Tried Windows Media Player 11 Beta?

[mediafork 0]

Has anyone here tried Windows Media Player 11 Beta? It sounds quite good and i'm in the process of downloading it at the moment but it's just a bit over 20 megabites so it might take a while.Anyone got any feedback on it? Is it good? Better than the previous versions?I've been using RealPlayer for a while but I'm thinking i'll just try out this version and if it's any good I may switch back... I'll see how it goes!

[Omkar™ 0]

Hey mediafork, the frst thing I realised when I read your post was - you use Microsoft Windows, and you keep loyalty to thw Windows OS and its components!

 

Microsoft Windows Media Player was upgraded from version 1 to version 10 till now. And they're still working on version 11 Beta. Doesn't this give you a clue? What does Windows Media Player do? It has got a Media library, it manages playlists awfully, it has got nasty visualizations, it can rip CDs and play VCDs and DVDs. Very good, three cheers for Microsoft!

 

But there's Winamp. It does everything that I mentioned above, more efficiently and has loads of other features too. Even RealPlayer (What you're using) is not bad. It can do the same things, properly!

 

What's the point of downloading a stuffed up Microsoft's Media Player when you got loads of others that are better than that one? Another reason for not downloading it is that it is currently in Beta development Stage. Thus, its known to have errors. If the existing so-called stable versions of Windows Media Player crash every now & then, think how well the Beta version would crash!

 

Trust me, mediafork, Windows Media Player 11 Beta is not worth your bandwidth of 20 MB, really. You can try Winamp instead - just 5 MB.

 

-Omkar Ekbote (regrets for criticising)

[Grafitti 0]

Well, so do I, at least in part. But I've got WMP 11 and so far it hasn't crashed once on me. I still am and always have been a fan of Winamp over WMP for audio playback, but i do think that the latest Media Player is an improvement. As I've pointed out before, though, one shortcoming of Winamp is its uneasy relationship with video files. It plays fine on audio, but it's more dicey when it's some sort of obscure or high compression codec video format. Whereas WMP11 does quite a nice job of playing video files. Then, if you're anti-M$ or simply looking for a better alternative, I would recommend VLC player. That can play basically anything, and it's freeware. Can't get much better than that.

[kaputnik 0]

Am going downloading Windows Media Player 11 too so as to give it a shot. The one thing that I do find handy from the Windows Media Platform is i's Encoder. Very often I have to copy sound or video directly off the sound/video card and WMP has sorted this out in it's simplicity. Winamp has however been my favourite media player just because of the right reasons - simple interface, faster response time. Will give WMP a try just to know what it's like though.

[Alegis 0]

I prefer windows Media Player as default video/audio player, but I'm quite annoyed by Microsoft's Installation instructions.

 

You can only install Office 2007 and WMP 11 betas if you have Service Pack 2 installed. Now normally I wouldn't mind, but Service Pack 2 isn't as stable for some workstations as for others. Only caused problems for me, and I formatted C drive 2 days ago as the XP installation failed to boot thanks to SP 2.

 

If anything changed, ie. if you can install it on SP1, please do let me know I'm not going to put back the turd pack that is SP 2.

 

I do like the new look of WMP 11

 

 

[Grafitti 0]

I don't know, as I never had any problems with the SP2 crashing my systems. How about extracting the files and running wmp11.exe, then udmf.exe, wmdbexport.exe, wmfdist11.exe, and finally once more wmp11.exe by themselves, not simply clicking on the full installer. I can't try it myself as i don't have a machine without SP2, but it's worth a shot. But yeah, for looks, I'd give the new WMP at least a 9 -- maybe even 9.5

[HellFire121 0]

I never use windows media player, i reckon it's a waste of time.I use winamp, it's so much better than windows media player and doesn't use that much resources. It has loads of plugins so if windows media has a feature you like (for example the 'what i'm listening to' plugin for msn messenger), you can just get a plugin for winamp to do the same job, in most cases it does a better job.The visulizations in winamp are awesome. It comes packed with well over 50 and you can download a new visulization engine if you'd like to get better effects/features.I think windows media 11 is a waste of download bandwith but i MIGHT get it to see what it's like (Maybe when it's out of beta)-HellFire

[Grafitti 0]

You're definitely right about the visualizations. Even though I use WMP sometimes, I still use Winamp for my audio because it's simply the best there is. Still, if you can afford the bandwidth, and i think everyone here can, you might as well try out WMP and then, once you've tried it, you're free to say what you don't like about it.

[austiniskoge 0]

No, no, no!IMO never use WMP at all. It has bad bugs that you never find until you're waist-deep in using it.Take the bug in WMP 10 for example, where the library is not sorted according to any traditional method. By artist mostly, but when ripping from CDs the songs get randomly placed!Use iTunes for listening!

[Jeigh1405241495 0]

Come on guys, suggesting an alternative is fine but at least give SOME INPUT to the topic if you are just going to bash it (meaning, comment on the differences between 10 and 11, not just that they both suck).Personally I too don't use WMP as my primary but have never had huge problems with it. I'll probably try 11 beta at some point as the interface does look quite snazzy and they might have fixed some of the things that annoyed me about 10. I think they are starting to feel the heat from competetors so they likely have made some substantial and useful changes, but again just conjecture.

[Reikimaster_India 0]

I had removed all other media players,including Winamp and VLC, from my system and was using Windows Media Player 10. However, I have changed my mind about Media Player as it hangs sometimes and asks for Indeo codecs and so on which are not available on the Microsoft site. I recently re-downloaded the latest version of WinAmp Pro and I am really impressed with its new and better features especially its ripping and burning capabilities.I cannot say about Beta version of Media Player as I have not downloaded it thanks to the message I get when I click the ``update Media Player icon'' that my version (10) is up-to-date.

[lonebyrd 0]

I've downloaded WMP 11, and except for a few scrolling bugs, havent had any problems so far. Of course, I haven't used it that often. But I like the new look of 11 and the way it sorts things. Also changing the song/artist information seems alot easier than it was in WMP 10. It took me forever to change things before. I'll have to look at it in more detail, but so far, I like it. I've tried Winamp, and except for the visualizations, I don't like it any better than WMP. Maybe it's because its because I'm so used to WMP, but Winamp just confuses me.

[Grafitti 0]

VLC is now a standby on any computer i put software on. it's so simple to just have to use the one player for almsot anything, and not have to worry that you'll be stuck without the codec you need. case in point: i was giving a presentation at a seminar, and my laptop adapter was burned out from a power surge, so i had 4 other laptops to use. 3 of them didn't have the codec i needed to use (latest Xvid) one had divx, and the others only had media player. luckily the 4th one had vlc, and i was able to show the clip, but it was a near disaster. But other than codecs, media player is nice, and whether you use the big skin, which looks cool, or a smaller one, which doesn't take much memory, it's easy and simple to use, as well as looking cool. --which is missing from every other WMP. Winamp is STILL more powerful for audio files, and i don't think it's too complicated, unless you're using a modern abstract skin. just use the basic. Here's what i think about iTunes: it sucks. fine if you've got an ipod and have to have it to transfer stuff, but it's got its system processes it starts and slows down the computer.

[jimmy89 0]

Windows Media Player 11 is just another one in the series. I can see nothing wrong with it, but still cant see the difference between 10 and now 11.Its still pretty good, has some good features and so far has not crashed on me! Thats pretty good. Shame it only runs on XP SP2.

[Fixxxer 0]

What about JetAudio, lots of options, free base version, nice GUI and some of things I havent seen anywhere else.