When comparing AIMP vs Song Director, the Slant community recommends AIMP for most people. In the question“What are the best audio players for Windows?” AIMP is ranked 1st while Song Director is ranked 38th. The most important reason people chose AIMP is:
AIMP supports a huge list of audio formats and several playlist types.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Multiple audio codec compatible
AIMP supports a huge list of audio formats and several playlist types.
Pro Useful audio library
AIMP can play, manage, and filter music stored in the whole computer or specified folders. It is able to read metadata from music files' tags and perform real-time searching out of it.
Pro Internal updater
AIMP updates using its built-in updater, so you don't have to visit AIMP's website and download the whole installer every time a new version is available.
Pro Lightweight skinning
Even with lots of skinning options, AIMP is lightweight and works on the smallest computer.
Pro 18 band equalizer + 22 presets + preamp
AIMP has an 18 band equalizer (which is manually customizable), plus 22 presets by default [user can add his/her custom presets]. It also includes a +15/-15 dB preamplification.
Pro Multiple other features
AIMP has many more features including: dither, anticlipping, customizable hotkeys/shortcuts, customizable player's user agent string, access to Favorites audio files and playlists, rating for tracks, tracklist export, optional temporary information bar with track info every time a track begins, volume normalization, ReplayGain support, volume fading between tracks, and more.
Pro Mini Player support
AIMP can be maximized, restored, sent to the tray, or switched to Mini Player for your convenience.
Pro Among the best audio quality for Windows audio players
AIMP uses the BASS library, which provides one of the best audio quality of all currently available music players for Windows.
Pro Multiple playlist management
AIMP can manage multiple playlists by a tab system, similar to web browsers.
Pro Tag Editor + Audio Converter can carry out a multitude of tasks
AIMP has two tools for further music management.
Tag Editor lets you add album art to audio files, fix metadata to individual files or to all files included in a folder, rename filenames, complete tags from filenames and viceversa, and more.
Audio Converter lets you convert an audio file into another format (for instance, from FLAC to M4A). You can choose quality parameters, renaming of files, and output paths for converted files. Audio conversion supports multiple core encoding, so if your CPU has four cores, you can convert audio using 1, 2, 3, or 4 cores.
Pro Supports audiophile-level playback quality
Other music players usually require separate plugins for this, but AIMP comes by default with the modern WASAPI (Windows Audio Session API) audio output support thus providing purest sound output unadultered by the Windows mixer (in WASAPI Exclusive mode) out of the box.
Pro Delete files from player
Simple and good working ability to delete files right away from the player.
Pro Multiple languages available
AIMP is available in 36 languages, including: Russian, English, Arabic, Portuguese (Brazil), Spanish (Argentina), Spanish (Spain), French, German, Italian, Chinese (China), Chinese (Taiwan), and more.
Pro Built-in scheduler
AIMP has a scheduler which lets you stop playback, close the program, or turn off your computer at a specified time/period.
Pro Waveform seekbar
AIMP's seekbar features a waveform display of the entire audio file for easier navigation within the sound file. For example you can easily see where are the silences which is especially useful for podcasts and talked content.
Pro Icon sets available for download
The user can download icon sets for different audio formats.
Pro Allows for radio capture
AIMP can grab internet radios' audios and save them to drive, in real-time. You can save the streaming in its original format, or choose the codec manually [AAC, OGG Vorbis, OPUS, etc] and its bit rate. You can even save its CUE log and split files, if desired.
Pro DSP manager allows for sound effects
AIMP has a digital sound processor manager which lets you apply sound effects to the output audio in real-time. These effects include: echo, reverberation, Flanger, Chorus, bass, enhancer, speed, tempo, and pitch. It also has a voice remover feature for stereo audio files.
Pro Support for several WinAmp's plugins
AIMP supports several plugins originally designed for WinAmp. However, it also supports new plugins designed for AIMP itself. From visual plugins to extra codec support, YouTube playlists playback, Soundcloud playback, or spectrum analysing, these are a selection of supported plugins.
Pro Easy to use
Handsome design
Pro Easy to use with powerful organization options
Song Director is easy to use due to the many tasks that can be completed with a click of a single button. It provides more extensive organizing and search capabilities than iTunes and WMP.
Pro Customized play searches
Song Director allows for extensive sorting options such as the amount of beats per minute, bitrate, length, etc.
Pro Automatically enters your information into a database
Pro Locate songs or artists instantly
Pro Edit songs without using File Explorer
Song Director permits the user to rename, copy a file, or move it to a different folder without having to search for it in File Explorer.
Pro Create categories for your music
Pro Press one button to do what you want
Pro Can edit file tags
Pro Compatible with Microsoft Windows
Song Director is compatible with Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1, and 10.
Pro Song Director will be adding new features with each new version
Pro Can find and insert information about songs, artist, album art
Cons
Con Not open source
AIMP is not libre / open source software, so development is closed and lead by the AIMP staff only.
Con Buggy, bloated and obfuscated options
Seems to hang when adding a large number of files.
Con Cluttered and confusing interface
The interface is very busy and not intuitive so it can take awhile to become familiar with it. The skins don't conform to specific design standards so they often have different behaviors. You can read more about it here.
Con AIMP "Help" only in Russian and English
AIMP's "Help" included in the software itself is only available in Russian and English.
Con Russian content
Supporting this is also supporting the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Con BEWARE FRAUD, MALWARE, TROJAN, BACKDOOR
Download only from the actual aimp site