Windows Media Player 10

Published 10 June 05 01:06 AM | russnem

I generally try not to make blog posts while I am upset, but this time I need to make an exception.

I have tried over the past three years or so to standardize our family's music on Windows Media Player compatible formats. This has meant resisting the purchase of songs on iTunes (which do not exist on MSN Music). It also means having to deal with disappointment when you are presented with a link that is meant to play an audio or video file in Windows Media Player and the player presents an error message telling you that it has no idea how to play the clip. Perhaps a codec is missing. Perhaps "X". Perhaps "Y". Who knows?

My point is the following. This is 2005, not 2000, not 2001, not 2002.

As a (perhaps disgruntled) proponent of Windows Media Player 10 I am of the opinion that "Windows Media Player cannot play the file" is a childish, limited, cop-out approach to take. If I have elected Windows Media Player 10 to be my choice when it comes to playing media on the web, it should play everything. Period.

There should be no discussion, there should be no manual intervention, there should be no confusion. In this day and age I should be able to play whatever type of media I want in whatever media player I choose. If iTunes plays MP4 files I should be able to play them in Windows Media Player. Sorry, team - that's just consumer reality. If I've gotten behind your player you should REWARD me with the ability to play anything from anywhere. Anything that falls short of this is simply a failure.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this or am I alone?

Comments

# Kieran Lynam said on June 10, 2005 04:47 AM:

Russ,

I could not agree with you more... media players should play media. The End!

Kieran

# Bill Gates said on June 10, 2005 05:22 AM:

Russ,

There is no player out there that can play ALL formats. However, WMP is the only player that supports adding new codecs through DirectShow filters. You can download codecs from http://www.free-codecs.com/..many of these have DirectShow filters.

You will have this problem till the rest of the world shifts to Windows Media ;-)

# Geoff Appleby said on June 10, 2005 05:47 AM:

I agree with you in what media players _should_ do, I just disagree with you about your media player choice :)

# Russ said on June 10, 2005 12:08 PM:

Howdy Geoff,

I hear you on that, but my wife has a Pocket PC and I have a SmartPhone, so song portability is a big factor for us.

As far as I know there's no cell phone that will play MP4 files. Am I incorrect on that?

# Roy @ VsDevCentral said on June 10, 2005 01:21 PM:

I ran into 'sortof' the same thing last week. I had a 5 hour flight and figured I would get an audio book to listen too using my MPx220 (Smartphone). So I go to Audible, find a book, play the sample on the site (using my laptop) and it plays fine (it was an MP3). So I purchase the book, download it (using there lame software) and copy it to my phone. It won't play becuase it is NOT an MP3, but some new format that can only be played on systems that have the Audible download software installed.

It's not DRM'd, so it only took a bit of messing around and I was able to convert it using Windows Media Encoder, but it will be the LAST time I purchase anything from Audible.

As for just adding a codec for Windows Media Player .. that is not always true. I have all the codecs installed to play .TS files (MPEG transport streams [HDTV captures]). They play fine using Graph Edit, but WMP won't play them.

# Russ said on June 10, 2005 01:30 PM:

Yeah, I never download any media that requires its own player. That's just insanity. It seems COUNTERproductive, not like progress.

# David said on August 22, 2006 11:19 AM:

The way to compatability is through standards groups, negotiation, and marketing.

Betamax vs. VHS.

Memory Sticks vs. Compact Flash

Quicktime vs. Windows Media formats.

Those players existed originally to play THEIR company's video formats. They add on codecs as they can license them.

If Apple won't license their codec to Miscrosoft...whaddya expect?

# streaky said on September 20, 2006 04:36 AM:

Don't blame Microsoft because you were dumb enought to buy an iPod. Use your brain next time you decide to buy into Apple's not-so-secret world of vendor lock-in - Apple are under investigation and iTunes is banned in some countries for a reason you know.

# K_Rock said on October 8, 2006 05:56 AM:

This is NOT an Apple versus Microsoft thing. You Apple-Bashers are barking up the wrong tree. I, too, feel that Microsoft and the rest of the world should recognize the new codecs and stop living in the distant past.

As someone who wants to be able to use WMP to playback files, I'm pretty pissed about the lack of support by Microsoft. If the codec is present on your system, then WMP should be able to grab and fully utilize it.

Why did Microsoft just add mp3 support to WMP? Popularity? But MP3 is over a decade old, so when will MP4 be supported? When MP6 or 7 is out?

All I'm saying is that Microsoft can't whine about the fact that they didn't make everything out there. I mean if they can make something better then do it, but allow me to use the best of what's available now in the meantime.

Oh, and iTunes kicks WMP's can any day. You name it - Ease of use, Friendly interface, better visualizations, better codecs(MP4=Better quality and smaller file size), simplistic playlist creation, on & on...

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# Kathy said on August 5, 2007 07:11 AM:

Get over it Bill, we all know that Window Media Player should talk with iTunes. Oh an another thing, I recently purchased a new computer with Windows Vista. I have never had so much aggravation in my life!. Vista won't communicate with ANYTHING I have without seeking out more drivers. So much for plug and play!

# Cameron said on August 28, 2007 12:19 AM:

I also use WMP 10 and iTunes; I love iTunes (I've got an iPod nano) but hate its crappy mp3 encoder. Do you know how good the encoder in WMP is? I hope it's not as bad as iTunes's is! Also, maybe this isn't weird but I'm listening to an m4a file in the Player right now - I've got 1100 of them and they all play just fine in WMP 10, but they would not play in the Player on the last computer I had. Any idea why?

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