What are the top 5 front-ends I should try?

**NTurkey** · 10-02-2004, 11:21 PM

My hardware's all finally installed. But the computer doesn't have a front-end on it yet for MP3s, FM, etc... Before I start downloading a bunch of front-ends and trying them out myself, I'm curious what other people are using and why.

So ... What are you using? Why?

**gambit32** · 10-03-2004, 12:42 AM

FrodoPlayer...but where waiting on 1.09 to be released. I use it because it keeps getting better. To me it seemed a lot easier to configure. I gave Media Car a try but just liked FP better. Plus Frodo is pretty responsive to what we want/need in FP.

**frodobaggins** · 10-03-2004, 01:27 AM

You have to try them all and decide what works for you.
These kind of threads are only semi-useful.

Frodo

**RoyN** · 10-03-2004, 01:38 AM

I posted a thread just like this, and of course got similar replies to yours... let me try and help you a bit more...

Media Car - I have been leaning towards this... I like that it keeps Music and Videos separate. Skins arent so easy to find, you have to look in the forums but there is good stuff for it! A lot of users apparently, and a bunch of addons, are available (some arent made for it, but many users have incorporated different stuff into it, and can give hints on adapting)...

Media Engine - at first I thought it was the best... I thought it was open source so new releases would be constant... I also liked the website, with all the skins in one place, etc - Nonetheless, I was kinda disappointed... MP3 and Video is combined and is a bit cluttered IMO. It uses some weird older versions of stuff from what I could realize, and can be confusing to get working.

Neocar Media Center - Looks to be one of if not the most promising... However I havent been able to get it running... its in early stages...

FrodoPlayer - Looks nice, I liked some of the features I saw such as the video progress bar, and the "non-full screen" displaying of video (Kinda thumbnail but cool) (You can then switch to full screen but lose the controls... I understand this is gonna be improved in the new version)... On the negative side I didnt like the functionality of the menu... The menu isnt the center of the app, the ploayer is, I think the menu should be the portal to the rest of the functions, not the player and everything around that...

AutoTouch - installed but got an error and couldnt get it to run...

I think I looked at one or two more but cant remember right now...

At the moment (I'm still waiting for HW to arrive to get this all in place) I will prbably use Media Car + iGuidance + FrodoCam + FrodoPictures (FrontEnd, GPS, Reverse cam, Picture album)... If FrodoP1.09 impresses me I'll switch to that, and if I can get Neo to work and like it I'll use that instead...

I hope this helps cause I found this bunch of frontends and no comparison to be a pain when it came to choosing... I'm still not set on what I'm gonna use but we'll see....

**xBrady** · 10-03-2004, 01:58 AM

As frodo said: Depends on your tastes. Try them all.
Front End Opinions

**IntellaWorks** · 10-03-2004, 10:18 PM

I'm not a big fan of frodo player... It's interface is very intuitive and I think its complicated enough to cause an accident.

-Thats just my opin. though.

**strohj** · 10-03-2004, 11:19 PM

Autotouch has the best navigation built in.. (requires mappoint) ...

Media engine has THE best file browsing/searching i could ever imagine...

Mediacar is the best all around app

Those are all that I would recommend... If I could build in the browsing./searching of media engine and the navigation of autotouch into mediacar.. i would be set

**xBrady** · 10-03-2004, 11:27 PM

Originally Posted by strohj

Media engine has THE best file browsing/searching i could ever imagine...

Which other front ends did you try? It has been awhile since I tried Media engine but I thought Media engine had the one of the worst browsing/searching of them all. Have you tried FrodoPlayer or MMC?

**antimatter** · 10-03-2004, 11:30 PM

I used to use Media Car however I switched to frodoplayer becasue of the inactivity of the media car project.

Since then i have gotten used to the lack of menu coolness and the non embedding of apps (it only has mini mode).

It turns out frodoplayer is very stable and fast (media car lagged and crashed at times... Try opening up the mixer and see what I mean)

Try them and see what you like