Windows Media Player 10 Beta Released

An anonymous reader writes "Microsoft today officially announced the public availability of Windows Media Player 10 Technical Beta. These screenshots reveal how Microsoft is integrating music service subscriptions such as Napster and video service subscription from CinemaNow. Is Microsoft trying to start competing with iTunes with this new music service integration?"

Comments

This instead of MS Eula's...

[Soulfarmer]

"Warning!
This is a technical beta release. Before you decide whether to install this software, it is important to understand that the technical beta release does not have the stability of released Microsoft software..."

MS should use that everywhere. And WHO needs MS mediaplayers anyhow...

Re:This instead of MS Eula's...

[xsupergr0verx]

that the technical beta release does not have the stability of released Microsoft software...

That could swing either way. But I think they mean it in the bad way. Shame, I got excited for a minute.

Re:This instead of MS Eula's...

[blowdart]

only reason I upgraded windows media player to version 9 was because the Halo 2 teaser trailer would only work on version 9 so that was reason enough for me to upgrade.

If you were running 7 you shouldn't have needed to upgrade. The WM9 codecs work within MP7 and would have automatically downloaded and installed the first time you played WM9 content.

Re:This instead of MS Eula's...

[kaschei]

Foobar 2000 for all your audio needs.
BSPlayer for all your video needs.
Koepi's codec pack for all your codec needs.

Re:This instead of MS Eula's...

[badasscat]

>And WHO needs MS mediaplayers anyhow...
Have any pointers to alternatives ?

Plenty of alternatives exist, it depends on what you want to do. I think the idea that anyone would use one "media player" for everything is just stupid - at least when it's a company out for its own interest releasing the player (as opposed to, say, an open-source free software project designed to collate as many formats as possible into one application).

I would never use an MS media player to rip anything. I use EAC/LAME for that.

I would never use an MS media player to play back mp3's. I use iTunes for that, and it works great - so well, in fact, that apart from needed performance tweaks I doubt Apple or anyone else will ever be able to release a better player for this purpose.

I would never use an MS media player to play back QuickTime files - in fact you can't use it for this, as far as I know of. I use QuickTime to play its native format.

I would never use an MS media player to play DVD's. I use WinDVD for that, and it has a lot more DVD playback options than WMP - it's not even close. There is absolutely nothing WMP offers over any of the standalone DVD player apps out there.

In fact, really the *only* thing I would use WMP for is to play back Windows Media files. And I do use Windows Media whenever I do video capture, partly because the Windows Media 9 codec is a nice codec that supports ultra-high resolution as well as 5.1 surround sound, and also because MS gives away a very nice little free video capture and encoder utility called Windows Media Encoder. This is an example where MS is actually providing me something of value, and so I use it.

So I'm not seeing WMP is useless, just that it can never be a jack-of-all-trades, especially with this "DRM 10" built into it (DRM 10? There have been 9 other versions of this?). There is no such thing as a "media player" as far as I'm concerned (I never got mplayer to play all the formats I wanted in Linux either!); there are only mp3 players, DVD players, "windows media" players, Real players, QuickTime players, etc. Each player with its own native format; it's own specialization that it does best, and that gives you the most freedom to use your media as you see fit. All of these companies want to monopolize your media, and you'd be stupid to give up that control to them.

Oh, I also just find it really silly that everyone is now building "media players" to act as web browsers - but only to their online music store addresses! This isn't "integration", this is just a stupid web page rendered in the player window! I can navigate with my own damn browser, thank you - this is another function that media players just should not have.

(yes, I've disabled the music store in iTunes - no way I'd pay 99 cents for a DRM-encrusted song anyway.)

I Wish

[Walker2323]

I wish Microsoft was spending a bit more time on toning down the bloat-ware aspect of this piece of software. I've got a nice fast Athlon XP processor and a gig of RAM etc... and WMP still takes 3 or 4 seconds to get going. Not a big deal, I guess, but come on. By 1998 standards I've got a freakin' supercomputer.

Re:I Wish

[Anonymous Coward]

I've found Winamp 5 stealing 99% of my CPU when it's asked to load a file (any file, MP3, PLS, M3U, anything) from a directory containing a very large amount (1000+) of subdirs and files. It doesn't release CPU until you kill it or hit escape, after which it will take a few minutes for it to close the open diag. The GUI type doesn't matter.

I still use it sometimes, when I want to output something using a Winamp-specific DSP plugin, but Foobar 2000 is MUCH better than Winamp at almost everything except player attractiveness (which I don't care much for). It's the best audio playback program on any OS (this, coming from a Mac OS X and Linux user). For audio, Foobar is the player to beat.

For video on Windows, I stick with Media Player Classic. All you have to do to play almost anything you want is download MPC, ffdshow, Fraunhofer's MPEG-2 codec, QuickTime, RealAlternative, the WMP9 codec pack, and ac3filter. Bam, complete freebie multimedia on Windows without Microsoft's phone-home garbage, and since you're not using the QT Player, there's no reason not to use the official QT download instead of QT Alternative. (It still surprises me that MS can get away with phoning home to a Microsoft server every time you highlight a QuickTime MOV file in Windows Explorer....it's as if it's checking for a codec just so it can display the miniature preview, but WMP hasn't supported direct decoding of the QuickTime format since WMP 6.4. What they really get is the name and filesize of the MOV you're trying to open, even if you're just trying to double-click it from inside a folder so that the real QuickTime Player opens it.)

Yecch, WMP can suck mine twice.

Innovation opportunities in media players

[gsasha]

But really, are there any significant innovations possible in media players except for infinitesimal interface polishing? (DRM doesn't count as a feature ;)
I get a feeling they're almost there.

Re:Innovation opportunities in media players

[thryllkill]

...and that is usually how one feels right before someone comes out with something that blows any previously thought limits out of the water. No, I don't think Microsoft will do this, but someone will.

So is WMP 9 for OS X new?

[SuperKendall]

I noticed on the same page that I could get WMP 9 for OS X. I would have sworn that was not there before, as I wanted to view the Epson Print Acadamy and it needed WMP9, which I could not find at the time - now the sample video works just fine whereas before I could not get video. Epson had also mentioned to me via support email that Microsoft was going to release WMP9 sometime at the end of March.

The wierd thing about that is that when you download WMP9 for OS X, the installer is dated October 27th, 2003. A suspicious person would speculate that Microsoft wants to make sure the Mac lags a version behind Windows for WMP support, and they would not release the final version of WMP9 for OS X until WMP10 was ready for beta test.

Note that this WMP9 also claims to support the same DRM as Windows WMP9. I have no such protected files to test against so I don't know how well that works.

Re:So is WMP 9 for OS X new?

[wibs]

Yup, WMP9 has been out for Macs for ages.

There is a non-redundant part of this post, though. For those who don't want WMP anywhere near their mac, MPlayer is an excellent open source alternative that handles all kinds of video formats, and is overall a great player. Its WMV support is kind of shaky, but most files still play.

And because I'm on the subject, I might as well point out VLC, which in my opinion is the best all-around player for the Mac. It doesn't handle WMV files, though =-\.

torrent link

[ender1598]

torrent link

Forced upgrades for DRM

[noelo]

I wonder if once its fully released if microsoft will say that there is a major flaw in previous version of media players and force people to upgrade to the newer version. With the latest computer viruses people are applying patches without really understanding the impacts of what functionality they introduce like the newer versions of DRM. Maybe this is how microsoft envisage migrating users to DRM.

Cringe factor

[x3ro]

There's something about seeing a neutered, paid-for-only Napster window inside Windows Media Player that makes me cringe. That it should come to this. I'll be sticking to SoulSeek.

And what about...

[Tuxedo Jack]

Is it uninstallable? I mean, after seeing the _last_ foray of MS into the Media Player market, it had better be removable.

Actually...

[alphapartic1e]

And WHO needs MS mediaplayers anyhow...

Actually, with WM9, video quality seems to be consistently better than MPEG or DivX files of the same size. So, yeah, it's very reasonable for someone to use WM.

Re:"What, me compete?" asks Bill (rhetorically).

[xsupergr0verx]

You know, you are absolutely right. When the next chimaera from Redmond is released with the WMP10 music store, it is going to get some serious use out of the average PC user. These technophobes are going to use the obviously inferior MS service just because it is already there and they are afraid of being sued by using anything else (even if they pay for it!).

A testament to that is looking at your less savvy friends'/family members'/co-workers' computers and staring at IE. Even if you tell them of alternatives, they are terrified to install it. One even asked me if Firefox was legal to use, because it wasn't Microsoft!

You have a long way to go folks.

Just RTFA...

[ErichTheWebGuy]

From the article:

this technical beta lays the groundwork for the great end-to-end digital media experience coming with the final release for Windows XP

I do believe I will be forced to struggle to contain my excitement...

Re:alternatives

[miyako]

Try MPlayer Here It's mainly intended for video but will work with audio as well. I'm not sure how well the windows version works, but on Linux I've found that it works flawlessly, playing things that all other players will choke on, though it will on rare occasions choke on a wmv file (maybe no support for newer or DRMed windows media files? any other slashdotters out there know).
I know there was a big deal awhile ago about some dvd player manufacturer using mplayer code in their software and not providing the source, and well my thinking is that if it's good enough for a video player manufacturer to steal than it should probably be good enough for the average geek ;)

Re:Like a sloth on downers...

[Monkelectric]

having to wait 2-3 seconds after double clicking a media file is not good enough

WMP 8 and 9 have an annoying habit of scanning EVERY file in a directory every time you open a video (I don't know why). So if WMP is slow for you, you should sort your porn into smaller directories.

Re:alternatives

[andi75]

Media Player Classic is quite lightweight (1.2 MB standalone exe), and seems to play just about anything, provided you have the necessary codecs installed.

- Andreas

Amazing!

[obeythefist]

Has nobody noticed the great implications of this?

Finally MS is leveraging the Windows Media Player monopoly! This fits in nicely with their ongoing world domination plans.

iTunes is getting loads of publicity lately. And iTunes is being used on many Windows PC's! This is not what Bill Gates likes.

But Bill knows that every Windows has his media player on it. Why not make it so that you can buy Bills media files online which will only play with Bills player than will only run on Bills O/S? And let's make it so that when you launch Bills OS it pops up Bills media player that connects instantly to Bills online music download service? Why not have the payments bundled with MSN which is bundled on the OS?

This would be nice for Bill. Especially when he has about 90% of desktops in the wild.

Re:Amazing!

[obeythefist]

Ahh... but you see, all new Windows PC's will come with this software installed, just like they came with MSIE. So at first it didn't seem like anything really because there were so many PC's around without MSIE on it. And nobody would go out of their way to upgrade or download MSIE, you're right about that.

To paraphrase a little if I may... "and after that, many people will still use Netscape, Mosaic..."

Kazaa and Gnutella will never come integrated into Windows. Although it would be, potentially, one of the most comical and entertaining battles of our lifetimes to see MS head to head with the RIAA, the world doesn't work that way.

Winamp can integrate Napster, iTunes, everything in the world if it wants to, but that will never change the very same fact that destroyed Netscape.

Winamp is not bundled with Windows.

No offense

[Sycraft-fu]

But that's kinda worthless. Microsoft has massive bandwidth themselves, and most of their downloads are hosted by Akamai who has even more bandwidth, not to mention cache engines at many ISPs. Torrents are cool if it is some small site that can't handle Slashdot, but for big sites like MS, Apple, etc it's pretty worthless. They can, and regularly do, deal with worse. A bunch of geeks, many of them running Linux and thus not intrested, are nothing compared to the millions of copies of Windows grabbing stuff on patch day.

Integration is getting ridiculous...

[evilviper]

The level of integration is getting to ridiculous proportions.

I hated having media files playing in my browser; the interface is terrible, and crippled. I hated opening PDFs in my browser; it's harder to read that way (less screen-space to read in) and they often hide important controls too. I hated Flash in my browser; I can disable GIF animations, but Flash gives me no control at all, plus the security problems, and added annoyance of all ads being massively animated, and having sound...

Now, to add insult to injury, instead of integrating the applications inside the browser, they are putting the browser inside the programs. Good god man! You can't tell me that isn't going to be MASSIVELY annoying and cumbersome.

Screw them all. All applications launched from my browser open in a seperate window of their own, and do whatever I tell them to do. All of my browsing is done outside of my unrelated applications, and that's the way it's going to stay.

Screw you Microsoft guys, I'm going home.

mplayer2

[TubeSteak]

[CTRL] + R ---> mplayer2 ---> [ENTER]

Anybody else still use that program?
What about Media Player Classic?

No offense to the beta junkies, but the bloat starting in mplayer7 really turned me away from the new versions. I'm sure there are some neat features tucked away, but 10 beta just looks like more of the same. I'll just quitely wait for the codec release & then be on my way.

Re:Where's the "play" button?

[PhrostyMcByte]

Bloated? yes. However the interface is better than WMP9. At least they are making an effort.

Flashing stuff? I have no flashing stuff. Where do I get this? What is wrong the the buttons? They are spaced out nicely and have easy to read text.

There are large play, stop, fast forward, rewind, mute, and volume buttons at the bottom left corner, and are blatantly obvious. If you can't find them, OPEN YOUR FUCKING EYES.

Bad Visual Design

[nfotxn]

I think graphically WMP is still really weak. It looks like the design is shy of semiotics and relies on a lot of text. And what's with opting out of viewing the toolbar still? I know MSN Messenger 6 does that at well. I still don't see the practical benefit. There is seriously too much gloss as well. To the point that it impedes on the contrast where text is. That's just impractical

Also, the obsession with hierarchical tree lists? Is it really necessary to know that my music resides under the "All Music" node? This creates so much dead (not negative, that would mean it's useful) space and nasty horizontal scrollbars. Interface wise the Windows and Office teams at Microsoft have come leaps and bounds with XP and Office 2003, respectively. But the Windows Media Div. seems to be really hung up on the technical bits and providing a shitty user experience. I hope they redesign for the final release. I was really hoping that they'd shape up WMP interface wise with this version. It's the place the player is lacking most. WMP continues to be all geewhiz skinning with absolutely no design discipline. Save that crap for the hobbyists at Deviant Art.

Commercial Software = Garnish /= Substance

[pandrijeczko]

Let's face it, be they Microsoft or any other commercial software developer, all of them have run out of ideas when it comes to features and usability.

From the perspective of the commercial software developer (at least for those that develop for the desktop environment), everything in software in now about garnish (= the way the software looks) and locking users into regular payment schemes, be that through DRM or software rental licensing.

It used to be that a major release upgrade meant a core functionality change in software - nowadays, it's just about a prettier look. For example, take a look at Powerquest's PartitionMagic software - from v7.0 to v8.0, I see no core functionality changes, just a slightly different look and feel. The same is true going from Windows 2000 to Windows XP - it's all just about a GUI change.

Unfortunately, version numbers are now just marketing tools to attract "fashion-conscious" users to using your software while, at the same time, introducing yet more bloat so that they also stay in the hardware upgrade cycle.

The whole Windows applications / PC thing is a global conspiracy to keep you spending money on hardware and software, nothing more.

One of the major advantages of the OSS movement is that every user has the opportunity to customise their computer environment and to trade off bloat against speed - provided that those same users start thinking for themselves a little and not just blindly consume every piece of hardware and software marketing hype that gets thrown at them.

Can't turn off update checking

[Vandil X]

Anyone notice that WMP10 follows it's close predecessors in giving you the ability to not turn off the automatic checking for new updates? Instead you get "once a day," "once a week," and "once a month." (see flexbeta screenshots in parent article.)

I wonder if XP SP2's on-by-default firewall will automatically not block this update checking traffic? (sarcasm)

This post is not meant to Troll, but can't Microsoft release a post-WMP6.4-era media player that's not constantly calling home?

I mean, at least iTunes lets you turn off update checking and iTunes Internet usage in general...