View Full Version : Windows media player 9
brian2957
14-01-2012, 17:18
I'm running an old laptop with XP . This is using windows media player 9 at the moment . Is it worthwhile installing media player 10 or 11 .
Thanks,
Brian.
realysm42
14-01-2012, 17:20
After my experiences with it, I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole.
Reid Malenfant
14-01-2012, 17:23
I never use WMP, I always use Winamp so I can't really help :)
Windows Media Player is okay..ish; if you can stop it chatting on the internet to all and sundry and don't mind it re-sampling all your audio to 16/48. ;)
As an audio player....pile 'o' crap.
(love your new avatar Mark :) )
rusty bearing
14-01-2012, 17:39
Don't like the windows offering in the 10 or 11 versions particularly. Started out with Winamp but prefer the features available in Media Monkey
brian2957
14-01-2012, 17:41
LOL so I should just keep WMP 9 for the moment then chaps ;)
Amy suggestions for a reasonably good but SIMPLE alternative until some of this computer audio stuff sinks in .
Thanks,
Brian.
bobbasrah
14-01-2012, 17:43
Well that almost makes decision a bit more difficult eh?
Brian, what do you want to do with it? Online media, media centre, clogging up the lappy's drive and spending hours trying to get it to do what you wanted?
MS are the poor relation to almost anything out there.....
Yup, just typing it up in less scary terms and hopefully a bit clearer.;)
brian2957
14-01-2012, 18:00
Well that almost makes decision a bit more difficult eh?
Brian, what do you want to do with it? Online media, media centre, clogging up the lappy's drive and spending hours trying to get it to do what you wanted?
MS are the poor relation to almost anything out there.....
Hi Bob , firstly can you please tell me what MS means.
I am using the laptop for music replay only . It has a 160gb hard drive and 512gb RAM . I rip my CDs using WMP 11 on my PC (WAV )then put the files on to a portable hard drive . I then transfer the files on to my laptop and also keep them on the portable hard drive as a backup. As I said I have disabled as many programmes and processes as I dare . As far as I know the only programmes which are being used are 'my music ' and wmp 9.
Reid Malenfant
14-01-2012, 18:06
MS = Microsoft :D
brian2957
14-01-2012, 18:10
Yup, just typing it up in less scary terms and hopefully a bit clearer.;)
Thanks John . As you have no doubt realised by now , I am fairly useless around computers . I'm afraid I work long hours and have a fairly limited time to tinker. At the moment I just want to come in and relax after work with some of my favourite music . Like anyone who listens to music in a meaningful way I would of course like to improve the way my system reproduces music and like most people today I am on a limited budget . I am in no doubt that I am going in the right direction through computer audio. I believe that this forum is the way for me to achieve my objectives and I know if I have any questions regarding this that I am in the right place .
Thanks
Brian.
brian2957
14-01-2012, 18:15
MS = Microsoft :D
Thanks Mark :D
bobbasrah
14-01-2012, 18:18
Well, the Fubar should rattle the musical side out to your amp, so am I to presume you are looking at a media player that is easy to use, doesn't screw aeound with the audio that gets fed through or what?
brian2957
14-01-2012, 18:31
Bob ,yes something simple mate . The laptop is fed to a V-link and then to a Caiman SEG . When I feel I've learned enough here I may start experimenting a little .
Thanks
Brian.
Mark Grant
14-01-2012, 18:44
How about a free trial of Jriver media center
http://www.jriver.com/
costs about $50.00 if you decide to use it after the free trial, you might like it :)
brian2957
14-01-2012, 18:49
How about a free trial of Jriver media center
http://www.jriver.com/
costs about $50.00 if you decide to use it after the free trial, you might like it :)
Thanks Mark , I will be printing this thread off tomorrow and going through the options suggested .
Brian.
spendorman
14-01-2012, 18:52
I never use WMP, I always use Winamp so I can't really help :)
Which version are you using? I use 5.24 because late versions seemed very bloated.
bobbasrah
14-01-2012, 19:11
We all have different preferences to suit and you will see a lot recently on Jriver. Have not used that one yet but might to see what all the fuss is about, and whether it is worth paying for.
There are quite a few others for audio and/or video, Winamp, Foobar, VLC Player, etc., some more complicated to set up, some easy, most are free. I have played with Winamp, Foobar, but ended up on MediaPortal as it is sort of like MS Mediacentre, and it was relatively easy to set up originally on XP compared to Foobar. We all sort of got used to it.
Plenty of choice as I said. I presume the WiMP is playing audio via usb to the amp?
I cant think of a free media player for Windows XP that you wont struggle with to bypass Kmixer.
Reid Malenfant
14-01-2012, 19:18
Which version are you using? I use 5.24 because late versions seemed very bloated.
Well it's in no way the latest as every time I fire it up it keeps trying to get me to update & I don't want to :D
Probably been on here for at least one & a half years, so may well be the same version :)
spendorman
14-01-2012, 19:24
Well it's in no way the latest as every time I fire it up it keeps trying to get me to update & I don't want to :D
Probably been on here for at least one & a half years, so may well be the same version :)
Nah, my version is about 2006!
You should be able to turn off the updating thingy.
I find this useful:
http://www.oldversion.com/
bobbasrah
14-01-2012, 19:26
I cant think of a free media player for Windows XP that you wont struggle with to bypass Kmixer.
Have you had a look at MediaPortal John? I know you've tried a number of others and they were a pain.
It is pretty simple to set up, runs it's own PureAudio plugin via asio for audio, and plays video via vlc (only because I nominated it to do that). Never had a single problem with it on XP, now have the same on Win7/64. Free I meant to say.:cool:
brian2957
14-01-2012, 19:43
We all have different preferences to suit and you will see a lot recently on Jriver. Have not used that one yet but might to see what all the fuss is about, and whether it is worth paying for.
There are quite a few others for audio and/or video, Winamp, Foobar, VLC Player, etc., some more complicated to set up, some easy, most are free. I have played with Winamp, Foobar, but ended up on MediaPortal as it is sort of like MS Mediacentre, and it was relatively easy to set up originally on XP compared to Foobar. We all sort of got used to it.
Plenty of choice as I said. I presume the WiMP is playing audio via usb to the amp?
Thanks Bob .MediaPortal looks interesting . I will have a look at it in the morning . Don't want to have a go tonight and go to bed:steam:.
Thanks
Brian.:)
I have tried MediaPortal Bob.
The problem was, despite the Pure Audio plugin when we connected it up to my friends Metric Halo the MH said it was still outputting 16/48.
In short, i don't trust pipes or plugins that say they bypass the Kmixer and don't re-sample.:eyebrows:
The only way I've got satisfactory audio out of Win XP has been to either strip out the audio management layers down to the WMD drivers (complicated and crash prone and restricted to a single bit depth output) or asio4all as a bypass wrap.
JRiver Jukebox (free version) used to support asio4all but doesn't any more afaik.
Reid Malenfant
14-01-2012, 19:47
Nah, my version is about 2006!
You should be able to turn off the updating thingy.
I find this useful:
http://www.oldversion.com/
It might be older, see I'm struggling to remember when I changed the HHD :eyebrows:
Bookmarked that page, could be handy! Cheers Alex :)
There is a reason why foobar2000 and asio4all is a popular audiophile music player....it works ;)
brian2957
14-01-2012, 20:05
John , this is certainly the combination I seem to read about mostly on the forum . Would you mind giving me a brief rundown on how to install these .
Thanks
Brian.
I'll tell you what Brain :)
Sometime tonight in between making leek and potato soup, cooking my dinner etc, I'll get this second Ubuntu/DeadBeef install written up.
I know you know how to change boot priority in your BIOS coz you've reinstalled Windows if my memory servers me. :)
If you read the post once I've finished it and give this combination a go (about 1 hour and 10 mins from start to finish) which imo is easier to do, quicker and easier to explain than setting up foobar and asio4all and will give better audio imo than foobar and asio4all, I will write up foobar and asio4all (or get you sent to the appropriate links) if you don't get on with Ubuntu/DeaDBeef.
(Ffs, resorting to blackmail and bribery now :doh:)
bobbasrah
14-01-2012, 21:05
What ever works for you, or not, in the case of MediaPortal John, fine. Outputting up to 24/192 here, however useless that may be, and HDCD direct through the cheap DAC. Maybe I just got lucky, both on XP and Win7, No worries.
Would be nice to get Brian sorted out though....
Enjoy dinner, bedtime here...
brian2957
14-01-2012, 21:20
I'll tell you what Brain :)
Sometime tonight in between making leek and potato soup, cooking my dinner etc, I'll get this second Ubuntu/DeadBeef install written up.
I know you know how to change boot priority in your BIOS coz you've reinstalled Windows if my memory servers me. :)
If you read the post once I've finished it and give this combination a go (about 1 hour and 10 mins from start to finish) which imo is easier to do, quicker and easier to explain than setting up foobar and asio4all and will give better audio imo than foobar and asio4all, I will write up foobar and asio4all (or get you sent to the appropriate links) if you don't get on with Ubuntu/DeaDBeef.
(Ffs, resorting to blackmail and bribery now :doh:)
Thanks John , I know that your time is valuable too . Just hoped that you might be able to keep me right if you had the time . I did re-install XP but did not go anywhere near the bios , perhaps that's why I failed to reformat twice and re-installed all files on top of each other twice and ended up with 103GB of files but only 29Gb of files which I could find :doh:. I will have a look at your write up when you have the time to do it and if I can I will give it a go John , if fear of the unknown doesn't kick in again . I just got my laptop working the way I wanted with WMP 9 thanks to your good self and others on this forum and afraid I might f**k it up again . Thanks for giving me some of your valuable time and enjoy your soup :)
Brian.
There is a reason why foobar2000 and asio4all is a popular audiophile music player....it works ;)
+1
Would you mind giving me a brief rundown on how to install these
It's all here Brian, I thought you had read this already as the links are on my music server pages? :scratch:
http://www.ayre.com/usb-foobar_setup_xp.htm
Reid Malenfant
14-01-2012, 21:29
Thanks John , I know that your time is valuable too . Just hoped that you might be able to keep me right if you had the time . I did re-install XP but did not go anywhere near the bios , perhaps that's why I failed to reformat twice and re-installed all files on top of each other twice and ended up with 103GB of files but only 29Gb of files which I could find :doh:. I will have a look at your write up when you have the time to do it and if I can I will give it a go John , if fear of the unknown doesn't kick in again . I just got my laptop working the way I wanted with WMP 9 thanks to your good self and others on this forum and afraid I might f**k it up again . Thanks for giving me some of your valuable time and enjoy your soup :)
Brian.
Brian, I don't think there is any way of installing the operating system on any HDD without going into the BIOS & selecting it to boot from a CD or whatever. So I reckon you must have gone in there, maybe you just didn't realise you did?
brian2957
14-01-2012, 21:29
Hi Tim , I did read this last week but it didn't register :mental: I have now printed it off and will look at it .
Thanks
Brian.
brian2957
14-01-2012, 21:31
Brian, I don't think there is any way of installing the operating system on any HDD without going into the BIOS & selecting it to boot from a CD or whatever. So I reckon you must have gone in there, maybe you just didn't realise you did?
Probably did Mark don't know what I'm feckin doin most of the time . Learning though :D
Brian.
Windows XP sp3 does provide the option of either repair, or reinitialisation from within the running operating system if my memory serves me so it's quite possible that Brian never went anywhere near BIOS.:D
Yep, I know its daft that it lets you do that. :doh:
spendorman
14-01-2012, 21:37
Brian, I don't think there is any way of installing the operating system on any HDD without going into the BIOS & selecting it to boot from a CD or whatever. So I reckon you must have gone in there, maybe you just didn't realise you did?
Unless the operating would not boot and the BIOS automatically looked for the next boot, the CD or DVD in the optical drive.
Or Windows was re-installed from inside Windows.
Reid Malenfant
14-01-2012, 21:40
Ok, I hold my hands up :eyebrows: Only SP2 here though on XP, SP3 was a rather big download :eek:
spendorman
14-01-2012, 21:45
Windows XP sp3 does provide the option of either repair, or reinitialisation from within the running operating system if my memory serves me so it's quite possible that Brian never went anywhere near BIOS.:D
Yep, I know its daft that it lets you do that. :doh:
I'm no expert, but I thought that I did that even before XP SP2 came out.
brian2957
14-01-2012, 21:49
Windows XP sp3 does provide the option of either repair, or reinitialisation from within the running operating system if my memory serves me so it's quite possible that Brian never went anywhere near BIOS.:D
Yep, I know its daft that it lets you do that. :doh:
Aye they should make these things numpty -proof John . I am good at some things. Honest :eyebrows: Just ask the wife ;) Nah on second thoughts don't bother :)
Brian.
Reid Malenfant
14-01-2012, 21:51
I am good at some things. Honest :eyebrows: Just ask the wife ;) Nah on second thoughts don't bother :)
:rfl:
Do not associate problems dealing with computers as an indication of intelligence!
I'm brick like but persistent :D
What I will suggest is you find out how to get into BIOS.
Try pressing DEL key or F8 just after you've swithced the computer on.
Don't make any changes just look around. Bios can be a very useful tool.
I got into BIOS tweaking when someone on line told me i could make my computer faster if i got in to BIOS and tweaked it about a bit.
In fact, the best audio tips I've had have been from gamers who have been into decent audio way before the audiophile community even realised there were such things as sound cards.
brian2957
14-01-2012, 22:00
Indeed John . As you've pointed out an inquisitive mind and a willingness to experiment are prerequisites for success in this area I think. I'm getting the feeling that I may have to take a few chances in order to get where I want to go . I have an old laptop and if I can get it to boot up I will start to experiment with it . Thanks John.
Brian.
spendorman
14-01-2012, 22:04
Do not associate problems dealing with computers as an indication of intelligence!
I'm brick like but persistent :D
What I will suggest is you find out how to get into BIOS.
Try pressing DEL key or F8 just after you've swithced the computer on.
Don't make any changes just look around. Bios can be a very useful tool.
"I'm brick like but persistent"
Great statement, think that used to describe me, trouble is these days, I'm not persistent!
Even one accidentally changes something in the BIOS and heart misses a beat as machine won't boot, one can usually recover the situation by selecting: "Default Settings".
If this does not work, resetting the BIOS should fix things. This is not hard to do (on a desktop!)
Indeed John . As you've pointed out an inquisitive mind and a willingness to experiment are prerequisites for success in this area I think. I'm getting the feeling that I may have to take a few chances in order to get where I want to go . I have an old laptop and if I can get it to boot up I will start to experiment with it . Thanks John.
Brian.
Dats ma boi! :D
I've got some spare nappies here if you need them an a big tub of valium!
I wear them for all my Hi Fi adventures ;)
brian2957
14-01-2012, 23:30
Dats ma boi! :D
I've got some spare nappies here if you need them an a big tub of valium!
I wear them for all my Hi Fi adventures ;)
LOL.Maybe get some off you John :lol:. Swap you for some of my dummies ( for chucking out of pram moments.):eyebrows:: Don't need the valium , I prefer to throw myself down on the floor and start crying and kicking anything which is in easy reach.:steam:
The word dropout may take on a new meaning as far as the laptop is concerned however . :mental:
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