Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

New To Mac And Becoming Disenchanted!

B

Budbud

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 28, 2009
7
0
Well, I finally recieved my MacBook Pro about two weeks ago and... I'm becoming less in love with it as time goes by.


Here's my main gripes.

1. CAN'T PARTAKE OF WINDOWS MEDIA FILES!!!???!!!??? I travel A LOT and I am addicted to my Sirius Satelite radio. I'm used to listening to it online, only the Sirius player is WM and will not play on my new $2000 laptop. It will however play on my sisters 300.00 Acer Netbook! QUITE MADDENING and embarrassing!... I've downloaded the Flip4Mac and I've even downloaded Firefox. I've tried to listen on both browsers and NOTHING! Does anyone know if Flip4Mac works on QTX? Do I have to download some ancient version of QT to get Flip4Mac to work?

Anyway, I'm VERY pissed off that I spent SO....MUCH money on a new laptop, and I can no longer do a very basic thing that I was able to do on ANY 10 year old p.c. that I could literally dig out of a heap at GOODWILL!...

With so much content being WM, why has Apple not come up with their own built in plugin for QT? This strikes me as an absurd oversight on their part! I mean, I was always able to play QT on Windows machines, so why not WM on Apple machines? I don't understand.


2. I was trying to view some tutorial vids that I just purchased and it tells me that I need something called Rosetta to view these files?
What in the hell is this and where do I get it from? Not to sound like a flamer, but...once again, it's maddening, since I've bought vids from the same company and have run them without any such troubles on my old p.c.'s.


I still love my macbook, but I'm starting to really resent that it seemingly CAN'T DO VERY SIMPLE THINGS that I've always taken for granted. I'm starting to view my mac as some sort of idiot savant, as in...it can run Logic Studio, but it can't play a radio website or tutorial video? Huh?... :confused:

At this point, I'm seriously considering buying a cheap netbook to SUPPLEMENT all those things that it seems my grand new MacBook Pro is incapable of doing? This seems absurd to me, but what else can I do?

Does anyone out there have ANY answers about these two problems? If I have to buy a supplemental machine for such trivial things I will NEVER buy another Apple computer again!








.
 
To answer your first question, try installing flip4mac and also Perian is good to have. As for your second question, rosetta is the software that translates programs written for the old PPC processors to intel code. It should give you the option to install it, there's no downside to it so once you install it, it will work seamlessly and make the program work for you :)
 
Rosetta is in every machine according to Apple. All it takes is going to Google and typing in Rosetta, geez stop having a hissy fit.

And with the radio player, well I have listen to radio on Unix systems (ie mac and different linux distro's) and they all worked fine for me, so i do not know what is going on there. But if that radio player is designed sooo badly that you have to use crappy windows media player, you will need to install it. Again using some bloody common sense you go to a search engine and type in windows media player for mac and get this result:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/player/mac/mp9/default.aspx

I hope that's helped

Carlos
 
While almost everything on a Mac "just works" there are third party programs for the things that you have problems with. If you are running Snow Leopard Perian works great. If you are running Leopard Flip4Mac is great.
(To find out which version you have, go to the apple in the left top corner then "about this mac" If it says version 10.6.0 or higher you have Snow Leopard, anything less is Leopard).

Happy to help but next time try toning it down a little bit though ;)

Edit: P.S.: Sirius addresses you question in their FAQs. #8. Good luck!http://www.sirius.com/faqs#sir
 
1. Try QuickTime 7 with Flip4Mac. You can install it from your discs.
2. If WM sucks on a Mac, that'd be the fault of who makes it. Who is that again?
3. Did you try vlc to play your vids?

A little goggling would've probably helped you.
 
Well, I installed this Perian everyone speaks of, and just like Flip4Mac, it fixes NOTHING!...

Secondly, someone sent me a link for the WM Player for Mac! I'll try this, but didn't even know such a thing existed. If there is a WMP for Mac, why on earth has everyone been trying to get me to download and install third party plugins?

This kind of time and effort wasted on simply trying to get my computer to do something very mundane is not what I expected when I decided to become a Mac user. This is exactly what I thought Macs were supposed to save one from?

Apple should at LEAST insert a big warning about this WMP thing and tell you what your work around options are. I have not appreciated the HOURS I've spent online, asking friends, and even in the Apple Store trying to just be able to listen to a freaking radio station!...

Like I said, I travel A LOT and if I can't listen to my SiriusXM, I will probably end up returning my mac to J&R and go back to p.c.(and get a $1000.00 credit to boot) . My Sirius is just too much a part of my life to sacrifice to being on a mac.

Please don't get defensive, but as a lifelong p.c. user, I NEVER thought I'd have trouble listening to a radio station when I decided to pay the HUGE price premium I payed to get into a mac! Right now, I honestly feel like I've payed MORE to get LESS! Can you blame me.
 
1. Windows Media Player for Mac has been defunct since about 2002. Flip4Mac is the replacement. It works with QuickTime X and I have no issues playing back wmv files etc. Did you install it or just download it? If you installed it, and Perian, there will be new panes in your System Preferences window.

2. Windows Media is a proprietary group of formats, it's up to the people who create the format to ensure it works correctly.

3. Why did you not check that it worked BEFORE you put the cash down?
 
Windows Media Player For Mac....

DOES NOT WORK EITHER!... Every time I try to install it... I get a pop up window with this in it:

StuffIt!°
J+ªÖ*+±Rõµ∂+s#Dõ{gXõ∞f+ÀF∏++”.!T+∑]¬Rõqó0U+◊]¬≠+Á]¬X+ÔªÑkõ`7ú+3ôwî
o%çH°ä◊¢êx-´höè *¡‡ò)ÏKeQ<œM.εºÔkú
 
No Chundles. I checked. The guy at the Apple store today confirmed that I had indeed installed Flip. I wasn't sure either, as I find the Apple does not confirm installation of things as much as a p.c. stuff does.

It IS installed though and it does nothing.

The only thing I can think is that QTX is not supported by any of the third party stuff.
 
Had I wanted to run Windows, I would have just bought p.c.. I have NO intention of installing Windows on my Mac.

I'm just angry that my mac can't do this ONE, very mundane thing. It's kind of like buying an ultra expensive, super kitchen, only to find out, that it contains no device to make TOAST!...
 
Budbud said:
Well, I installed this Perian everyone speaks of, and just like Flip4Mac, it fixes NOTHING!...

Secondly, someone sent me a link for the WM Player for Mac! I'll try this, but didn't even know such a thing existed. If there is a WMP for Mac, why on earth has everyone been trying to get me to download and install third party plugins?

This kind of time and effort wasted on simply trying to get my computer to do something very mundane is not what I expected when I decided to become a Mac user. This is exactly what I thought Macs were supposed to save one from?

Apple should at LEAST insert a big warning about this WMP thing and tell you what your work around options are. I have not appreciated the HOURS I've spent online, asking friends, and even in the Apple Store trying to just be able to listen to a freaking radio station!...

Like I said, I travel A LOT and if I can't listen to my SiriusXM, I will probably end up returning my mac to J&R and go back to p.c.(and get a $1000.00 credit to boot) . My Sirius is just too much a part of my life to sacrifice to being on a mac.

Please don't get defensive, but as a lifelong p.c. user, I NEVER thought I'd have trouble listening to a radio station when I decided to pay the HUGE price premium I payed to get into a mac! Right now, I honestly feel like I've payed MORE to get LESS! Can you blame me.
Click to expand...


Really, Apple should issue a warning that WMP native files shouldn't play on an APPLE product? That is like saying "Toshiba or Sony should state that OS X won't work on their machines".

And threatening to return your computer is hilarious. Why would any of us give a 1/4 shiest if you return it. I'm sorry that you simply cannot go on without Sirius.

All these questions are done with a simple search of google. That, by the way, CAN be done on a Mac ;)
 
I don't think that any individual would care if I return my Mac. Apple corp should in theory though, as it means a loss of that sale, as well as any Apple produced, mac only software. Lets not forget ALL the pc users who I would steer away from Apple with my horror story of not even being able to listen to a freaking radio station on a very expensive machine! I could even make a nice YouTube vid bitching about this!

What I would like to know though is why are people attacking me? I ****ING BOUGHT a MAC! I'm not allowed to be pissed off at ANYTHING or criticize it for ANYTHING, lest I be attacked? **** THAT! It's a ****ing machine and it's not doing something SIMPLE that I want it to do!...Period.

Wow. Folks had warned me about the Apple fan boyz, I guess this is what they were talking about. Quite fundamentalists in your devotion to your supreme being, huh? Sorry to be a more heretical and questioning member of your faith!...

Regardless, I just went to the Apple site and downloaded QT7. Every time I try to install it, it just does nothing. The little box icon just sort of flashes. I suppose it doesn't work on Snow Leopard even though it says it does.

Well, I guess it's BACK to the Apple store for the SECOND time today. I'm to the point with this ****ing machine where I'm about to throw it at the ****ing wall. All of this money... and for what? HOURS AND DAYS OF FRUSTRATION and still no solution to fulfill even the most MUNDANE and TRIVIAL of desires?!....

Jesus Christ! Am I a bad person for expecting a little bit more from a 2000.00 machine?
 
Kind of like how iTunes sucks on a PC?

Sky Blue said:
1. Try QuickTime 7 with Flip4Mac. You can install it from your discs.
2. If WM sucks on a Mac, that'd be the fault of who makes it. Who is that again?
3. Did you try vlc to play your vids?

A little goggling would've probably helped you.
Click to expand...
 
For Sirius - use a third party application - SiriusMac or StarPlayr. Works very well (in some ways better than the actual radio unit itself.....)
 
HBOC said:
Really, Apple should issue a warning that WMP native files shouldn't play on an APPLE product? That is like saying "Toshiba or Sony should state that OS X isn't supported their machines".
Click to expand...
Fixed, It does work on them
 
Budbud said:
Jesus Christ! Am I a bad person for expecting a little bit more from a 2000.00 machine?
Click to expand...

Yes! :D

On a more serious note, I sincerely hope you either figure it out. I don't blame you for being disenfranchised either. A mac is a wonderful machine when you need it for something, such as final cut. Otherwise I too find Windows easier to deal with... But don't tell anyone here, as they'll flame me to death!

What you've just discovered is that while a mac "just works" 99% of the time, that 1% of the time when it doesn't is probably just as maddening as all of the times combined that your Windows computer didn't work perfectly.

The best advice I can give you is this: Return your macbook pro before the return period is up, and then (if you can) wait until Windows 7 comes out in mid-October. You'll be able to pick up a computer you're familiar with, and it'll be about $1000 less.
 
Budbud said:
Am I a bad person for expecting a little bit more from a 2000.00 machine?
Click to expand...
No, just a little naive. You spent a good chunk of cash on a machine assuming it would do something you find very important instead of researching that beforehand. And what you consider mundane is probably much more a specialized need. What percentage of Mac users do you think are also listeners of SiriusXM?
 
Budbud said:
I don't think that any individual would care if I return my Mac. Apple corp should in theory though, as it means a loss of that sale, as well as any Apple produced, mac only software. Lets not forget ALL the pc users who I would steer away from Apple with my horror story of not even being able to listen to a freaking radio station on a very expensive machine! I could even make a nice YouTube vid bitching about this!

What I would like to know though is why are people attacking me? I ****ING BOUGHT a MAC! I'm not allowed to be pissed off at ANYTHING or criticize it for ANYTHING, lest I be attacked? **** THAT! It's a ****ing machine and it's not doing something SIMPLE that I want it to do!...Period.

Wow. Folks had warned me about the Apple fan boyz, I guess this is what they were talking about. Quite fundamentalists in your devotion to your supreme being, huh? Sorry to be a more heretical and questioning member of your faith!...

Regardless, I just went to the Apple site and downloaded QT7. Every time I try to install it, it just does nothing. The little box icon just sort of flashes. I suppose it doesn't work on Snow Leopard even though it says it does.

Well, I guess it's BACK to the Apple store for the SECOND time today. I'm to the point with this ****ing machine where I'm about to throw it at the ****ing wall. All of this money... and for what? HOURS AND DAYS OF FRUSTRATION and still no solution to fulfill even the most MUNDANE and TRIVIAL of desires?!....

Jesus Christ! Am I a bad person for expecting a little bit more from a 2000.00 machine?
Click to expand...

No you're not a bad person for expecting something to work. I cannot answer the sirius radio question. I dont have sirius, so i cannot test what is going on.

When you download a program, you should be prompted to give your password. If that is not happening, than i don't know what is going on.

Rosetta isn't installed by default. When i reformatted and install Snow Leopard, and then ran some CS4 programs, it prompted me to install Rosetta, which i click "ok" (or whatever the box said).

I think the fact that your post had size 30 font, and just the way you came off kinda had an effect on peoples' responses. It did on my first response:) People did search for you, too.

You followed the steps on the sirius' site? What did Apple tell you to do?
flip4mac makes WM files play on Quicktime.

As far as QuickTime and iTunes being on Windows, you have to keep in mind; How many iPods/touch/iPhone/Nano/etc have been sold? Of those 100 million (whatever the number), how many have Windows as their OS? 90% probably, so ofcourse they will have QT and iTunes on Window machines..
 
Budbud said:
What I would like to know though is why are people attacking me?
Click to expand...

Lot of people use Flip4Mac and listen to sirius on their mac and it works fine. You're going a bit OTT because you can't get it to work, and, really, it seems like user error. Maybe this is why people aren't fussed at helping you. Most of the answers are on sirius' faq page, which you obviously haven't looked at.
If WM playback sucks, it's because Microsoft don't give a ****.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back