Windows 7 Whats the point of Windows Media player in W7

[jimbo45]

Hi guys
I find VLC from Videolan works perfectly for all my multimedia (including encrypted DVD's note - Libdvdcss needed for commercial encrypted DVD's and audio - even plays flac files natively. And it's all FREE from the Videolan project -- works on most Linuxes too (and I believe some Macbooks -- no experience on messing around with those however).

Can't see the point of Windows Media with all that DRM Shyte in it as well .

Grab yourself VLC (works fine on W7 X32 and X64).

Get it here

VideoLAN - Free and Open Source software and video streaming solutions for every OS!

Here's a link to Codecs it uses -- loads and loads of them

VLC - Features



(Note this is not yet for Blu Ray DVD - but it's only a matter of time.)

Cheers
jimbo

 

[BlackWolf]

yeah, but Microsoft would never admit that I agree though, I havn't used WMP in many years, I use VLC media player. it has lots of customization options, an easy-to-use interface that takes almost no resources and it comes with every possible codec so you can play EVERY movie (except realmedia I think) out-of-the-box. even wmv/flv/mov etc.
plus it's available for every OS (and let me say that it works perfectly on intel macs, so all macs from the past 4 or 5 years)

I always thought that microsoft should be able to get out like a "media player lite" that works like vlc, comes with all the codecs pre-installed and has a slim interface. media player is way too slow and bulky compared to vlc and works way slower, plus you have to install all the codecs manually. never undestood why MS didn't create an easier-to-use media player since that seems to be managable if a non-commercial company like videolan managed to do it.

 

[anykey]

...Can't see the point of Windows Media player

Nor can I.
Never used it.
Cannot see that I ever will.

Like you I use VLC.
For my music I like MediaMonkey » Media Jukebox, Music Manager, CD Ripper & Converter

 

[Kyle]

Agreed VLC>WMP for video playback, but since it's meant to be a movie player, and not a full time audio player, WMP>WMP for audio playback.

So WMP still has a purpose... until you install iTunes.

 

[jimbo45]

Hi there
VLC can play audio - but there's a load of good stuff - WINAMP, Media Monkey etc to name but a few.

I'm not a big fan of "ICHOONES" or other online music stores .

I prefer to get my music DRM free and Uncompressed. I either make a decent Live recording (Dinosaur Technology Minidisc is still 100% great for this stuff) or rip CD's to uncompressed flac and play those.

I Like classical music as well -- No way does Classical music lend itself to a 128 kbs highly compressed MP3 sound - especially when played through top end Bose / Mission equipment.

To get back to W7 - Winamp CD ripping software still works fine. For some other stuff I have to use either an XP Virtual or Real machine -- not a criticism of W7 -- some of the stuff I use is high end and quite specialized so I know it will be a while before it's ported to W7 - I knew that before starting testing anyway.

I'm actually impressed with what W7 DOES handle.

Cheers
jimbo

BTW how did you get hold of the new W7 build -- Jealous. Good Luck and if you have time in this busy period see if there's anything that was broken in build 7000 that now works in the new one.

 

[loathe]

VLC is choice as bro

 

[anykey]

....but there's a load of good stuff - WINAMP, Media Monkey etc ... (Dinosaur Technology Minidisc is still 100% great for this stuff) ... when played through top end Bose / Mission equipment. jimbo

I like what you say jimbo, esp those M words. Music to my ears, ha ha

 

[BlackWolf]

Hi there
VLC can play audio - but there's a load of good stuff - WINAMP, Media Monkey etc to name but a few.

I'm not a big fan of "ICHOONES" or other online music stores .

I prefer to get my music DRM free and Uncompressed. I either make a decent Live recording (Dinosaur Technology Minidisc is still 100% great for this stuff) or rip CD's to uncompressed flac and play those.

I Like classical music as well -- No way does Classical music lend itself to a 128 kbs highly compressed MP3 sound - especially when played through top end Bose / Mission equipment.

To get back to W7 - Winamp CD ripping software still works fine. For some other stuff I have to use either an XP Virtual or Real machine -- not a criticism of W7 -- some of the stuff I use is high end and quite specialized so I know it will be a while before it's ported to W7 - I knew that before starting testing anyway.

I'm actually impressed with what W7 DOES handle.

Cheers
jimbo

BTW how did you get hold of the new W7 build -- Jealous. Good Luck and if you have time in this busy period see if there's anything that was broken in build 7000 that now works in the new one.

yeah well, itunes is no online music store, so ... . the online music store you mean is called itunes STORE and CAN be used when using itunes but it's completly optional.
also, the itunes store is completly drm-free since january and as far as I know they offer their music with 256kbps (though I know no human that can hear the difference to a 128kbps file, seriously ... it's like 25 and 30fps with movies )

but, I mean, in the end those are really just personal preferences. iTunes (the application) is not very fast but it has a really nice and intuative interface, shows all the album art and allows you to rate your songs and build smart playlists. so it has some pretty cool features (newest being the genius playlists which ROCK), but honestly I only switched to itunes because of my iphone. before I used foobar which was great too (but is kinda minimalistic).

 

[reghakr]

Yep,

Totally agree with VLC

I id notice when you first run WMP, it asks for file associations and noticed it has many more audio and video file support., Of course, I clicked through it very fast.

Then the damn thing took over my default DVD player. I got that back, but now my Cyberlink DVD player doesn't output in 5.1 channel anymore. If I use WMP, it does come out in 5.1 channel surround but I'm stuck with that small bar on the bottom of the screen whereas before I had a completely full screen view.

Also, if you're not using WMP at all, you should go to Services and turn off the Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service.

I either make a decent Live recording (Dinosaur Technology Minidisc is still 100% great for this stuff) or rip CD's to uncompressed flac and play those.

Now that's cool. I have an old Akai Reference Master integrated amp (when they used to make good equipment) with both optical and digital coax ins and outs, and I use the minidisc recording myself. xcellent sound quality.

 

[stupidbiznitch9]

i had real player back in the day when it was good, then it sucked, now its good again, and it works for W7, you can dl youtube videos with it, easy and simple. It has the ability to play many audio formats, as well as movie formats, as long as you have the codecs for .avi, DVDs and .mp4

 

[BlackWolf]

i had real player back in the day when it was good, then it sucked, now its good again, and it works for W7, you can dl youtube videos with it, easy and simple. It has the ability to play many audio formats, as well as movie formats, as long as you have the codecs for .avi, DVDs and .mp4

just wanted to say that avi, mp4 etc. are file-formats or container-formats and they do not have a codec. there are codecs for divx, xvid, h264 a.s.o.

 

[joshg81]

my vote

i chose vlc for the video...(no more installing codecs) and itunes for the music...(even if you don't own an ipod)

 

[loathe]

I still use old Winamp for my music, goes hard.

 

[reghakr]

Realplayer has been long know for spying on your surfing habits and "sending information back home" using advertizing partners.

I suggest you take a look at the page:
Link Removed due to 404 Error

Then get rid of it and download a spyware/adware free program like VLC

VLC media player - Overview

 

[Theo]

The point of WMP

I agree ,Real Player works great! But I am finding it difficult to cut and paste any video,picture or song from one location to another.It use to be so simple.With the new WMP I cant find a place to add files.

 

[stupidbiznitch9]

can't you just share libraries between programs (havent tried this myself so...)