New To Mac And Becoming Disenchanted!

[flakes8]

I think you are just a really angry person, please don't take it out on the very people that your asking for help. Good Luck with the Macbook Pro and whatever else that may ail you.

 

[GimmeSlack12]

You tried Pulsar? Looks like it is exactly what you need OP. Macs are expensive, yes. Macs are in some ways more simple, yes. But Macs do not do everything for you. For a PC user I would have expected more patience from you.

 

[MythicFrost]

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!...

You have a perfectly fantastic Mac, it's not the laptops fault that the OS doesn't play Windows Media Files or have Windows Media Player, if you really want it then install Windows into Parallels 4.0 or VMFusion, and run Windows on your Mac, and play your Radio in Windows Media on XP/Vista.

That'll cost you extra, that's assuming you don't want to use any other of the ways listed here. (I didn't read all the posts).

Regarding Rosetta I don't know.

I do know a less dramatic, more calm what can I do or why doesn't this work approach often gets more help from other members, just some advice.

Kind Regards

 

[JoeG4]

Here's my main gripes.

1. CAN'T PARTAKE OF WINDOWS MEDIA FILES!!!???!!!???

Maybe because it's MICROSOFT WINDOWSMedia Player and Microsoft isn't keen on licensing to Apple, their fierce media competitor.

How exactly is it Apple's fault that Microsoft can't make a decent port of their own software?

 

[Keebler]

warned you about mac fanboyz?

it's just a different way of thinking. with pcs, you have to fight and fight to get things to work, but with macs, it's so simple that ppl already have their guard up before trying something 🙂 I realize your situation may seem opposite and that's too bad.

Something is amiss with your install b/c i know ppl listening to Sirius on their macs using flip. I open, watch and listen to wmv files all the time on mine (I don't have sirius) however.

might be a better place to dload Stuffit, but on this link, just do the link on the left. will do what you need.

http://my.smithmicro.com/mac/stuffit/expander.html

in the end some people prefer windows and that's fine too.

I recommend getting this right and then seeing how your mac experience goes.

I found it a bit quirky at first trying to get the wmv files going right, but now, I'll never go back to windows personally. in fact, i do have it loaded on my macbook pro for some invoicing software and as soon as I can find a mac version to import my almost 6 years worth of business sales data, then windows is coming off. After all, with 100% honesty, the only time that machine has crashed....has been when I'm in Windows....

best of luck,
Keebler

 

[KeriJane]

Hi BudBud

I'm a relative newcomer to Mac also.
It does take awhile to get used to using OSX. It can be a little frustrating if you're coming from Windows.
Do you have a Mac Genius available? They're always happy to help iron out annoying things like this.

My Mac Pro running Snow Leopard seems to play .wmv files in Safari OK. I had previously installed Flip4Mac and Perian. I'm not sure which one is doing the job.

They do have a beta Flip4Mac for Snow Leopard here: http://www.telestream.net/flip4mac-wmv/overview.htm


Why didn't Apple build it with common codecs for MS based files? I don't know but it sure annoys a lot of us newer Mac owners for awhile.
That said, I really try to avoid Microsoft products nowdays. Believe it or not, I much prefer the occasional Mac annoyance over the continuous (for me) MS ones.

If you stick with it you may end up liking OSX a lot more than friendly 'ol Windows.
It's certainly a LOT easier to learn than the other alternative OS, Linux.

Good Luck,
Keri

 

[mac2x]

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!...

Your Mac CAN do it. Always suspect user error before trashing the OS.

 

[aristobrat]

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.

Hey Budbud, a fresh install of Windows XP or Vista can't play QT natively.

Someone else may have installed it on your computer for you, but it wasn't Microsoft.

 

[tempusfugit]

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.

Good GOD what the hell is the point of sattelite radio if you only listen to it through the web? If you're so addicted there are tons of mobile options that actually make use of the satellite part of the equation. Mobile boomboxes, car radios with xm/sirius built in, handheld players, you name it.

If sirius software doesn't work for mac than that whole company is being run by morons.

and hey! check out what searching google for "sirius satellite radio mac" brings up:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...ite+radio+mac&cts=1254187952951&aq=f&oq=&aqi=

a TON of options to fix your problem the first one looks good and its free. Is it even possible that you tried to get this working at all before you can kicking and screaming to this forum about how you were gipped by apple?

 

[nazuk]

There's lots of things I could say about the poster of this thread - but that would probably get me banned for life 😀

Anyway, he needs to calm down, and ask in a more friendly way.

Trouble is, he doesn't appear to be the calm type - and continues to have his 'girly' fits in his replies.

Maybe Mac's are just too 'complicated' for such a PeeCee user? 😛

/some people can't be helped.

 

[TuffLuffJimmy]

And here comes SnowLeoaprd2008 🙄

Who uses wmv? Check 90% of the computer using world. Hell even I have some wmv files.

If we go short of fanboy I'll be sure to call.

 

[HBOC]

So Macs aren't able to play WMV. Big deal. No one uses that format anyways.

Why do you need Rosetta, a PPC emulator, to play video files? What format are the videos in?

Keep screaming like a 3 year old. Who cares if you never buy an Apple computer? I could care less about a hissing, screaming person like you. If you want help, then ask for it. No one said scream.

hey, when i re-formatted my drive, installed Leopard, then installed SL on top of that, it asked me to install Rosetta when i first opened Photoshop CS4 on the newly reformatted drive.

He said that it prompted him to install Rosetta when he downloaded and installed some of the programs that some people told him to. Did you even read his posts?

 

[nazuk]

He has to be a troll.

I think I agree with you.

Also, he appears to have problems installing Apps, and has no idea if they installed or not. Ok fair enough, I had that problem when I started out as a switcher years ago - because it's just drag and drop with most Apps.

But the guy appears to have not read anything, anywhere - or googled for the most basic of things.

I think he's the type to have a rant first, then ask questions later, but still have another rant anyway 😕

 

[Budbud]

IT'S FINALLY WORKING! ​

I really appreciate all the accusations of being a troll simply because I dare find fault, AS A FREAKING APPLE USER MYSELF, with an Apple product!

I don't care who's fault it is, Microsoft or Apple or someone else. All I know is that as an end user, I couldn't listen to a freaking radio station on my new COSTLY Apple, when I NEVER even had to download or install anything on the CHEAPEST of p.c.s to enjoy the same site. It's the principal!... With SO...much content out there being WMV, it just seems to me that Apple could have bothered to code a WMV plugin right into QuickTime, you know, so impatient folks like me, who don't want to be bothered with finding "fixes" and "work arounds" don't lose their **** when their BRAND NEW AND COSTLY machine can't complete a seemingly mundane and trivial task.

One reason I got an Apple is because they tout themselves as "just working". Contrary to all the accusations, I have INDEED tried ALL of the suggestions I've looked up online to solve my radio problem.

I ONLY came to this site after a WEEK of trying everything suggested.

After I spent another THREE HOURS at the Apple store tonight, and after they were about to give me a brand new machine, thinking that my hardware was damaged, the problem is finally solved! It turns out that Flip4Mac is NOT compatible with Snow Leopard. As a result, the Apple store had to downgrade my OS to Leopard. How can Apple not be aware of this? I can't be the ONLY person out there to have run into this on Snow Leopard!

Anyway, it now works and I'm listening to Sirius as I type this.

They also installed Rosetta for me. As a life long P.C. user, I had never even ever heard of Rosetta, as I never had a reason to deal with it. Even the folks at the Apple store were flustered as to why the Rosetta link never worked. I know. It HAD TO BE MY FAULT, since Apples are perfection in a box, or at least, that's what so many on here are sure of.

Only...that wasn't the case. The app that told me I needed to install Rosetta gave me a link to download Rosetta within the very window that warned me that I needed it. The only thing is, upon pressing this link...nothing happened...EVER!... I was not taken to any website, nothing. Like I said, EVEN the Apple store couldn't figure this out. They told me that I HAD TO install this from the disks that came with my machine, which are still in NYC while I'm currently in New Orleans. Like I said, I travel A LOT!. Anyway, the Apple store loaded it for me when they took Snow Leopard off and installed Leopard.

After I reinstall the app that needs Rosetta, we'll see if it works. If not, it'll be another trip to the Apple store and I'll stay there once again until things work or I get confirmation from the Apple folks that it never will. The only bright side to everything is that I got the Snow Leopard disk included with my machine. I'd be SUPER pissed if I had paid $30.00 to make my machine less usable in the name of an "upgrade".

Of course, I now need to call iTunes and get a re-download link, as ALL of my iTunes purchases, songs and t.v. shows, were lost. HUGE PAIN IN MY ASS!

I'm withholding final judgement on my new mac until I see if the app that requires Rosetta does indeed work with the Rosetta install they did tonight.

Perhaps I'm crazy, but when I pay a premium for something, as I did when buying a mac, I EXPECT IT to do ALL of the stuff my cheaper alternatives did AND MORE!... I think that's only normal. Like I said, having a $2000.00 machine that wouldn't play a radio station that my sisters $300.00 Netbook has no trouble with, feels like spending a fortune on a luxury kitchen and finding out that it has no ability to make toast.

We'll see how the Rosetta issue goes...

 

[thejadedmonkey]

...It turns out that Flip4Mac is NOT compatible with Snow Leopard. As a result, the Apple store had to downgrade my OS to Leopard...​

I love how people were calling you a troll and complaining about you when their solution didn't work... people 😕

'neways, grats! Now enjoy your mac, I'm glad you finally got it working (and didn't listen to my previous advice 😛 )!​

 

[GoKyu]

For the record, KeriJane did mention (back on page 1) that there's a version of Flip4Mac available FOR Snow Leopard.

I know it can seem difficult when you first get started (when I started out, it took me 2 or 3 weeks to figure out that you could actually play WMV files too), but if you get into a screaming fit, nobody's going to WANT to help.

I wouldn't say that's any different for any other forum out there online - people tend to be more helpful when you're asking in a calm, relaxed manner, not when you're putting down the machine just because it can't (for the moment) do something you think it should be able to do, and then accusing everyone of being überfanboys for not helping.

I'm glad you were able to get everything working, just remember that it's gonna take some TIME to get used to the idiosyncrasies of OS X. I was a PC user since *DOS 3.3*, and it took me a good 1-2 months before I was fully aware of what was out there and available to let me enjoy my Mac to its fullest potential.

Now start having fun with your new machine! 😀

 

[nazuk]

If he'd calmed down, and wasn't having a girly fit (sorry girl's don't mean to insult you) - people on here would have been more inclined to help him.

Instead, his rants and fustration just went off in a tanjent to a direction which wasn't necessary.

He doesn't seem the type to have learned a lesson, so he'll be back.

Ranting more and more, and using CAPITAL letters to highlight a point which is unrelated.

God help macrumors and other forums, we might be stuck with this PeeCee User.

Disclaimer: this message is not aimed at other very nice friendly, calm peecee users, the non-girly hissy-fit types 😀

 

[Chundles]

Flip4Mac works fine in Snow Leopard.

No idea what he's talking about.

 

[flaglicli]

Thanks so much 4 sharing with us,bros 🙂

 

[DJ567]

that was an enjoyable read to wake up to

reminds me of when i bought my first mac, the 1.5GHz core solo mac mini

I had to run safari in rosetta (imagine the idiocy of that). Yet I never got nearly as frustrated as Budbud. Luckily google was my friend.

surely googling "wmv snow leopard" would have saved all of this?

exactly the same as googling ".mov windows xp"

Back in the days of windows 95, 98SE, 2000 I found it next to impossible to play mov files on windows maybe I should have blamed Microsoft?

 

[KeriJane]

IT'S FINALLY WORKING! ​

Perhaps I'm crazy, but when I pay a premium for something, as I did when buying a mac, I EXPECT IT to do ALL of the stuff my cheaper alternatives did AND MORE!... I think that's only normal. Like I said, having a $2000.00 machine that wouldn't play a radio station that my sisters $300.00 Netbook has no trouble with, feels like spending a fortune on a luxury kitchen and finding out that it has no ability to make toast.

We'll see how the Rosetta issue goes...

Hi BudBud.

Glad to hear you got it working.

But paying a premium for something does not mean that it will automatically just do everything you want.
You as a user have to learn how to use any machine, including a Mac.
Apple can't help it if you're used to using a Windows computer. They are not about to copy MS after MS spent all those years copying them!
There is much to learn, especially if you're dealing with MS formats.
Remember, MS has no particular interest in helping their main competitor.
I'd even bet that they do their best to make it difficult, like King William did in the bad 'ol days with Lotus 123. ("DOS isn't done until Lotus won't run"...)

This is probably a bad example but: A regular car, like maybe a a Toyota is perhaps $30,000.
But if you spend $300,000 on maybe a Ferrari? or one of those fancy racing cars.... it's probably not going to be be exactly like driving a Toyota.


Good Luck,
Keri

 

[kiddax]

How about contacting Serius as one of their PAID users and letting them know you don't appreciate them using a legacy requirement to stream their radio? I don't come across wm streams very often anymore. Unless they are on a website that hasn't been updated in YEARS; it's all newer software that's used. That is Serius's option to use an outdated requirement which is still obviously the intended audience being those of a PC.

I don't even have Flip4Mac installed since Snow Leopard released and every one of my streams works fine. Even one's that start automatically on webpages (CBS Sportsline Gameday).

So why doesn't Serius setup a stream that's universal that even $2000 mac computers can use in this day and age?

Probably not interested in spending the money. Which I don't see why they wouldn't since they have PAID users. It should be just as important to Serius to get it working on what their customers use; as it is Apple as you state be concerned with users returning laptops because they don't support out of the box streaming of proprietary software that isn't even theirs.

Apple has NO burden to support that, and frankly Microsoft doesn't either on the mac.

 

[Consultant]

1. Windows media DRM is proprietary, microsoft only.
However, yes, you can use it. You can run windows on a Mac.

2. Rosetta downloads as on demand download for Snow Leopard.
You might need quicktime 7.

MS pushes its own codec because it makes money from its codecs, that's why MS doesn't support open, superior standard such as MP4.

You could have just use VLC. User lazyness = wasted time.

 

[HBOC]

After I spent another THREE HOURS at the Apple store tonight, and after they were about to give me a brand new machine, thinking that my hardware was damaged, the problem is finally solved! It turns out that Flip4Mac is NOT compatible with Snow Leopard. As a result, the Apple store had to downgrade my OS to Leopard. How can Apple not be aware of this? I can't be the ONLY person out there to have run into this on Snow Leopard!

Anyway, it now works and I'm listening to Sirius as I type this.

They also installed Rosetta for me. As a life long P.C. user, I had never even ever heard of Rosetta, as I never had a reason to deal with it. Even the folks at the Apple store were flustered as to why the Rosetta link never worked. I know. It HAD TO BE MY FAULT, since Apples are perfection in a box, or at least, that's what so many on here are sure of.

Only...that wasn't the case. The app that told me I needed to install Rosetta gave me a link to download Rosetta within the very window that warned me that I needed it. The only thing is, upon pressing this link...nothing happened...EVER!... I was not taken to any website, nothing. Like I said, EVEN the Apple store couldn't figure this out. They told me that I HAD TO install this from the disks that came with my machine, which are still in NYC while I'm currently in New Orleans. Like I said, I travel A LOT!. Anyway, the Apple store loaded it for me when they took Snow Leopard off and installed Leopard.

Glad it is working.

Now with that out of the way, why do you think Apple should test all the third party freeware/payware programs? That is NOT Apples' responsibility, not in anyones' wildest imaginations. Ofcourse Apple and major software companies, such as Adobe, tested compatibility because that is a huge program, but everyone else has to pay the developer fee (as Adobe does) to beta test Snow Leopard.

Also, you ONLY HAD to downgrade to Leopard to get the streaming radio to work. Others' have said that flip4mac does indeed work with Snow Leopard. Maybe you do have a lemon, who knows......

 

[smg77]

I still think you're a troll but on the off-chance that you're not...

Congratulations you now have an older operating system on your $2000 laptop because you never bothered to read the one post in this thread that pointed you to a version of Flip4Mac that works with Snow Leopard. Just to see if you were full of crap I went and installed it and my sirius streaming works flawlessly and it didn't take three hours in an Apple store and an OS downgrade to get it done. I also didn't come to these forums and insult people who were trying to help.

Also, your fundamental problem isn't with Apple. It's with Sirius. Go act like a jerk on their forums and demand that they make their product work well with other operating systems than Windows.