When comparing MPlayer vs XMMS, the Slant community recommends XMMS for most people. In the question“What are the best audio players for UNIX-like systems?” XMMS is ranked 38th while MPlayer is ranked 43rd. The most important reason people chose XMMS is:
XMMS is able to use any Winamp skin available.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Needs no additional codecs
Everything MPlayer needs to play media files is contained within which means no outside codecs are needed.
Pro Easy shortcut keys
Quick skip ahead buttons and other shortcut keys.
Pro No bugs , no lag in the video display
Pro Works via CLI and has multiple frontends to choose from
Some of the more popular frontends include Deepin Media Player, GNOME MPlayer, KPlayer, KMPlayer, Rosa Media Player, SMPlayer and Xt7-Player.
Pro Nice theme available to choose from
Also, the video window is separate from the main window making it less cluttered while playing audio
Pro Support for Winamp themes
XMMS is able to use any Winamp skin available.
Pro Simple and familiar music player
Many users should be pretty familiar with the interface as it has been built to match that of the popular Winamp player.
Cons
Con Not much documentation on the use and configuration
Con Contrary to review, some media that play well in vlc does not play in mplayer
Con Doesn't support directory playback
Con Lacks a built-in visualizer
Con Looks are dated and may be unappealing
XMMS is pretty long in the tooth now and it's design definitely reflects that.