WMP 11 Vs iTunes + QuickTime

I am posting this article here, cos it involves words like "Apple" "iPod" "iTunes" Which always lead to fights

Windows media player in Windows Vista is a complete overhaul of the previous version & after version 9 it is the most sensible upgrade to Windows Media player.

*img216.imageshack.us/img216/5042/playeryc1.jpg

Windows Media player is based on the DirectShow engine of Windows which means all the videos and audio which it plays is hardware accelerated & decoded as long as the graphics card is compatible, such as nVidia GeForce 6 & up series using Purevideo or ATI X1xxx series using AVIVO Engine.

Due to this DirectShow nature, Windows Media Player can support any media format out there, as long as a codec is provided. Theoretically it can even play DRM content which is not WMA such as iTunes Fairplay but so far there is no Fairplay decoder for WMP released by Apple. Windows has a centralized database of codec and any DirectShow compatible media player such as BSPlayer or Winamp can access this database to play any file. In simple terms, if you have a codec installed, anything will play in any media player of your choice in Windows Vista.

Out of the box, Windows Media Player plays all you mp3 & wma. The supported formats can be extended by installing 3rd party codec & plug-in available freely & widely. Installing a simple codec such as FFDShow will allow you to a lot more audio formats supported by FFDShow including MP4, or you can simply install the Orban decoder to play non DRM mp4 & m4a files in Windows Media Player or the Matroska Pack for mkv files..The possibilities are endless.

WMP 11 came with enhancement to Library Management taking lessons from some other innovative media players available in the market such as iTunes or Winamp. Now you can search for any song in your library using the inbuilt search. You can sort your songs in various categories such as Album, artist Year, genre etc.

*img527.imageshack.us/img527/7052/libraryml1.th.jpg

Tagging songs is not a tough task although right now WMP supports tagging of only mp3 & wma format. You can either enter the tags yourself using the advanced tag editor or simply right click on a music file & select “Find Album info” which will gather the album info as well as Album art from the Windows Media Database. No matter whether it is a DRM song or non-DRM song or a song ripped from your CD. You also don’t need to sign in to do any of these. Simply go ahead, WMP doesn’t ask for any info of yours.

With WMP it is not just about Music Library, cos now you can even make a library of your videos based on tags you define. Just like music you can search for video songs, movies & TV Shows added to your library.

By default WMP rips your CDs in WMA format which you can change from the Options. You can also burn your songs which WMP will automatically convert while burning an Audio CD.

When it comes to Portable Media player management, WMP beats every other Media player out there. It syncs & connects to thousands of media players out there which support WMP. You just connect any PMP or DAP & it will detect it automatically & ask you whether you want to sync or not, If you do then it will either convert the songs you select to sync in a compatible format, & will sync them with proper tags, folder structure, album art etc. It even syncs to Sony Walkman phone, as long as you are syncing mp3 & not converting them to wma. However with new Walkman phones available from SE which support WMA, WMP can now sync directly saving both & space & quality.

You can purchase songs from many compatible online stores whether it is MTV Urge or Napster. The songs play in WMP only if they are DRM based. If they are not then they play anywhere. Windows Media player is a solution to all your Multimedia management or playback needs.

One thing which is in WMP & not in iTunes that you can change the interface colour on the fly toanything you like. Even as yucky to red.

Now comparing this to the Quicktime+iTunes ecosystem available on Mac OS X.

*img129.imageshack.us/img129/5974/quicktimecg3.th.jpg

QuickTime technology & engine is one of the best engines out there which rivals that of Windows Media, however the QuickTime player is a very slow & buggy media player on Windows platform just like iTunes. On a Mac the story is different & I wonder why can’t apple release it properly for Windows? 90% of the iPod users are Windows users. I am comparing the Mac offering here.

QuickTime out of the box, just like Windows Media player plays many formats such as mp3 & mp4. It doesn’t support WMA unless you have the Flip4Mac component installed. It supports DivX content using the official DivX component which you will need to download & install. Just like WMP there is most likely a video/audio codec available for QuickTime. You can also install FFmpegX on a Mac using which you can encode one video format to other. To download more Quicktime Components, you can check Apple website

Mac OS X uses the QuickTime engine for everything. Whether it is decoding a jpg or bmp in Preview or playing a video in a webpage, it is all handled with QuickTime. It even handles Flash files but you are better off using the official flash codec. QuickTime has hardware accelerated Video using Core Video on Mac OS X 10.4 or later, so CPU usage is reduced a lot while playing H.264 based contents.

However QuickTime is not without its flaws. Just to play a video full screen you need to buy QuickTime for $30. Since QuickTime is more like a Multimedia platform, after buying the full version you can also use it for file format conversion such as DivX to H.264. Also to play or export mpeg2 content in QuickTime you will need to buy the QuickTime MPEG 2 component available for another $20. It is just a media player first & not for library management. For that there is iTunes.

With iTunes, things are not so good. iTunes is made for iPod & iPod is made for iTunes. iTunes uses the QuickTime audio decoding engine but doesn’t play any file format other then mp3 & mp4. The ability to play other file formats cannot be added at all.

*img453.imageshack.us/img453/555/itunes7ea2.th.jpg

When you import songs in iTunes library, it imports them in form of its own library, making 2 copies of same song in your HD. One at the original location & 2nd at the iTunes Library location. You can change this option from

advanced>general> copy files to itunes music folder when adding to library.

iTunes syncs only to iPod, & this management is superb indeed. You can easily do whatever you want with your iPod with iTunes. iTunes also manages other Apple only products such as iPhone & Apple TV, so if you have Apple products then iTunes is the best bet for you. If you don’t have Apple products & like to use other better choices then iTunes is not for you whether Mac or Windows.

Tagging songs is very easy using iTunes, however if you want to use automatic tagging or download Album art from within iTunes for your songs, you will require to get an iTunes music store account, which isn’t available in all parts of Asia. Though you can easily fool the system I guess.

Not only Music, you can also manage library of Movies, TV shows & what not you bought from iTunes store. You can also manage your home grown videos provided they are in mp4 or m4v format because iTunes will only support these formats to import. You DivX/DVR-MS/MPEG/avi videos cannot be managed in iTunes unless they are converted to mp4 format which takes a lot of time to convert.

Searching for a song in your iTunes library is very easy, just type in the search box.

Ripping songs from CDs is possible in either wav mp3 or mp4 with m4a as the default codec.

You cannot copy songs back from iPod to your computer, cos Apple doesn’t allows you to re-copy your own songs, nor can you re-download a song you previously purchased using the iTunes music store.

Most of iTunes users are Windows users & on Windows iTunes is a very badly written media player which is not only slow but also eats about 35 MB of RAM just while playing music & minimized to tray. If it is not for iPod management & buying songs from iTunes music store then there is hardly a reason to stick to iTunes on Windows, unless you are loyal to Apple.

I am not an avid iTunes user & I am using it first time on a Mac. I would like arya to do a review of iTunes & QuickTime here so that we can compare & truth be revealed. I am sure I missed some good points of iTunes, while he will miss many good features of WMP. He sure is the biggest Mac marketing agent out here in digit forum. Or if other users would like to add points that I missed out in iTunes, then plz do so

(posting pics of Quicktime & iTunes from Mac in a while)

WM11 and iTunes

Both are good

Yup, the most important point is which Platform you are using, Windows or Mac & what you want to do.

i prefer none! both are resource hogs. winamp is sufficient and very light. its media library, tho is inferior to wmp or itunes/qt, serves the purpose and i dun miss any day-to-day useful feature in it (which itunes or wmp has). but i'm giving my opinion as a windows user. winamp is not natively supported in mac. guess u'll hafta install it via crossover.

infra_red_dude said:
i prefer none! both are resource hogs. winamp is sufficient and very light. its media library, tho is inferior to wmp or itunes/qt, serves the purpose and i dun miss any day-to-day useful feature in it (which itunes or wmp has). but i'm giving my opinion as a windows user. winamp is not natively supported in mac. guess u'll hafta install it via crossover.

This just in, Winamp doesn't work with crossover in Mac. It installs as an "Unsupported Application" in a Windows 2000 bottle but doesn't play any wma/flac file.

Winamp is indeed a superb music player. Just play in Winamp, put to system tray & forget about it. I was just comparing features & media players given by default in Windows Vista & Mac OS X, & it is upto you forum members to decide which is better natively. This is why I bolded the important text. iTunes & WMP 11 both is available in Windows so anyone can try themselves & give there verdict here.

P.S. - My iTunes library sux

. I haven't even tagged songs..so any avid iTunes user is asked to post a screenshot of that in it's full glory

^^^ yeah true. if theres a choice b/w only wmp and itunes on windows then i'd choose wmp anyday. i dun haf an ipod and need not compulsorily use it (actually winamp works wid ipod using the ipod plugin as well!). the best feature of itunes is the search capability which is much better than wmp's.

Yup, winamp can be used to manage iPod too, but Winamp won't play iTunes DRM content.

Search capability for the library is also in WMP11 now, mentioned above.

Anyway, comon mac users, post about iTunes. I have no idea how good it is.....we all would like to know

, how good Quicktime & iTunes are out of the box

A

gx_saurav said:
When you import songs in iTunes library, it imports them in form of its own library, making 2 copies of same song in your HD. One at the original location & 2nd at the iTunes Library location.

@Saurav, This is not true. I have a 30 GB audio collection and itunes never made a second copy of any of the music files I have added to itunes library.

Did you tried importing those files in iTunes ? or are they already imported in iTunes library. You seem to be having a big proper tagged iTunes library, plz provide a screenshot so that I can post it here for proper comparision.

I had all my 200 songs in my mobile phone in m4a format. I copied from the memory card to Mac HD, & placed them in corresponding folder with names as i do in Windows like "Linkin Park"-> "Minutes to Midnight" -> all files here. Upon importing in Mac, itunes copied every song again to iTunes library folder in Music folder

I am myelf saying that I have not used iTunes much, which seems like you use properly. Plz read the above article & tell yourself it lacks something. I will add whatever I have missed.

I didn't read your whole first post (didn't even read a line but I'm going to) but I can tell you up front that Windows Media Player is better than both iTunes and QuickTime Player. I've lost count of how many times I've said that.

But for me, VLC rocks. VLC for video and iTunes for audio does the job just fine for me (because I do not insist on using the worst audio format out there).
______________________

I've read it now.

Congratulations on your first unbiased and true article (unlike the other extremely biased "review" of Mac OS X going on in the other thread)! I sincerely did not know that you were capable of it and am genuinely and pleasantly surprised. Keep it up.

There were a few mistakes and I would like to point them out as a form of constructive criticism.

gx_saurav said:
It even handles Flash files but you are better off using the official flash codec.

This does not really make much sense. Mac OS X, by default, plays Flash movies quite well. In fact, I find that Adobe Flash Player (it was bundled with CS3) is slower than QuickTime Player is.

gx_saurav said:
When you import songs in iTunes library, it imports them in form of its own library, making 2 copies of same song in your HD. One at the original location & 2nd at the iTunes Library location.

Though I prefer it this way (the reason you use management applications is that you don't have to mess with folders anymore), this is actually a preference in iTunes that (on a Mac) is turned off by default. So, iTunes can manage your songs without making two copies of them.

gx_saurav said:
Tagging songs is very easy using iTunes, however if you want to use automatic tagging or download Album art from within iTunes for your songs, you will require to get an iTunes music store account, which isn’t available in all parts of Asia.

There are many free and paid plug-ins for iTunes that automatically fetch ID3 tags, cover art and lyrics for you without the need for an iTunes Music Store account. I already use one of them.

gx_saurav said:
You can also manage your home grown videos provided they are in mp4 or m4v format because iTunes will only support these formats to import. You DivX/DVR-MS/MPEG/avi videos cannot be managed in iTunes unless they are converted to mp4 format which takes a lot of time to convert.

iTunes accepts MOV files by default. And if you have the DivX codec installed, it accepts DivX files as well. I am not so sure about Xvid though.

gx_saurav said:
You cannot copy songs back from iPod to your computer, cos Apple doesn’t allows you to re-copy your own songs, nor can you re-download a song you previously purchased using the iTunes music store.

Both of these are possible. In fact, the second feature was introduced by Apple and since then has been copied by other online music stores. You can re-download songs you've already downloaded. And as I told you in another thread, iTunes 7.1.x supports copying songs from an iPod into your library.

Apart from these (little) mistakes, the article is spot on and you have rightly summarised it by saying that on Windows, you need iTunes only if you own Apple products. When I used to use Windows ( :shudder: ), I always preferred WMP to iTunes.

Oh, and BTW, I hate WinAMP. It is the worst music player ever and the interface is like **** - even for a Windows application.

*img300.imageshack.us/img300/381/aryayushuserbarkm0.gif

aryayush said:
Oh, and BTW, I hate WinAMP. It is the worst music player ever and the interface is like **** - even for a Windows application.

i totally agree with u...
i prefer media monkey(the latest versions r awesome specially their media library functions) compared to both itunes & WMP for audio & VLC for video...

When you import songs in iTunes library, it imports them in form of its own library, making 2 copies of same song in your HD. One at the original location & 2nd at the iTunes Library location.

This ain't true. I use iTunes a lot, on Windows VISTA. iTunes doesn't make copy of every song on iTunes folder. Only if you try to import the songs in the format which iTunes doesn't support,like wma, then only it converts them to .m4a and store it in its folder.

It does not convert WMA songs.

*img300.imageshack.us/img300/381/aryayushuserbarkm0.gif

aryayush said:
It does not convert WMA songs.

Atleast while importing .wma songs in iTunes 7 on Windows Vista, iTunes convert it to AAC and keep it in iTunes folder.

*img72.imageshack.us/img72/534/seelx4.th.jpg

WOW! Now I've got to remove that drawback from the Mac OS X thread.

@gx_saurav,
You can grab a screenshot of iTunes here:
*loop.worldofapple.com/wp-content/post-images/itunes7.jpg

I did not include it within 'IMG' tags so that you can put it in the original post instead, where it belongs.

*img300.imageshack.us/img300/381/aryayushuserbarkm0.gif

i got itunes to sync with my w700i, all audio in acc format. best of quality and space.however, this is the only purpose i use it for. converting songs to acc format for my walkman.

but one thing i would like help with on WMP. how can u get playlist to display album name? this is the only reason i use winamp. the playlist entries are totally configurable, and can be scripted to anything u want. but WMP only shows song and artist name, not the album name.

aryayush said:
Congratulations on your first unbiased and true article (unlike the other extremely biased "review" of Mac OS X going on in the other thread)! I sincerely did not know that you were capable of it and am genuinely and pleasantly surprised. Keep it up.

Go take some history lessons first.

This does not really make much sense. Mac OS X, by default, plays Flash movies quite well. In fact, I find that Adobe Flash Player (it was bundled with CS3) is slower than QuickTime Player is.

Nope, Quicktime flash component is based on Flash 7 in tiger not flash 9.Thats why I said Official flash player is better.

Though I prefer it this way (the reason you use management applications is that you don't have to mess with folders anymore), this is actually a preference in iTunes that (on a Mac) is turned off by default. So, iTunes can manage your songs without making two copies of them.

Where is this option?, I m checking in few minutes.

There are many free and paid plug-ins for iTunes that automatically fetch ID3 tags, cover art and lyrics for you without the need for an iTunes Music Store account. I already use one of them.

I was talking about out of the box experience without any 3rd party plugins. If it was about WMP & iTunes with 3rd party apps then iTunes is not even required to manage iPod (Anapod explorer)

iTunes accepts MOV files by default. And if you have the DivX codec installed, it accepts DivX files as well. I am not so sure about Xvid though

Nope, just try draging & drop a .avi or .divx file in iTunes, it will not import.

Both of these are possible. In fact, the second feature was introduced by Apple and since then has been copied by other online music stores

Nope, Zeeshan will confirm this with Latest iTunes installed on his Mac.

You can re-download songs you've already downloaded.

Just once. That too only in case your Harddisk dies.

iTunes 7.1.x supports copying songs from an iPod into your library.

Nope, it playes songs directly from your iPod. Without copying them back to computer cos they are already sorted in iPod harddisk.

Oh, and BTW, I hate WinAMP. It is the worst music player ever and the interface is like **** - even for a Windows application.

You really don't know what You can do with Winamp skins, do u?

. Or do you use your OS without customising it at all? The skining engine of Winamp is one of the best out there & is extremely efficient in memory & CPU usage.

Sorry I forgot, your OS works best at default settings & breaks if moded

WOW! Now I've got to remove that drawback from the Mac OS X thread.

Well, in that case even I can add that Windows Media player can play all m4a songs after converting them to wma or mp3. But does iTunes plays them without coversion ? No. & Thats the point we were talking about in that thread.

P.S. - iTunes doesn't converts WMA 10 files.

but one thing i would like help with on WMP. how can u get playlist to display album name? this is the only reason i use winamp. the playlist entries are totally configurable, and can be scripted to anything u want. but WMP only shows song and artist name, not the album name.

Another plus point in a 3rd party Windows Application. WMP shows album name too but not in Main Window but in library.

advanced>general> copy files to itunes music folder when adding to library.

I luv Foobar2000

and jetaudio7 :mrgreen:

Out of the two, I prefer WMP 11.. iTunes as always created problems and has been a resource hog to me..!! But, in general I prefer GOM Player.. the best..!!

Which one is better for pure natural sound play back wmp11+DFX or winamp??(in 2.1 speakers).i tried both but cant decide,wmp11 sounds great, but i feel winamp has more accurate treble.

@gx_saurav
In ur wmp screen shot the volume level is full,which is the right balance between wmp volume level and speaker volume level,i feel good wen volume level of wmp is less than 50%

WMP 11 is for watching movie and iTunes for listening music

cyberboy_kerala

I don't use speakers dude, mom kicks me out if I use them cos the volume is high according to her. I use headphones here. The volume of headphone is at a Max & I play the songs in WMP & set the audio lavel from there only.

gx_saurav said:
Go take some history lessons first.

Nope, Quicktime flash component is based on Flash 7 in tiger not flash 9.Thats why I said Official flash player is better.

Where is this option?, I m checking in few minutes.

I was talking about out of the box experience without any 3rd party plugins. If it was about WMP & iTunes with 3rd party apps then iTunes is not even required to manage iPod (Anapod explorer)

Nope, just try draging & drop a .avi or .divx file in iTunes, it will not import.

Nope, Zeeshan will confirm this with Latest iTunes installed on his Mac.

Just once. That too only in case your Harddisk dies.

Nope, it playes songs directly from your iPod. Without copying them back to computer cos they are already sorted in iPod harddisk.

You really don't know what You can do with Winamp skins, do u? . Or do you use your OS without customising it at all? The skining engine of Winamp is one of the best out there & is extremely efficient in memory & CPU usage.

Sorry I forgot, your OS works best at default settings & breaks if moded

Well, in that case even I can add that Windows Media player can play all m4a songs after converting them to wma or mp3. But does iTunes plays them without coversion ? No. & Thats the point we were talking about in that thread.

P.S. - iTunes doesn't converts WMA 10 files.

Another plus point in a 3rd party Windows Application. WMP shows album name too but not in Main Window but in library.

gx_saurav said:
I am posting this article here, cos it involves words like "Apple" "iPod" "iTunes" Which always lead to fights

Who turns them into fights, huh? YOU. Look at your previous post (quoted above) and my first post in this thread. Look at the tone.

You are incapable of any logical or friendly discussion. Every thread you post (read hijack) into turns into a free-for-all flame war. Carry on, I'm outta here.

*img300.imageshack.us/img300/381/aryayushuserbarkm0.gif

@ arya

OMG Did you forget to wear your spects. In the post u quoted, where do you see harsh tone?

I am just clearing your misconceptions about Winamp's UI being horrible

or iTunes importing avi & divx files or iTunes playing songs directly from iPod insted of copying back to computer which Apple doesn't allows or the fact that you can only download your previously purchased songs from iTunes just once.

Just that when you speak of something, take some history lessons & do some research on net.

From the post you just wrote, seems like as always you feel personally hurt when the flaws of an Apple product are shown to you & get utterly frustrated. Wonder if you say the words.. "I am gonna ***ing kill him, how can he reveal flaws of Mac & Apple products which I have been advertising from day 1 as perfect apps."

A

gx_saurav said:
Did you tried importing those files in iTunes ? or are they already imported in iTunes library. You seem to be having a big proper tagged iTunes library, plz provide a screenshot so that I can post it here for proper comparision.

I had all my 200 songs in my mobile phone in m4a format. I copied from the memory card to Mac HD, & placed them in corresponding folder with names as i do in Windows like "Linkin Park"-> "Minutes to Midnight" -> all files here. Upon importing in Mac, itunes copied every song again to iTunes library folder in Music folder

I am myelf saying that I have not used iTunes much, which seems like you use properly. Plz read the above article & tell yourself it lacks something. I will add whatever I have missed.

Instead of doing import, try "add folder to library option". You can even drag and drop folders to itunes. Once you add all the folders, export the itunes library . It will export library in XML form (tiny file).

.

foobar2k for music & media player classic for video rules !!!!
I do like VLC & the overhauled WMP11 too but nothing's better for windows than fb2k & mpc

ambandla said:
advanced>general> copy files to itunes music folder when adding to library.

This worked, but iTunes makes another copy by default, this needs user interaction to change

aryayush said:
It does not convert WMA songs.

*img300.imageshack.us/img300/381/aryayushuserbarkm0.gif

sorry offtopic

^^

how come u have ur userbar in all ur posts...do u copy paste it everytime or ???

gx_saurav said:
This worked, but iTunes makes another copy by default, this needs user interaction to change

tut tut, cant even quote the person's name correctly

nevermind though.

can anyone help me out: howto display album name in WMP 11 in playlist ???

pc world has come out with an article on quicktime
QUICKTIME ’BIGGER SECURITY RISK THAN INTERNET EXPLORER

blackleopard, you cannot show album name in playlist in the main window of WMP but you can in Library window

ssk429 said:
sorry offtopic

^^

how come u have ur userbar in all ur posts...do u copy paste it everytime or ???

I have a text clipping on my desktop that I drag into every post once I've typed it out. If you want to do it too, just prepare the code and store it into a text file onto the desktop (Windows does not support storing clippings of text directly) and whenever you want to include it, open that file and copy the code and paste it onto the message. A little cumbersome (if you are on Windows, which I guess you are) but that's the only way I know of.

BTW, it is against the rules so I have stopped doing it...

*img300.imageshack.us/img300/381/aryayushuserbarkm0.gif ... uh oh!

K

i use itunes only becuz i have an ipod. I dont really like WMP, i like VLC, though i am looking for a new player only for audio which will not screw around with my itunes cuz if it does my sis is gonna kill me

karmanya said:
i use itunes only becuz i have an ipod. I dont really like WMP, i like VLC, though i am looking for a new player only for audio which will not screw around with my itunes cuz if it does my sis is gonna kill me

u should go for media monkey ..its my fav..

mediamonkey

K

tried media monkey & foobar
of the two i think media monkey is better, nicer interface even if it is a little too blue

A

blackleopard92 said:
advanced>general> copy files to itunes music folder when adding to library.

Bingo!

karmanya said:
tried media monkey & foobar
of the two i think media monkey is better, nicer interface even if it is a little too blue

hey go check out the website u will find many skins which will suit ur taste..though i luv blue

ps-they r goin to launch media monkey 3 soon

..so it will be even better

S

I think WMP 11 is much better than its previous versions. I have used iTunes/QuickTime but was not that much impressed with the interface. But I find 'mplayer' available for Windows, Linux and also Mac OS X much better. It can play nearly any type of file and the most exciting thing is, it is standalone. You don't need to install it to use it.

Most Mac applications are that way. Oh wait. I guess you were talking about the Windows version.

Anyway, I certainly prefer VLC media player to every other media player out there.

S

Check out the user comments about iTunes at *neowin.net/index.php?act=view&id=40666

I dont use quicktime because it doesnt play in full screen and I dont want a media player for every codec.
I would be interested in a WMP vs Winamp...
I have used Winamp from dec 2000 to dec2006. After that I found that WMP 11 is way better in UI and has video , photos etc. Also it now has the winamp's medial library search as you type. But I didnt find WMP's playlist editor to be as good winamp. Also I dont understand why Media player classic supports seeking in all video formats but WMP can't. I have K-lite mega codec pack.
sry for going offtopic.

This just in. You don't even need iTunes to use your iPod in Windows now. Just use Windows Media player 11

A

gx_saurav said:
This just in. You don't even need iTunes to use your iPod in Windows now. Just use Windows Media player 11

But that's not free plug-in. Right? I would rather use winamp with ipod plugin for winamp If I have to find alternate to itunes.

ambandla said:
But that's not free plug-in. Right? I would rather use winamp with ipod plugin for winamp If I have to find alternate to itunes.

Just informing

I hate iTUNES
Whenever i load songs on my iPOD, i curse iTunes
Maybe because i am on Win Vista its too darn slow

Do you have the latest update? And how much RAM do you have?

@mikael no such problem for me

VLC sucks. It has some crappy codecs which result in some bad decoding of video. Playing HD is out of the question.

As for the iTunes vs WMP equation, I'm still not sure. Itunes does have a clean interface. There's absolutely no clutter. Whereas in WMP there's all these buttons, features, side panels which kind of gets in the way. In Vista, I love the implementation of the Aero Glass UI when the 'miniature WMP' mode is enabled....

[...and I just realised the time. 5:15 am. Gotta go sleep.]

i know VLC can play a lot of kind of files but the interface is really bad
i also hate itunes cause it won't help u get the album art if u don't hav a music store account and also that plugin is not free

Look guys iTUNES rapes WMP11 in terms of sound quality.There is simply no comparison.iTUNES rocks.quick time is a paid software thats why we only get to see half screens.USE ANY FREE QUICKTIME ALTERNATIVE.

I personally use media player classic 6.4 for videos.It is way better than WMP11/WMP10.Just give it a try and you will know why.

The latest version of QuickTime Player has full screen functionality in the free version.

Well in terms of sound quality, doesn't WMP use the DirectShow thing to play files? So a music file could be made to sound much better with WMP using it along with FFdshow or some better decoder. iTunes is restricted that way.

But then again, for music, nothing beats Foobar2000, that player really kicks ass for sound quality. And MPC is ultimate for video which leaves WMP, VLC (jack of all trades) and Quicktime in the dust...

goobimama said:
Well in terms of sound quality, doesn't WMP use the DirectShow thing to play files? So a music file could be made to sound much better with WMP using it along with FFdshow or some better decoder. iTunes is restricted that way.

Yup, there are many enhancers for the Audio engine on WMP. You can compleately change the audio engine using FFDShow in WIndows.

But then again, for music, nothing beats Foobar2000,

It also uses DirectShow engine.

And MPC is ultimate for video which leaves WMP, VLC (jack of all trades) and Quicktime in the dust...

That again uses DirectShow.

vlc rocks in terms of sound .... but d ui is bad..... wmp sucks big time.....
itunes is a bit slower......... based on my exp of using these three.....

Oh but MPC is much better than WMP. That I can tell you for sure.

goobimama said:
Oh but MPC is much better than WMP. That I can tell you for sure.

For what? WMP11 gives u a full unified Audio Library, Video Library, Picture Library, Sync feature with various DAPs. Does MPC provides any such feature?

d sound quality sucks n tats d main thing u require....

^^ of what :?:

Array baba. I find WMP's media library to be a joke. Just too confusing. And anyway, I'm talking about using MPC with say Cyberlink's decoder for HW acceleration with x264. Is that possible with WMP? I'm not saying WMP should be desregarded totally though, cause yes, if I want to sync with a DAP, I would use WMP (currently using iTunes + shuffle though). Its got its good points, but when it comes to quality playback, MPC rules.

Foobar2000 has some amazing sound quality which can't be matched by WMP or Winamp. I've tried for a long time to get 6 channel stereo upmix from WMP but its not possible. Foobar2000 makes it possible. Looks crappy, but it gets the job done.

raina_rocks said:
d sound quality sucks n tats d main thing u require....

If you like you can change the audio engine of WMP with Orban or Thompson Multimedia or FFDShow compleately & use whatever settings u like. Just cos U don't know how to use WMP doesn't means it sux.

Array baba. I find WMP's media library to be a joke. Just too confusing.

WMP library is as simple as it gets. Apple ripped the Album List view of WMP11 when it was released in beta. What do u find confusing about WMP11's Library?

I'm talking about using MPC with say Cyberlink's decoder for HW acceleration with x264. Is that possible with WMP?

Yup, since ages. You just need a graphics card with PureVideo HD or Avivo Support.

Its got its good points, but when it comes to quality playback, MPC rules.

Did you tried installing simply FFDshow?

I've tried for a long time to get 6 channel stereo upmix from WMP but its not possible.

This wasen't possible despite of Cyberlink? U must be joking...u sure u enabled multi channel audio support in WMP11?

Yup, since ages. You just need a graphics card with PureVideo HD or Avivo Support.

No you can't. This just shows that you speak without knowing anything....at least some times...

I would do the quote-reply thing, but I'm just too lazy to do that....I still stand by my points though.

WMP will decode any Video stream in hardware if

1) Decoder supports hardware acceleration
2) Graphics card supports hardware acceleration
3) U got proper drivers installed.

If you decode X264 using Cyberlink decoder then there is no reason to believe that it is not being decoded without hardware acceleration.

Plz copy paste from somewhere.

Tell me how do I use Cyberlink's decoder with WMP? I can't copy paste that cause its not possible to use Cyberlink's decoder with WMP. If its possible, let me know....

goobimama said:
Tell me how do I use Cyberlink's decoder with WMP? I can't copy paste that cause its not possible to use Cyberlink's decoder with WMP. If its possible, let me know....

Lolz....u really don't have any idea how to work on Windows.

I don't know what codecs u have installed, so here is my recomendation

1) Uninstall all 3rd party media player & Codec packs

2) Install latest driver for your gfx card.

3) Install Cyberlink PowerDVD

4) Install K-Lite codec pack & install FFDshow for decoding XVid & DivX etc. Thats it.

5) Install those encoders which u might need.

Done.

I have PowerDVD installed & enabled Hardware acceleration in PowerDVD. Now if you play a DVD or anything in WMP which Cyberlink decoders can decode then it will decode with hardware acceleration for videos.

Now try yourself, i m going to sleep...fever is coming again.

^you are indeed crazy.

Take care though. We need you here at the forum....
I've just about recovered from a fever.... glad to be rid of it.

gx_saurav said:
^you are indeed crazy.

You did not say whether he is right or wrong.

gx_saurav said:
If you like you can change the audio engine of WMP with Orban or Thompson Multimedia or FFDShow compleately & use whatever settings u like. Just cos U don't know how to use WMP doesn't means it sux.

WMP library is as simple as it gets. Apple ripped the Album List view of WMP11 when it was released in beta. What do u find confusing about WMP11's Library?

Yup, since ages. You just need a graphics card with PureVideo HD or Avivo Support.

Did you tried installing simply FFDshow?

This wasen't possible despite of Cyberlink? U must be joking...u sure u enabled multi channel audio support in WMP11?

i kno hw 2 use it..... tats why im sayin so..... d frst thing is dat evry user shud b able to get d best quality w/o any modification.....tats wat i was sayin..... udont hav 2 modify vlc or winamp 2 get better sound.... whereas wmp is to b modified..... i was talkin bout sound only...

Anyone who says anything against Microsoft software does not know how to use it. This is a rule, OK? Now remember that.

microsoft......... huh......... chor tha hai aur rahega.....

There's are some times when you are absolutely sure about some thing. Those are times when no authority can break your opinion because you know you are right. This is one of those times for me. I know I am right and gx is wrong. But then again, if I put gx's law (read aayush's post above) into practice, I have no idea how to use Windows....

raina_rocks said:
microsoft......... huh......... chor tha hai aur rahega.....

tere ghar pe daka dala tha kya ya tera purse mara tha kya .... fukat maal use kar raha hai aur doosre ko chor bolta hai :lol:

@arya and any1 who says anything against apple is jealous

raina_rocks said:
u dont hav 2 modify vlc or winamp 2 get better sound.... whereas wmp is to b modified..... i was talkin bout sound only...

The default sound engine of WMP is quite good, its your own personal subjective choice that u don't like it. You cannot change the default sound engine of Winamp or VLC, can u? But you can do that in WMP.

goobimama said:
There's are some times when you are absolutely sure about some thing. Those are times when no authority can break your opinion because you know you are right. This is one of those times for me.

I know that feeling quite well.

gx_saurav said:
The default sound engine of WMP is quite good, its your own personal subjective choice that u don't like it. You cannot change the default sound engine of Winamp or VLC, can u? But you can do that in WMP.

Yeah, that pretty much sums up Microsoft's software policy. Give crap by default and expect the user to fix it himself. And you keep taunting it as if it is a good thing.

(I don't, however, have any complaints about the sound engine or locomotive engine or whatever of WMP!)

aryayush said:
Yeah, that pretty much sums up Microsoft's software policy. Give crap by default and expect the user to fix it himself. And you keep taunting it as if it is a good thing.

I am asking u & raina both, what is it that U miss in the sound engine of WMP? Its based on codecs, so if u don't like the default decoder then switch to some other decoder, simple. There is nothing like "crap & befault" here.

Those are times when no authority can break your opinion because you know you are right. This is one of those times for me. I know I am right and gx is wrong.

if you are using Cyberlink Decoders in WMP with nVidia card with Purevideo HD decoders also installed then it does hardware accelerated H.264 if your gfx card is GeForce 6 or 7

With every post, your conditions keep piling on. The first post was something like, "you are wrong, it works", then "it works if you do this", and after that "it sort of works if you do this and then try this one" and it goes on...

gx_saurav said:
I am asking u & raina both, what is it that U miss in the sound engine of WMP?

Nothing. Which isn't surprising because the last time I used it was about a year ago and never found it lacking for my needs. Which is why I mentioned in my previous post, "I don't, however, have any complaints about the sound engine or locomotive engine or whatever of WMP!"

aryayush said:
With every post, your conditions keep piling on. The first post was something like, "you are wrong, it works", then "it works if you do this", and after that "it sort of works if you do this and then try this one" and it goes on...

Its all about choices. You can change the engine of WMP if you want to, the default engine is good enough though. Competitive products do not give such options. Thats all I was saying.

I'm just telling you its not possible.

Is this one also going to be like the Mac OS X vs Vista thread?

its an offshoot of that thread ...

For Windows I still prefer the WMP 11. It is 'smoother', has automatic folder monitoring, good feature set and sync tools as compared to Apple iTunes which feels too propreitary.

gx_saurav said:
The default sound engine of WMP is quite good, its your own personal subjective choice that u don't like it. You cannot change the default sound engine of Winamp or VLC, can u? But you can do that in WMP.

dude i m no expert at using wmp..... n i admit it...... n i kno tat u cant change default sound engine in winamp or vlc..... but talkin bout a normal user who cant learn much things.... he will never like hw wmp sounds esp wen u r listenin 2 rock.....

raina_rocks said:
but talkin bout a normal user who cant learn much things.... he will never like hw wmp sounds esp wen u r listenin 2 rock.....

Strange, all the audiofiles I know here, including a DJ seems to like WMP for audio.....yaar, what kind of rocking music u like in Rock?

gx_saurav said:
Strange, all the audiofiles I know here, including a DJ seems to like WMP for audio.....yaar, what kind of rocking music u like in Rock?

i usually listen to metal...... mostly death metal like.... . sepultura,dimmu borgir....etc...... n ;lots of nirvana , metallica.....
but i hav seen these songs sound better on winamp n vlc.....
i use winamp fr audio n vlc fr vedio......

gx_saurav said:
Strange, all the audiofiles I know here, including a DJ seems to like WMP for audio.....yaar, what kind of rocking music u like in Rock?

WOW! Only gx_saurav can type that word! :lol:

Ha! Ha! Ha! :lol:

I did not know this forum had audio files. :lol:

Kenshin said:
yeah winamp does have an edge in death metal....slipKnoT fan here...

tats wat im tryin 2 say...... but gx_saurav maanta hi nahi hai yaar......
i tried stickin 2 wmp but cudnt.....

raina_rocks said:
tats wat im tryin 2 say...... but gx_saurav maanta hi nahi hai yaar......
i tried stickin 2 wmp but cudnt.....

If its only about that genre then u should have specified, I m not too much into music so never heard such songs.

I'm dumbstruck. How is it that rock sounds better in Winamp? Its more to do with what plugins you use I guess. Winamp does use its own plugin set, which is different from a system wide Directshow thing... Anyway, I've always stayed away from Winamp. The EQ is a pain cause one can't make smalltime improvements in it.... Foobar2000 is much better.

aryayush said:
WOW! Only gx_saurav can type that word! Ha! Ha! Ha! I did not know this forum had audio files.

Hehehe, seriously GX start using some spell chk dude.

btw, Winamp 'was' the best music player, now its just crap. Itunes is the worst, i tried it because of all this hype and was disappointed, why i have to install shi1t with it which i really don’t need . Currently using default WMP11, good library functions, simple cover art/ lyrics display. Has some flaws like not remembering the last playlist and stuff like that . I used to hate WMP in the winamp times , and never thought of using it but surprisingly it has improved and i am using it from last one year. I have KL codec installed on the system , so now wmp even plays the almost dead format 'real media' too. Fine with me , southpark comes on RM

.

VLC cant be used as a music player, no management options there. But i use VLC for playing quicktime mov files, its way better than installing the crap quickitme player on your system. Besides VLC plays anything , so when i get strange format video files , i just play them in VLC. Never used foobar , so can't comment on that.

tarey_g said:
Hehehe, seriously GX start using some spell chk dude.

If I use spell check, what amusement will be left here?

Winamp 'was' the best music player, now its just crap.

The skinning engine is still the best with PureXML.

Has some flaws like not remembering the last playlist and stuff like that

Lat Playlist played? It shows here fine.

its way better than installing the crap quickitme player on your system.

i just finished watching the august 7 Apple event on Mac Quicktime. Have to say, Quicktime is really good on a Mac, but sux on Windows. Apple really doesn't know how to make or port softwares. They should learn to port cross platform apps from Adobe or Autodesk.

yup i agree i enjoy quick time on mac but not on windows ...

It is a weird thing after all. I used to hate quicktime as well. But then when I moved to Mac, it makes perfect sense. I can't use any other player on the mac. I wonder why this is... cause I still don't like Quicktime for Windows...

Same goes for iTunes, I guess.

But I love Safari on Windows as well.

Ah...could be that one can't play all these avi's and stuff very easily on quicktime for windows? I don't know how it works, but it doesn't use the systemwide codecs isn't it?

its slow too ...

goobimama said:
Ah...could be that one can't play all these avi's and stuff very easily on quicktime for windows? I don't know how it works, but it doesn't use the systemwide codecs isn't it?

Nope, QT has its own engine & a decoder has to be in the form of QT Component which is different for Windows & Mac. Means Mac component will not work in Windows.

Apple should learn how to make Windows softwares first. Arya's case is different, he doesn't like customising so Safari seems good to him ...lolz

Safari's good for me too. Firefox takes down the entire Windows session when it crashes. Have to hard reboot. So far safari has been excellent.

goobimama said:
Safari's good for me too. Firefox takes down the entire Windows session when it crashes. Have to hard reboot. So far safari has been excellent.

What do u do with FF? It never takes the OS down here when firefox crashes.

if ff had any such problem it wudnt be so widely used ... goobi its ur pc and not ff

A

wmp is best

Well what can I say. ***t happens. Every time I reinstall Windows, there has to be some problem or the other. This time its this firefox thing (was there last time as well).

How many times have you re-installed Mac OS X? Once? Twice?

how abt asking gx the question how many times he has installed os x

how abt asking gx the question how much of it was apple harware on which he reinstalled mac os x

infra 1 question how many times hav installed vista on ur sis's lappy

1 question to shantanu how many times has he re-installed vista

1 question to anand: how many times has he re-installed vista on his lappy

some question to me:

how many did i re-install xp: 0

how many did i re-install xp on my dad's lappy (3 years old) 0

not knowing how to use it and then saying it crashes isnt the os's fault and now arya will jump and say gx doesnt know how to use os x ....

I've reinstalled Vista 5 times, and though it was my fault two times.

Never reinstalled OS X (except on the iBook when the HDD crashed).

ok imav, i kno you may not like it but here's the answer..... i had to reinstall vista on my sis' lappy.... ok don't say i'm lying.. but its true! applying an update thru windows update crashed windows! i restored from the image 2 dayz ago. now the update center shows only the knowledge base article number. nobody checks what the update is for and now i'm unable to trace what caused the crash. MS should include a brief info on what the update is.

how many times did i reinstall vista on my lappy? 0, its not been long since i started using it. how many times did i reinstall xp pro? many times coz as time passes by and u try out new software, it becomes bloated. out of these many times, twice due to customising it, once wid vista transf. pack and once due to flyakite os and once coz a codec pack caused it to crash! now don't say i dunno how to use/install software in windows. i've been using windows since ver.3.0 and i know the internals well.

how many times did i install ubuntu 7.04? 0! everyone here in this forum knows that i've ****** ubuntu to the core customising it!

believe me, the *nix core systems are more tolerant when u play wid protected files (again, getting hold of protected files is not easy).

even tho today's macs are nothing but PCs, complaining that osx crashes on PCs is plain stupidity! it was never meant to be run on that. who knows mebbe apple deliberately programmed it once a while if installed on PCs. thats the only way to keep PC users away from macos. but then apple aint to be blamed for that. its their product!

how abt asking gx the question how much of it was apple harware on which he reinstalled mac os x

Hey, its not like that....they keyboard & mouse I m using are Mac certified

Anyway, I have reinstalled Vista RTM only once on Novembar 30 2006. Still going strong.

dude tinker with mac a little and it will break down ... whether u use mac hardware or a normal pc .... well im sorry ur sister's hard luck ... my dad's 3-4 yr old compaq is still running on the company loaded xp so no complaints

.... the similarity between that laptop and most macs out there .... just used simply for chores and nothing more ...

iMav said:
.....and now arya will jump and say gx doesnt know how to use os x ....

that won't be arya. that'd be me! i do mean that. when a person sets out wid a mindset to crash any os by all means jus to show to the world then it crashes!!! the os is jus co-operating wid that guy! and again, if my sis hadn't updated it'd haf probably not crashed! if i hadn't installed the codec pack or uninstalled VTP or flyakite osx then my xp wudn't haf crashed. use it the way its come from factory and it works like a charm! mac os was never meant to be tweaked or customised and nobody is saying that u can tinker wid os x and still it won't break. it was meant to be used the way it is shipped! i can say the same wid windows, but the tinkering tolerance is comparitively greater than mac.

seriously folks, get a life! there's more to mac vs. windows in this world!

i know i'm going off-topic. so won't post anything more on this in future.

continue wid the discussion guys. stay on topic.

infra_red_dude said:
MS should include a brief info on what the update is.

Right click on the update -> More Details, then click on the link given

who knows mebbe apple deliberately programmed it once a while if installed on PCs. thats the only way to keep PC users away from macos. but then apple aint to be blamed for that. its their product!

Even on a real Mac, if you tinker with it trying to change....say the text colour of Apple Menu, it breaks.

last offtopic post, reply to gx.

gx_saurav said:
Right click on the update -> More Details, then click on the link given

exactly! thats what i'm saying. i don't wanna follow a link to read pages about the KB. nobody does! what i meant was when u click on the update, brief info of the update should be shown in the same window. if u've used ubuntu u'll know what i'm talking about.

gx_saurav said:
Even on a real Mac, if you tinker with it trying to change....say the text colour of Apple Menu, it breaks.

hafnt used it, so no comments.

Common guys. Please stop this Mac vs Windows crap.

infra_red_dude said:
exactly! thats what i'm saying. i don't wanna follow a link to read pages about the KB. nobody does! what i meant was when u click on the update, brief info of the update should be shown in the same window.

Plz do so. All the info is given there. Detailed info about which DLL it modifies or replaces, or which registry keys it modifies is whats given on that link

Geez.. so many posts with offtopic discussion...
Lets get to the track again...shall we?

iTunes for me.. (Even though I am a windows fanboy..)
It download podcasts for me...(MuggleCast and LeakyMug Cast...

)
For that only reason I love iTunes.
Otherwise WMP is cool for movies and music listening.

Oh yeah, I'd totally forgotten the podcasts, free music and TV shows. iTunes is the best.

(Although the movie library needs a complete overhaul. It manages them as if they were music, with tags such as artist, album, etc. In Front Row, videos even show up in the Music section (though this is, of course, Mac specific). It even stores them in a 'Movies' folder under 'Music'. LOL! :lol:

)

goobimama said:
Safari's good for me too. Firefox takes down the entire Windows session when it crashes. Have to hard reboot. So far safari has been excellent.

Somehow I couldn't digest this. There might be a problem with your Windows, I think the concept of a program crashing the whole OS died with Windows Me...

Maybe I should make a video of it...

goobi there must be some problem or conflict in drivers or something like that ... disable all firefox plugins and addons

gx_saurav said:
Last Playlist played? It shows here fine.

How???

^^^ wmp doesn't remember. thats what i don't like. otherwise its preferred to itunes anyday.

Ya, same here . I wonder how GX is sayin that it remembers . Still if there is some option i have not looked into pls tell me .

Guess I was wrong. I have some playlists made in WMP & I simply play them. Next time when I open WMP they are there but not selected.