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

ogg

[stephenMF]

Does it support Ogg files in your playlist yet?

Re:ogg

[Tim C]

Unfortunately, that's not what he asked. I use the ogg DirectShow filters, and yes, WMP (9) can play oggs.

However, there are two problems:

1) it *always* asks me if I'm sure I want to play the file, no matter how many times I tell it to remember that I said yes
2) oggs won't show up in the playlists or media library

It was that second point that the OP was asking about, I think.

anyone else?

[nmec]

anyone else still think the MSN music store looks just a tad like an existing one?

Re:Doesn't install on Windows Server 2003

[ackthpt]

since WS2003 can do almost anything that XP can yet is more stable and can do a lot of testing for work related activites I have that as one of my main computers at home... I tired to install Media Player 10 and it won't install, apparently its only for XP

Unbelievable! I mean, what Sys Admin should be denied the ability to listen to Paula Abdul in the server room, surrounded by cooling fans moving about 500 CFM? Microsoft just doesn't get it. tsk tsk tsk.

FWIW, we actually had a guitar speaker mounted in the ceiling in our computer center, years ago (it's probably still there :-) and used to crank it up in there, among the servers and minis.

Re:New Icon?

[wastingtape]

hahahha. That's great. I've always wondered about the stupid "My" labels on things. At one point we ventured about the office, sticking post-it notes on various items. The file cabinet wore a note reading "My Documents", monitors "My Computer", the switch hanging on the wall "My Network Places", and of cousre the trash can "Recycle Bin".

Re:iTMS vs. WiMP10?

[Ashyukun]

I'd have to guess it won't play DRM'd WMAs- though I've never tried.

That would actually be an interesting thing for Apple to do- pick up that it's a DRM'd file they can't let you play, look up whether iTMS carries it, and offer you a considerable discount to buy it from the iTMS.

Re:I still like iTunes and WinAmp

[jred]

I typically use iTunes for music (as we speak) and WMP for video. If WMP10 is close to iTunes' experience, *and* will sync w/ my Archos MM20, I'll switch.

I'm tired of manually choosing albums to update/sync.

Or napster cards

[nurb432]

Who would have imagined that there would be napster 'prepay'cards at your local Kroger..

We live in strange, restrictive times..

Re:New Icon?

[birdman17]

I've always wondered about the stupid "My" labels on things.

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought that idea was inane. My?? What's wrong with attaching a user ID to all your files and folders, like real OS's have done since, oh, about the mid-1970's? And what was wrong with just calling it "Documents"? Were they afraid that [l]users might not realize that "Documents" were, in fact, their documents and not some other random person's documents?

And did you see the crazy hoops they (MS) had to jump through once they realized that a computer might, just might, be used by more than one person? (Something else they were about 30 years late understanding!) Now the name of a folder varies wildly depending on exactly who is looking at it! Whose idea of a consistent, easy-to-understand UI is this, anyway?? A quantum mechanic's??

I'm still using WMP 6.4

[Anonymous Coward]

I tried every other WMP release up to 9 on my HTPC and can't determine what my motivation's supposed to be for upgrading. None of them have any useful additional features as far as I can tell. Most of the new features seem to have to do with DRM and usage reporting. Maybe that's good for content producers, but why will an end user want to burden himself or herself with it? You may be able to lead a rabbit with a carrot and a stick, but with just a stick...?

Re:Not impressed already...

[AKAImBatman]

P.S. I hate to break it to you, but the iTunes UI is far from perfect.

Of course it's not perfect! Is any GUI? But it certainly is the best media center design to date. I used to use MediaMatch, and I can say that I was not impressed. Options were in the oddest of places, interfaces were confusing, error messages were unhelpful, etc., etc., etc.

Can't you see that the whole article is a satire of the breathless worship of iTunes? I mean, you go on about how WMP10 has 'stolen' features from iTunes, even though Apple never invented them in the first place.

Well, lemme see. I said "WinAMP" for the crossfade, because AFAIK, they were the first to have it. As for the playlist design, that was an iTunes invention. WinAMP handled playlists through the use of playlist files.

One way or another, my point is that Microsoft copied iTunes, and now this guy is shouting from the rooftops that Microsoft is so amazing! I'd be just as disgusted if someone gushed as hard about Safari. "Ooo! It's got tabbed browsing! A 'leet feature not seen anywhere else!" Ugh.

Re:That's nice and all...

[FuzzieNorn]

Ah, yes, that'd be the Windows Media Player 9 for Mac which doesn't actually handle half the Windows Media codecs, never mind the others, and entirely fails to support anything DRM-related. Oh, and it's buggy as hell, and it often decodes video/audio it *supports* incorrectly (as in, random corruption). And of course it's a crappy ugly skinned app.

Re:iTMS vs. WiMP10?

[afish40]

Hey Ya! from iTMS is the same as Hey Ya! from Napster is the same as Hey Ya! from Musicmatch...

...is not the same as Hey Ya! from Walmart.

Re:Testimonial

[abandonment]

microsoft just doesn't get it

they will never be used in the same sentence as the word 'cool'

microsoft != cool

no matter how much bs they smear onto the box. consumers are smarter than MS gives them credit for - and we don't want the bs drm and will not support products that force us to submit to such privacy/copyright infringing (infringes fair use, etc) software like WiMP 10 and their idiotic media center PC's.

how many people will willingly submit to a lobotomy? sure some might if you offer them candy, but in the end it's still a lobotomy.

microsoft does not offer more 'choices', every ms product that claims they offer more choice, they really mean that ms offers more compatibility with OTHER MS PRODUCTS, which absolutely does not count in the real world.

Stupid Journalists

[legaleagll]

Apparently the Help page of the MSN Music site contained instructions on how to circumvent the block on playing their songs on an IPOD.

To transfer MSN-downloaded music to an iPod, you need to first create a CD with the music, and then you need to import that CD into iTunes. This process will convert the music into a format that can play on the iPod.

You can read about it here http://www.salon.com/tech/feature/2004/09/03/ms_mu sic_store/

Crappy MP3 encoder to make WMA sound better?

[MojoStan]

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.

I'm glad WMP 10 is finally including an MP3 encoder for free, but I wonder if MS will purposely include a crappy MP3 encoder (like Fraunhofer) to make WMA sound good in comparison? I'm already suspicious of iTunes's MP3 encoder, which placed dead last (worse than Fraunhofer) in Roberto Amorim's MP3 at 128kbps public Listening Test. It almost seems like Apple purposely chose a horrid-sounding MP3 encoder to make their AAC encoder sound much better in comparison. Thankfully, iTunes users can change their default MP3 encoder to LAME, which placed first in that listening test.

For years MS has been touting WMA's audio superiority over MP3 "at any bit rate" (see Demos: Audio Quality). However, Amorim's Multiformat at 128kbps public Listening Test showed LAME MP3 performing better than WMA 9 Standard. So I wouldn't be surprised if WMP 10 has a crappy MP3 encoder.

Maybe I'm just a cynical a-hole. I'm looking forward to Amorim's next MP3 listening test to see how WMP 10's MP3 encoder performs against LAME.