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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."
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.
Wtf does that mean? What does iTunes Music Store have to do with WiMP 10? iTunes (not the music store) can play mp3s, which means it's compatible with almost every other online music store too. It's just MS's WMA format that iTunes can't play, but neither can any other player anyways.
"In case of emergency, break glass. Scream. Bleed to death."
If they just stuck to a media player that limits itself to, say, playing media, they wouldn't need a privacy policy.
Somebody was commenting on the interface in an earlier thread but I had no idea... MSN's opposing gradients from hell clash with the XP Luna scheme really, really badly.
Go look. Can you read those tabs at the top-right? Music... ra... radio... movies & tv?
Also - find the transport controls! They are hiding in the worst place possible, at the lower-left corner, which is exactly the last place your eye goes to when scanning the sea of text in the main window. This decision probably hinges on simply not making the thing look too much like iTunes.
God, I get angry just looking at this thing.
What is wrong with them? More money than God and they still can't manage to find a visual design that isn't completely retarded. Reversed text mixed with plain. Tabs - which don't look like tabs - separated by an arbitrary hierarchy. All controls with meaningful functions crammed into a too-small area at the bottom of the window, which sits mashed nicely against your taskbar, which is usually crammed with widgetry as well.
To say nothing of how the MSN Music Store works, I can say that iTunes (and WinAMP, and Audion) knock the shit out of this.
If Jesus wants me it knows where to find me.
Have you read the review? The guy gushes all over the place about how wonderful Microsoft is, and how WiMP is "the best"! Where the hell did his head go? Some samples:
I am a Windows Media Player junkie. Having used the program for a number of years I think it is quite simply a brilliant piece of software - a masterpiece developed by extremely talented engineers in so many ways. Even more spectacular is that is free. Microsoft gives it away. If Microsoft didn't give this software away I'd gladly pay money for it. I love it.
Ugh. I feel so... dirty... after reading that.
Mp3 ripping. It's admirable that Microsoft finally listened to their users on this one and gave in. In all of the previous versions of Window's Media Player Microsoft forced you to rip your tunes to WMA. [...] Windows Media Player 10 fully supports mp3 ripping and high quality encoding at that. Kudos to Microsoft.
Something that iTunes has had... lemme see... forever?
The new "Composer" menu on the left hand window is a handy feature. Check it out. It's new and I love it. Want to create a Bob Dylan covers playlist? Select Dylan under the composer menu then sort the window by artist and select all but Bob Dylan as a performer and save it as a Bob Dylan covers playlist. Very simple, very easy.
More gushing + feature stolen from iTunes.
Ratings. WMP 10's rating system is first rate. [...] Microsoft developed a fine ratings system. How does this work? Rate each song you hear from one to five stars with a stroke of a right mouse click. Later when you are relaxing you can listen to only your favorite tracks.
That sounds great! Microsoft really outdid themselves by copying from iTunes^W^W^W innovating this really amazing feature! (end sarcasm)
Crossfading. In the past one of the things I hated most was that long silence between songs. One song would end and then prior to the next one there would be more silence.
WinAMP, iTunes, etc? Nope, it's a Microsoft invention don't you know.
Improved interface. Microsoft provided a much improved cosmetic overhaul to WMP 10. One of the things I like a lot in the libraries is that they color code (light blue and a lighter blue) between lines now making it easier to follow the data on a track across the screen.
Look at the screenshot on the page. It looks like crap. Usable, sure, but definitely not attractive.
Anyway, this "review" just hurts, so I'll stop there. I just wish we could rate this review '-1 Microsoft Leg Humper'.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
Smart playlists, shared music, the native ability to burn/rip CDs, and iTMS come immediately to mind. Not to mention the fact that Winamp has security holes and is in general far more clunky. WA4 pissed me off; WA5 is better, but iTunes is still far and away the sleeker player. I started using WA with version 2, used 5 for a while, then tried iTunes and dumped WA about 2 weeks later.
I could care less about skinning or plug-ins. IMO when developers brag that their apps are skinnable or support plug-ins it tells me that they probably haven't paid as much attention to the core functionality, and have opened the app up to security vulnerabilities and instability. As a general rule I avoid skinnable apps.
Plus a whole bunch of people in my office (including) use iTunes and share their music; I can listen to their playlist with a single click. I've been able to check out music I hadn't been exposed to before when it is convenient for me.
Does it support Ogg files in your playlist yet?
It does not and it never will. Infact, I wont be surprised if they totally drop the support for MP3. MP3 encoding has been intentionally crippled to force the users to encode in WMA
"MP3 encoding has been intentionally crippled to force the users to encode in WMA"
Or it was to save on royalties that MS would have to pay for every single copy of Windows sold or Media Player that's downloaded.