When comparing Musique vs MPC-HC, the Slant community recommends MPC-HC for most people. In the question“What are the best audio players for Windows?” MPC-HC is ranked 17th while Musique is ranked 28th.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Can handle very large local music libraries
Pro Minimal UI
The UI for Musique is pretty minimal. By not throwing every option in the book into the application, the developers are able to keep the interface clear of any clutter.
Pro Consistent queue simplifies what's playing next
There is a queue on the right side of the player, which shows you what is coming up next. This makes it easy to add a new song or remove a song before it plays to be sure that you/your guests stay in the groove. You can also slowly transition to different genres, not to mention plan ahead and adapt as you need to.
Pro Supports H.265, and has for over 5 years
Pro Is actively developed by clsid2 on github
Pro Supports frame stepping with Ctrl+Left/Right
Useful for game development frame debugging. Your average user won't need this. VLC has frame advance, but it's hidden and non-intuitive; not clear if VLC can step backwards.
Cons
Con No differentation between Album Artist / Track Artist
Albums are sorted via "Album Artist" but each deviating "Track Artist" creates a new album handle. Very bad when you have album tracks where the filename consists of the typical "Artist #1 feat. Artist #2" setting as each of these files creates another album entry.
Con Doesn't resume from last close
Musique won't resume from the last time the app was closed. If you had a great music queue all set up, unfortunately it won't stay there if you close the app.
Con Linux controls don't work
The Linux next/previous buttons don't do anything - you will need to open Musique in order to do anything with it (other than change the volume).
Con Discontinued
It's been discontinued since 2017.
Con Windows only
MPC-HC supports only Windows operating systems.