Best Free Alternative to Windows Media Player?

WMP sucks huge donkey balls. It can't even read the embedded information from music files correctly.

I'm looking for a freeware alternative - something I can catalog the music on my PC with, create playlists, etc.

Lots of choices out there. What's your preference?

One specific bit of functionality I'd like to have is that if I'm playing a song that's part of a playlist, I'd like to be able to que up another song to play next that's not necessarily on the list without interrupting what's currently playing. Sort of a "DJ takes a request" kind of scenario.

Thanks for any suggestions.

I've been a winamp user for years, love it. Lots of different skins if you don't like the way it looks as well.

http://www.winamp.com/

I use Winamp cause it has lots of functionality but I also use vlc... Plays anything and doesn't eat up system resources.

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/

There are so many.
After trying most I have pretty much settled with VLC.
Like till Pow says it plays anything, and it isn't a resource hog.

+2 for vlc

+3 for VLC

VLC is the best for video, but doesn't at all meet the OP's criteria for a music player. Tag team winamp and vlc for music/video.

media monkey > winamp

I use zune for music (~ 1 tb), VLC for vid. Editing tags in zune sucks though, use tagscanner for that.

Thanks for the recos!

I'll give Winamp and VLC a try.