As I play around with my install of the Windows 7 Beta I will probably do a few more of these snapshot type posts as I come across things that are different from previous versions of Windows. This first post is about Windows Media Player; or at least the music part of it, as I think that people might be a little surprised about it.
For the longest time if you said that you used Windows Media Player people would snicker and suggest that maybe you should go see the doctor. I know myself that Windows Media Player was never my first choice as the software to play my music on the computer. I would generally switch between XMPlay and winAMP but XMPlay isn’t that well known of a music player so trying to use with things like Last.fm were difficult. winAMP on the other hand played nice but seriously it has gotten to be such a resource pig that one has to wonder why we keep using it.
Many people would naturally gravitate to it because for the longest time winAMP’s resource usage was nothing compared to Windows Media Player. That may have been true at one time but as of version 11 of the player things changed in that regard. I noticed it when I decided to use Windows Media Player in Vista for the first time in a very long time and checked out what exactly it was using as far as resources. I don’t have a screenshot of that but if my memory serves me correct it was in and around the 20meg range.
That may seem like a lot but it was still lower than the newest version of winAMP. So when I got Windows 7 installed and some things sorted away I figured it was time to hear some tunes and started up Windows Media Player – which is now at version 12 in Windows 7. Not only was I pleasantly surprised by the taming down of the interface I was equally surprised at its resource usage – which I did grab a screen shot of this time
This has to be the lowest use of resources that I have seen Windows Media Player use since at least the Windows 95/98 release. The big problem I found with every version between 8 to 10 was that they got sidetrack by too much eye candy and it just over loaded the player. With this version of Windows Media Player that appear to have really pulled back on excessive eye candy and given us a really nice – almost smooth looking – interface.
The one feature that I really like with with this release is the Now Playing view which gives you a really nice small window that displays the current track and when you mouse over it the play controls are displayed. As well you can click the Show List button and it will display your queued up music list.
All in all I think they’ve done a really good job with Windows Media Player in Windows 7 and ya I know there will be the haters out there who will say just about anything against it but to hell with them eh. I know I won’t be worried about having to hunt up a replacement media player – well other than VLC for actual video playback. I definitely suggest that if you haven’t tried the Windows Media Player in awhile to give it a second look in Windows 7.
I think I've found the issue that caused your problem. Please update to version 1.2, clean up the database, including the shorturl's, from the settings panel, and try again, it shouldn't be giving you this kind of spam anymore.
I think I've found the issue that caused your problem. Please update to version 1.2, clean up the database, including the shorturl's, from the settings panel, and try again, it shouldn't be giving you this kind of spam anymore.
thanks Joost I really appreciate the quick response. I'll either get the update in place tonight or tomorrow. I'll also update my original post on the matter with the new info.
again – a big thanks
thanks Joost I really appreciate the quick response. I'll either get the update in place tonight or tomorrow. I'll also update my original post on the matter with the new info.
again – a big thanks
I've been giving it a second look since I received my Vista laptop. It's come a long way and the memory usage has gone down a ton. I used to use Foobar2k because it's lightweight. I don't need all the other stuff, just something to play my music. However, WMP has improved drastically. I even prefer it over iTunes.
I've been giving it a second look since I received my Vista laptop. It's come a long way and the memory usage has gone down a ton. I used to use Foobar2k because it's lightweight. I don't need all the other stuff, just something to play my music. However, WMP has improved drastically. I even prefer it over iTunes.
If you are using Vista then chances are you have Windows Media Player 11. As much of an improvement as it was over previous versions I think v12 is even better but then that's just the opinion of a cranky old fart so take it for what it is worth
If you are using Vista then chances are you have Windows Media Player 11. As much of an improvement as it was over previous versions I think v12 is even better but then that's just the opinion of a cranky old fart so take it for what it is worth
I don't like the new layout. I like to tinker about with the equaliser and the SRS WOW so I can get a decent sound out of it, but after an hour of searching all I found was that they still haven't put in new skins since WinXP. They need a legacy mode for it so people who don't like the new layout can use the old layout…
I don't like the new layout. I like to tinker about with the equaliser and the SRS WOW so I can get a decent sound out of it, but after an hour of searching all I found was that they still haven't put in new skins since WinXP. They need a legacy mode for it so people who don't like the new layout can use the old layout…
I wish theres going to be a new winamp for windows 7 so we can stop using windows media player
I wish theres going to be a new winamp for windows 7 so we can stop using windows media player