Well, there are two parts to the answer here.

First, the media hasn't come up with one universal standard yet. Sure, there's MPEG, DivX, and other open standards, but most sites still use either Windows Media, Real, or QuickTime to do streaming content. So until everybody decides on a standard, you need the various assortment of media players if you want to download videos and songs.

Second of all, sometimes websites just go and install those things without your intervention. Windows comes with WMP, and more often than not Wimamp, RealPlayer, and QuickTime are all downloaded via ActiveX controls. Of course, all that can be solved by upgrading to Firefox.

Personally, I've got (inevitably) WMP and RealPlayer 10.5, but I've also ripped the codes out of QuickTime, DivX Player, and WinDVD. I really don't care for all the UI's as long as I can play back the formats, and I need Helix Player (RealPlayer's core) to integrate with the rest of the codecs on the machine (since WMP can't do that). My main player is WMP, because (in my opinion) it has the best organization system, and it starts up faster than RealPlayer and (when I had the UI installed) iTunes. I've neglected Winamp, because RealPlayer can do just about everything Winamp can. I've also got a 'media-less' laptop that only has WMP -- no Flash, Shockwave, Real, Quicktime, or anything else.
Don Luchini | Homepage | 04.03.05 - 7:20 pm | #