Windows Media Player 10 Reviewed

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."

Comments

Um.

[mcc]

Songs bought from Windows Media Player based music stores work in and only in Windows Media applications such as WMP.

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:Um.

[hoggoth]

> DVD player that I bought from Costco for $49. It plays WMA audio

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.

Re:No Privacy Policy?

[LO0G]

That's the privacy policy for the BETA version of the MUSIC STORE. The privacy policy for WMP10 is here: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/mp10 /privacy.aspx?locale=409&geoid=f4&version=10.0.0.3 646&userlocale=409/

Re:Works...?

[laird]

"WMP 10 will work with songs from virtually any other online music store

I guess "work" has become a very subjective word. :)"

I'll second this. Read Walt Mossberg's WSJ review of the store -- 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...

I'm sick of the iTMS comparison

[plazman30]

You know, all the reviews pan Apple for providing their songs in a "proprietary" format, which is called AAC. AAC is actually a patent encumbered open standard.

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:Testimonial

[Monx]

Does this make sense to you? "... 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. "

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.

Re:Whiskey Tango Foxtrot, Over?

[plj]

So you think that 320 kbps is low quality -- oh wait, you actually mean that you didn't bother to RTFA. How surprising in Slashdot...

FYI: A quotation from TFA:

You can now rip music to MP3 format from WMP 10 directly, without needing an add-on (Figure). 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.