Kodi. The only mediaplayer that I ever needed.

MPC-HC is the new version of media player classic... it supports modern formats a lot better then most and can handle everything VLC can in a lighter weight package.

It looks like windows media player from its Win98 years but... thats the point really, sort of why VLC has never changed its look, it just works.

I use MPC & SMPlayer.

Just use an older version of VLC until newer versions fix things.
I'm still using a very old version, 2.0.5. Works fine.

There a bug or something? I'm on an ancient version myself.

KCP is I believe the best codec currently around because it uses MPC-HC for the player and also comes pre-packaged with MadVR for rendering while CCCP and VLC do not (as far as I know).

http://haruhichan.com/forum/showthread.php?7545-KCP-Kawaii-Codec-Pack

Another vote for MPC-HC

You can easily remove the ads from GOM Player as follows:

- With the GOM Player open, press "F5" to open the "Preferences" window
- Click on "General" tab in the list on the left
- Click on "Logo" tab in the bar at the top
- Select "smile.jpg" in the Logo Image List (you can choose gom.jpg or gom_orange.jpg if you want)
- Click on "Close" button

You should now be free from ads, although you may need to repeat this process if and when you update the program.

I use foobar2000 when it comes to audio. I don't know of an alternative for video playback though. Foobar2000 has served me well when it comes to the audio department and it even has gapless or seamless playback.

No idea, as I've stayed with this version for other reasons, so haven't tried newer versions for a long time.
But I have no stuttering problems at all :)

i know i shouldn't talk to stupid faggers because everything i say will be used against me and i have the right to remain silent, but i also have some problems with VLC - when i start the program, either by shortcut or when i double click the playlist or a random mp3, sometimes it takes a whole minute until i see the user interface and songs start playing. other times it's instant. and besides this, some of my songs had their meta data removed - i mean the artist, song name, album. why is this? what i do now?

I've only recently come back, but I'd hazard a guess that attitude is a lot of it...

OS, VLC version, full system specs, audio device & output method?

my specs is this:
- windows 7 x64 ultimate
- processor i5-3450 quad core at 3.1 ghz
- ram is 8 gb ddr3 4 x 2 chards
- video chard is nvidia geforce 250 gts with 1 gb
- motherboard asustek p8h61
- vlc 2.2.4 weatherwax
- sound chard is on motherboard it say realtek hd audio
- and i use 2 boxes for sound - one left, another right of monitor

but i really don't know why you ask this mengst because this problem didn't always exist - i mean years ago it was fine. as i said, when i first run VLC after boot, i have to wait. then if i close it and run it again, sometimes it runs instant, sometimes i wait again. and size of my playlist is 111 hours but again maybe that doesn't matter since it happens if i load a single mp3 or when i run VLC clean from shortcut

Thank you for explanation how to remove ads. Even though I did not ask for it :) you have my + vote. I don't even have GOM on this PC, I have it on my other computer as secondary media player. I'm satisfied with VLC on both computers. Other thing that "annoys" me in GOM is it's frequent notifications about updates. I know how to avoid them. but...: I used Media Player Classic, BS.Player and lot of other players. If I start disliking one program or find something better, I switch to another alternative, there are so many of them.