> but MPC crashes as much as windows ME, and requires a pack of codecs. > > I'm starting to prefer VLC player as it has all of its codecs built in.
I've been using VLC for ages. A hint: increase the cache size for all media files for much better playback / resuming (no stutter when restarting a DVD, etc). Most of the settings are 300 millisec. I tend to increase this by 10. RAM's cheap. I cannot abide stuttering.
One thing VLC still lacks is decent set of visualisations. WMP visualisations are just awesome.