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Microsoft: Fix Windows Media Player or kill it already!


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It amazes me how Micorosft has continually ignored Windows Media Player in terms of functionality and how stupid bugs never get fixed. They've removed advanced tag editing, hidden options because God forbid someone see them, lest they become confused (F U Google and your simplicity philosophy everyone tries to imitate), and basically just let the P.O.S ride till the next OS release, where it gets a new coat of paint to make it match the OS theme. Today I was going through deleting crappy songs from my library and just as it always does, WMP seems to mess up the song order and start playing a completely different tune other than the one I actually clicked on. I have to close WMP and re-open to get it working right again. This poorly coded, afterthought of a program even starts showing the wrong album artwork if you start deleting songs! Why does this stuff get ignored? Fix this nonsense MS, PLEASE!

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That's weird, I've never had a single problem with it, not in years. My partner has over 100 GB of music and while his WMP is a little slow getting started (he has a crappy computer), he doesn't have any problems with it either.

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Use a different program if WMP bothers you so much.

There is no reason to use anything else if there is one built into the OS that would be perfectly fine if Microsoft would get off their ass and fix the problems. They probably would've fixed it by now if they didn't feel the need to create an iPod clone with that Zune garbage (Which itself is rumored to be on the chopping block). It had these bugs when Windows 7 launched and even after all the patches to the OS and a Service pack later, they've fixed nothing. Surely I'm not the only one that has these problems?

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I'll tell you what I hate about it....no Flac support, yeah i know I can install Winamp (and have) but why can't MS just support it already?

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I haven't had much of a problem with it. Although, I re-ripped my music library back in 2009 to make all the formats, metadata, and other settings uniform.

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I'll tell you what I hate about it....no Flac support, yeah i know I can install Winamp (and have) but why can't MS just support it already?

MS have never gone out of it's way to support much of anything. They try to force their standards on everyone else. There are so many other, better options available anyway.

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I'll tell you what I hate about it....no Flac support, yeah i know I can install Winamp (and have) but why can't MS just support it already?

WMP supports whatever codecs you have.

If you want the easy way to get it working, use http://shark007.net/

Do i wish WMP had more options? sure do! does it suck? hardly :)

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It looks like Microsoft has given up on WMP. They have the Zune Player for music which is leaps and bounds better (although missing some functionality so it might not be better for your needs).

For most media consumption they are now pushing Media Center (which is why it is pushed on Laptops with no TV tuner ability now...)

As such, Windows Media Player is left fledging because outside a UI overhaul (to be more like Zune Player) there isn't much new they can add... The market for WMP has dried up so much that it is left hoping for a market.

Most consumers use iTunes (due to their iPod) or Zune (due to their Zune/WP7 device). I don't know what Android users use, but that group is probably in the WinAMP camp...

Besides there is a huge third party ecosystem to fulfill your needs when Microsoft forgets about you.

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MS have never gone out of it's way to support much of anything. They try to force their standards on everyone else. There are so many other, better options available anyway.

WMP doesn't force anything on anyone. It can use whatever codecs you wish to install for directshow or mediafoundation.

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That's what happens when monopolies rule. The exact same thing happened to IE for years. There's no incentive for Microsoft to improve it because it just bundles it with the OS and kills the competition.

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That's what happens when monopolies rule. The exact same thing happened to IE for years. There's no incentive for Microsoft to improve it because it just bundles it with the OS and kills the competition.

Thats BS, for what WMP does, it does it great. i can click on a 25 gig MKV of a bd rip and play it instantly in WMP and the light weight factor works great.

If you want a media management program, there are better programs. For playing content quickly, WMP does its just very well :)

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I have begun collecting CD's. I have a couple hundred now and hope to have at least a couple thousand before they fall out of print. I have just started to use WMP because it is here and i want the convenience. So if I am looking at building a library of that size in wave format what are my options. I have had winamp and vlc crash on me. I have unselected all of the check the internet options. they both appear to be up to date (manually). Anyone have any experience they would like to share. thank you.

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@ Yes I'm Here - Check out Foobar2000. It's pretty decent :) http://www.foobar2000.org/

Media player is perfectly fine as a player. As a library tool, I can't comment, but that seems to be where most people's complaints lie.

FLAC isn't included due to is being released as a GNU license, which means Microsoft would have to release with the same license. As per normal, Microsoft put in all the functionality (codecs) they could without getting sued (which is what stops 90% of the stuff they do).

K-Lite + WMP = Perfect FLAC playback.

It really does not suck. It does what it supposed to do flawlessly with great filtering.

WMC is being pushed due to media networking, not it's functionality as a player. WMC is the dummies approach, in that it provides Wizards to do everything, which WMP then (for 90% of stuff) inherits the settings from anyway :\

The generalisation with people using Zune/iTunes is a bit shallow (not a shot at you, please don't be offended). Zune won't play X-Vid (as best I can tell) and iTunes is hated by a lot of their users. People generally use what's right in front of them. The issue is that you guys are advanced users. You think like advanced users, everyone else just double clicks :p

WMP still fills the market it's intended to: Click and play.

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my beef with the stupid program is that it NEVER remembers my music library. it re-parses/populates it every time... so stupid

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@ Rajputwarrior - If you are running Windows 7, add the location you keep your library into your "Libraries" in your "Computer" panel.

It will auto index and WMP will load it from the Index instead of re-parsing it.

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@ Rajputwarrior - If you are running Windows 7, add the location you keep your library into your "Libraries" in your "Computer" panel.

It will auto index and WMP will load it from the Index instead of re-parsing it.

thanks for the suggestion, but i tried that and it doesn't work... i don't think it likes the fact my music is on another HD (which is set up as my documents folder). Did it in XP, vista (for the whole 1 week i had that POS on my desktop) and win 7. I just don't get it. It remembers some of it, but then forgets more then 80 percent of the music. I would use Zune, but for whatever reason as soon i as update my system with all the windows updates the program crashes when you start it up. I love zune software, but it doesn't work. So i'm stuck with winamp, which i do love anyways cause of the plugins and what not and i cant use itunes because it's the worst coded program for windows ever...

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Ahh, that's a time out issue.

I know how to fix it, but it's not great for your hardware.

Check out Foobar2000. It's a great piece of software. It's got perfect filtering too :D

http://www.foobar2000.org/

EDIT::

Apparently it's foobar not fubar :\ Oopps

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@ Yes I'm Here - Check out Foobar2000. It's pretty decent :) http://www.foobar2000.org/

Media player is perfectly fine as a player. As a library tool, I can't comment, but that seems to be where most people's complaints lie.

FLAC isn't included due to is being released as a GNU license, which means Microsoft would have to release with the same license. As per normal, Microsoft put in all the functionality (codecs) they could without getting sued (which is what stops 90% of the stuff they do).

K-Lite + WMP = Perfect FLAC playback.

It really does not suck. It does what it supposed to do flawlessly with great filtering.

WMC is being pushed due to media networking, not it's functionality as a player. WMC is the dummies approach, in that it provides Wizards to do everything, which WMP then (for 90% of stuff) inherits the settings from anyway :\

The generalisation with people using Zune/iTunes is a bit shallow (not a shot at you, please don't be offended). Zune won't play X-Vid (as best I can tell) and iTunes is hated by a lot of their users. People generally use what's right in front of them. The issue is that you guys are advanced users. You think like advanced users, everyone else just double clicks :p

WMP still fills the market it's intended to: Click and play.

thanks I will have to play with it.

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That's what happens when monopolies rule. The exact same thing happened to IE for years. There's no incentive for Microsoft to improve it because it just bundles it with the OS and kills the competition.

Only if the user is too dumb or stubborn to download another media player...

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@ nub - Just for the sake of interest; find me a recent review comparing all the players that trashes WMP as being bad?

I haven't read one for ages. I've seen a lot saying it's really good and that it should be used more :\

I just want to see if there are any professional reviewers out there trashing it.

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For playing content quickly, WMP does its just very well :)

After you install all the codecs you need . . . The more popular ones should be there by default or get installed when needed. There are just several players that just do the job better, with less fuss and more options.

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I am new to actually using WMP. I will go out and buy some CD's at the used CD shop and come home to load them into the PC. If I do not go to the internet for all of the album information, at least one track will jump out of one of the albums during the update library process. I have now learned to tipple check the disc after it has been ripped. I thought I would add this to the discussion for some user input. I have found the same type of problem with the Zune and Ipod. It could of currse just be some sort of operator error, but they all seem to get a little funny if they can not call home. The I pod completly quit and was left for dead, later after a new battery install it was fine. The Zune caused me to like to reload the os to the laptop where it was living. I do not have any really great technical details, just a little story. Thank you

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