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XMPlay

CNET Editors' review

XMPlay is a basic media player that allows users to play audio in a variety of formats. Although it works well enough, some aspects of the design could stand to be improved, as could the creators' attitude.

XMPlay's interface isn't awful, although its compact design also means small buttons and sliders, which can be a bit tedious to use. Because the program generally follows the usual conventions of media player design, it's fairly easy to figure out, especially with mouse-over tooltips that provide labels for each button. Still, we couldn't help but feel annoyed when the program's welcome message suggested that users "RTFM," snarky Internet shorthand for "read the f***ing manual." We were even more annoyed when we did RTFM and found a long, hard-to-navigate text file that didn't even address all of the basic features that are present on the program's interface. The creators of XMPlay certainly don't get points for user-friendliness. Still, the program works well, playing a variety of audio formats, including streaming media. XMPlay comes with a variety of controls that aren't always found in media players, including an equalizer and adjustments for balance and reverb. Overall, we thought XMPlay was decent, but there's definitely room for improvement where the interface is concerned.

XMPlay is free. The program comes as a ZIP file and is accessible after extraction with no need for installation. We recommend this program with reservations; it works fine, but it's definitely not the most accessible media player we've ever seen.

Publisher's Description

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All User Reviews

Results 1-10 of 99

  • 5.0 stars

    "Nice little audio player."

    December 19, 2011  |   By robertsaint

    Version: XMPlay 3.6

    Pros

    Everything I needed. The "NNP" skin is clean and simple.

    Cons

    No negatives.

    Summary

    Recommend this software to everyone.

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  • 5.0 stars

    "Simple, easy to use player"

    June 28, 2011  |   By horroroso

    Version: XMPlay 3.6

    Pros

    Simple, easy to use, no installation required. Portable.
    Sound is good and plays lots of formats.
    Can convert between formats.

    Cons

    The interface is relatively obscure.

    Summary

    I am a fan of this player for its versatility and ease of use. No installation required is a plus to carry it in a pen drive.

    Reply to this review

    Was this review helpful? (1) (0)

  • 5.0 stars

    "THE BEST XM MUSIC PLAYER AROUND"

    July 29, 2010  |   By onovell

    Version: XMPlay 3.5.1

    Pros

    I know XM format music is originally a DOS format, but for those of us that still have some XM tunes on our PCs this is a GREAT FIND. I very good looking and function XM music player that simple to use and brings those XM tunes back to life. THANKS

    Cons

    NONE, I am very pleased with this player.

    Summary

    THE PLAYER IS OUTSTANDING. All I ask is, PLEASE someone out there remember how great the XM format is and continue to make new XM tunes, new XM Recording Software, and an XM to MP3 Converter.

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  • 5.0 stars

    "XMPlay is an audio player king"

    July 3, 2010  |   By peter_polan

    Version: XMPlay 3.5.1

    Pros

    XMPlay is an audio player king,because his voice is fantastic and the best,sound character:clear,wide,dynamic,not shrill,not harsh.required setting 32bit/96khz,reverb,equalizer,
    I've tried more than 30 popular audio player,but no sound as good as.

    Cons

    less elegant appearance

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  • 5.0 stars

    "Simply the best audio player out there"

    February 3, 2010  |   By pablo_toro

    Version: XMPlay 3.5

    Pros

    it's small, great sound and it's free... what else can you ask for????

    Cons

    absolutely nothing

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  • 5.0 stars

    "Great player, tiny foot print."

    February 2, 2010  |   By ShadowGryphon

    Version: XMPlay 3.5

    Pros

    easy to use, small resource foot print, uses winamp plugins.

    Cons

    DSPs and Vis plugins can be tempermental at times.

    Summary

    If you remember a time when Winamp was the mp3 juke box/player/organizer to have then you'll like xmplay.
    Granted it doesn't support video playback, but it doesn't need to either when you consider that the mp3 playback is as clean and strong as anything out there.
    the best part is, it's free and it competes with in not beats many of the paid players out there.

    Reply to this review

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  • 5.0 stars

    "Excelent, it's really small and it have EVERYTHING"

    December 30, 2009  |   By Zequez

    Version: XMPlay 3.1

    Pros

    Small
    Low system requirments
    More options that most players
    Very customizable

    Cons

    It's a little confusing at the first time, but what player isn't?

    Summary

    I love it, it can replace tottaly the Windows Media, Winamp and any other player. And in combination with VLC you have a kickass team =D

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  • 5.0 stars

    "Good player"

    December 15, 2008  |   By ObservingEye

    Version: XMPlay 3.4.2

    Pros

    Low memory, and processor usage. Lots of plug-ins & skins. Plug-ins give this light player lots of functionality. There is plug-ins that allow you to play from within archives such as ZIP, or RAR, and more. Good sound. Can stream music online.

    Cons

    Skins change the whole look of XMPlay radically to a point it seems like you have a totally different player altogether. It doesn't have extensive library organization like other music players such as Media Monkey.

    Summary

    If you are simply looking to play music then you might be happy enough with this player. With the help of plug-ins you can extend the usability by playing other types of music files other than MP3. The program also starts very fast, and doesn't take ages to load like other bloated media, or music players with little memory, and processor footprint. I never seen a music player like quite like XMPlay, and I been using it for a long time. I also like to stream music online with it. It doesn't have library organization like other full featured media players, but it does do other things better, or have functions that other players simply don't have such as playing music from within archives. It can make a good niche music player even if it's not your default program for playing music.

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  • 5.0 stars

    "Lowest memory & CPU usage"

    December 2, 2008  |   By annonymos123

    Version: XMPlay 3.4.2

    Pros

    Lowest memory (~2 MB) & CPU usage, you won't even notice that it's running.
    Decent Library
    Great sound quality, Auto-Amplifier and Equalizer just like Winamp's
    DSP plugins support
    Lots of skins
    Small Size (~300 KB)

    Cons

    Base skin not very cool

    Summary

    If you need a music player that does pretty much everything a music player needs to do and you need to keep your memory and CPU free for your other tasks you have to get XMPlay, now I can play Far Cry 2 and listen to my favorite songs

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  • 1.0 stars

    "Bad Sound"

    June 1, 2008  |   By rkmarler

    Version: XMPlay 3.3.0.4

    Cons

    Sound quality was awful.

    Reply to this review

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Results 1-10 of 99

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XMPlay