You've answered your own question.......Don't use the LW player, as you already know it skips, pops, cracks, ect. You can disable the LW player by going into the options and unticking the player. I have windows, and the mac version is slightly different, but you should be able to find it.
Once you disable the LW player, your files should launch in their default player.
http://www.gnutellaforums.com/tips-t...p3-fixers.html