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Add to SafariWhen comparing VLC vs Vox, the Slant community recommends VLC for most people. In the question“What are the best music players for OSX ?” VLC is ranked 3rd while Vox is ranked 18th. The most important reason people chose VLC is:
VLC is licensed under the CC-SA v3.0+ and available on Windows, OSX, and Linux with source code available [here](http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-sources.html).
Specs
Question Ranking
Pros
Pro Free, open source, and cross-platform
VLC is licensed under the CC-SA v3.0+ and available on Windows, OSX, and Linux with source code available here.
Pro Simple to setup and use
VLC is an incredibly robust application but very simple on the surface. It makes playing music simple, yet still manages to give the user all the tools he/she wants in a music player.
Pro Very versatile and easy to use
Pro Doesn't require additional codecs
Everything VLC needs to play media files is contained within which means no outside codecs are needed. This makes it one of the most hassle-free music players as it can play virtually anything as soon as it's installed.
Pro Tons of advanced settings
Besides basic configurations, video player has an extensive amount of adjustable settings.
Pro Doesn't manage your music library for you
You organize your music into folders any way you want. Want to play an album? Drag and drop. No tags, no confusion, no fluff. Easy.
Pro Can be almost completely keyboard-driven
VLC includes keyboard shortcuts for most actions. The video player can be controlled with simple and customizable keyboard commands.
Pro Surprisingly Lightest on Resources
Yes. Lightest. Even better than the ones known to be light. Both when playing music, only a single song or when playing a video. Either in terms of Ram and Cpu. Compared with almost all, including the ones from Windows like mpc-hc .. or light ones from Linux like Alsa Player, Audacious, SmPlayer .
Pro Can play every format video available (as of 2017)
Pro Supports a GUI interface and an ncurses terminal interface
Pro Can easily stream music across your home network from any device on the network
Using sftp/ssh music (and videos) can be streamed from any server on the network to any device running VLC. VLC can also be used as a webcam for streaming and snapshots. Amazing all in one package
Pro Large amount of extensions
VLC has a large amount of extensions.
Pro Supports external DACs & HiRes audio
Pro WAV support
Pro Very high-quality playback
Pro YouTube playlist/channel support
Youtube URLs can be directly pasted to Vox.
Pro SoundCloud integration
Pro Last.fm scrobbling
Cons
Con Not really meant to be a music player
VLC is made to be a video player. Therefore, it won't carry out actions such as managing your music library.
Con Lacks libraries and advanced music player features
VLC is a media player first and foremost. There is no library management (aside from playlists), limited usage of tags, and no rating system. VLC is best at playing a file directly from a folder, but falls behind when it comes to helping you manage or find good songs in your music library.
Con Absence of personalization
VLC Player has only one basic interface in white or black, and overall personalization opportunities are quite narrow. Unfortunately, you're pretty much stuck to the default look.
Con Contains some insignificant but irritating flaws
Despite all keyboard shortcuts, the width of the picture can't be controlled by trackpad. Besides that, the VLC start-up window doesn’t open at the same place or the same width at which it was previously closed.
Con Interface can be confusing and unintuitive
Playlists and collections are sometimes interchangeable. Many interactions do not have the option to play music and the app is very centred around it's Loop subscription.
Con Collections and Playlists not good enough. Too simple.
When you have a big library you need a little more than just a bunch of names gathered. Adding folders to a collection put all files in a column and that's it. No sign of which album the song is from, cover etc... you have to play the file in order to see more info... Too simple.
Con Premium cost for basic functions like EQ
They upgraded to a "premium" model. Try and find an old version 2.8.x if you want a usable player.
Con Miss-reads iTunes databases
Reads compilations as multiple seperate albums. Creating a unique album for each artist in the compilation.
Con Buggy and hangs often
Con Cloud storage has hefty monthly fee
Con Uses almost as much CPU and memory as iTunes
While the interface is cleaner, the code is not.
Con GUI too small for HI Res screens
Not resizable and everything looks tiny including covers and texts.
