Calling all digital audio nuts: I need some help with OGG Vorbis love.

[Zoatebix]

So the idea of an open-source audio format really jived (jibed?) with me, but I'm still struggling with finding good software support. I downloaded and installed JetAudio because of the glowing review on CNET's download.com, but the library management, playlist management, and even something as simple as random playback leave a lot to be desired.

I have pretty diverse tastes in end-user software and, form what I can tell, I'm wiling to pyscho-analyze software more than most other people, but having to hit "next track" two or three times to get JetAudio's random play to go to a different track was really the last straw.

I really like iTunes and I love MusicMatch's library and super-tagging (or whatever it's called) and mass-file-renmaing function, but I got fed up paying MusicMatch 20 bucks once a year or so when their automatic software update found the brand-spankin-new version. Unfortunately, it seems that neither has official support for the ogg (or for the FLAC, which also intrigues me). I did stumble upon this, though: http://members.optusnet.com.au/lbramsay/misc/itunes-ogg.html

So anyways, should I just find a good OGG encoder plugin for WinAmp? Are there any good all-in-one audio solutions out there that I missed? Should I just install a bunch of specialized utilities?

Help me, EN Wolrd Kenobi, you're my only hope!
-George

 

[Allanon]

I'd personally go with specialised utilities but that's my personal preference. I use winamp for my audio listing and Tag&Rename for Tag management. Once in a while I let iTunes run to order my library in their own directories on my HD and re-lable the files (although the iTunes ordering only works for my mp3's).

This system has made me happy for quite a while now. Tag&Rename does cost money though but so did MusicMatch and Tag&Rename pretty much does everything that MusicMatch does (Although MM's Super-Tagging is better than T&G's).

--
signed OB1

EDIT: btw, Tag&Rename supports OGG so that's a plus.

 

[Zoatebix]

Thanks! I'll definately look into Tag&Rename.

Also - has anyone heard anything about this piece of software http://www.mediamonkey.com/?

 

[Zoatebix]

Here's an update: I'm really liking Media Monkey. It comes with it's own audio player, but it is also design to use Winamp as it's player. It's ripping and encoding features are great and its library management, while not as good as MusicMatch, is still pretty good.

I've also had XMMS recommended to me, but I haven't looked into it. I think it will have to wait until I get my linux partition set up.