I use this app instead of Spotify or iTunes for my music — 5 reasons why

At this point in music, streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music lead the pack. You get a subscription (or not with ads) and listen to your music wherever. You will also likely create playlists. However, I have thousands of songs on the desktop that I ripped from CDs in FLAC format years ago.

Many of the tunes I listen to on my CDs are unavailable on streaming services. I can use VLC for that, but I found a better option with Foobar2000. Once you get past its bizarre name and funky alien-style head icon, you will see the power of Foobar for playing local music files on your PC. Like VLC and MPV media players, it can play virtually any music file you throw at it. So, if you have some OGG or WMA files collecting dust on your drive, you have a way to play them. The VLC media player app has its place on your Windows system, but Foobar2000 is worth a look.

5 Audio quality

It supports high-quality music file formats

I burned my entire CD collection (exhaustively) to my computer in the FLAC format and ALAC, which is Apple’s lossless format. It is a high-quality lossless format that keeps most of the original CD quality. It isn’t a compressed format like MP3, which loses most of the original CD quality. The good news is Foobar2000 plays them. I can create custom formats with my files, just like on Spotify or Apple Music (or iTunes). Streaming also compresses the music since it takes a lot of bandwidth to stream high-quality formats.

However, it is worth noting that Tidal boasts FLAC-quality streaming and Hi-Res/MQA streaming, a studio-quality format that costs more for the service. Of course, with high-quality FLAC files, you need a large drive for a large collection, but Foobar2000 will play them from an external drive in addition to your local drive.

4 Resource efficiency

Lightweight app that does a lot but is easy on system resources

Another fantastic feature of Foobar is that it doesn’t stress the hardware in my system. When you have Spotify, iTunes, or Apple Music running and choose a new playlist, you might hear your PC's fans run fast because the services use a lot of CPU, RAM, and other system resources. In fact, even with improvements to iTunes, it is a resource hog.

To be fair, you can add your own music files to Apple Music via iTunes and Spotify, but there are caveats. For example, when you add songs to Spotify, they don’t sync. You need to add them manually on each device, and they may not play due to license restrictions. With Apple Music, your songs sync via the cloud.

3 Customizable

Change the player’s look and feel to fit your system

I can edit my computer's layout and color scheme by going to View -> Layout -> Enable Layout Editing Mode. It offers several customization options. I am actually a bit overwhelmed by the number of preferences and customization options available. But after playing around with the app, you will find what works best for you.

I can create playlists by pressing Ctrl+N and adding the songs I want. The UI is cool because there are tabs for my playlists. I can rename them by clicking and typing in a name. It also includes some neat visualizations to enable while listening to tracks. I can also minimize the player and put it wherever I want on my screen to get work done. Of course, I can also minimize it entirely if I need screen space, and my tracks will continue to play. It also displays the album cover if I want that option, which I do enjoy.

2 Private experience

Unlike streaming services, your listening habits aren’t tracked

Adding music to Foobar2000 is a cinch. You can drag and drop your music files into the Foobar interface. Once you add your songs, they are yours to listen to without any tracking to target ads or monitor what you are listening to. There is no tracking of my listening habits, and no account creation is required to use it. I can hear my own music, having that peace of mind. I can simply listen to my music without any other distractions.

1 No ads or subscriptions

It’s free and open-source and doesn’t have ads

If playing FLAC and other file types isn’t enough, Foobar200 is a free, open-source music listening app. You won’t get ads like you get with a free Spotify account. You can enjoy the music collections you have made before streaming became the new thing. I have many music files from CDs I burned and got otherwise, and I’m sure you do too.

Foobar2000 allows you to listen to files regardless of their type. There are no subscriptions, and the app is completely free. So, you can listen to your music while continuing with your workflow without ads or other distractions.

Take control of your music listening with Foobar2000

If you want a highly customizable music player for your PC that can play virtually any music file, Foobar2000 is worth checking out. A mobile app will also import tracks from Spotify or Apple Music onto your phone. But I haven’t had good luck using it. It’s a Windows-first-designed app.

You can also transfer your own music collection, but it requires purchasing the TuneFUSION app after a 21-day free trial. You can also use FTP to do it. It’s not as straightforward as copying over my FLAC files on my PC. So, for convenience's sake, I will continue to use Apple Music on my iPhone. Files transfer well via iCloud on my iPhone, so I can access the rare music that isn’t available. However, I had to transfer FLAC to MP3 first, which took some time. Still, as a computer-focused music player, Foobar2000 is worth a look. While it is designed for Windows, it is available on Windows, Mac, Android, and iPhone.