Got my Mac! But need some help.

[iEugene]

Hey all, I finally got my Mac this morning. 2.0GHZ Intel Core Duo 20' iMac. I didn't get the video card upgrade like I had said in my previous thread. Instead I went directly to the Apple store and picked it up. I got the protection plan though, and of course my gig of RAM. I'm still setting everything up, but I'm having somem troubles.

1) Okay the guy stated that they could install a gig of RAM in my iMac, but it would take 24 hours. I couldn't wait any longer so I decided to get the 512mb and buy a seperate 512mb and add it in. The guy showed me where to open it, but that was all. So I get home and attempt to put the 512 in, (at the bottom of the iMac) and it SEEMED like it went in, but my system is only showing 512mb instead of 1 gig. Did I install it wrong or something? What is wrong?

2) I'm having trouble playing Windows Media Player files. Quicktime is working for some of them, but there are others (videos) that require WMP. I looked on the internet for WMP for Mac and found it on the offical Apple website...However when I downloaded it it saved as a ".stix" on my desktop and cannot be opened, which means, I cannot install WMP.

Other than that I just need to get use to the system. Any help would be great!

 

[WildCowboy]

1) As long as you're sure you have the correct RAM, just make sure you've pushed it into the slot good and hard. You might have to push harder than you'd think.

2) Windows Media Player files are still a bit tricky for the Intel Macs...WMP is no longer available for Macs, and they are pointing people to Flip4Mac, which unfortunately is not optimized for Intel Macs yet. I'll let someone who actually has an Intel Mac explain how they handle WMV files.

 

[SilentPanda]

Push the RAM in harder... if it don't hurt yer finger it's not in.

You currently cannot play Windows Media Files using Intel Macs... well that's not 100% true but the ability might be difficult for a newer Mac user. MacOSXHints.com has instructions on how to do it if you're so inclined.

 

[miniConvert]

1) You need to really ram that RAM in hard. Really hard. If it feels like you're about to break it then push a bit harder

2) You can't get Windows Media Player for Mac. There are alternatives like Flip4Mac but they're not Universal Binary yet so they're not really ideal solutions for an Intel machine. Best wait until the UB comes out.

Enjoy your beautiful iMac!

 

[WildCowboy]

Found this solution to playing WMV files on Intel Macs...

 

[iEugene]

Found this solution to playing WMV files on Intel Macs...

Thanks, I will check that out in a moment.

Thanks about the RAM guys, I will try again. My brother looked at it and tried it as well, he was afraid that it would break so we didn't push hard, I guess it's just sitting in there then!

Another question... I'm putting my music into iTunes, but some of my files (instead of being .mp3) are ".wma" and will not go into iTunes. I also cannot get them to play at all...Anyone have a solution to this?

Thanks again guys, really.

 

[WildCowboy]

I'm putting my music into iTunes, but some of my files (instead of being .mp3) are ".wma" and will not go into iTunes. I also cannot get them to play at all...Anyone have a solution to this?

I'm sure there are free solutions for converting WMAs to MP3s, but there is EasyWMA. The full version is $10...I don't know what limits are in unpaid mode.

 

[iEugene]

Are there ANY programs out there that are free that can convert WMA to MP3's? This is extremely annoying.

Plus, I still have no way to play my Windows Media Player files.

 

[After G]

Get VLC player at videolan.org. Plays WMA just fine.

Edit: Make sure you get the latest build, not the official release. Otherwise, it will run in Rosetta instead of natively.

Edit 2: To make your life easier, http://forum.videolan.org/viewtopic.php?t=19622

 

[mduser63]

Try the Popwire WMV 9 Component, which is Universal and will let you play Windows Media files in QuickTime. It's technically a demo with a $50 price on the full version. However, the free version has unlimited playback capabilities, it just limits your ability to export TO Windows Media files.

 

[dpaanlka]

tisk tisk tisk... wma is the devil

 

[wmmk]

tisk tisk tisk... wma is the devil

amen!

 

[robert-a-hudson]

Are there ANY programs out there that are free that can convert WMA to MP3's? This is extremely annoying.

Plus, I still have no way to play my Windows Media Player files.

I know that on my PC, iTunes will say "yada yada, cant play wma, but hows about i convert these badboys into mp3's? eh? eh?" and so will then automatically convert any .wma files (which do not have drm) into mp3's for me. So if you have access to a PC, then this is a free solution

 

[iEugene]

Thanks for the help guys, but I did something else myself and got it all working fine.

I went back to my PC and found the WMA files. I reburned them as a regular CD (as if you were going to play the CD in a CD player), and then ripped them to my iTunes on my Mac, it all worked fine.

 

[imacintel]

You can't get Windows Media Player for Mac. There are alternatives like Flip4Mac but they're not Universal Binary yet so they're not really ideal solutions for an Intel machine. Best wait until the UB comes out.

Sorry dude, I just downloaded it and it works great on my intel iMac.