Best Media Players for Mac
The Internet forum is flooded with all kinds of help and info about PC and LINUX, but it’s really astonishing to find that there are only a very few sites that really do think about Apple Macintosh. May be it is just because it has got all it takes to be a perfect operating system. The built in apps and programs are no doubt stable and do work properly but it’s our mortal human nature to customize everything to suit our needs. The embedded media player (though it works fine), does lack some features and sometimes one specifically admires his own way of the media player working with custom buttons and features which he/she uses more frequently.
So for all the MAC users, here is a list of adaptive and brilliant media players which can add the ease of functionality to your System and will evidently work flawlessly in every version of your Mac OS.
Top 15 Media Players For Mac OS
VLC MEDIA PLAYER
It would be unwise to start the listing without taking this player as Number 1 in our list. This player has been in development for the last 15 years and has come way ahead of other media players as its competitors. You would be surprised to know that it was a student project when it was first started and now it is the least bugged and error free media player available in the market today. The look and feel is sober and the code support is brilliant as compared to other media players. The best part is that it is Open source and is free for redistribution and usage.
The functions are at the fingertips and all features are very handy and easy to navigate. One just needs to download install and catch the fun. The updates are easily customizable and you can set them as “Automatic” or “Manual”.
You can download the latest version from the official website or you can directly follow this link:
MPLAYER X
It is rightly said that the Number 2 works harder than any other to be at the top. This player has been in headlines for many a times and the rendering capacity of the image is much better than any other media players available. The player has got some very beautiful adjustment settings to provide customizable video viewing experience.
The on play handling of the seek bar is magnificent and the movie buffering is fast enough to be felt. The volume adjustments are good and this surely can be a good add on media player for your Mac OSX system. This player is advisable for users with addiction to high end video prints rendering.
You can download the player from the official website or you can directly grab it from the official Mac App Store.
MOVIST
Coming down to number three on our list is the niche Movist player. Like it’s said, every player has a unique feature which urges our want for the difference. This player has too got some of the very exciting features bundled with it. My personal favorite being the seek bar and the high quality caption feature.
This player can be downloaded from the Google code page here, which can be a bit of headache for normal user; you can get it easily from here.
PERIAN
The up side is the ichat feature and the downside is that, it’s not available in the latest stable release. The ichat feature is the real eye candy which makes this player one of the best in social networking section.
The latest version has the highest downgrade recorded as of any other previous versions released. This open source quick time component could have been the best mix up of music and chat but the latest version seems to have neglected this fact which might be the major reason for its downfall. Still if we keep the ichat feature aside and compare this to other available version, it is undoubtedly way above them and should be placed in Number 4 on our list.
Codec Support: AVI, FLV, MKV, MS-MPEG4 v1 & v2, DivX, 3ivX, H.264, FLV1, FSV1, VP6, H263I, VP3, HuffYUV, FFVHuff, MPEG1 & MPEG2 Video, Fraps, Windows Media Audio v1 & v2, Flash ADPCM, Xiph Vorbis (in Matroska), MPEG Layer II Audio AVI support for: AAC, AC3 Audio, H.264, MPEG4, and VBR MP3 Subtitle support for SSA and SRT
You can download this player from this official link.
DIVX 7 PLAYER
Well, we all have used this player one day or the other during our life time over the offline playing of the downloaded internet video files from you tube or my favorite “Stage6”. I personally feel that stage6 was one of the most highly acclaimed website, right from the day it was born to the day it was taken down. They provide the best of AVI and MKV video versions over the net. So now coming back to our listing; this player has support for all the standard codec and plays flawlessly any file without creating any problems ever. The best part is the pixel rendering n the HD videos that will take your breath away. These are not just something which can be described in a paragraph or something; See it to believe it.
The look and feel is very classy and the in hand functions available can be easily customized to be added or removed from the video panel. The not so good part is that its not 100 percent free. There are two versions available. One is free which is the basic player, but has almost everything for all the average users who watches videos (Normal or HD or any other High resolution format). The other one is the Pro version which has some very good functionality and support added to the basic player. It’s your choice to decide which one suits you better.
You can download the free version from the official website or you can use this direct link.
CORE AVC
This decoder has been awarded the sixth position in our selection list and it rightly appeals to the order. Do not confuse this with the player as there is no registered player in this name (I am sure for the MAC, but there are different builds for mobile phones) and if you have been duped from any third party sites ask for a refund. You can have the decoder from the official website at a certain price and for all who have been worrying about the AAC codec; it is now available as well.
Here is the link to the official website.
MPlayer OSX Extended
As the name suggests this version is an extended application of the MPlayer X mentioned above. The best part of the rendering is that it promises a “No Frill” environment. The other HD player seems to have this problem as a common bug in general but this player has surely beaten all of them in the field of HD movies and Songs. Though this version is also an open source, it is being developed separately and is distributed under different name. This build is targeted in replacing the Mplayer version by the end on this year. So let’s hope it has all the features embedded as well before it does so.
You can download this player from the official website or here is the direct link.
VOX
Though we have ranked it in the 7th place this player sure do challenges the other competitors mentioned above, in terms of style and added sound settings. This player has a den of custom equalizers and very high profile specific tuning settings which makes it the most loved player in the music lover’s field. The music industry does have to say that this player is definitely that they look up to when they think of luring the MAC OS users.
Did I forget to mention that it is just a media player with no support for video? That is the greatest drawback for which we decided to put it in number 7. But this sure does not take the charm away for the iTunes support it provides, which is very easy to use and experiment with.
You can download the player from the official website or you can follow this direct link.
COG
Our number 8 player is definitely not a video player but is undoubtedly a very good audio player for the MAC. This player has support for mp3 as well and can read Unicode tags as well. The main advantage of this player from the others is that it has come a long way up since its last released six versions. It is the most stable version with little or Zero bugs in the player, which is what many users would appreciate about.
You can download this player from the official website or you can follow this direct link.
AUDION X
The number 9 player on our list is Audion X player which efficiently manages all audio files in our MAC. This player can make your listing and classification of audio system files very handy and easy to search. It can efficiently manage your iPod and network streams as well. It can also be used for trimming and editing parts of your audio file. Guess this solves your need for mp3 cutter problem now.
You can download the file directly from the official website or else you can follow this direct link.
SONGBIRD
Our Number 10 MAC app is sure to capture the hearts of users who are always on the go. This player can be embedded to mobile devices and can be used to watch videos and stream them online as well. Internet Radio is also an added charm to this player and it can be used for the complete inter transfer of settings in between devices of the same user. One need not change the settings and apply them each time to different devices. One setting will work for every interconnected device.
You can download this file from the official page or you can follow this direct link.
So after we have listed our top 10 players there are other players as well which can be recommended for Mac users. Some worth mentioning Media players of Mixed fields are:
PLEX
This player acts as a catalyst between our Macintosh machine and our Home theatre system. The effective strength lies in its file management which displays as a library and can be one of the best available file management programs in its class. It can connect to internet and easily read the Meta data to display the library inside its visually stunning skin. It also supports third party codec and modules to be incorporated with the main program which is really a helping touch to the odd media file support.
You can download it or have a view with this direct link here.
BLACKOUT MEDIA
As simple as notebook and as helpful as a buddy, this player is sure worth mentioning here. Though in its beta phase at this moment and has some glitches as well, this sure will be an app to watch for in the coming days. If you want to keep a tab on the research and development phase of this program here is the link.
BOXEE
Though it is not perfectly a media player it sure does a good management of file and collection of your choice in one place. It’s the simplest way for viewing online media along with online file management with numerous built in features as well. The plus point; it can be controlled all under one roof with one single remote. To know, more about it you can follow these updates.
XBMC (Previously know as Xbox Media center)
If you have never ever heard of the name here is the hype. It is a popular alternative to Microsoft Windows Media centre and Apple’s Home Theatre Personal Computers. It has got a 10 foot user interface and can be easily operated as a stand alone screen. If you want to have a more closer look take a peek here.
