OSNews

I cannot believe this. Can WMP at present really not randomly pick songs for your MP3 player at present? I knew it was bad, but not that bad...

Odd..the last thing I remember of WMP is scowling at it because my songs played at random, and the unrandomise button was hidden in it's bloated corpse of an interface.

Maybe they mean they've put it under an accessible button this time

"I cannot believe this. Can WMP at present really not randomly pick songs for your MP3 player at present? I knew it was bad, but not that bad... "

Most can't. In fact, even iTunes can only use AutoFill (as Apple calls it) with iPod shuffles.

VLC on my Gentoo AMD64 box seems to be able to play non-DRM WMA. At least the binary itself is AMD64...

I haven't tried WMV, though. Your mileage will vary.

Depending on the distro you're using, you can install the 32-bit version of mplayer and mplayerplug-in and then install the appropriate codecs in /usr/lib32/win32 and /usr/lib/win32 (or just link the latter to the former) and you don't have to chroot. This is what I do.

I'm using a full 64bits system. Not a 32bits one in a 64bits capable machine. 32bits codecs only works on a binary built to 32bits, not for a 64bits binary.
And..i'm using gentoo.

Actually, I'm using a AMD64 system on which is also 64-bit Gentoo. I am using mplayer-bin-1.0.20060408, mplayerplug-in-3.25 and win32codecs. I am able to play WMV on my box just fine.

Ditto here.

Not all WMVs are (easily) playable though, but this can be worked around. If everything fails I can always use a Windows-app in Wine.

I have found an occasional wmv that won't play on Linux, but most do play. The real problem here, of course, is that the industry can't seem to agree on a single open format for video and one for audio so users don't have to have multiple multimedia players or worry whether a file will play on their machine.

"The real problem here, of course, is that the industry can't seem to agree on a single open format for video and one for audio so users don't have to have multiple multimedia players or worry whether a file will play on their machine."

Or use one mediaplayer that supports all the formats you use - like gstreamer-, xine- or mplayer-frontends.

They're binary codecs, so they only work on a x86 platform. That's no good.

Yes, you did. There is a link that goes here...

https://helix-client.helixcommunity.org/2005/devdocs/windowsMedia.ht...

The helix media player is open source, and some use it for multimedia support in Linux.

great still no DRM support though. That means if we want to buy individual songs vs. the whole (and usually crap filled fluff) CD we have to continue dual booting/VMWareing to CD burn then rip again. Which begs the question - why keep using Linux then if it can't do the job? Don't get me wrong, I love the Linux movement but I believe Apple will ship the MacOS for all systems and at 300% cheaper than MSFT Winblows long before Linux gets 100% support for desktop use. I hate DRM too but I'm a realist - it's not going away, what IS going to go away is NON-DRM.

Don't get me wrong, I love the Linux movement but I believe Apple will ship the MacOS for all systems and at 300% cheaper than MSFT Winblows long before Linux gets 100% support for desktop use. I hate DRM too but I'm a realist - it's not going away, what IS going to go away is NON-DRM.

You have to be a Microsoft-troll. Noone else shorts Microsoft as MSFT. That is: everyone who doesn't have MSFT stocks simply calls them MS.

And Linux can do the job. The job usually involves Amule though :p

And Linux can do the job. The job usually involves Amule though :p

Or allofmp3.com

That is why I dont buy DRMed formats.

I hate DRM too but I'm a realist - it's not going away, what IS going to go away is NON-DRM.

Actually it isnt. The retail stores are still full of DRM free music.

Then there is the low bit rates music downloads of online services like iTunes. Doesn iTunes use like 112Kbp/s ATRAC or something? I suppose that might cut it if your best piece of audio equipment is mediocre, but I am simply not willing to put up with less than CD quality. And why should I put up with lower quality when it doesnt cost me any less money?


(and usually crap filled fluff)

That totally depends on the artist. Perhaps the problem is you only listen to music written and produced by no talent losers who just couldnt come up with more than one decent song to put on their CD?

Doesn iTunes use like 112Kbp/s ATRAC or something?

No. ATRAC is Sony's format. Apple uses 128k AAC.

'Also, liquidat wrote us: "While I searched for information about Alsa support for Real/HelixPlayer I came across the HelixPlayer v3.0 project overview and found that there is a group working on this. This means that we will sooner or later get native (and legal) Windows Audio/Video support on Linux. Windows DRM though will not be supported on Linux but on "devices", whatever that may be."'

Ah, I see it now. Thanks.

Click the "Read more" link.

Nevermind. You found it.

that was part of their suit agreement with MSFT, the license ends in 2007 if I remember right.

Supposedly Windows Media has RAND licensing, so they should simply be able to renew in 2007. Of course, RAND is not legally binding AFAIK, so maybe not.

Lindows got the right to include codecs as part of the 20 million buyoff from Microsoft. They got the rights to distribute until 2008, and we all KNOW Microsoft will be MORE than willing to renew them, right?

Why a server OS has a media player?

Because it's a requirement?

Anyway, Win2K3 is actually a quite nice Desktop OS.

I've heard this lots of time, people calling Linux a very specific OS. It can be "network OS", or "server OS", or "embedded OS", or whatever.
Some people just can't understand how Linux can be all that at the same time.
I think that's come from the fact that Linux is the first OS of its kind. An OS that can be as good at network, server, embedded or desktop.
Well, some people still argue about the desktop, I have no problem with people telling me I'm wrong on this. I keep telling Linux will wake up lots of people since 2001, when I switched entirely. I'm convinced it will spread even on the desktop (which is just fine to me), despite powerful road blocks put on Linux' path these last years.
I'm convinced because, even though I know Linux since 1999 only, I've been through lots of powerful FUD, and they have all been naturally destroyed by FOSS community.
Things like : "Linux will never gain share in the server space", same FUD with "datacenter", "business critical apps", "high end", "embedded", "multimedia", ...
All of this is shattered now, even though some still try to convey these feelings today.
All these improvements thanks to the competition, because they loved to put the finger on an area where FOSS lacks, and the community has always answered with improvements.
When you see no more things on which adversaries can put the finger, and all they have is red herring, you know FOSS has done it right.
And I find it amusing, every time I see someone spout years old red herring like "Linux is a server OS" .

Uhm... dude, nice speech 'n'all, but the GP was talking about Windows 2003 Server.

Valid point all the same

My mistake then.
I took the wrong parent.

Apart from power users and geeks most people use WMP *yuck* , or at least those ordinary users I know do.

If they are above the beginners level they tend to use WinAMP or VLC (on Windows) and VLC or mplayer on other platforms.

What kind of friend are you? If you know them, why not help them and simply show them VLC?

Trust me I do, but many of these people will complain about it, and then they keep using WMP (no kidding!).

Just like they IE is much better than Firefox or Opera. Newbies obviously don't like changes. They are scared of them.