# Strawberry music player

11 Hacker News commenters recommended Strawberry music player and 3 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 6 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Free music player that people recommend for managing and playing large local collections, including ripped CD libraries, with approachable playback and playlists.

## Why people recommend it

- Strong collection management for large libraries (3 comments): "For a traditional all batteries included collection management music player try Strawberry" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48544242)) "Strawberry has great collection support as I own thousands of ripped CDs." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49522148)) "it allows me to play all the music i actually own" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47895339))
- Approachable, high-level, does everything wanted (2 comments): "strawberry is pretty good at keeping things approachable and high-level" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46777481)) "Works great and does everything I want." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48186010))
- Widely recommended as a top pick (2 comments): "was already my favorite music player on Linux/BSD systems even without that" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45806478)) "Strawberry is a really good one." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46777091))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Winamp](https://hackerapproved.com/p/winamp.md): 60 recommend
- [iTunes](https://hackerapproved.com/p/itunes.md): 55 recommend
- [foobar2000](https://hackerapproved.com/p/foobar2000.md): 54 recommend
- [Plexamp](https://hackerapproved.com/p/plexamp.md): 31 recommend
- [Audacious music player](https://hackerapproved.com/p/audacious.md): 17 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Strawberry music player", https://hackerapproved.com/p/strawberry-music-player/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).