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New Windows Media Player Leaks
TacoLL writes "A new version of Windows Media Player, Windows Media Player 11, is set to be made public on Wednesday, however, it has found its way into the hands of internet users before its public release. Flexbeta has some early screenshots of the next Media Player for Windows users."
If the source found its way onto the Internet, that would be a leak. If early prototypes were released months ago, in time for Real Networks, Apple, and others to dissect what MS was cooking up in the lab, then I would consider that a leak. But "leaking" a yawn-inducing product two days before the official release? It sounds to me more like a marketing tactic intended to drum up press at just the right time, akin to the same BS that beta testing has evolved into.
Entrepreneur : (noun), French for "unemployed"
Any word on OGG support?
UNIX/Linux Consulting
Leaks viewing/listening history through firewall directly to MPAA/RIAA?
Security leaks?
Leaks memory?
Oh, wait, you mean, the product itself was leaked.
Never mind, I'm sure the other types of leaks will follow soon enough.
Looks like their SERVER was running Windows Media 11.
Oh, wait...
...is your answer.
http://ffdshow.sourceforge.net/
Supports just about everything in use and works great. I use the builds from here when trapped in Windows:
http://www.free-codecs.com/download/FFDShow.htm
"It ain't a war against drugs.it's a war against personal freedom" --Bill Hicks
Two comments on this story and flexbeta is already down. Coral cache and mirrordot didn't even have time to grab a copy. Great job, everyone.
0 1 - just my two bits
Mirror,
. flexbeta.net/main/comments.php%3Fcatid%3D1%26shown ews%3D19885.html
http://www.networkmirror.com/bUeMRHp2JQWoEqXH/www
Are they going to search our call records to determine the source of the leak?! *knock knock* "Oh Hi Bill." *ziiiiiing* (BSOD)
EFF
Cool! Amazing Toys.
In the news today: Somone built an early release of KDE by hacking into their publically available anonymous SVN repository and downloading the code. They then released screen snapshots to the Internet. We now turn to our live reporter in bit-land with this breathtaking story...
The next site to slashdot will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and start slashdotting it early!
Awesome! Does this mean yet another round of new media formats I won't be able to play without using MS proprietary software?
By reading this you acknowledge that you have read it.
I have a PIII running Windows 98SE with Windows Media Player 9 - it is very slow to load. Most of the time that I open Windows Media Player, it is to watch a quick video clip - for this, I don't need the whole music guide and library to load. It would be nice if Microsoft would make two separate players - one to quickly play short clips, and one to manage my library.
On my Linux machine (also a PIII) I use MPlayer, which can play almost any type of file and is much faster. If I want to manage my music library, I'll open up amaroK or something similar.
Are these the same screen shots that PC Mag published online this morning?
Is this really news that is worthy Slashdot?
No, Definately not. But it's an excuse to bash Microsoft, and so here it is! =_)
Zhrodague.net - I do projects and stuff too.
Leaks viewing/listening history through firewall directly to MPAA/RIAA?
Security leaks?
Leaks memory?
it leaks wii.
There are 10 types of people in this world, those who can count in binary and those who can't.
News.com has a good series of images of the New Windows Media Player available:
r t=rss&tag=6072445&subj=news
http://news.com.com/2300-1025_3-6072445-1.html?pa
It's NOT slashdotted guys. It's "Buffering..." :P
just recompile the source with a -lhell-froze-over option. ...also worth noting: -lmonkeys-flew-out-my-butt will compile it for AmigaOS.
There are 10 types of people in this world, those who can count in binary and those who can't.
Does DRM not protect media player?
I don't know if this is what was meant, but it seems that WMP11 starts up very fast and at first uses far less RAM than 10, (12MB vs 18MB on mine) but then jumps to around 42MB during playback. But I like the fast startup more than I can actually feel the effects of the RAM usage increasing, so I guess it's a good tradeoff. Of course, I hardly even use media players in the first place, so my POV may be different from someone who has it running all the time.
All your base are belong to Wii.
http://www.networkmirror.com/bUeMRHp2JQWoEqXH/www. flexbeta.net/main/comments.php%3Fcatid%3D1%26shown ews%3D19885.html
"I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismometer." -Ken Kesey
Any word on OGG support?
While media player is delivered with updated codec, the shell is largely codec agnostics. There are already numerous available codec packs/interfaces for playing ogg with WMP.
As opposed to the rest of the posts 'OMGLOL WMP LEAKS!!1', this post actually discusses it. I've used it. Its available to download from softpedia.com I found it to be rather nice and would definitely prefer it over iTunes if I still used it (iTunes). URGE is no iTunes music store but I never used that in any case. It has a slick look, uses less mem than iTunes - more than Winamp or foobar of course, and the responsiveness is quite good. I've never really liked Windows Media Player, always thought it was clunky and bloated but this seems to be a release where they got it right. I highly recommend checking it out.
holy who gives a crap, batman! as uninteresting as this is, I'm sure I'll have to package it shortly because some exec wants to watch some shitty video which requires it. I'm also sure it will be a pain to lock out all of the program guides and checking for updates and other annoyances. They supply an enterprise deployment kit to aid in config, but why isn't all that junk turned OFF by default? grumble
What about Windows Media Encoder 11. I would love to use 10, but it blows at trying to encode VOB files. Using a popular format with surround sound support would be awsome.
:(
I know it's blasphemy to hype up Microsoft, but their WMV format is really good. In fact, right up there with DivX. Just wish their next Encoder appliaction didn't suck so much ass
Life is not for the lazy.
Open Exe, WGA stops me.
.INFs, and WGA is bypassed entirely.
Unzip, run the seperate hotfix-style executables, right-click-install on a few
Way to go, Microsoft.
~The TwoTailedFox posts again....
You can find the screenshots here.
No, seriously. Am I the only one who thinks that the screenshots are rather unimpressive? I clicked through every single shot and read the description of the features. I can't find anything special.
Windows Media Player is a great example of a piece of software that has reached maturity, and been going steadily downhill ever since. Everyone who's had to struggle with a slow computer with windows knows that version 6 (6.4 specifically, I think) was when WiMP essentially reached maturity. Really, what more possible features could you need in a media player other than the usual play, pause, rewind, etc. buttons, and some useful codecs (which, of course, Microsoft would never even dream of distributing, as they promote "piracy", or help alternative formats like Real).
l I'm even aware of at east one open source media player project based off the WiMP 6.4 design (has essentially the exact same look and feel, but is supplied with all the good codecs), namely "Media Player Classic" (here).
Since 6.4, which was last distributed with Win2k (though the auto-update features try their darndest to sneak the newer versions in), WiMP has gotten progressively worse. Version 9 was a disgrace, and 10 was even worse. Seems like the only innovation Microsoft has to offer in media players is bundling in more DRM features that no one wants, useless and ugly skins, and support for their own worthless WMV/WMA formats.
Please, don't use this new "feature"-laden crapware. Microsoft should take a hint from VLC or mplayer, and realize that we don't want the useless junk they're piling on. The reason why VLC and mplayer are so great is they do one thing and do it well: play media. Period.
http://cltracker.net -- powerful craigslist multi-city search
Gee, what other explanation is there for MS' tremendous market share? :)
Anyone who attended NAB 2006 in Las Vegas last month would have seen the tons of signage, brochures and other promotional material from Microsoft showing off WMP11.
It seems like the main thrust of the (very large) MSFT exhibit was VOD (video on demand), but WMP 11 was prominently displayed, along with a promised new buy-your-music-online program... the partner's name escapes me at the moment.
This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
... it's been available to everybody that's ever had their hands on a beta version of Vista?
Maybe I'm missing how this is news, but I saw these screenshots months ago.
Hell yes, considering how MS routinely delay their releases, having proof that it is not just more vapourware is good news for all MS shareholders. At least somebody is doing his job over at the MS campus.
Oh well, what the hell...
Click the "View Options" button and switch to Details view instead of the Icon or Detailed Tiles view....
It's definately a visually nice ugprade from WM 10, and it does look better than iTunes in some ways on my PCs, but it definately does not look better than iTunes on my Macs, which use their GPU to render true 32-bit windows with crystal-clear anti-aliased fonts. The Mac version of iTunes also has a very tiny footprint in memory for what it does, and uses virtually no CPU time to playback my Apple Lossless music; Less than 4% on average. True OS level integration with OS X makes it a completely different app than what it is on my PC. Just to clarify, it runs good on my PCs, but it runs great on my Macs. It runs better on my 3.5 year old PB, than it does on my newer and much faster Athlons.
;)
I'm into the black glossy look they used with WM 11, I actually just worked on a site design that used a similar treatment, but the buttoms are obnoxious in size and the fonts look bad. The non-aliased window and Window's close/minimise/maximise buttons also bring down its appearance in my book. And MS can thank Apple for glass/glossy look, not for coming up with it, but definately paving the road for its widespread implementation. Apple actually toned down their use of it with OS X 10.3. They relized that it was distracting for us pro-art-peeps, so minimalized its use.
Anway, I'll need ot download and try it out, but I can already tell that it doesn't look remotely as intuitive as iTunes, which is way more important than a purdey interface.
<]=)
...in the voice of that talking space-ship from "Flight of the Navigator":
"I don't leak. You leak!"
(Best talking space-ship urination joke ever!).
disclaimer: I use Ubuntu on my desktop and am a vlc fan
Hell, it sucks under Linux!
[insert witty sig here]
As of Tue 15 of Jun, 2004 it was almost unusable. Now it works fine. Just make sure you build with high accuracy tremor or use libavcodec for vorbis.
If you'd have read the screenshot descriptions (here & here) you'd notice that you can search instantly by keyword/title. I'm very excited about this new WMP. MS says (we'll see if they can deliver) that they've improved it so it can handle large collections. The current WMP can't handle my 10,000+ music archives well, so instantaneous search across 30,000+ songs is pretty exciting stuff.
I have a huge problem with windows media player. Microsoft does not support a good step through frame commend, reverse playback, or quicktime like encoding features with export/import of frame sequences etc.
I always use Windows Media Player Classic because it does so much more than the media player when it comes to playback control and it works better overall, and has a better interface.
Microsoft is trying to make it into itunes, rather than turning it into a real media player. It is a one big button ui. Any advanced video control functionality is either missing or hidden (i cant find them)
They may have a pretty skin, but the player itself always falls short of being a real video player.
They want to be itunes, and not a real video player for all who need it. Apple does it far better with quicktime on the Mac, and their PC version while not as good as the mac version is still useable for content creators/video editors.
The Microsoft Media Player on the other hand is a toy, thats chasing Itunes.
My music is already in Itunes Microsoft... If the media player 11 interfaces with my Ipod i'll maybe consider it, until then... i dont really care about the itunes like features.
Microsoft has always been late to the party, and they do this weasel like catch up strategy, that never satisfies...
WMP 11 is just another Microsoft mess. Get it right or get rid of it. Its fucking version 11 already.... How many versions do you need before you add real video playback controls?
Don't tell anyone! Shhh! VLC 0.8.5 was released recently -- downloads are something close to 1 per second. The list of supported formats is pretty incredible ...
:)
Plus, Windows Media Whatever doesn't work on my Linux box
timothy
jrnl: http://tinyurl.com/c2l8yr / foes: http://tinyurl.com/ckjno5
Your hopes are not in vain. Just read any review of M$ AdCenter or Vista (train wreck ... not compelling to human beings). The slow down is not gradual, it's instant, and the damn thing might not work at all.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
You'll enjoy WMP's View:Enhancements:Play Speed Settings, which is where frame stepping and reverse playback live.
What planet do you live on? There's lot's excitement for people who discover GNU/Linux. Expectations are typically low, thanks to massive FUD campaigns. A by product of that FUD is an air of the dangerous and new that's irresistible to many. Those that bother to try and stick with it long enough to overcome the bad habits of commercial software are amply rewarded. In the end, they find the joy of free software, which continues to grow. Browsing software repositories is like walking through a candy store where everything is free and the candy only gets better as time goes on. New programs make it feel like Christmas all year long. What does the five year and counting M$ train wreck release cycle have to match that? Zip, zero, zilch, hype, FUD and other hot air.
Most of the people I know have barely heard of free software and are heavily FUDed about it. They have this strange notion that it's hard to use and won't work with their hardware. Some even confuse it with copyright violation and think it's somehow tainted and immoral. Big players, like IBM, Lowes, Chrysler, etc, have helped to alleviate the "rebel" image but the FUD still stick because the big dumb vendors like Dell still don't offer a GNU/Linux desktop machines for end users.
Anyone who's used a GNU/Linux system for any length of time knows the FUD for the BS but the discovery never ends. Media players are a prime example. I've been using free software since Red Hat 5.x in 1998 and I've watched a steady and constant improvement. Back then, things were so nasty I did not even bother with sound. Then came vorbis, sox, autoconfiguration, ALSA, xine and suddenly audio is easy. Today, you can get live CDs that run Amarok, which has to be one of the finest media players available. Amarok excels as a media player as Konqueror and Firefox excel as browsers. Everywhere you look at a GNU/Linux system you see more excellence. The product is greater than the sum of the parts and M$ can't keep up to save their life. Hell, they are finally getting a browser with tabs and a multiple desktop GUI, but it's so bloated and top heavy with, virus checking and DRM it won't even work.
The final, unmatchable and exciting discovery is how free software really works. Far from being evil, free software is morally superior. No free software project has ever sued a public school for copying a text editor and none ever will misuse the government and laws in such a hideous way. What Microsoft dissmisses as "Communism" is actually co-operative capitalism and free market innovation at it's finest. Getting something for nothing and finding out that's the way it should have been all along feels great. The lies and harm M$ heaps on free software all backfire and the user is left with an unshakable commitment to their own software freedom.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
I'm seeing more of that... like the recent WSJ rejection of all Linux because the distro tried would not work iTunes (and a few "complex" M$Office docs). It's too bad people don't see the magic combination of:
The whole DRM fiasco is so avoidable and life without it is so much better. If work forces you to use Windoze, it sucks to be you but you don't have to let that take over your entertainment and home life.
By the way, the GUI that Xine makes does all the cool stuff from keyboard shortcuts you want from a video player. If you want a real video editor, go for kino or cinerella. M$ will never give you any of that any more than M$ Word can be used for publishing.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
This happened last weekend, I had it by the end of friday night! Its preaty slick in view, nice interface, URGE is good, shame ipods can't be synced as iTunes is the worst player for memory resources.
Well I think I've made an ass of my self.