SPIDER PLAYER PRO Reviewed April 2009 What’s It Do? The program provides 32-bit sound processing; streaming audio support from the Internet, LAN, and Internet radio; unlimited recording from Internet streams; radio directory; custom hotkeys; multiformat playback; converter and CD ripping; custom MIDI soundfonts; DSP effects; tag editor; portability on USB flash drive, iPod, portable hard drive, CD, any computer, and U3 smart drives; multichannel audio; crossfading; skins; full unicode; CD text and free DB support; 10-band equalizer; incremental playlist search; and, etc. Does it do what it promises? Reviewer 1: Yes. I am not an audio expert, but all the features that I tried worked well. These included listening to and recording from Internet radio, converting audio files to and from a variety of formats, ripping CDs, using the ten-band graphic equalizer to optimize sound, setting up lists of favorites from among the thousands of radio stations Spider Player can access, creating playlists, and more. Reviewer 2: Yes, Spider Player Pro delivers what is promised. It is a classic example of a program that sets out to do a defined set of functions and does them well without the bloat that creeps in when trying to do too much. I have enjoyed many hours of music, some of it new to me, since installing this program. Reviewer 3: Yes, it plays CDs, rips CDs, converts between various formats, plays and records Internet radio streams. Reviewer 4: Yes. This is a lightweight media player with a rich set of features and exceptional sound quality. Reviewer 5: Yes, although at first I had some difficulties in finding my way around the program. With some experience and experimentation, I was able to use all the features that I tried out. I have now installed it as my default audio-player. Was it easy to install? Reviewer 1: I encountered problems at first, but I suspect that these resulted from my having been given a free license as an NNT review panel member. When I clicked on the link to download Spider Player, the link took me to Primus, a company that apparently handles such transactions for Spider Player. Primus asked me to give them a reference number before they could help me. Perhaps if I had purchased the software normally, I'd have had such a number; without one, I could get nowhere with Primus. I finally had to write to Spider Player for help and had to identify myself as a member of the software review panel, something I usually prefer not to do. I received prompt help and downloaded and installed the program with no further difficulty. Reviewer 2: Installation was fine. In order to activate the Pro version it was necessary to download the Basic version and then enter the code, which was emailed after completing online registration. The license is generous and flexible; it allows one to either install the software on multiple devices with exclusive access, or to install on a single device to which multiple users have access. Reviewer 3: Yes, it installed with no problems. It has a 3.0 MB installer and requires 7.5 MB space on the hard drive. Reviewer 4: Yes. The almost tiny (by comparison to other media players) 3.8 MB download is a quick download (8 minutes on dial-up and 10 seconds on a moderately fast broadband). It installed easily using a standard installation wizard and offered the standard EULA (End User License Agreement) but with a much more liberal licensing agreement than usual (see below). Setting up the software after installation as well as registration was equally easy and problem free. The program installed and integrated seamlessly in the Windows operating system. It later uninstalled smoothly leaving only a very few fragments in the Registry. Reviewer 5: Yes. It is a standard Windows installation process that allowed me to choose the location of the program and its shortcuts. Unlike many other installation procedures, there was no effort to install services or other items in the Windows start-up process without asking permission. The program downloaded and installed program is the Basic (free) version that contains many of the functions of the PRO version. The extra features of the PRO version are listed on the Registration screen of the Basic version. There is also a comparative Feature list on the main page of the Spider Player Web site. The program checks for upgrades automatically and the latest version can be downloaded at the Web site. Good points. Reviewer 1: What first attracted me to Spider Player was the large number of audio formats that it supports. It will play more than 30 formats, and it will convert any of these to MP3, WMA, WAV, OGG, FLAC, or WavPack format. In each case, it gives the user a good deal of control over the conversion—for example, in converting to MP3, the user can choose a constant or a variable bitrate, and within those categories specify the desired bitrate or range. Spider Player also can rip (i.e., copy) an audio CD. It can save the files in any of the six formats mentioned in the previous paragraph, and it again gives the user valuable control over the process. Thus, when I decided to rip the CDs of an audio book I had bought, I was able to specify that Spider Player use a relatively low bitrate, since speech usually requires less fidelity than, say, orchestral music. The resulting files would then take up less room on my MP3 player. Spider Player also makes it possible to listen to and to record Internet radio. It provides access to two huge Internet radio directories, Shoutcast and Icecast, which put thousands of stations around the world at my disposal. The station listings can be overwhelming, but it is possible to select or sort them by the type of programming they provide (e.g., classical, rock, talk, top 40), as well as by bitrate. The listings also note what each station is currently playing. By simply pressing a button, the user can also get Spider Player to record any selection from the radio. The free version will record up to five minutes, but the inexpensive Pro version that the NNT panel tested has no limit to recording time. The Pro version also makes it possible to achieve the best possible quality by using lossless recording for any MP3 and AAC+ streams, resulting in an exact audio copy. Spider Player also makes it easy to create and edit playlists, which can then be sorted by title, duration, path, or type. The list can also be reversed or randomized, and, if one wishes, the selections can make use of crossfading, so that each song gradually fades out and the next fades in. Another strength of Spider Player is its excellent sound quality. Of course, when listening to music via Internet radio, the user is somewhat dependent on the quality of the radio station's signal. However, some of a station's shortcomings can be overcome by using Spider Player's ten-band graphic equalizer. It comes with nineteen presets designed to optimize the sound of different kinds of broadcasts, such as opera, country, techno, rap, and speech. The user can also choose to adjust the settings however he or she wishes. At a time when increasing numbers of software programs restrict their use to just one computer, another of Spider Player's advantages is that its standard license is per user, not per machine (though other arrangements are possible). Moreover, all upgrades are free. One additional strength of Spider Player is the responsiveness of its developer, Vitaly Kravchenko. He responds promptly and helpfully to questions on the Spider Player Web forum, as well as to questions sent by email. He is also continually improving the program, often in response to user feedback. In 2008 alone, he produced 24 updates. Reviewer 2: There are wide varieties of Internet music stations available to choose from. They can be quickly sorted by genre. Useful information listed about each station includes the genre, bitrate, file type, currently playing song (usually outdated) and the number of current online listeners. Recording is unlimited with this version. When recording from an Internet radio station, the continuous recording is automatically broken up into segments representing individual play clips or songs, and automatically saved under an automatically generated subdirectory named for that station. The quality of the audio was very nice, provided the source from the station was of good quality. A desired station can be added to favorites for quick future access. The search function can find any word within the favorite’s name in a long list. Ripping CD’s was a straightforward process. The controls were clearly labeled. “FreeDB” looks up the title and artist and assigns this information to the tracks. Under “Options” one can choose the format and quality/file size of the output. The ripping process proceeded at a reasonable speed and the output files played cleanly. Reviewer 3: This is a very nice, simple to use player. It provides a small footprint on the system and a versatile converter for many common formats. I loved the Internet Radio feature. The selection of content is pretty awesome. I was able to listen to a tech talk stream (TWIT-TV) while working on other things on the computer at the same time. Reviewer 4: While all media players are much the same and offer many if not all of the same features, what sets Spider Player Pro apart from many of the others is: • Very lightweight. Uses very few resources or space on one’s hard drive. CPU use was not noticeable and memory use was negligible. This would be a perfect program for an older or less powerful PC. • Not only offers the ability to “skin” or change the appearance of the GUI (Graphic User Interface, but more importantly and not as common is the ability to control the opacity of the GUI so that user can set various degrees of transparency allowing one to “see through” the program while using it. • Has an internal and very fast CD ripping ability with the ability to convert a wide range of file types to different formats. • It is one of the only players I have seen that offers full integration with Shoutcast and Icecast radio directories as a part of its audio streaming capabilities. • A very nice favorites manager that allows the user to include comments for each selection. • A very active support forum in which the developer is actively involved. • A very liberal and generous EULA (End User License Agreement) that allows a single user to install the program on, for example a PC, USB and portable device. Similarly, the program can be installed on several different PCs or USB drives if the same individual uses all. All features of the program worked easily and as described. This is a very nice and well-designed program. Reviewer 5: There are many programs available to play audio files such as CD's or Internet radio, Internet streaming or podcasts. A number of good ones are freeware, so this is a difficult market for a program such as Spider Player PRO to enter. The Basic version has a fairly rich set of functions on its own, while the PRO version adds some interesting features. One which I like is the ability to listen to Internet Radio. I have occasionally tried out other Radio Internet programs, but have usually found them to be unsatisfactory. They take some time to load themselves, often suffer from "skips and breaks", the sound quality is not always very good, and switching from one station to another is cumbersome as the connection is made and some sort of buffer is built. With the radio functions of Spider Player PRO, I found the quality to be impressive, and it was easy to switch back and forth between stations without long pauses. An additional feature is the ability to record as it is playing. The ability to "batch rip" the music from CD's to be a very handy feature. So too I appreciate being able to batch convert files from one format to another. I can now prepare music for registration both on MP3 players and iPods. And to those with discerning musical ears, the quality remains high after the conversions have been made. Although the Spider Player forum is not large, it is active, the response to my questions were rapid and helpful. I have not needed the e-mail support available only in the PRO version; but, when one is struggling with unfamiliar technical terminology, this support is very important. Spider Player PRO can also be used in 27 different languages. Switching from one to another is a simple choice from a drop-down selection in the "General" section of the Options. One of the more interesting features is direct user-participation in the program. Beside the Language Selection drop-down box there is an "Edit" button. This will open a "Translation Editor". Two languages of choice appear side-by-side, and the user can correct mistakes or even embark on translating the program into the 28th language. The license agreement for Spider Player PRO, in my opinion, sets what should be the standard arrangement for all software that we purchase. The license key can be used for all three versions of Spider Player PRO (PC, U3, and Portable) and can be installed simultaneously on all three devices for a single user. Weak points Reviewer 1: Although the Wiki and the tutorials on the Spider Player Web site provide some excellent documentation about the program, more information is needed, especially for the new user. The program's interface contains neither a Help file nor a link to the useful but limited information on the Web site. At times, too, that information is less helpful than it should be. I turned to the web site's FAQ to learn how to add radio stations to those listed in the directories. The FAQ said: "Please visit http://shoutcast.com/ or http://icecast.org/  to find out how to do this. Shoutcast and Icecast directories are services owned and maintained by third parties. Spider Player is merely a handy client application here." Eventually, I came upon a similar question in the forum. To my surprise, someone pointed out that in Spider Player's main menu, one can simply choose Play  URL and supply the radio station's broadcast URL. One can then add this listing to one's Favorites. Though the web site describes Spider Player's interface as "intuitive," I found it somewhat confusing. For quite a while, I couldn't figure out how to close down the program. In almost all Windows software, one clicks on an X in the upper right corner to close a program. When I did that with Spider Player, instead of the program's closing, the graphic equalizer disappeared. It turned out that what looks like one solid interface is really three separable pieces—radio, equalizer, and playlist—each with an X in the upper-right corner that closes down just that piece. To close the entire program, one has to click on the Main Menu button in the upper left corner of the radio component and select Exit. Though on the whole Spider Player ripped CDs and converted their files quickly and easily, on one occasion I encountered a problem. I indicated that I wanted Spider Player to rip and convert all 17 tracks of an audio CD to MP3 format. It turned out that two tracks on the CD were defective, but instead of reporting this, Spider Player ripped and converted only 15 tracks and made no mention of a problem with the other two tracks. This was the only time I experienced a problem in Spider Player's functioning. Perhaps the thing that concerns me most about Spider Player Pro is its uncertain future development. In mid-March, the developer announced on the Web forum that he thought it was time for him to move away from programming. He assured people that Spider Player would still be supported, but that its active development would be suspended. Since Spider Player owes much of its success to the developer's talent and dedication, his decision to move in other directions does not bode well for the program. Reviewer 2: The radio stations’ list view can be customized to view the specific genre one would like to hear; clicking on a choice would often yield the message that the server was temporarily unavailable. This often would be corrected when the choice is selected again, but having to scroll down the menu and find the choice again was irritating. The graphic interface is somewhat awkward. The display is split into three separate segments and each can be moved or closed individually; the main display is in the upper left corner, so in order to close the program one must click on an ‘x’ which is in the middle of the upper portion of the overall display. Clicking on the ‘x’, which is on the upper right corner of the overall display, only closes the equalizer section. The Volume control bar and Equalizer levels are thin; one must place the cursor in a precise location to access these controls. Making these bars wider would improve their ease of use. Attempting to record music from a Korean radio station caused this program to crash, presumably because my Windows setup, set for the English language, could not handle the non-English characters in the filename. Reviewer 3: It would be nice to have a built-in CD/DVD burner but that, of course, would bulk it up quite a bit. I think the idea was to keep Spider Player “light weight” and not make it “bloatware”. Once the rip is completed, one must use another program to burn a disc if desired. Reviewer 4: In my extensive testing and use of Spider Player Pro, I found no weaknesses or bugs. While some might find the GUI a bit Spartan in appearance, I found its somewhat minimalist look to be elegant but not always intuitive. • Nearly all features are hidden in menu lists that I found somewhat counterintuitive; although, it does make for a clean and uncluttered GUI. • Support while in my testing was astoundingly responsive with questions answered within hours in some instances; however, I would like to see some turn-around time indicated in the support/email ticket section. • As is common with many players that offer Internet radio, the stations that are available at any given time are rather hit-or-miss. I found several stations that simply seemed not to be broadcasting at all. Reviewer 5: I do not spend a great deal of time working with audio files, so I used Spider Player PRO as a relative novice. Although Spider Player PRO is less intimidating than most programs of this type, I still found it hard to do what I was trying to accomplish. As long as Spider Player PRO has been set as my default audio-files player, I can simply double-click on an audio file and it will open; however, when I must search for these files, I must do so with the Explorer tree, clicking through directories and sub-directories. Spider Player PRO should have a simple "find music:" function, which would build a list of the directories where music (or other audio files) is to be found, thus greatly simplify the task of searching? The help files were not of much help. The FAQ section is sparse, and covers only a few of my questions. The Wiki is a good idea, but it does not often do anything more than give one-line explanations of each of the functions in the menus. There are some good tutorial guides for several of the more specialized features of the PRO version, but the Basic Program would also benefit from some tutorials as well. Although the interface is described as "intuitive", I did not find that to be so. I spent entirely too much time initially finding my way around Spider Player PRO, although this later became less frustrating. Developer's Web site. Reviewer 1:  found the website very helpful. It provides information about Spider Player's features, offers a Wiki with detailed, illustrated explanations of Spider Player's options, and includes tutorials that cover some of the most basic and important procedures, such as converting audio files, using the radio directory, and recording from the radio, as well as some more advanced topics such as using custom command-line encoders and installing and changing soundfont banks. The Web site also provides more than a dozen screen shots, links to available plug-ins, illustrations of varied skins that can be downloaded, a comparison of Spider Player's freeware and commercial versions, and links to an online support forum in which the developer participates actively. Also available but unobtrusive are user testimonials and an impressive array of awards. Reviewer 2: The Web site is clearly laid out and the Wiki has a nice graphics-laden guide to using the features of the program. The forum is active and questions are frequently answered directly by the program’s developer. Reviewer 3: The Web site is clean and easy to navigate. It is a no-nonsense site without a lot of hype and sales pitching. Good tutorials on using the program are available. There are links to a Wiki and the forum for support questions. There are clear instructions. The Developer is active on the forum. Reviewer 4: The developer’s Web site is as uncluttered and elegant in its minimalism as is its software program. It was easy to read and navigate and offered more than adequate information to make an informed decision in regard to downloading or purchasing this program. Through its help files, tutorials, and forum, it allows a complete understanding of its many features and functions. Reviewer 5: As the site is dedicated to Spider Player and Spider Player PRO, it is well focused, without the distractions of other programs to compete with it. As every business needs sales in order to survive, it is understandable that its features and qualities are prominently displayed; however, I found this to be done without aggressively shouting. They indicate a real interest in their users. Support is an important part of the site, and is at least as prominent as the sales. Such features as the ability to edit the language (which is in the program itself), a Wiki as a help file and FAQ, a poll on at the top of the main page (one of the questions asks for ideas on how to improve the program), and an active and responsive forum all bode well for the future development and improvement of the program. Other comments. Reviewer 1: Many of Spider Player's features, such as the radio directory, the favorites manager, and the ability to convert a wide array of audio files, are available as well in a free version. The differences between the two versions are described on the Web site's download page. Reviewer 2: This was a fun program that gave me many hours of listening pleasure. Reviewer 3: I have tried various players in the past. This one stands up well in comparison. It uses plug-ins from WinAmp and the user community can create or tweak its own. It’s a great replacement for WinAmp, Windows Media Player etc. To avoid the bloat with something that works well and is easy to use, Spider Player is recommended. Reviewer 4: The quality of sound is touted by Spider Player’s users and developer; however, I have purposely avoided commenting on this. The program is reported to have “crystal clear” sound, or the “best” sound, or the “widest dynamic range” compared to other players. It is suggested that this is due to its use of 32-bit sound processing, lossless recording, DSP effects, and so on. In fact, however, as any audiophile or sound engineer will tell you, the sound one hears is only as good as the speakers used to reproduce the sound. Furthermore, the quality of one’s sound card will also affect and control the sound being reproduced by the speakers. So to make generalized claims about sound quality seems a bit disingenuous to me. I can tell you that using my speakers and comparing Spider Player with several other media players, Spider Player did seem to produce a more realistic and “open” sound; however, the sound heard is highly subjective and what sounds good to one listener may well sound less so to another. Reviewer 5: I asked the musical experts here (university students) to try out the program. The feature they appreciated the most is the quality of the sound produced by Spider Player PRO. They tried out different presets in the equalizer and were very appreciative of the effect it had on the playback of their music. Since their main interest is in their music, they were not interested in changing from the familiar programs they have been using for several years. Herein lies the challenge to Spider Player PRO. Although it works very well, and is able to produce high-quality sound, even after ripping and converting from one format to another, it may be difficult to dislodge the majority of those who are familiar and comfortable with their current media players. Will you continue to use it? Reviewer 1: Yes. It has become my program of choice for playing and converting audio files and for listening to and recording Internet radio. Reviewer 2: Yes. This is now part of my permanent software library. Reviewer 3: Yes, this has become my default media streaming and CD listening program. Reviewer 4: No, but only because I already have too many media players that I can’t replace due to their unique or proprietary formats; however, I will recommend Spider Player Pro to anyone looking for an excellent, feature-rich but lightweight media player/recorder. Reviewer 5: Yes. I find that I like it more as I use it more. Vitaly Kravchenko, Spider Player’s developer, replied: Wow! I'm very impressed with the quality of reviews, and how detailed and objective they are. There is nothing I would like to add or comment on. I want to thank all reviewers for their work, and I'm happy that they enjoyed using the program. OPERATING SYSTEMS USED IN THIS REVIEW Windows Vista Home Premium, XP Pro, XP Home, Media Center Edition Back