There are loads of free downloadable mp3 players available on the internet. They have a range of features from basic music players to programs with equalisers, shuffle capability, the option to make your own play lists, various graphical visualisations which show on screen while the music plays and even interfaces which can be customised.

The most popular free downloadable mp3 player by quite a distance is Winamp. This excellent program has a wide range of features in an easy to use interface and it can be used for video playback as well. It can provide the latest data for your tracks by searching the web. It can offer you a range of visualisations for funky onscreen graphics which react to your music and the interface itself supports a range of skins for unique visual looks to suit any taste. There are lots of free tracks and videos available via Winamp and it even supports radio access. It will play just about any format you’d care to mention. Winamp also has a wide range of plug-ins to suit any purpose and it is no surprise that is easily the best free downloadable mp3 player available.

There are of course other options such as dBpoweramp Audio Player. This mp3 player also supports a wide range of formats, it has a graphic equaliser and various visualisations and skins for the interface. There are also some nice extra features such as the Crossfader which allows you to play the DJ and blend your tracks. Another attraction of this program is the fact you can rate songs out of five stars and over time it will selectively play the tracks you like the most.

Sonique is yet another option for a free downloadable mp3 player. This program is a bit more basic but once again it supports various audio formats, has an equaliser, visualisations and skins. You can also create and edit playlists on Sonique. The downside here is that owners Lycos have discontinued development but you can still download the last version and it works perfectly well.

Another option that you might consider is UltraPlayer which is battling to compete with Winamp. It offers support for a wide range of audio formats, it has various visualisations and skin options for the interface and it also supports video files. Like Winamp you can tune into radio stations, you can even record radio streams to your hard drive. It also has limited conversion capability allowing you to convert mp3 files to wav format. It is very easy to use, you can drag and drop files onto the player to listen and it also includes a nice smart alarm system.

Perhaps the most popular audio player in the world now is iTunes from Apple. It plays music files in mp4 format so it can’t be described as a free downloadable mp3 player however it will happily convert mp3 format to mp4. It is free, it includes track info, shuffle, playlist support and a wide range of available additional content in terms of videos, music and podcasts. If you choose to add an mp3 file to iTunes it will automatically convert the file to mp4 format, it will also leave the original mp3 file behind. If you have an iPod then iTunes is definitely the way to go.

There are a lot of other free downloadable mp3 players out there but there is little point looking beyond the most popular examples. With free software you should always be careful what you download as it can often be bundled with spyware or even malware. Winamp is a reliable program used by millions of people and it offers you a fantastic range of features considering it is completely free.