Windows Media Player can blow me.

[slu]

*Originally posted by Lord Ashtar *
**It took me a few weeks, but I brought a bunch of my CDs into work and used WMP to copy them to my computer. Now I have about 800 songs on my hard drive, and I can just set WMP to shuffle. Never had a problem. **

This is the best idea of them all.

I take the even lower tech route. I bring in a stack of CDs each week or so, listen to them until I am sick of 'em. Then bring them home and replace. Repeat as necessary. Unless of course you don’t own the CDs and got the songs some other way.

I think I am going to start to save them though.

Also, go to epitonic.com. Free mp3 downloads.

[Dead_Badger]

I’ve managed to get WMP playing OGG files fine - you need the directsound filter, obtainable here, and I think that should do it. Of course, if you absolutely can’t install anything on the PC at all, then this is irrelevant. Incidentally, my WMP plays VBR MP3s quite happily, so I have no idea what’s up with yours.

Oh, and while ogg is technically superior, it has the notable practical downside of being a minority codec at present, something which you will of course have taken into account when choosing it, as I did. If you choose an unusual format, be prepared for a lack of out-of-the-box support. This of course means that if you can’t install anything you’re buggered, but I can’t see how that’s Microsoft’s fault.

[Troy_McClure_SF]

iTunes

You’re welcome.

[Azael]

**I made the stupid mistake of downloading RealOne. Now, whatever file I try to open in it, the fucking thing says “Need to download a file to complete this operation.” That’s happened about 8 times now. Why can’t those files be included in the fucking download to begin with?

**

Ye Gods man! If you have to view realmedia files then scour that bloated piece of crap from your system and install RealAlternative.

[Azael]

While your at it, get QuickTime Alternative too.

[Revtim]

I can see why people would want to replace the evil RealPlayer, but why Quicktime? That always seemed to be a benign well-working media player, on my Windows machines.

[SPOOFE]

I can see why people would want to replace the evil RealPlayer, but why Quicktime?

ME: “Lalala, surfin’ the ‘Net, downloadin’ porn… what’s this? This Jenna Jameson clip featuring her getting cummed on by five guys is Quicktime? All right, let’s watch it… what? I have to download another plugin? All right, let’s do it… tum te tum… la de da… ho hum… is it even doing anyth–* what? Frozen? AGAIN???”

The irony is that in the past year, Quicktime is the ONLY piece of software that’s frozen up on my “inferior” (cheaper and faster, cough) machine. Odd, innit? Maybe my computer’s not translucent enough.

[Hamadryad]

I think what’s funny are the sheer number of different players that are out there, and the vast difference between what will work on one person’s machine and what will work on another’s.

I started off using Winamp3 for everything. Then I had to switch monitors, and Winamp3 wouldn’t give me the control over video brightness that I needed with my new (but still old) monitor. Also, it started randomly locking up my system.

I started using a DivX player for my video files, but stuck with Winamp3 for my mp3s. Then DivX started letting me play the files, but completely ignoring all of my attempts to control the brightness (even though it had done fine for months). So…I started using Windows Media Player.

Now, WMP has been doing a beautiful job on all of my video files. It won’t play XVID, but the DivX player still does all right on those, as long as I don’t care that I can’t see half of what’s happening because I still can’t force it to understand that yes, I have turned up the brightness. But…

I use RealPlayer for online audio streams.

I have to leave Quicktime installed because I can’t see some streaming content without IT.

So now I have five different media players installed and I use all of them, but only for certain media, and only at certain times.

And this is why I love the age of technology. barf

[BonoVox]

*Originally posted by rjung *
**Quicktime runs like a dream on my Mac.

I can’t help it if you’re using inferior equipment. **

And the peasants rejoiced.

[Revtim]

*Originally posted by Revtim *
**There’s a beta version of Winamp 5 (yes, they skipped 4) that’s pretty cool (I know the OP can’t install anything else, I guess this for the benefit of the others).

They say it has the advantages of version 2 and 3, but not the disadvantages of 3. I never had a problem with 3, so I can’t say what those were.

http://www.soft32.com/download_7565.html **

Here’s a later version, RC8, if anyone cares.

http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail.php3?fid=1066336873

I like this one a lot. I’m using Winamp to view video now also, for the first time. I never liked its video before this version, for some reason.

[black_rabbit]

Ah, this thread.

neuroman: I ended up going with XMPlay as amore suggested.

The problem did turn out to be with my soundcard drivers, so it wasn’t really WMP’s fault. But since I can now fit ~25 hours of oggs on a CD and run XMPlay off it, WMP might as well still be licking my taint.

[Shalmanese]

I know this might offend your delicate sensibilities but seeing as you went to all the bother of re-encoding your OGG files, why didn’t you just encode them as WMA file? Even though they are from Microsoft, they genuinely ARE better than MP3’s. And you get the added benifit that WMP is virtually guarenteed to play it.