wling

Preface#

As a seasoned NetEase Cloud Music user, I have been looking for a third-party music player that better meets my needs. Although the official client is feature-rich, it starts slowly and consumes a lot of resources, leaving me quite dissatisfied, hoping to find a replacement (new love old hate just kidding).

During my exploration, I tried several popular third-party players, including BetterNCM, HyPlayer, and finally the SPlayer that left me completely satisfied. Here are my experiences and final recommendations.

First Stop: BetterNCM - Plugin-based Expansion Exploration#

BetterNCM is a plugin extension system based on the official NetEase Cloud client. Simply put, it is not a completely independent player, but rather enhances and optimizes features by loading plugins on top of the official client.

Advantages:#

• Rich features: The plugin ecosystem is very active, with everything from lyric optimization, interface beautification to quick operations.
• Mild modifications: It strengthens the official client rather than completely replacing it, making it convenient for users accustomed to the native client.

Disadvantages:#

• Performance issues: After loading multiple plugins, the client starts to become slow, and there are occasional lags and crashes.
• Redundancy: Although there are more features, the overall experience is still limited by the native client, and the accumulation of plugins makes it feel bloated, like "forcing more stuff into an already complex system."

Overall, is BetterNCM a good choice? It feels more like a "patch" rather than a "rebuild." For someone like me who pursues a simple and smooth experience, it still doesn't quite cut it and is a bit troublesome (

Second Stop: HyPlayer - Modern Interface and Features, but Regrets Remain#

Next, I turned to HyPlayer. This is a completely independent third-party NetEase Cloud player developed based on UWP (Universal Windows Platform), with a fresh and simple design.

Advantages:#

• Aesthetic and modern: The interface design is very much in line with modern aesthetics, with a simple layout and intuitive operation.
• Lightweight: No ads or unnecessary additional features, and the startup speed is relatively fast.

Disadvantages:#

• Many bugs: During use, I encountered some minor issues, such as stuttering when playing high-quality music, song skipping, and lyrics out of sync. These bugs have not been fully fixed to this day (the framework issues are unavoidable, but the development team is quite responsible).
• Development limitations: Due to being developed on UWP, HyPlayer cannot run on macOS or Linux. The limitations of UWP also mean it lacks some common interactive details, such as scroll wheel volume adjustment.
• Insufficient comprehensive features: It falls short in aspects like multi-platform support and ease of installation.

In summary, HyPlayer is also a player worth trying, but its flaws and platform limitations prevent me from fully immersing myself in it~

Final Choice: SPlayer - The Perfect Combination of Minimalism and Modernity#

After a comparison, I finally encountered SPlayer, which can be said to have almost resolved all my expectations for a third-party music player.

Why Choose SPlayer?#

Simple and Modern Interface Design#

The interface of SPlayer is very minimalist, with a fresh color scheme and smooth, natural animations. It is not as complex as BetterNCM, nor as limited as HyPlayer. SPlayer gives me a sense of what a "modern" music experience feels like.

Efficient and Smooth Performance#

From startup speed to smooth operation, SPlayer performs exceptionally well. Even when loading a large number of music files, its response speed remains fast, completely bidding farewell to lag issues.

Cross-Platform Support#

Unlike HyPlayer's single-platform support, SPlayer runs smoothly on Windows, macOS, and Linux (open-source and can be built independently), meeting my needs for switching between multiple devices.

Comprehensive and Thoughtful Features#

• NetEase Cloud Music integration: Supports QR code login, daily check-in, playlist synchronization, and lossless audio playback (requires membership support).
• Local music management: Supports various formats (MP3, FLAC, etc.), and can switch to a local player without connecting to the internet.
• Customizable interface and themes: The overall software interface, cover theme colors are adaptive, lyric animations, desktop lyrics, and automatic switching between light and dark modes, making both the visual and user experience delightful.

Ramblings#

Looking back on this journey, I experienced the diversity of features from BetterNCM's plugin extensions; tried the initial combination of aesthetics and lightweight from HyPlayer; and finally settled on SPlayer, finding the music player that truly meets my needs.

SPlayer is not only smooth and efficient but also has a unique modern feel, making it the ideal companion in my music journey.

If you are also looking for a uniquely styled third-party NetEase Cloud player, you might want to try these three; perhaps one of them could become your ideal choice~

This article is synchronized and updated by Mix Space to xLog. The original link is https://ling.crashvibe.cn/posts/tool/splayer-wyy