. Try coolplayer or 1by1, you might like them. I am sure you can find them with a search on the web via google or yahoo.

[johoja]

um there is no winamp 8.1 and i think it can enque is because it excutes winamp.exe with the following extra line /add (song)

[backmann]

Errr.... I'm running both of them right now... +IE +OE +MSN messenger +ZA +ICQ +NAV +some resident programs...

Ivan
"In the dark we make a brighter light"

[PatientSaint]

I've ran both with no problems for a while and i really like both of the appilcations. hehe if u like the visualizations get Tripex3. that is one great visualiztion prog. I dunno about why they both crash your puter tho :S I jsut added some memory last night so i'm doing even better and i do agree with you i think winamp is the best player out there.

[the SASS Man]

I will attempt to reply to each of you in single post...hopefully, i understand the quoting mechanism enough to make it work.

At 4:58 AM PST, Rickio wrote:
you might add some more memory and see what happens.
I have had such problems but there are usually more than one way to fix it.
More memory or use applications which use less resources. There are a few mp3 players which are useful as they are small and efficient. Try coolplayer or 1by1, you might like them. I am sure you can find them with a search on the web via google or yahoo.
Anything is worth a try. I don't believe adding memory will make much difference...I do have 128 MB installed, but I may try doubling that to 256 MB. Also, I have been trying to remove other programs which load automatically in order to free resources.

Unfortunately, one of the main contenders for system resources is Norton Systemworks, a very critical application that I use on every one of my PCs. This has saved my bacon many times, so, unfortunately, if Norton is the source of my problem, it will be WinMX that will have to go....

As for the player, WinAmp is itself very small. I do not know if WiAmp uses many resources, but being a multimedia application, it must. Of course, skinning and visualization technology are also resource hogs, (which is why I rarely use visualizations), but I wouldn't think they were that extreme.



at 6:28 AM PST, johoja wrote:
um there is no winamp 8.1 ...
Hmmmm....you are right. It seems I AM using WinAMP 8.0. I guess I am just ahead of my time! <Grin!>



at 9:24 AM PS, backmann wrote:
Errr.... I'm running both of them right now... +IE +OE +MSN messenger +ZA +ICQ +NAV +some resident programs...
at 11:20 AM PST, PatientSaint wrote:
I've ran both with no problems for a while ...
Hmmmmm.... I will look into the matter further. Perhaps I can yet persuade WinMX and WinAMP to get along.....



Thank you everyone for the hints, tips, and the correction....I'll let the group know of my progress.

[jabba|xtra]

Hmmmm....you are right. It seems I AM using WinAMP 8.0. I guess I am just ahead of my time! <Grin!>

You're still ahead of your time i think. The current version is 2.80. not 8.0, unless you use the beta for 3.0.

[neoufo51]

Winamp version 8??? WTF??? Sure you arent talking about Media Jukebox 8??? You should take a screencap of your desktop to show us what the heck you're talking about...

[PatientSaint]

I was thinking maybe an older version of winamp would work better if u like i know a site where u can get an older version of it maybe that will help out some?

[the SASS Man]

I won't quote all the responses, except, of course, to say that I feel like an IDIOT....you are right, of course. I meant to put the decimal point over one...that is, .80, as in WinAMP 2.80.

Not that WinAmp 8.0 wouldn't be cool....I just haven't traveled time to pick up a copy yet.....

As for the older versions of WinAMP, I've kept a few of the previous versions in my archives...I may have to install one. But then, I'll miss out on that excellent Artist/Album Title lookup feature that has been added to WinAMP's Minibrowser. Alas!

Oh, well.......



Hey, check out my version of this really cool quote!

When there is a way, there is a will: That which can be read...can be copied, or changed, or modified, or enhanced.

It's not much different than the origional, I suppose; but it has a more poetic sound...more like that spoken by a Shakesphere, or a Franklin, or...

...or a SASS....!
:cross

[jabba|xtra]

You say you want an older version of winamp? I'll give you one, how about version .2, not a typo, .2

Maybe thats a little bit too old, since i cant get it to work and it has almost no interface, but here it is.(link (http://www.oldversion.com/files/winamp020.exe))

I found this stuff at http://www.oldversion.com
Theres tons of other old software stuff there too, like winmx 2.1
(and no im not advertising or anything, i just thought it was cool, thats all.)

[eclectica]

http://www.napsterites.org/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2099

[Lamourlady]

hahahahahah.
well, look who's here, eh?
hi, eclectica!
i see you've been on the hunt for an answer, as well.
to SASSman, i have recently experienced the same problem u mention, concerning WinMX vs. WinAmp.
but i only experienced this problem, when i upgraded to version 2.8 WinAmp.
i never had this problem with the older version.
and the havoc it is playing with my computer is beyond belief.
so some friends have helped me through this.
i have uninstalled the app, along with all registry keys.
(unfortunately this took my older version, doh!)
even with downloading again, the winamp, only, froze up, but caused everything else to slowwwwwww down.
unlike you, i would get rid of the winamp, before WinMX, but that's just me.
have you had any new ideas or luck with these two giants?

[henkjanj]

Winamp old versions are in heaven, of course...

http://www27.brinkster.com/winampheaven/

Enjoy, and if you ever need to know why you can't make wav's from wma's any more using winamp, and what old version you need in order to be able to do just that again, just mail me. (Although, I'm sure I have it somewhere here, but where????)

Greetzzz,
HJ

[Lamourlady]

Originally posted by henkjanj
Winamp old versions are in heaven, of course...

http://www27.brinkster.com/winampheaven/

Enjoy, and if you ever need to know why you can't make wav's from wma's any more using winamp, and what old version you need in order to be able to do just that again, just mail me. (Although, I'm sure I have it somewhere here, but where????)

Greetzzz,
HJ

greetzzz right back at you.
i see that the "winamp heaven" is for the latest 2.8 version.
i believe it was 2.6.
but i'm not worried about converting wmas.
i just want it to work.
thanks but i went to http://www.oldversion.com/ and got 2.6 and will see how it handles.

[Lamourlady]

hi, all.
guess what i'm doing.
i'm listening to my winamp, whilst downloading one song and have one song uploading, all while i write you this post.
i'm feeling quite wonderful.
now i forgot to mention in my above posts, that i am still running WinMX 2.6 version.
i have now re-installed version 2.6 WinAmp.
i do have the Free Ram XP Pro 1.11 installed, recommended by a friend with the same thoughts about adding more memory, but i have not used it.
and have resulted in success.
all is as it should be.
i now say, if it works, why change it.
but dummy me thought i was missing something, by upgrading.
tell me what u think.
thanks for all the links and thoughts on this topic.
i hope my success may help u, although the bugs should continue to be investigated.
still await any news, SASSman.

jabba|xtra...thank you, thank you for that link to the older version of winamp!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[the SASS Man]

Originally posted by Lamourlady
hahahahahah.
well, look who's here, eh?
hi, eclectica!
i see you've been on the hunt for an answer, as well.
to SASSman, i have recently experienced the same problem u mention, concerning WinMX vs. WinAmp.
but i only experienced this problem, when i upgraded to version 2.8 WinAmp.
i never had this problem with the older version.
and the havoc it is playing with my computer is beyond belief.
so some friends have helped me through this.
i have uninstalled the app, along with all registry keys.
(unfortunately this took my older version, doh!)
even with downloading again, the winamp, only, froze up, but caused everything else to slowwwwwww down.
unlike you, i would get rid of the winamp, before WinMX, but that's just me.
have you had any new ideas or luck with these two giants?
Concerning my sccess in battling WinMX and WinAMP, I have found no joy in working out the differences. I have un-installed, and re-installed WinAMP, have re-installed, (but not un-installed) WinMX. I will soon be installing an old copy of WinAMP ver. 2.79 to see if that will work better. Unfortunately, I am currently stuck with some partially downloaded files, so uninstalling WinMX is not an opion at this time.

Fortunately, I have a few of my old copies of WinAMP on my other computer; but I will miss one of the great features of WinAMP 2.80: The ability of WinAMP's Minibrowser to pull up iformation about the song and album currently playing in memory, which is not implemented in version 2.79.

"Freedom...the Price of Progress."

I have no idea who said that one....

[the SASS Man]

Originally posted by the SASS Man

Concerning my sccess in battling WinMX and WinAMP, I have found no joy in working out the differences....

Much Meaningful Text Deleted

Fortunately, I have a few of my old copies of WinAMP on my other computer....
UPDATE!!! I have successfully uninstalled version 2.80 of WinAMP and installed version 2.79, which is the last version I had installed o the other box.....

SUCCESS!

In fact, I uninstalled 4.80 and installed 2.79...WHILE WinMX was running...and I have now had BOTH applications running concurrently in memory for over 24 hours! I have enqueued files in WinAMP from within WinMX...I have launched files from Explorer...and I have exited and re-loaded WinAMP several times without conflicts. I have not exited WinMX yet, as I have a download that (based on the current DL speed may take several more DAYS at .16-.50 kilobytes per second; but given my previous track record, I should have crashed WinMX 3-5 times, crashed Explorer 2-3 times, crashed WinAMP at least half a dozen times, and locked up the computer completely at least once!

Also, I've found that the artist/album lookup feature is fully implemented in 2.79. Strange that it doesn't work on my other machine. No matter, even my plug-ins, (which I DIDN'Tuninstall) are right where they're supposed to be in the earlier version. Also, version 2.79 gets rid of a nasty pause that sometimes occurred with winAMP when accessing files over my network--this would often plague me whether I had used WinMX or not!

So...So far.....

...So good.....

[Lamourlady]

Awesome news, SASS Man!!!!!!!
glad u r back on track and have even been pleasantly surprised!
so we get to keep both, our winamps and WinMX.

[henkjanj]

No, Lamourlady,
If I may correct you? ALL OLD VERSIONS of Winamp (hundreds I guess, all lite, full, etc) are in heaven. So if you need anything, visit

http://www27.brinkster.com/winampheaven/
and go to one of the mirrors, and go to the old versions.

Greetzzz again,
HJ

[Lamourlady]

Originally posted by henkjanj
No, Lamourlady,
If I may correct you? ALL OLD VERSIONS of Winamp (hundreds I guess, all lite, full, etc) are in heaven. So if you need anything, visit

http://www27.brinkster.com/winampheaven/
and go to one of the mirrors, and go to the old versions.

Greetzzz again,
HJ

i am not understanding.
??????????
i did go to that link an got the older version.
i just went there again and it is different, now????
maybe i misunderstand u, dear henkjanj.
greetzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

[Lamourlady]

Originally posted by henkjanj
No, Lamourlady,
If I may correct you? ALL OLD VERSIONS of Winamp (hundreds I guess, all lite, full, etc) are in heaven. So if you need anything, visit

http://www27.brinkster.com/winampheaven/
and go to one of the mirrors, and go to the old versions.

Greetzzz again,
HJ

i am not understanding.
??????????
i did go to that other link and got the older version.
i just went there again and it is different, now????
maybe i misunderstand u, dear henkjanj.
when i saw that they listed only 2.8, that's when i went to the other site and got 2.6
greetzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

[henkjanj]

sorry, forgot to reply to you.

Well, you're basically doing all right with version 2.6 of Winamp, so why bother...

But winampheaven really has all the old winamp version. ALL OF THEM.
Just 2 clicks more than where you went. After you come to the 2.8 downloadpage in winampheaven, click "old versions" in the bottom frame of the screen and then click "Winamp 2.0 >".

Good thing is you can choose between lite, standard and full versions of all old versions as well.

Good luck.

[Lamourlady]

this is okay, henkjanj!
thanks for more details on the site.
now i know there is more than 2.8

rock on!