Windows Media Player 10 Reviewed 484
An anonymous reader writes "Paul Thorrott reviews Windows Media Player 10 and notes that unlike Apple's iTunes Music Store, which offers music that is only compatible with Apple's iPod portable player, WMP 10 will work with songs from virtually any other online music store. There are more screenshots here with a download link." Reader Thomas Hawk writes "I wrote my Microsoft Windows Media Player 10 Review today the first day the software was released and one of the first reviews on the product. I basically give it good marks but there are definiately some things that they can still improve upon."
An anonymous reader writes "Since I'm somewhat wary of Microsoft's new software (particularly DRM-laden Media Player types,) I was paying attention to the EULA and privacy agreements provided when downloading the software. Ironically enough, the privacy page linked from the installer (at time of writing) merely said "TODO: Privacy policy goes here". Most certainly an honest mistake, but in the meantime it appears there is in fact no policy on privacy (or it has not yet been taken into consideration) in WMP10."
Doesn't install on Windows Server 2003 (Score:3, Informative)
go fig.
TODO: (Score:0, Informative)
Re:WMP 10... yay... (Score:3, Informative)
Um. (Score:5, Informative)
Songs bought from the iTunes Music Store work in and only in Quicktime applications such as iTunes.
Songs bought from mp3 based music stores work anywhere.
Didn't we all know this already?
Re:WMP 10... yay... (Score:1, Informative)
It includes every codecs you need, WMP Classic, a Real-Player alternative, and a QuickTime alternative.
It works great, and its free.
Re:No Privacy Policy? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:WMP 10... yay... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:WMP 10... yay... (Score:2, Informative)
Personally I think you can't been vlc [videolan.org].
Re:Works...? (Score:5, Informative)
I guess "work" has become a very subjective word.
I'll second this. Read Walt Mossberg's WSJ review of the store [wsj.com] -- he couldn't get music purchased from other WMP-based stores to play in WMP10.
This means that not only is WMP10 incompatible by definition with the vast majority of music sold online (70-80% of all music sold is through the iTunes Music Store, which is in protected AAC format not supported by WMP), it apparently won't play what little music is sold in protected WMA format, either.
Given that WMP10 apparently doesn't play any music ever sold online, I'd say that they have an uphill battle. I'm sure that MS and the MS-based retailers will eventually fix the problems that keeps WMP10 from playing the 20-30% of purchased music in MS-based formats. But since Microsoft's store isn't better than Apple's, and MS-based players aren't better than Apple's, about the only advantage that MS has is the ability to pre-install WMP on every copy of Windows. Of course, since Apple is doing deals with PC manufacturers to pre-install iTunes and iTMS on PC's as well, with any luck the market will at least stay competitive, to the benefit of customers...
Why (Score:2, Informative)
All files downloaded from iTunes (music store) can be played on any other system if you go through the effort to convert them. Same as Windows media files.
I really don't get the fuss about converting files. If I want easy access to my CDs I rip them to my computer and change their format. If I wanted to listen to an album I bought in the 80s I recorded it to a tape. If I wanted to listen to an 8 track... oh wait - I am a little young for those... but for most all things, if I want to listen to it in a different form than what I bought it in, I went through the effort to change the format.
Re:Um. (Score:5, Informative)
Many newer DVD players can play MP3s on a CD-R/CD-RW but can they play MP3s on a data DVD?
I want to put gigs of songs on a DVD and play it on my TV/Stereo.
The SPECS *never* state this. They only say "it plays DVDs" and "it plays MP3s" and "it can read a CD-R/CD-RW". They never explicitly state if it can play MP3s on a DVD-R.
I'm sick of the iTMS comparison (Score:5, Informative)
Well, all the other stores, be they MSN Beta, Napster, or buymusic.com all provide songs in WMP format, which I believe is a PROPRIEATRY PATENTED FORMAT, last I checked.
The reason why iTunes and the iPod don't use WMA is because Apple DOES NOT want to give Microsoft a cut every time a Mac or an iPod is sold.
People seem to forget that the iPod and iTunes happily play MP3 files, as well AIFF, and WAV files as well as AAC.
There was also a note about the MP3 decoding chips inside the iPod. The exact same chip is used in a number of other players that are Windows only. That chip will happily decode, MP3s, AACs and WMA files. Apple pays the licensing for AAC, but refuses to pay to license WMA. Well, the makers of the other players don't want to pay Dolby a license to be able to play AAC files, hence why their firmware doesn't use the AAC. They could easily turn on AAC and write a plugin for iTunes and the thing would work with iTunes then (at least the non DRMed stuff).
Since I have an iPod, I started ripping stuff to 192K AAC, but have since switched to 256 VBR Lame MP3 files. My iPod has no issue with these files whatsoever and iTunes plays them happily.
If Apple and Microsoft wanted to use a REAL open standard (just because most PCs ship with WinXP, and WMP is FORCE BUNDLED with them DOES NOT make WMA a standard), they would offer songs in MP3 or Ogg Vorbis format.
Re:WMP 10... yay... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Works...? (Score:3, Informative)
Please, slow down with the FUD.
From the article (that YOU linked):
He was unable to get purchased songs from some stores to work on his device. That is not the same as WMP10 being unable to play them. He mentions that you have to download updated software from the stores themselves to be compatible with your device. When I launched WMP10 for the first time, it prompted me to download the update for MusicMatch (which may not have been available when Walt did his review), which I did without a problem.
Re:No Privacy Policy? (Score:2, Informative)
This is from the Privacy & Legal link on the bottom of the MSN Music homepage.
Maybe the URL in the WMP10 installer is a mistake?
Re:WMP 10... yay... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:ogg (Score:3, Informative)
Bullshit. WMP 9 only had MP3 encoding in the form of an addon. In WMP 10 it's there by default, and other than the lack of some bitrates, it's not crippled. And removing MP3 playback? What the hell?
By the way, my lil' brother said that he was playing ogg files on WMP 10 using a codec/plugin or something. I'll ask him where he got that, but googling returned this [everwicked.com].
Re:WMP 10... yay... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:ogg (Score:3, Informative)
Re:WMP 10... yay... (Score:3, Informative)
Fix for retarded color scheme (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Testimonial (Score:5, Informative)
It looks like the summary is comparing iTMS to WMP 10 (rather that iTunes and QuickTime Player to WMP 10). The author could be comparing "Apple's iPod portable player" to "virtually any other online music store." Again the comparison makes no sense.
I'm going to try to respond anyway, since it might make the grandparent post's joke make more sense to you. Here we go:
The iPod can play many formats including MP3, but not WMA.
The iTMS sells songs with drm that only works in QuickTime enabled applications residing on the same computer as an authorized instance of iTunes and on the iPod right now.
iTunes (the audio player) can play many audio file formats and has really nice organizational features.
QuickTime Player is a media player that can play virtually anything you throw at it given the appropriate codec plugin.
WMP 10 is a media player that supports many formats including protected WMA files. I don't know if it plays FairPlay protected AAC from the iTMS, but it could easily enough, the API is simple.
MOMS is Microsoft's IE based music store. It sells protected WMA files.
There are many players that support protected WMA.
Now back to the summary: "... unlike Apple's iTunes Music Store, which offers music that is only compatible with Apple's iPod portable player, WMP 10 will work with songs from virtually any other online music store. "
iTMS doesn't work with other stores -- neither does MOMS.
iTMS doesn't work with any portable players other than the iPod (and that upcoming phone). MOMS doesn't work with the iPod, but it does work with others.
The iPod doesn't work with WMA. It does work with AAC, MP3, AIFF, etc. iPod users can get music from any source that provides audio in those formats.
WMP 10 supports many formats, but requires you to drag a pc around with you. -- that was the funny part.
I think I've covered all the angles, but damn that sentence is hard to parse.
Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, Over? (Score:4, Informative)
Translated from geek to English: "Other than it being crippled by restricting it to low quality encoding, it's not crippled."
WTF?
Re:iTMS vs. WiMP10? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:iTMS vs. WiMP10? (Score:2, Informative)
That's [winamp.com] not [musicmatch.com] exactly [real.com] true [mplayerhq.hu].
Re:Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, Over? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Doesn't install on Windows Server 2003 (Score:1, Informative)
The inner workings are very, very, very similar. With the notable exceptions of the network stack, some scheduling internals and the guts of a few low-level drivers, Windows Server 2003 is just Windows XP with a cleaner, non-Fisher-Price interface and a bunch of extra AD administration tools.
And lots of us use server OS's on our desktops-- for me, I like the additional stability and administration capabilities that their brain-dead desktop OS interface just doesn't support. I would use WMP10 on Win03... if I weren't already using Winamp
Re:Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, Over? (Score:5, Informative)
FYI: A quotation from TFA:
You can now rip music to MP3 format from WMP 10 directly, without needing an add-on (Figure [winsupersite.com]). There's just one problem: Microsoft's MP3 encoder only supports 128, 192, 256, and 320 Kbps MP3 ripping. Because I prefer to rip songs to 160 Kbps MP3 format, I still need to install a third party MP3 encoder. Hey, it's better than nothing, and it's certainly better than the crippled MP3 ripping in RealPlayer 10.5 Plus.
Sure, VBR support & free bitrate selection would be nice, but I as the author said, it's better than nothing.
Re:Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, Over? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Anyone? Bueller? (Score:1, Informative)
That's funny, I wasn't aware that non-existant entities could anger someone. You see, Nullsoft actually skipped a number in the development of WinAmp, deciding that since their next version of WinAmp combined the best points of WA2 and WA3, they should just call it WinAmp 5 (2 + 3 = 5). WinAmp 4 does not exist.
Check again (Score:4, Informative)
Also they cannot use a format like MP3 or OGG, without adding DRM which kind of defeats the point. The record industry requires the use fo DRM, hence Apple's FairPlay shit.
Windows Media Player will also happily play MP3 files, as well as any other kind of file Windows has a DirectShow codec for. Want OGG support? Install the OGG DS codec and it's there.
Please: Educate yourself before you argue against something. It weakens your argument and makes you look silly when you harp on things that aren't true.
He's probably a nice guy... (Score:3, Informative)
Although he has his own stand-alone pundit site, he also works for Windows IT Pro [winnetmag.net], which delivers "News about Windows and Microsoft. No fluff."
Asking him to talk in reasonable terms about a battle between Microsoft and Apple is like asking Guy Kawasaki in 1986 to talk about the advantages and disadvantages of PCs and Macs. Just look at what puts bread on the table for Thurrott.
Basically Thurrott seems to believe that Windows is "all about choice" because there is a monopolist (Microsoft) running the show. Any assaults on that monopoly seem to bring up his defenses. He'll give Apple and other players kudos, but in the dismissive way that IT people used to discuss Linux. He's generous when Microsoft is ascendant in a market, but nasty when someone else is in the lead.