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Note that there are many options for enhancing the look of Foobar that go far beyond adding interface elements. A the highest level, skins can be added to dramatically alter the look and feel of Foobar. However, skinning your player is a bit more complicated than adding a simple module. Creating an awesome-looking player is a topic of discussion in countless online communities, and those experienced with Foobar’s scripting language have come away with some amazing results.
Skins are available all over the web, but many of them require various prerequisite modules for proper use.
Below are some plugins we have found that are commonly required before installing skins: foo_ui_columns.dll - Used in this tutorial.
foo_ui_panels.dll - Gives Foobar floating windows rather than columns. Definate must-have for new skins.
foo_cwb_hooks.dll - Allows global title formatting.
foo_uie_powerpanels.dll -Creates a seperate 'Seek' panel and 'Volume' panel
foo_uie_quicksearch.dll -Allows you to search for a playlist of your choice
foo_uie_lyrics - Panel used to show downloaded lyrics
Here are some amazing examples of amazing-looking Foobar skins:
If you want to see more, visit customize.org/foobar and check out tons of great interfaces, each with links to download the base skin and a list of modules used. Pay attention to the prerequisites though; the majority of these skins won't work without them!
Next we’ll walk through the process of ripping MP3s from a CD using Foobar. First off, pop your album into your optical drive. In Foobar, scroll over to ‘File’ and select ‘Open Audio CD’. A pop-up menu will appear asking you to select a drive. Make your selection and hit ‘Rip’.
This will bring you to the ‘Rip Audio CD’ tab, where you can choose which songs you would like to rip from your album. All of the songs will be checked by default, so unselect any songs you don’t want to save. You can also change the artist name and album title, as well as fill in any other relevant information, including disc number, genre, and date. When you’re done, hit ‘Rip’.
Next, you’ll see the Converter Setup tab. There are a couple of interesting and customizable options listed in this tab, but most of them can remain untouched. The ‘Output Format’ tab will allow you to choose what type of media file you would like to export the songs as. Foobar will default to .WAV files, but you can choose any output you’d like. Assuming you’d like to rip to MP3, you’ll have to have the LAME encoder installed on your machine. You can learn more about LAME at lame.sourceforge.net/.
A second important field in the Converter Setup window is labeled Output Path. This allows you to select the location on your computer where the finished files will be saved. When you’re done, hit Ok.
When Foobar is done ripping your album, a Converter Output screen will pop up, which will allow you to access your ripped files directly.
We all know how easy it is to synch an iPod (Apple product) with iTunes (Apple software). But there are plenty of open-source programs that allow you to do the same thing, without having to subject yourself to Apple-authored software. Foobar is a great example of this, though a couple of steps need to be taken before you can sync it to your iPod.
First, you’ll need to download an iPod manager plugin known as ‘Foo_Dop’. Foo_Dop allows you to not only transfer your music, but to organize your play lists and albums, and synch them to your iPod with little effort.
You can download Foo_Dop at yuo.be/wiki/dop:start. Once again, installation is as simple as extracting the foo_dop.dll file to your Foobar components directory, and restarting Foobar. Plug your iPod into the computer.
If you’re using either an iPhone or iPod touch, you will need to open the iPod Manager setting in the properties window, and check the box that reads ‘Enable Mobile Devices Support.’
With Foo_dop installed, you can simply click File > iPod >Load Library, and voila! The entire contents of your iPod is now displayed right there on the screen. Now, the changes you make to your library, whether you’re deleting songs or creating new play lists, will be transferred over to your iPod. This makes it extremely easy to manage and organize your tracks and playlists.
Comments are closed on this article
Tritonal74
January 03, 2011 at 7:05am
Early last year, after reading this article in my magazine, I downloaded and installed foobar, and have enjoyed it ever since. I'm having a bit of trouble, though, that I can't figure out. For songs I've purchased through iTunes, the album artwork appears in foobar, but for all the other albums I've imported, the artwork doesn't appear. Would someone mind explaining where in foobar I go to get this squared away? Thanks.
Tritonal74
Machinia
July 21, 2010 at 10:51am
This is how my music player history has gone since about 1999:
- Winamp (99 - 2010)
- Songbird
- Winamp
- Mediamonkey (ugh)
- Songbird
And once again I'm ready to rip Songbird apart in sheer rage. It may have something to do with my library size, but since the update SongBird is absolutely useless and confused.
FooBar has been installed on my PC for a long time and I've only used it for converting flac to mp3 for portable use. Today it gets promoted as my main media playe since I never seem to have problems with it. I shall reference this article when I make the change.
Signal2Noise
May 20, 2010 at 9:21pm
Even though I'm just seeing this month-old article now I must say it's quite timely. I just finished ripping my 1100+ CD library to FLAC in preparation for a Squeezebox Touch. DL'd Foobar in order to do some playback checks and despite it being reasonably good it is a bear to get familiar with it's intricacies. Thanks!
essjay22
May 14, 2010 at 3:11pm
That was sooo informative Szore !! Thank You . Please comment again to display the breadth and depth of your incredible insight on Tech and literature!!Thank You Jarol for your understanding of Foobaar and some really great tips. That I can use !s
a2002cmacg
April 14, 2010 at 12:04pm
I'm a big time Media Monkey fan, but I must give praise to your fine selection of music there.... :-)
Olmec
April 14, 2010 at 11:31am
Panels ui is no longer supprted by foobar. You have to use default ui or columns ui. That been said complex skins are usually made on columns ui.
huhhuh
April 14, 2010 at 11:05am
I use Winamp since I got DFX for it on my HTPC (through surround system)
Otherwise I use foobar on other desktop stations.
Stry8993
June 08, 2010 at 6:29am
I use it on Windows Media Player 12 for Win 7, but I've been thinking of making the move back to WinAmp. I just can't listen to music on my computer without DFX Audio Enhancer anymore, it just sounds so... dull without it.
AlBSure
April 14, 2010 at 8:18am
I've been using MM for some yrs now and absolutly love it. it syncs to ANY device i use it for my ipod,BlackBerry, Portable drives. it does everything you stated here for FooBar except the UPNP, so i might have to try foobar to stream(i'm currently using DAAP on my nas)
Jarol
April 14, 2010 at 2:06am
Nice guide, but lets add some more to it to ring in some more users!
For starters, I've always been using foobar since WinAmp started adding junk I never needed (video playback? what?). I found foobar to be the most customizable program I've ever used. I went all the way to making my own skins, but after a while, adding things just added bloat. So first thing I must say is this: DO NOT BLOAT THE SOFTWARE. The thing can easily run up to 100mb whereas when you first run it it only takes up a measely 12 mb. I highly recommend AGAINST custom skins. They are pretty, but they actually slow down the software and cause crashes and other harsh things down the line. The new (v1.0) interface comes customizable by default. Change the colors, they layout, and the compenents the way you want.
Anyway here is a list of things I highly suggest:
- Windows 7 Users - foo_w7shell - This adds win7 support in the taskbar. Has functionality to play, pause, change tracks, and even seek a current song. It also displays the current album art if you hae it.
- Got an iPod Touch or iPhone? - foo_touchremote + remote app (made by apple in app store) - This allows you to control foobar with your touch/iphone as long as they are in the same network! It looks and feels like you are controlling the music on your touch/iphone, complete with music search, playlist listing, album arts, volume, and seek control. Just one thing. Don't press shuffle! It crashes foobar. Other than that little quirk, it works great!
- Want an alarm clock? -foo_scheduler - Add times and create tasks for foobar to perform. I currently have my foobar setup as an alarm clock for example. It handles recurring schedules and can do a series of tasks you assign to that time.
- Got 5.1/7.1 surround? - foo_channel_mixer - This thing beats a lot of crappy software driven "surround" sound mixers that come with soundcards/codecs. Its lightweight and hardly slows down your system. Very customizable and works best in default settings for the most part.
- Need to fix the tags on your music? -foo_masstagger - This thing does the same thing as most competent tagging software does, only its built into foobar. Only downside is it takes some setup to make use, but once you understand it, its probably the most powerful thing in foobar.
- Got a Wii, PS3, 360, or other device (even touch/iphones!)? - foo_upnp - This thing is the end all be all of server that gets built into foobar. This can stream your music to your console and even over the internet! For example, you can have your foobar on your home computer and foobar at work. The foobar at work connects to your home's and you then have access to all your music! Even better, you can stream music to your ipod touch or iphone using streaming apps (though I don't recommend it). If connecting for your console, it acts like a media center, giving access to your music and even movies for your console to play. Careful though, this thing can bloat your program's ram usage.
There is much much more. But the above for me is what I use nearly every single day. Everything else is extra (besides the multitudes of format components for lossless music). Again I must say, keep it simple. The program doesn't need to be fancy to be powerful.
