# Mac AMP Lite X (MaltX)



## fryke (May 13, 2002)

Mac AMP Lite X 1.0 is out. http://www.macamplite.com/

Now all you themeing freaks can finally theme an MP3-Player! While I as an Apple fan, of course, stick to iTunes, which has systematically and successfully supplanted all MP3 players in my life.


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## Koelling (May 13, 2002)

I don't really have enough time to download this and test it so I'll ask you here, how does it compare with iTunes for processor power? I love iTunes but whenever it's running my dock takes about a second to pop up which is unacceptable. I can't bring myself to use anything but iTunes because it's so beautiful so I use the stereo instead. If MacAmp had a proper skin and used less power I'd give it a try.


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## serpicolugnut (May 13, 2002)

MaltX does use less CPU power than iTunes, but it still skips a bit when surfing the web, albeit alot less than with iTunes.

It's a nice little mp3 player, but it seems a little ridiculous to charge for it since 1) iTunes is free, and 2) WinAMP is free too.


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## Kristjan (May 13, 2002)

On the screenshots, they're playing Black Star. One of my favourite artists. Cool!


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## Valrus (May 13, 2002)

Too bad it's one of their worst songs.
In my opinion.
Aside from virtually all of Pablo Honey. 

-the valrus


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## fryke (May 14, 2002)

What do you mean, your sound is skipping? I'm using iTunes 2 on my TiBook 500, and sound never skips while doing other things... It doesn't with MaltX either, but as someone else said: It ain't free. And like I said myself: It ain't iTunes. And I still think skins are an excuse for 'no graphic artists found'.


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## AdmiralAK (May 14, 2002)

I have MALT classic, paid for it cause it was nice and compact 
I wish for there to be a free upgrade  at www.macast.com they are running a poll on whether or not people would pay a $10 upgrade fee


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## Krevinek (May 14, 2002)

To be honest, I do wonder why they think they can charge more for less (overall). Half the stuff available in iTunes will not be available in MaltX, and I have to shell out 12$ more for the ability to 'theme'?

Sorry, but what I would really like is a small light MP3/Ogg player that doesn't eat up 30-40% of my CPU. Mint Audio does this barely, and MaltX succeeds here. Maybe if they have some MORE value-added features, I may pay for it, but in it's current state, I'll pass and make do by playing in the Finder.


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## AG3 (May 14, 2002)

This app is cool , only thing not cool is it expires 14 days, they should make it free forever but u pay for pro features.
Would like an equalizer.

Mpegtoaster is KING of lo cpu usage but also KING of boring.

Audion is where my heart is, but this app is cool too, I will use it next to Audion with its superior equalizer.
Audion features SID playback which sold me first on this app.


BTW Audion web page and how it shows previews for skins "faces" is so mac like and easy, noone has provided that service so far.


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## ddma (May 14, 2002)

> _Originally posted by fryke _
> *What do you mean, your sound is skipping? I'm using iTunes 2 on my TiBook 500, and sound never skips while doing other things...
> *



My TiBook 667's sound sometimes does skipping while playing iTunes (while i am running any other application).


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## Krevinek (May 14, 2002)

Oh, I like the Ogg support MaltX has over mpegToaster (although mpegToaster is pretty darn lightweight and nice, it doesn't play my growing collection of oggs)


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## serpicolugnut (May 14, 2002)

iTunes (and other MP3 players) skips only when I surf the web. In IE, they will skip alot. In Mozilla, just a little bit. In Navigator and OmniWeb, it's almost non-existant.

It doesn't seem to do this at all when using any other apps, even when using something like Photoshop while working on a large file. Go figure...

Perhaps skipping isn't the correct word though. It's actually more of a stuttering of playback.

Very annoying, and it happens on both my Macs (see below)...


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## fryke (May 14, 2002)

how can an mp3 player be boring? what *i* need from an mp3 player is to have a nice playlist function and then let it 'play' all day. it's the choice of *sound* that makes my mp3 player fun and interesting. and iTunes does *this* job very, very well... I really can get iTunes to skip sound only when starting Photoshop.


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## ~~NeYo~~ (May 14, 2002)

Eww! it Looks CRAP!  lol! ... Man, why Would you wanna Ditch iTunes For that?! hmmm...  

hehe! ... ( can Someone, plz mail me a mac!? ANY MAC!  )

NeYo


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## Krevinek (May 14, 2002)

Here is why I ditched iTunes: 30-40% CPU usage and no Ogg support, couldn't burn to my SCSI CD-RW since I am an unsupported hardware.

MaltX on the other hand is very lightweight, does what I want it to, and does it fairly well. Now if the price issue could be resolved (there are NO FREE OGG PLAYERS FOR X YET), I would be in heaven. (Hey, I am all for them making a bit of money, but 12$ for a rather basic MP3/Ogg player? Why not a Lite/Pro version?)

I need Ogg support without the massive CPU headache iTunes is.


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## simX (May 15, 2002)

What in the world are you guys doing to iTunes to make it use 30-40% of the CPU regularly??  Are you moving the window around a lot, or zooming it all the time?

iTunes for me, when in the background, only uses up 10-20% of the CPU when playing, and virtually none when not playing.  This is perfectly acceptable, and I'm on an almost 2-year-old machine (that's not old by any means, but it still runs Mac OS X like a champ).


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## ddma (May 15, 2002)

I got 5 - 15% while playing music in iTunes. I always got skipping while dragging windows around or using Internet Explorer. Otherwise, it won't skip unless there is a huge program loading and executin.


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## Krevinek (May 15, 2002)

Lemme see, you both are on G4s, and Apple has said iTunes is G4-optimized in many areas. I am on a 604e, do the math


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