Here is a list of freeware mp3 players I made on a little freeware site of mine. There are links to where you can down load them all. Also the main page is here, if you go there then go to freeware, i have links to verious programs. It's not compleated yet, but should be helpful to some people. ~p3@c3~
Winamp is definitely the best one. Be sure to get version 5 if you have a PC >1000MHz or version 2.xx for <1GHz... Don't even think about installing ver. 3, it's VERY slow
I can't get my winamp skins to load on mine so I don't use it because it frustrates me. But otherwise it seems like a cool player.
ehh I got or have had most every player out there, and I keep coming back to Quintessential Player. It might not have all the features of Winamp or RealOne etc. but it doesn't bog down you're systems resources like the rest of them do.(might not be an issue for people pimp N a gig of Ram but I am on an old skool system here). I keep a few players on hand Windows media and Real because some files are specific to those players, but as far as the one I use most often {and if the computer is on, I am listing to music} I go with Quintessential......
I use Winamp5. It plays just about everything(including MPEG-4 compression). It runs well, and has plenty of options. The initial intall exec is a little over four megabytes. There are many plug-ins for it as well, including a few DSP extensions that modify the sound. Hotkey capability is built in. I've used Winamp for years, and the only bad one was 3. It isn't a resource hog either. I've used other players before (MusicMatch, Windows Media Player, etc.) and found none of them to be as flexable or small as Winamp.