Best Media Player?

[Politically Incorrect]

I've used MusicMatch Jukebox for well over a year and have always been pleased with it's functions and ease of use (ripping especially!!) but recently I've been experianceing troubles with it such as it disconnecting my internet and not being able to update it! It is a registered version which I really didn't get much more for paying for it from the free version, but I'm thinking about switching to something different due to lack of customer support on their part.
I really don't have much paitence when it comes to playing email tag and not getting help for a product I paid for!!
My main use of it is to rip CD's into MP3 so I can "jam" without having a disc in the cd drive all the time, and also so i can load the music into my MP3 player. I have found that the radio function on all media players suck due to the fact I have a dial-up modem so I don't really need that  feature.
I'm looking for a player that is easy to set up, can rip at fast speeds, and most of all has good sound reproduction!! Add-on options can be nice such as music enhancers (use DMX in MMJB makes the old CD's sound great!)
Any ideas or suggestions will be appreciated!

[WebbPA]

You're going to get a lot of opinions about this one.  People are fiercely loyal to their media players and their criteria are usually completely subjective. Also, something that works well on one machine might not work as well on another.  With that in mind, I would first suggest you get Total Uninstall http://www.geocities.com/ggmartau/proje ... jects.html so you can undo anything you install.  Don't trust built in uninstallers.

I use CDEx  http://www.cdex.n3.net/ as a stand alone ripper so integration isn't important to me.

Having said that my (completely subjective opinion) is Winamp 2.95  http://www.winampheaven.net/ (I think that's the last one in the 2.x series).  5.x http://www.winamp.com/ is nice if you want the newer skins but it doesn't sound any better.  Winamp has built in support for most media types and plugins available for almost every other one; a built in radio tuner that sounds respectable on slower modems; skins and visualizations.  I think it's the best supported media player there is.

I have also heard good things about Foobar http://www.foobar2000.org/ , Jet Audio Player http://www.jetaudio.com/ and Quintessential Player http://www.quinnware.com/index.php but I have not tried them.  There are tons more here http://download.com.com/3150-2139-0.html?tag=dir .

(I just noticed - 1000 posts.  I'd celebrate with a few beers but it's only 11 am.)

[Politically Incorrect]

Congrats on 1000!! And as for too early for a beer? Why does eveyone say that? Back in my drinking days everyone would tell me that 9am was too early! I would reply "Hell I was drinking at 2am and that is even earlier!! "  ;D

Thanks for the info, as for the Windows Media Player I never liked it, too slow even if you weren't using it hooked to the web, and the thing with all the skins and visualizations waste of space and processor! Much like anything M$.
I have it and Real player only because some sites that have audio or video need them in order to view or hear the content.

I'll check out some of the ones you recommend!! And let you know what I choose!! Thanks!

[WebbPA]

I'm going to watch 2 football games and a golf tournament today and the first game doesn't even start for an hour.  Can't be passed out before halftime.  That plus it's illegal to sell beer before 1 pm on Sunday.

Winamp can play Real files (.ra, .ram, etc.) with the Tara plugin.  You  have to keep RealPlayer installed because it uses the codecs - but you never have to open RealPlayer again.

For videos I use WMP 9 because it has a video equalizer.  If I'm watching a video I don't much care what the CPU load is because I'm probably not doing anything else anyway.