Windows Media Player crashed! What else is out there for general playback?!

[Jay Kahrs]

Someone sent along a file that I tried to play on the office PC & WMP 9 said it needed to be "upgraded" to version 10.

OK, no problem right?!?

Way wrong!

The install of 10 failed & I can't revert back to 9 OR uninstall the whole jimmy-jammy & start fresh without blasting over the harddrive.

Suckage.

I tried "Real Player" which IMO is a real pain in the ass & won't play Windows Media Files anyway...and that's something I need to have.

I also tried WinAmp & hated it...too clunky.

I'd throw $50 or so at a general jukebox program for music & video orginization & playback...and sure I've got Sound Forge & all that but I want something basic.

Really, I just want the Windows Media Player to work!

It's a PIII 500 with scads of ram...I think 256...should be plenty for just about anything really!

I've been avoiding iTunes like the plague...how's that player? Anyone using it?

Thanks much!

[jahtao]

iTunes is great (might not play wma's tho). Curious: why you been avoiding it?

[hrn]

Have you tried system restore (WinXP only):
http://support.microsoft.com/default...;EN-US;Q306084

Hans

[joris de man]

Download a freeware app called Media Player Classic.
http://www.afterdawn.com/software/vi...er_classic.cfm

It's a no frills media player that plays pretty much everything.
It's also very light and doesn't bombard you with advertisement crap or 'editors picks'.
If you install the Quicktime alternative codecs it can also play quicktime...however it won't support the PRO functions of quicktime so if you have Quicktime Pro be careful with installing these codecs.

Good luck,

Joe

[theblue1]

I had friends send me Mp4s. Since I had bought Quicktime Pro, I figured it ought to open it (it was touted as the 'gateway' to MP4 as I recall), maybe after DLing a new codec.

Nope. I checked the updates. Nope. All codecs already installed.

It took me a while to figure out that it was just that Apple expects me to buy a whole new full version of QT Pro... the upgrade from 6.5 to 7 (which apparently will play Mp4s) is... $30. And you can't install the free version without uninstalling your paid for version.

Since I use RealAlternative (a spyware free codec wrapper) I first tried Quicktime Alternative. But it apparently uses the Apple codec,, forcing me, if I wanted it, to remove my old, paid for Quicktime Pro (which I need for my digi cam's videos).


FINALLY I found a little media player called VLC Media Player on download.com. It had good reviews so I DL'd and installed it and it's been GREAT.

It has far more playback controls that the benighted Quicktime Pro -- doesn't highjack your file associations like QT Pro -- doesn't install itself in your boot profile like QT Pro... and doesn't nagware you to death like QT free.

Big props to VLC Media Player.

[treymonfauntre]

winamp is still the best

[seriousfun]

Foobar.

[AlexLakis]

VLC = thumbsup

[hrn]

I think Windows Media Player is the best.

I've used VLC as a video player and it's nice, feels kind of old though in the surface. Win 3.11 feel...

Winamp is fast and a good player too.

Could not be without Media Player myself.

...AND, I stay away from Real and Quicktime What a mess...

[Jay Kahrs]

Originally Posted by jahtao

iTunes is great (might not play wma's tho). Curious: why you been avoiding it?

Well, see...I've got this theory that if I pay to download a song & therefore own an individual license for the private use of that song, I should be able to transfer it to & play it on anything I want...and NOT be limited to Apple's player & a propriatery format.

Apple's not alone in that, a lot of other media services like Music Now are the same way.

Basically I'm waiting for someone to build a better mousetrap.

But this isn't about that...

I need a media player can won't stiffle me with pop-ups, isn't clunky and can play WMA files.

Quicktime's a little sketchy...I'm a PC guy running XP service pack 1 on the machine in question...

[Higgs]

XP still has its old media play at C:\Program Files\Windows Media Player\mplayer2. I have it set as my default media player for MP3s.

[theblue1]

Originally Posted by hrn

I think Windows Media Player is the best.

I've used VLC as a video player and it's nice, feels kind of old though in the surface. Win 3.11 feel...

Winamp is fast and a good player too.

Could not be without Media Player myself.

...AND, I stay away from Real and Quicktime What a mess...

Yah... I LIKE the no frills GUI on VLC... it's like all those MDA plugs...


BTW, I have so many players on my machine, it's just sad. But I use MusicMatch for listening to my subscription service (MM On Demand, so, it's necessary). But MM is a bigtime memory leaker (it's like a fragmentation bomb going off in your RAM) so if I have most media set up to default to WinAmp -- and I reboot or at least log off, usually, if I'm going to do any serious audio work after using MusicMatch.

Seriously, MM makes a 60-100 MB hole in memory... even logging off and back on usually doesn't clear/release it, though I have my machine set up to NOT reload the MM components that MM tries to keep in your boot profile. (NO loaders. From any player. Ever. MM's loader actually SLOWS down its already glacial loading.)

Too bad, MusicMatch Jukebox Plus (or whatever the $20 version's called) has a great feature set with all kinds of control over MP3 and other formats -- even a timer for programming unattended recording... used to use it to grab favorite radio shows before the podcast era.

WinAmp has a couple 'features' that used to drive me around the bend but I'm used to them more or less now.

And then from there on out, whichever player has lately fought dirtiest for my file associations usually gets the shot. Actually most of my players are pretty well behaved. I don't have RealPlayer (RealAlternative instead) so I don't have to hassle with it and its crap.

And then that just leaves Quicktime Pro in the can't-trust-it category. As I said above somewhere, I need it for my cam's vid output or I would throw Quicktime Pro into the deepest hole in cyberspace and count my $30 a good lesson about who not to deal with.

(I'm STILL royally pissed off that the upgrade from QT Pro 6.5 to 7 is full price and that I would have to uninstall QT Pro to use the hobbled nagware version. Honest to gosh I do not think I have EVER dealt with a software company that charged full price for a half point upgrade. Although the evil fonks at RealNetworks did sell me a "lifetime upgrade" to the RealPlayer only to have them, not more than a year or two later, come out with RealPlayer G2 which they claimed was a 'whole new' product, and hence not covered by my "lifetime upgrade." Needless to say I NEVER gave RealNetworks another penny and never will.)

[hrn]

..and Itunes sucks...tried it and will stay away from it

[djui5]

Originally Posted by Jay Kahrs

I need a media player can won't stiffle me with pop-ups, isn't clunky and can play WMA files.

The only thing that will play .wma's is windows media. If you wanna play a .wma on a mac, there's this thing called "flip4mac" that plays them through quicktime.

For everything else I use Itunes. I love it. At home (on the PC) I use Roxio's "Audio Central". I don't believe it will play .wma's though...

btw, if it's that metalcore mix your trying to listen to, you really should find a way to play it.

What's the deal with un-installing windows media?

[fraz]

Originally Posted by djui5

The only thing that will play .wma's is windows media.

That's funny, I'm playing David Foister's Symphony Sessions as a wma with Foobar as I type this...


Or did I take that out of context?

[ILL]

I use Windows Media Player 11 beta, even tho it's beta it hasn't crashed once. Way to go Microsoft. Before it i was using iTunes, it's really slow and takes too much memory. I really liked the look on the other hand.

[djui5]

Originally Posted by fraz

That's funny, I'm playing David Foister's Symphony Sessions as a wma with Foobar as I type this...

I've never used foobar

Thanks for the correction.

[Solar]

Windows Media Player 11 is the shit.... simply try it out... u wont regret..

[fraz]

Originally Posted by Solar

Windows Media Player 11 is the shit.... simply try it out... u wont regret..

My only problem with WMP is that you cannot set the output device, to the best of my knowledge it always uses the system's default. I hate having to go to the control panel to always change my default device.

[Jay Kahrs]

Originally Posted by djui5

btw, if it's that metalcore mix your trying to listen to, you really should find a way to play it.

What's the deal with un-installing windows media?

Nah....someone sent me a video clip with a Paul Gilbert interview...the guitar player from Racer X & Mr. Big. He's a FUNNY cat & my favorite shred gee'tar player!

For whatever reasons the uninstall of Windows Media keeps failing...

Hmmm...I'm too swamped to deal with it now but I gotta do it later in the week because life with "Real Player" is freakin' annoying!

[StudioTinPanAll]

Foobar 2000 here !
plays everything, no nonsense
and check out .flac
free lossless audio codec

grtz,

wim

[djui5]

Maybe try to download wmp and install it again....it should overwrite the old one...just a thought.