Scan & Fix 50 registry issues FREECNET Editors' review
For the most part, media players don't impress us; we've seen a ton of them, and few of them offer much in the way of advantages over ubiquitous programs like Windows Media Player. Every now and then, however, we come across one we really like. Spider Player is a sleek, full-featured audio player that allows users to perform a variety of tasks with their audio files. We were quite impressed with both the variety of the program's features and its attractive design.
The program's interface is nice to look at, with a color scheme that is predominantly gray with blue and orange accents. The application operates much as any other media player does. Users can open individual audio files or directories and create playlists with their songs. A built-in equalizer makes it easy to customize playback, and the program also supports streaming online radio. Spider Player does much more than just play audio files, however. The program also allows users rip tracks from CDs and to convert audio files between a handful of formats. We've seen many programs that contain one or two of these features--Download.com is, in fact, overflowing with audio converters--but we're not sure we've seen a program that contains such a useful, well-organized collection of audio utilities. We appreciated that Spider Player wasn't bloated with useless options that serve no purpose except to confuse the user. The program's online Help file was adequate. Overall, we found Spider Player to be both aesthetically pleasing and practical--a combination we don't often run across.
Spider Player is free. The program installs and uninstalls without issues. We recommend this program to all users.
Publisher's Description
From VIT Software:
Spider Player is a skinnable audio player with full support for all major audio formats: MP3, AAC, WMA, OGG, FLAC and others. Its most interesting features include audio streaming, integration with Shoutcast and Icecast radio directories, lossless Internet radio recording, advanced CD Ripping and Converting capabilities, FreeDB integration, 32-sound processing for crystal-clear sound, customizable local and global hotkeys and crossfading support. Spider Player is small and blazingly fast, and uses very few system resources.
What's new in this version: Version 2.5.3 has fixed converting feature preview which didn't work in the FREE version of Spider Player.
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All versions:
4.0 starsout of 49 votes
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Current version:
4.2 starsout of 16 votes
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My rating:
Write review
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"Fantastic AND Pro-Version is now FREE!"
Version: Spider Player 2.5.3
Pros
The Pro version (worth $19.95) is now FREE! It has a nice UI. The Graphic Equalizers values are shown for easier use. The sound is excellent. It's easy to use; so far I have made a few playlist's and the speech audio is fantastic too. It supports an abundance of audio formats not just Mp3. Able to hide the Graphic Eq and the playlist so just a small player remains.
Cons
The reason the Pro version is now Free is because the Developer has stopped working on the player so therefore there will be no further updates. There are sadly only 2 Skins options now. The Radio feature is limited to 1 and then you need an account for that site.
Summary
On the whole, it is a great little player with impeccable sound and ease of use. Having the free upgrade is a bonus. There is another player very similar in design and the Spider Player rivals it. I do recommend it but there are other features that may or may not be there (because of the discontinued upgrading)but I cannot comment as I haven't looked for them. For a simple, high sound quality audio player, then I do recommend it.
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"Good, but for one glaring omission"
Version: Spider Player 2.5.3
Pros
Clean interface, easy to add and remove files/folders and create playlists, all Pro features are now free
Cons
Pro features are free because development has stopped, there is no "Sort by Track Number" option, the interface is clean partly because the playlist will only show the title and duration
Summary
Development has stopped, so the point is probably moot, but... I used to love Quintessential Player, which doesn't work with Windows 7 Pro and either stopped or stalled development in 2009. I thought I'd found something comparable in Spider Player. It doesn't have the extensive tag editing capabilities of QP, but I'd long since downloaded a batch tag processor. I was ready to start using it today when I realized I can't sort by track number - I can't even view the track numbers unless I look at Properties. Maybe I'm missing something, but I looked through all the options and found nothing, even though the tag editing window does allow for editing of the track number. It's still a good player if you want to shuffle or sort alphabetically, and it's lightweight so I may use it for writing closed caption files for videos, but I cannot imagine why anyone would create a player without this sort option. My search for a Quint replacement continues.
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"Awesume Audio Player"
Version: Spider Player 2.5.3
Pros
After spending a few months trying to get my itunes program to work i finally gave up and started looking my another audio player.So far I have had no issues running this program.
Cons
Does not play or stream video other than that no issues
Summary
If you are looking for an alternative from itunes i would download this program.
I am also considering cancelling my sirius subscription as I have found another way to listen to music over the internet which for the most part is 99% commercial free.Most of all of the available genres are there as well.Would highly recommend this program to anyone. -
"Great music player"
Version: Spider Player 2.5.3
Pros
Very user friendly,the sound is top notch ,lots of skins to play with.
Cons
None if you just want a simple music player.
Summary
Simple and easy to use with a great sound that puts others to shame
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"Superior Audio"
Version: Spider Player 2.5.3
Pros
Audio crisp, clean and unparalleled.
Cons
Could use better (updated) skins.
Summary
Have used most Players out there and this product has proven to be the best.
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"Looks nice"
Version: Spider Player 2.5.3
Pros
clean interface
Cons
lyrics doesn't seem to work, and no option to manually search for lyrics or supply own lyrics.
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"Quality Program"
Version: Spider Player 2.5.3
Pros
Clear and easy to use, excellent sound quality, skinable
Cons
Froze on Windows 7 once
Summary
Love it
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"Excellent Audio player not media player"
Version: Spider Player 2.5.3
Pros
Nice Interface design, ripper, converter, audio streaming, ease of use, and clarity of sound undeniable.
Cons
Recording of stations it says click into one single track don't split into one track. and did not click I've notice at the end of the track song there is a glitch or the first intro of the next track.
Summary
If the software maker update a new version there is an improvement in recording station (single or split type). Unfortunately the maker stop updating the software and another thing when you say media player it can play dvd, avi, mp4 movies. Anyway I love this player.
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"It's not bad"
Version: Spider Player 2.5.3
Pros
Good looking skin
Other features like internet radio recording might be helpful to someCons
Sound reproduction suspect
Doesn't play some files eg wmv, rm,
Terrible nameSummary
My needs were simple. I wanted to play an FLAC file of mine on a friend's computer. It played on mine by just associating FLAC with my Windows Media Player. I was surprised that FLAC wasn't in the list of files that his WMP (ver. 11 in Vista) would associate with. My setup is the same.
I downloaded Spider Player (revolting name) just to play the FLAC file and it did that in a skin with attractive features.
I went back to my computer to see why I had no trouble playing FLAC files. I found that I had previously downloaded K-Lite mega codecs and the codecs that come in that package can be accessed by WMP.
Spider Player is primarily an audio player. I use Real, WMP and Adobe Media Player to play all my media files except still images. I checked Spider Player to compare the quality of sound playback with WMP and Real with some pure 1000 Hz tones recorded as .wav, .ogg and .mid files. Real and WMP played them as pure tones but Spider Player had high frequency overtones. Spider won't play .mid files.
The conversion programs are on the pro version.
One can't be too critical of something free but I will not be upgrading to the pro version. -
"" Amazing media player""
Version: Spider Player 2.5.3
Pros
It does what it says. Sleek design interface, player, cd ripping, converter, fast conversion, very small mb, it's easy to use, quality of sound, and it's free.
Cons
nothing to say.
Summary
Try using it. You will enjoy your music wether its, drum and bass, rnb, hiphop, metal, rock, alternative, new wave, pop, chilled, jazz, bossa nova, indie, lovesong, and classical.
