J.D. Fox Micro Resource Center

Winamp was the first media manager for personal computers, released in 1997. It became hugely popular very quickly, particularly because of its early support for MP3 music files, and because of its features (playlists, an equalizer, support for third-party plug-ins, and synchronization with early MP3 players) and design innovations (customizable "skins"), as well as support for streaming Internet radio broadcasts. Later, it was included in the client software package for online services provider America Online, meaning millions of people had it on their computers without even specifically seeking it out.

Many competitors to Winamp were developed in the years following its release. MusicMatch Jukebox and similar media managers were bundled with audio and video hardware; RealPlayer and Windows Media Player were enhanced to copy the features of Winamp; and Apple introduced iTunes. But, as of today, Winamp still has a strong following.

The latest version of Winamp supports synchronization to the iPod and Android-based phones, as well as easy transfer of your iTunes library, serving as a potential replacement to iTunes for Windows computers.

Winamp only runs on Windows-based computers, but a version for the Mac is now in development.

Apple introduced the iTunes application along with its music player, the iPod, in 2001. Initial versions supported music library management, synchronization with the iPod and similar MP3 players, and ripping from and burning to audio CDs. Integrated online music purchasing from the iTunes Store, support for Windows-based computers, and support for video were all added over the next few years. The latest versions support synchronization with the iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV. It does not play DVD movies, however.

iTunes has been bundled with every new Mac for many years. It is also still available for the latest versions of Windows. Although Windows users will already have Windows Media Player (the Windows equivalent to iTunes), some users download iTunes to synchronize their computers with Apple handheld products like the iPod and iPhone. Also, the only way to access the iTunes Store is through the iTunes application on your computer.

The iPhone comes with a mobile version of iTunes for accessing the iTunes Store. iTunes is not available for other phones.

Microsoft has included many kinds of audio/video players with the Microsoft Windows operating systems for many years. Early versions were rudimentary compared to the competition, but over the years Microsoft has added many features to make Windows Media Player a serious contender in the media manager field.

If you have Microsoft Windows on your computer, you already have Windows Media Player, but you can download upgrades for more features.

If you have an Apple iMac or MacBook, then Windows Media Player is not available to you. But, if you need to play Microsoft-specific media files from a website (such as a .wmv file), and this does not work on your Mac, visit this page, and look for Windows Media Player for Mac.

Windows Media Player is not available for mobile phones, because it doesn't really apply. But, phones based on Windows Mobile have a scaled-down version that supports playing Windows Media files.

RealNetworks introduced its first player, RealAudio, in 1995. This enabled listening to audio broadcasts streamed over the Internet, even over a dial-up modem, using RealNetworks' proprietary audio format. Streaming means the web server sends audio or video in real time as you play it on your computer, as opposed to downloading the entire file to your computer first. Streaming is more suitable for a radio station to broadcast continuously online, and it also allows content providers to have some control over what you can save on your computer. When the program was updated to support streaming video, it was renamed from RealAudio to RealPlayer.

RealPlayer once was widely used, but its market share has declined as many other methods of streaming have been developed. However, if you cannot hear or view content on a website that says you need RealPlayer, or if you have a RealMedia formatted file that you can't play otherwise, you can download RealPlayer through the link below.

Over the years, RealPlayer has evolved. It now supports managing media libraries and burning to CDs, as well as synchronizing with the iPod and other handheld players. It can also serve as an alternative DVD movie player. As it has moved beyond being just a web media player, it is now described as a "Media Manager" on the RealNetworks website.

Historically, RealPlayer software has been quite bloated, and presented more ads on your computer than would normally be expected with free software of this type. But, the latest version appears to have addressed these criticisms.

It is available for many computer platforms, including scaled-down versions for mobile phones.