Before I joined DC, I'd settled on these three Windows OpenType font programs:
1. Bitstream Font Manager-- I have 7 or 8 thousand fonts on file; Windows loads about 84 of them at startup. Every other font program makes me wait 30 seconds or more while all my fonts are enumerated-- Bitstream doesn't make me wait. Fastest way to upgrade to the latest Deja Vu, for example. CONS: Can't customize the interface very much; duplicate font finder is unreliable. Comes bundled in CorelDraw.

2. XFonter-- One has a "collection" of music files, but fonts live in a "library." If you want to page through your library in a clean, bright, highly configurable setting, XFonter's tabbed interface allows full access to font history, information & nomenclature, plus all the usual font manager functions, plus textures and Blacksun's very nice color sampler. XFonter seems a marriage of beauty & function. CONS: This one makes me wait while I close it, too. Waiting for software to start is much easier than waiting for it to finish.

3.  MainType-- seems to be the fastest full-featured Windows font manager.  I use it when I want to compare fonts and select a group of them for a project. MainType has a handsome, highly functional, tool-like interface that's surprisingly configurable. For everyday Windows use, it's quite a bargain at the DC price. CONS: Can't open every tool at once-- there's not enough room.