Microsoft Halting Windows Media Player for Mac

[john7jr]

...or the ****ty RealPlayer.

Oh, why did you have to open that wound?

Or, now that QuickTime 7 is available on both platforms, in H.264. It provides better video quality (good for the users) and lowers bandwidth requirements (good for the users and providers).

Well, slow down there. You are assuming a lot.

Let me say from real-world examples that Quicktime looks a lot better on the Mac than it does on Windows. My Windows machine displays a WM stream a lot better than a QT stream. Just as my Mac plays the Quicktime stream better than any WM stream.

A lot of my friends keep b*tching at me for giving them quicktime, because the WM files I encode look better on their machines than the Quicktime files I give them. It surprises me, but I've seen it with my own eyes.

 

[Butler Trumpet]

geez.... i wish they would have done this sooner.... windows media sucks! Even for the PC!
And this program flip4mac is actually really nice....
go microsoft.... way to be complete idiots

 

[Super Dave]

Because unfortunately, Macs still have a low % of market share. People will encode videos in a format which they think the most of their visitors will be able to view.

As most of these will be Windows users with WMP, I would guess that's why they go for it. It's a pain & I agree it would be nice to see videos in H.264, but I can't see the dropping of the Mac version of WMP precipitating this.

Give it 2 years, and I bet you're wrong. Every time I think the Mac's marketshare isn't going to increase more I have a friend ask me about which Mac to buy. These are people who would not have DREAMT of buying one 2 years ago, and possibly didn't even know they existed. I'm a university student and I tell you the people coming up right now know Apple and like them more than any previous generation.

Give someone a free iPod with a laptop purchase deal every september and they like you a lot.

David

 

[Sunrunner]

Oh, why did you have to open that wound?



Well, slow down there. You are assuming a lot.

Let me say from real-world examples that Quicktime looks a lot better on the Mac than it does on Windows. My Windows machine displays a WM stream a lot better than a QT stream. Just as my Mac plays the Quicktime stream better than any WM stream.

A lot of my friends keep b*tching at me for giving them quicktime, because the WM files I encode look better on their machines than the Quicktime files I give them. It surprises me, but I've seen it with my own eyes.

You are obviously using the wrong video codec then. Use H.264, since they have support in quicktime for windows now.

 

[BenRoethig]

I'm hoping this will lead to Microsoft working with Apple to include full windows media playback support in iTunes and Quicktime. I know some of you are rejoicing because you blindly hate Microsoft, but a potential lack of Windows media support is a bad thing.

 

[Randall]

H.264 content will end all this b.s. anyway. You will be able to view any video on any operating system with their native media players. Propritary formats suck for that specific reason. (.wmv, .mov, .rm etc.) They all have their pros and cons, but they also all have the same con -> Run our software to use it...

I welcome H.264 and the .mp4 (MPEG-4) file format. Thank you.

 

[SiliconAddict]

Its a good thing that Microsoft dedicated themselves to the Apple platform for 5 years. I mean we wouldn't want to lose any of the apps they are putting out.

 

[bugfaceuk]

You know it is a measure of how far the Mac has come in the last 3 years that all these posts reflect the "not news of any importance" this is.

 

[Yvan256]

Because unfortunately, Macs still have a low % of market share. People will encode videos in a format which they think the most of their visitors will be able to view.

As most of these will be Windows users with WMP, I would guess that's why they go for it. It's a pain & I agree it would be nice to see videos in H.264, but I can't see the dropping of the Mac version of WMP precipitating this.

It sure won't help decisions favoring Windows Media.

One can only hope it'll push websites to provide two options: WM9 and H.264

 

[Yvan256]

Let me say from real-world examples that Quicktime looks a lot better on the Mac than it does on Windows. My Windows machine displays a WM stream a lot better than a QT stream. Just as my Mac plays the Quicktime stream better than any WM stream.

A lot of my friends keep b*tching at me for giving them quicktime, because the WM files I encode look better on their machines than the Quicktime files I give them. It surprises me, but I've seen it with my own eyes.

Funny, because QuickTime files looked better than Windows Media files on my old PC. Could depend on the CODEC, video drivers, videocards, etc.

 

[iDM]

My honest opinion? WMP was a POS anyway. The functionality on Macs was almost laughable. I look forward to the day I do not receive anymore error messages from WMP and Office.

 

[Yvan256]

I'm hoping this will lead to Microsoft working with Apple to include full windows media playback support in iTunes and Quicktime. I know some of you are rejoicing because you blindly hate Microsoft, but a potential lack of Windows media support is a bad thing.

No, and I just wish people would look at this problem in the right way (just like websites problems... the browsers aren't broken, the websites are).

A lack of Windows Media support will push content providers to either switch format and/or to provide other alternatives. And since H.264 is now a standard (and I don't mean only for computers), switching to that format makes more sense then pushing for proprietary formats like Windows Media.

Nothing prevents Microsoft from adding H.264 support to WMP11 either. That would mean smooth playback for either Macs or PCs, with either QuickTime 7 (Macs and PCs) or Windows Media Player 11 (PCs).

Edit: Randall beat me to it.

 

[freeny]

Well, there goes my pron collection.

Ditto here!

Fortunately I reencode all my wmv files to QT when I get them and back them up so my old stuff is fine. curious to see what I can/cant do in the future. Cant stand wmp. Good luck Microsoft

 

[iMeowbot]

I mean, how can websites keep using Windows Media if Microsoft doesn't even offer the player for the Mac anymore?

Microsoft haven't stopped offering WMP. They simply aren't updating it any more. This is not a real change, they haven't updated it in years.

Microsoft have also worked out a deal with one of their partners to offer a free alternative that does get updated. This is a good thing! With Microsoft doing the Mac thing by themselves, more and more content has been becoming unavailable as it only works with the Windows version of WMP. With a different developer taking care of things, there's at least the possibility that we'll see feature parity down the road.

 

[pounce]

For those keeping track of what won't work, the daily show videos don't seem to work from Comedy Central's site.

<sigh>

I hope this doesn't mean that mac is going to become even more of a red-headed stepchild in online streaming media. Why can't everyone use open formats? Grrr....

yes, wma files or wmv files are terrible. that it's a "standard" at all amazes me. everyone online and otherwise ought be using mp3's and mpegs, stuff that everyone can play. that any websites use wmv files is beyond me and seems like a terribly bad idea.

 

[BenRoethig]

No, and I just wish people would look at this problem in the right way (just like websites problems... the browsers aren't broken, the websites are).

A lack of Windows Media support will push content providers to either switch format and/or to provide other alternatives. And since H.264 is now a standard (and I don't mean only for computers), switching to that format makes more sense then pushing for proprietary formats like Windows Media.

Nothing prevents Microsoft from adding H.264 support to WMP11 either. That would mean smooth playback for either Macs or PCs, with either QuickTime 7 (Macs and PCs) or Windows Media Player 11 (PCs).

Edit: Randall beat me to it.

Yes, all the websites will band together and change their files for the sake of Mac users. Not going to happen, in the scope of things, we are too small in numbers to make a difference. If H.264 becomes the gold standard great, but we shouldn't be waiting for everyone else to come to use.

 

[iDM]

Speaking of does anyone know of a way to uninstall WMP 9 completely from my system? Obviously I could just trash the folder from applications but I would like all 510 files that it installed gone if possible...........anyone know how?

 

[ro2nie]

just use VLC!

I use VLC for all video extensions. It is open source and it plays wmv, MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, mp3, ogg, avi and other extensions...
It also allows you to stream video.

I think its one of the best video players arround!!

 

[Yvan256]

Yes, all the websites will band together and change their files for the sake of Mac users. Not going to happen, in the scope of things, we are too small in numbers to make a difference. If H.264 becomes the gold standard great, but we shouldn't be waiting for everyone else to come to use.

H.264 is a world standard. It's being used by current and future technologies including next-gen DVDs, broadcasters, etc. This is not a "QuickTime 7-only" technology. Searching for "H.264" in Google will give you 2,550,000 results, most of which have anything to do with Apple or QuickTime 7.

MPEG-1 -> MPEG-2 -> MPEG-4 -> H.264. As simple as that.

 

[revfife]

Wheres a good anti-trust lawsuit to keep M$ in check when you need it?

 

[cybermiguel]

I think that losing Windows Media for Mac it's no big deal....for the moment. In the Windows World, the Windows Media Content has gained a lot of strength, specially the HD trailers.

True. Quicktime has a much better codec (h.264), but as far as I know, not every stream has 24-bit sound quality and you have to remember that one of the most important soundcard maker in the world (yes, Creative Tech.) is supporting the 24-bit WMA format.

A smart move would be that Apple, since it got to the x86 world, begin some kind of negotiations with Creative tech so that Apple can have great HARDWARE ACCELERATED sound cards (Creative cards DOES NOT need CoreAudio feature because, since they are hardware accelerated, the latencies are damn low).

...but that's another story for another time. For now, we just have to worry about the DRM encoded content, because for the other stuff, Flip4Mac will do the trick.

 

[Kernow]

Give it 2 years, and I bet you're wrong. Every time I think the Mac's marketshare isn't going to increase more I have a friend ask me about which Mac to buy. These are people who would not have DREAMT of buying one 2 years ago, and possibly didn't even know they existed. I'm a university student and I tell you the people coming up right now know Apple and like them more than any previous generation.

Give someone a free iPod with a laptop purchase deal every september and they like you a lot.

David

I hope you're right, but 2 years is possibly a bit too short a timeframe. The more people using Mac the better as far as I'm concerned (and provided quality doesn't take a dive).

However, you've also got to consider pricing and location of all these computer users. A lot of people aren't picky about the operating system they use, so if they see that a Dell or whatever is much cheaper than a Mac, then I'm sure they'll go for that. Similarly, in countries less well off than USA, UK, Canada etc. there might not actually be that much choice which they go for.

I agree that a lot of the ignorance/misconceptions about Apple seem to be disappearing, but I still think there's a long way to go yet.

 

[seamuskrat]

Come off it Aiden;

You cannot tell me that Real Player is not 10 time worse than Apple's nag screen to upgrade to Pro. It is arguable, but I think provable that Quicktime is a better media viewing platform that WMP. Even on high end PCs, some formats really suck on WMP. That said, on PCs quicktime has it faults as well, but not as many. On Macs, WMP just plain stinks.

Obviously for the majority of computer noobs, whatever is pre-installed is what they will use. As Windows has 95% share and WMP is installed, then the common denominator is WMP

People will encode videos in a format which they think the most of their visitors will be able to view.

With the people aiming for video content having broadband, I think a 32 meg download is very reasonable.

Lets be real, no one watches VOD porn on dialup anymore. Its just not practical.

What this move by MS really represents is a blow off the bow of the Apple ship. They are saying there is NO hope of Macs using WMP and will make that clear when their music/video/who knows what service rolls out.

This probably puts to bed the rumors that Apple would open up Fairplay in return for MS developing office for 5 more years.

without having to download and install a 32 MB adware application.

 

[Lancetx]

I'd like to thank Microsoft (for once) for doing us all a favor by making the Flip4Mac solution free now for everyone. It was a pleasure being able to trash WMP for good last night.

 

[nomad01]

I use VLC and MPlayer - I could care less about this - all it means is one less piece of MS software I'd have on my machine.

Hear, hear. Good riddance as far as I'm concerned. Media Player works well enough on Windows but I never use their Mac version. MPlayer and VLC are fine.