MediaStorm

A long day’s work most likely ends with a few songs to help you relax. Sure enough this is an activity which can easily be performed online, but offline playback still requires a dedicated application. For a clean, simple experience, MediaStorm comes as a portable alternative to whatever you’re already using.

Before you benefit from what MediaStorm has to offer, it’s best to check whether or not your PC is equipped with .NET Framework. However, the application itself doesn’t require installation, and can just as well be stored on a thumb drive to use on other computers as well. It’s a plain media player and doesn’t affect registry entries during runtime.

Accommodation is a simple process, mostly because of the clean layout and ribbon design. The upper toolbar holds most functions, such as playback controls and playlist management, while file operations are accessed from a dedicated menu. There’s a lot of unused space, but you can switch to a minimal mode to solve this inconvenience.

Files are only added through the browse dialog which lets you select individual files or the content of an entire folder. You can either create a new playlist, or append to an existing one. Only audio files are supported for playback, while playlists can be saved and opened if found under formats like PLS and M3U.

Unfortunately, hotkeys are not implemented, so you need to rely on the main window to manage playback controls. On the other hand, these are also available for the taskbar preview. The application can minimize to the tray area during playback, but it’s only a place to sit, with no dedicated controls.

Taking everything into consideration, we can state that MediaStorm is fitted with basic playback controls for simple sessions. There’s no volume slider, and the lack of hotkey commands can be a little frustrating.