14 DAY TRIAL // Audio players have developed at amazing speeds lately. Back in the days an application able to play the audio file we fed it would have sufficed. Later, we felt an acute need for EQs (equalizers). The more available, the merrier we were. Next it was the metadata editing of the file. More and more users wanted their player to support this feature. Winamp went further and brought Shoutcast TV and Radio, permitting the users to listen to the desired radio station or choose from the myriad of live TV streams available.
To tell you the truth, I am not at all a Winamp fan and Foobar is more to my taste. It is nice and simple, supports a myriad of audio formats and it is specially designed for audio playing. However, connecting to live streams, be they audio or video, has always been an important aspect in user's choice of entertainment softwares.
MXPLAY is a very nifty looking application that combines the powers of several video websites on the Internet, photo locations on the Web and the those of the audio files you have stored on your computer. The looks are absolutely extraordinary (it is not Vista's "fault" as the application has been tested in XP environment and the same baffling looks were available) and remind me a little of the latest Windows Media Player.
The options available in the A/V player are not too many and there is not too much you can do with it, but believe me, you can spend hours with it without even knowing. The video websites supported by the software include the most visited location on the Web, like YouTube, Google Video, MySpace Videos, UnCut, Metacafe, Blip Live Video or Photo Bucket. The photo sharing websites available in MXPLAY are Photo Bucket and Flickr. These nine web locations can take a lot of your time as you all know how addictive they can soon become.
Opening the websites is no problem as the built-in web browser fixes the problem the moment you click on a link. It is not state of the art technology and it does not have the security options available in IE7 or Opera , but it will display any page you feed it. You can peruse the Internet by simply typing in the desired web address in the address bar. Or you can search Google for information as the search bar in the top right corner can look in Google or in the entire library for a certain song or information.
The basic options for navigating back and forth are supported and you even benefit from a homepage that is set to MXPLAY community. There you can create an account and view and listen other users' music in playlist.
The video player in the left side of the application window is something special as it allows you to modify the audio experience. The three elements available are two speakers and a listener. The novelty is that MXPLAY uses life-like 3D audio technology that allows you to move the elements anywhere in the window and modify your audio experience accordingly.
But the good news is not over yet. By means of a plugin you can transform your Nintendo Wii control into a remote control for changing the quality of the sound in MXPLAY. Currently there are only two plugins available for MXPLAY, and one more to come (MP3tunes). WiiMote and Last.fm are the ones you can use for now.
Testing the WiiMote uncovered one minor nag that unfortunately exists in MXPLAY. While playing the music on your computer will automatically adjust the two speakers for the best listening position (unless you do not disable the Motion Playback). In this case you will have to modify their location manually (place your mouse on them and drag the element to the position you want). Otherwise the WiiMote will not function. The only condition for the WiiMote to work is to have a bluetooth connection on your computer. Connecting the Wii is extremely easy and the instructions provide in the plugins section of the website are more then clear.
MXPLAY will automatically import the music from the folder you provide. The music can be added one element at a time too and you can save them in different playlists, according to your needs and desires.
The controls available for the file playing are the usual ones and additional functions that should be included in any player are available ("shuffle" and "repeat"). In the Audio Space window there are the Space and Reverb options that will also help enhancing the audio quality. "Space" will let you adjust the environment you are listening into (small, medium and large) while "Reverb" produces a reverberative effect. They are both used to adjust the sound dynamics of the AudioSpace.
The Options dialog of the application lets the user select the AudioSpace to be used when a new song is used, select the audio playback output device and the buffer size, select the folders to import the music from and enable/disable or uninstall plugins.
The Good
My favorite options are the WiiMote plugin and the sound adjusting speakers and listener (right click to hide them when watching a video). They are worth all the effort of downloading the application.
The user has a vast palette to choose where to watch videos from. MXPLAY includes all the major video websites available at this time.
The Bad
It is a beta, so it is only natural for some options to act wrong. The shuffle and repeat options for instance will take effect only if you press the "play" button. The player is not moving automatically to the next track.
The acoustics adjusting buttons (Space and Reverb) came to the default position regardless of my wish. I set them one way and the minute the song changed they returned to the previous configuration.
There are many options to be added, like a much wanted equalizer or more channels (radio stations included) and different plugins.
The Truth
The application is young and potent. Further development will definitely bring it among the best players out there. The dynamic interface and the WiiMote plugin are worth the download. Try it. Everything is absolutely free, from using it to installing the plugins or creating an account.
I watched some videos from other Audio Spaces and the video player showed one thing and my ears heard another. There was a total discordance between what I saw and what I heard. It was really confusing, but hey, everyone can choose their own AudioSpace.
All in all the application worked pretty fine and it has huge potential to making it to the next level and play with the "big boys". I am sure that once out of beta stage it'll gain more and more popularity.
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
