see also: Special Services for Text-To-Speech software.
- Cog
Open source audio player that supports a wide variety of formats. (Mac) - Media Monkey
Music player that can "manage small to very large collections of audio files and playlists (50,000+), whether on a hard drive, network, or CDs." Nice interface but only handles audio files; available in free and pay versions. (Win) - Songbird
"An open-source customizable music player that's under active development." Includes built-in web browser; video format handling is not yet available but under production. (multi-platform) - WinAmp
Music player available in both free and pay versions. (Win)
Video Players
- ALLPlayer
Plays a wide variety of video formats; includes a video converter and YouTube downloader. (Win) - Windows Media Player
Microsoft's media player. (Win/Mac)
Multimedia Players
- iTunes
Media player and library from Apple, with built-in links to Apple's iTunes Store. (Win/Mac) - J. River Media Center ($$)
Plays and organizes audio and video files; can format video for play on a large screen. Company also offers a free jukebox (audio only) version. (Win) - Real Player
Adware which plays a variety of audio and video files. (multi-platform) - Real Alternative
Free player which can handle RealAudio and RealVideo files. (Win) - VLC Media Player
"VLC media player is a highly portable multimedia player for various audio and video formats (MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, mp3, ogg, ...) as well as DVDs, VCDs, and various streaming protocols. It can also be used as a server to stream in unicast or multicast..." (multi-platform) - XBMV
"XBMC is an award winning media center application for Linux, Mac OS X, Windows and XBox. The ultimate hub for all your media, XBMC is easy to use, looks slick, and has a large helpful community." (multi-platform)