R.I.P. WP, WMP

Topic

New Reply

Capping off a lackluster week of Windows non-news, the weekend brought two more headstones, hardly worthy of note. But I’ll note them anyway. First, M
[See the full post at: R.I.P. WP, WMP]

Reply | Quote

Replies

Well, I use WMP every day to listen to internet radio (.asx stream) – and don’t feel like using a 3rd party app for this simple task. Surprisingly enough, the new Metro app does not support .asx files. Luckily, on Windows 8.1 they won’t touch it and at work I’m still at Anniversary Update.

Fractal Design Pop Air * Thermaltake Toughpower GF3 750W * ASUS TUF GAMING B560M-PLUS * Intel Core i9-11900K * 4 x 8 GB G.Skill Aegis DDR4 3600 MHz CL16 * ASRock RX 6800 XT Phantom Gaming 16GB OC * XPG GAMMIX S70 BLADE 1TB * SanDisk Ultra 3D 1TB * Samsung EVO 840 250GB * DVD RW Lite-ON iHAS 124 * Windows 10 Pro 22H2 64-bit Insider * Windows 11 Pro Beta Insider

2 users thanked author for this post.

woody, Noel Carboni

Reply | Quote

I’m surprised you don’t listen to ASX files via a web browser… but then again, I’m a Spotify kind of guy, and local radio in Nashville is excellent.

Reply | Quote

It’s just pinning WMP to taskbar, pinning an URL and then every time you just right-click the icon and click the stream. Can’t be much easier and faster than this. I’m all for simple solutions :).

Fractal Design Pop Air * Thermaltake Toughpower GF3 750W * ASUS TUF GAMING B560M-PLUS * Intel Core i9-11900K * 4 x 8 GB G.Skill Aegis DDR4 3600 MHz CL16 * ASRock RX 6800 XT Phantom Gaming 16GB OC * XPG GAMMIX S70 BLADE 1TB * SanDisk Ultra 3D 1TB * Samsung EVO 840 250GB * DVD RW Lite-ON iHAS 124 * Windows 10 Pro 22H2 64-bit Insider * Windows 11 Pro Beta Insider

Reply | Quote

Frankly, though I have used WMP, I’m not at all upset to see Microsoft pulling back from the realm of “Apps”…

Somehow I suspect the retraction of WMP as a feature doesn’t really mean they’ll do that in a big way, though.

Microsoft will only succeed when they choose to return to the realm of just making the best darned operating system that can be made, make the development environment second to none, and leave it to the rest of the world to develop the Apps. And while they’re at it, not try to take a third of everyone’s sales. App Stores simply aren’t on the same plane of consciousness as serious computing.

Imagine the OS base we COULD have had if they hadn’t wasted their time trying to copy what everyone else has done, but rather spent it innovating on making Windows itself better… Sigh.

There is still much that could be accomplished with even more polished and robust derivatives of Dave Cutler’s masterpiece OS design. We have only JUST gotten to where the OS is stable enough that people could RELY on their computers, for goodness sakes!

-Noel

9 users thanked author for this post.

AlexEiffel, Elly, wdburt1, Great Lake Bunyip, lurks about, David F, Bill C., woody

Reply | Quote

Good point Noel, but I am on the fence on this one. One the one side, I don’t want MS trying to push their bad apps everywhere, especially now that they connect to you in too much of a personal way. Why would calculator need my contacts info?

On the other side, I like having simple apps like Paint and the Windows viewer which were quick, non intrusive and useful. They didn’t need to mess with config to remove privacy invading or insecure options. In that sense WMP was not that good, I admit. I also liked the idea that if there was a security issue with the image processing code, it would be fixed through Windows update. Some third party apps auto maintain very well even in a scenario where the user runs standard user (Firefox, to name one), but others are not as friendly and having just the simple Windows Picture Viewer was fine with me in this case.

The general direction Microsoft is taking by replacing lightweight apps by monsters of interaction, bloat and ads is not pleasing at all.

Reply | Quote

One of the early signs of a very big tech business beginning the decline, is market insensitivity. This pattern has repeated itself many times in cases like IBM. DEC, WANG.

CT

7 users thanked author for this post.

HiFlyer, Elly, wdburt1, AlanH, lurks about, Bill C.

Reply | Quote

My sister loved her Windows phone – she said that it integrated seamlessly with Windows.

Group "L" (Linux Mint)
with Windows 10 running in a remote session on my file server

Reply | Quote

A good friend feels the same way about her Windows Phone.  She loves the phone, but hated Win8 on a laptop, and is not fond of Win10 on her laptop.

She is considering going to an iPhone 7 and considering an iPad Pro, but keeping the Win10 laptop for certain features until it stops working.  She said if the Win10 laptop dies she will go to a MacBook or Chromebook and use the online Office as she is tired of being orphaned by MS hardware.

I told her I would take the old Laptop when it dies and let her try Linux…  🙂

Reply | Quote

I love my Nokia 950 windows phone, deeply.  I know it’s not for everyone, but I support so many other phones (Apple and Android) and they all feel flaky as hell to me.  Windows Mobile has become fairly polished.  It has features that the other don’t have, or are just getting . . .

Driving mode anyone? We’ve had that for years now on Windows Mobile.

Night mode with Glance?  Yeah, we have that already too.

Automatic quiet hours (and toggled when needed other times)? Android is just now getting that, not sure about Apple.  We’ve had it for years.

Smart adaptive notification behavior with Cortana?  Yup.

Accurate voice recognition and deep integration with messaging while hands free?  Nothing else comes close – not Siri and not Google Assist.

I keep reading about “new” “cool” “exciting” native features this year on Android and iOS and it makes me weep and laugh at the same time.  They’re.. Not.. New.. to me.  🙂

As old as this phone is, it’s still faster for almost everything I do than some of the newest flagship models.  And the clean UI is hard to leave – active tiles are awesome.

And it was only this last 12 month period that the camera hardware and photo post processing on the competition finally caught up and in some rare cases surpassed what the Nokia series has had for nine years.  I still get comments on shared photo’s from people wondering what app I use to transfer my “big” camera’s output to them via SMS/MMS.

But the app gap is huge.  Works for me because my needs are centered around communication, not games or distractions. Not so much for the general market.

Knowing it’s not been well supported I have held off recommending it to my clients. But in a parallel dimension this phone SHOULD have taken market share and grown wildly.  Sadly MS never really got behind it the way we fans felt they should.  It’s telling that the few clients in my pool that adapted WM are also addicted to the platform.

I’m on my second battery (removable/replaceable batteries rock) and plan to run this phone into the ground.

. . . Grumble . . .

 

~ Group "Weekend" ~

1 user thanked author for this post.

AlexEiffel

Reply | Quote

agree 100% a 950 now, i did have a icon. before that,a galaxy s2. detested android, so much garbage on that one can’t remove.

I never bought into the apple mystique. I dont know what ill go to once the 950 dies.

a big boo to microsoft

Reply | Quote

So they wont pull it from win7? I use to listen to mp3’s and I really dont want to install a 3rd party app for that

Reply | Quote

I really don’t understand the resistance to using a different media player. I install VLC on every one of my clients’ PC as a standard practice. It is a vastly better player. It is free. I have never seen or heard of a problem with it.

CT

3 users thanked author for this post.

HiFlyer, AlanH, Purg2

Reply | Quote

VLC is a great player, in fact my favorite player, but I have yet to do a successful rip to MP3 individually or as a whole CD.  I have used it for years since is supports all kinds of formats, and good for transcoding videos, but to rip a CD, and to download all the info and autopopulate the track titles, it is hard to beat WMP or FreeRIP.

Reply | Quote

For CD ripping I prefer the quality and extensive mass tagging abilities of “foobar2000.”

And forget MP3’s, discover and try FLAC instead for archival quality and permanent storage of your CD’s — then convert from your archived FLAC to MP3 for your portable players.

~ Group "Weekend" ~

1 user thanked author for this post.

AlanH

Reply | Quote

Better yet find a media player that will play FLAC files.

Reply | Quote

(Awaiting moderation)
Some ten years ago while I was having trouble with WMP I was introduced to VLC. I use it for all my media needs. I watch movies & listen to music with it. Even an occasional streaming radio station that misbehaves in the browser. Works on all platforms. And is completely free. I don’t use anything else.

Decide for yourself & read the features & specs.

http://www.videolan.org/

There are others of course. Same with rippers.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Purg2

Reply | Quote

I’m reminded of the way people who don’t vote are demeaned (a better word than deprecated).  They don’t vote because they rationally assessed that it was unlikely to change to the outcome–not that their vote couldn’t be the one that mattered (of course, like you might win the lottery), but because it was not likely to do so.  In other words, these people rationally invested their time and attention, where various busybodies insisted that they pay attention to voting.

Windows Media Player came with Windows 7 and some previous versions, did it not?  For those of us who use our desktop computers infrequently to play videos (mostly YouTube stuff recommended by friends), it does the job.  So don’t tell me that no one uses it.  Theremay be better players.  I’m glad to mine this thread for a suggestion.  But on my list of things to do today this was at the bottom.

The thing I want to know is: Will .wav files be playable on other software?  I saved stuff using that format because it saved the files in an uncompressed format.

3 users thanked author for this post.

AlexEiffel, Ascaris, Cybertooth

Reply | Quote

Thanks, Burt.  I had the same reaction.  I’m not sure what justifies the level of snark… I still use WMP, and it does everything I need.  It’s a tool, like every other program.

If a tool does the job the user wants, there’s no need for “better.”  And “better” by whose opinion?  It’s not an objective standard, so it’s pretty poor (even in jest; a lot of “jokes” are pretty closely tied to one’s actual thoughts) to go around telling people to “encourage [the users of WMP] to take short, deep breaths, and break the news that there are myriad far, far better media players around, on all platforms.”  Because, of course, the only reason that anyone would use it is that they’re stupid and ignorant, and they need to be set straight.

WMP does everything I need, with zero complaints, and it’s already there and set up.  What, exactly, do I have to gain from what someone else thinks is “better?”  How, exactly, is it going to improve things for me when WMP already performs to perfection?  The best possible outcome is to have the same experience I get now but with some other name on the title bar… how is that “better?”  I know what my needs are better than anyone else; is there even a possibility that I might not have made the choice out of stupidity and ignorance, and that there actually are circumstances where a person can intelligently come to a conclusion other than the one being held out as obvious?

Dell XPS 13/9310, i5-1135G7/16GB, KDE Neon 6.2
XPG Xenia 15, i7-9750H/32GB & GTX1660ti, Kubuntu 24.04
Acer Swift Go 14, i5-1335U/16GB, Kubuntu 24.04 (and Win 11)

2 users thanked author for this post.

AlexEiffel, wdburt1

Reply | Quote

I have tried to copy playlists from WMP with no success, and searching did not seem to show any way. You may have to lose your playlists, but you can copy all the music and put it in a folder and play it on other players.

As for all the contempt shown to WMP, I guess a lot are just too cool for WMP. I have a variety of players including VLC, but frankly, no player has the visualisations WMP has. (I’ve tried them). Nice to play some music and watch them, but hey, not cool…

Reply | Quote

I for one am sorry to see WMP go. Thankfully, I am still on Windows 7, and this news doesn’t have any immediate impact on me. I use WMP less than I used to, but I still use it.

And yes, I do have VLC media player installed on my computer, I installed VLC in 2016 after Apple pulled support for Quicktime on Windows. VLC was recommended in an article as a Quicktime replacement and that’s how I use it.

Reply | Quote

It’s only going away as a default installation.  It will still be available as a selectable feature.

 

Dell XPS 13/9310, i5-1135G7/16GB, KDE Neon 6.2
XPG Xenia 15, i7-9750H/32GB & GTX1660ti, Kubuntu 24.04
Acer Swift Go 14, i5-1335U/16GB, Kubuntu 24.04 (and Win 11)

Reply | Quote

It’s only going away as a default installation.  It will still be available as a selectable feature. – Ascaris

That’s good to know. However, I still have a feeling that WMP’s days are numbered.

For example, consider Windows Movie Maker (WMM), which was bundled with Windows XP. WMM was then unbundled with Windows 7, but available as a separate download (Windows Essentials 2012 suite) – until it reached end of support on January 10, 2017.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Microsoft phased out WMP much like they did with WMM.

Reply | Quote

Microsoft strikes again…sigh. I have ripped my entire CD collection to WMP on Win7. I don’t buy music online. Please clarify – am I now supposed to find another media player & repeat this process? Also, when exactly will this happen? I use WMP mostly because it was already there & convenient. Any suggestions on substitutes – preferably free?

Reply | Quote

anonymous wrote:

(Awaiting moderation) Microsoft strikes again…sigh. I have ripped my entire CD collection to WMP on Win7. I don’t buy music online. Please clarify – am I now supposed to find another media player & repeat this process? Also, when exactly will this happen? I use WMP mostly because it was already there & convenient. Any suggestions on substitutes – preferably free?

Win10 Fall Creators Update. Relax, Win7 is safe till 2020.

1 user thanked author for this post.

woody

Reply | Quote

@anonymous:

What format did you use for the output of your rip.  I have done the same things with WMP, but used MP3 as the output as it is supported on my vehicle using a thumbdrive.  The limit for the thumbdrive is 4GB (I have not tried larger).  With a nearly flush standard 4GB USB thumbdrive, I can fit about 30-40 CDs ripped at 320.  I have 4 drives, one in the USB port and 3  in my ashtray.

I could use the iPhone, but th small drives are more convienent and can be controlled by the steering wheel buttons, leaving the iPhone to use the Bluetooth for calls.

I have also ripped some vinyl records, but is is more complex as you have to account for hiss on well used recordings that have never been released to CD or digital.

I have read about MP3 falling out of favor due to streaming, but I prefer to have my music untethered and not pay to stream what I already own.

Reply | Quote

I’m not the ‘anonymous’ of the original post, but Woody mentioned

>there are myriad far, far better media players around, on all platforms.” I’d be interested in some recommendations for Windows 7 and Chrome OS. The Chrome OS media player is OK, but if there’s something better out there, I’m game to try it. I dislike the big circle flashing in the middle of the screen a la youTube when you pause a video. What happened to the simple two vertical bars || in a corner of the screen for pause?

EDIT HTML to text – may not appear as intended

Reply | Quote

VLC is nice software, but its interface is ugly and just not fun to use. I use it as my advanced player, but I keep the files WMP can play associated with WMP. I could install another player with a nice interface, but I don’t see the need. And, while I am on Windows 7 now, I never, ever liked the Modern UI video app when I was on Windows 8 and 10.

(As an advanced player, I like VLC because it handles everything on its own, without needing to use external codecs. It doesn’t need to hook in with the system. And it has a full screen button, unlike a certain other open source media player.)

I would hope that Microsoft would not uninstall anything that people already have and use. Maybe remove it if WMP has never been launched, and not have it by default on new installs. Maybe prompt people who haven’t used it for a long time. But they should leave it alone for anyone who actually uses it. No more uninstalls via update.

It just encourages people to try and stop the updates if they’re worried something they use will get removed. And they will always win that battle.

1 user thanked author for this post.

AlexEiffel

Reply | Quote

Many browsers and games, etc. are built to use WMP modules by default; without it, they won’t work as expected or even fail to load; this is already common on the Windows ‘N’ versions.

It’s broadly similar to the ‘hide’ IE scenario, the MS ‘removal’ method will likely only prevent the front end from starting, the underlying code should still be available for use by other programs/applications.

Reply | Quote

I don’t use IE as a browser, or even open it during PC use.
I am finding lately that IE is running when the GUI is closed (like a warning to force close it when running CCleaner to clean cookies, cashes, etc). And there is an Internet cache when it has not been used to browse the Internet.
I’m wondering if MS is using it for nefarious purposes in the background, like telemetry, for example, besides other processes.

Reply | Quote

I don’t see that here on W7 – but I do a full File > Exit of any software that I close – hitting the [x] just doesn’t cut it for some programs.

If it’s being held open by another application/program, it should be visible as a child process of the App. in Process Explorer.

Reply | Quote

I don’t even open it in the first place so no “X” or file\exit.
Don’t have it set as default browser, use FF.

Reply | Quote

Which Windows version? Could it be that some default Service uses it?

Reply | Quote

PKCano wrote:

I don’t use IE as a browser, or even open it during PC use.
I am finding lately that IE is running when the GUI is closed (like a warning to force close it when running CCleaner to clean cookies, cashes, etc). And there is an Internet cache when it has not been used to browse the Internet.
I’m wondering if MS is using it for nefarious purposes in the background, like telemetry, for example, besides other processes.

I DO use IE quite often still, even though I’m focusing on trying to use Pale Moon as my primary… What I don’t believe I’ve seen is evidence that components of IE have started when I have not run it explicitly…

Have you set your default browser to another package? Which one comes up when you click links in, e.g., eMails?

Do you open various Help files? Many such files render HTML in their windows, and I’m not sure where “set as default browser” ends and “call upon the native browser to render HTML” begins.

While I wouldn’t advise running CCleaner at all, is it possible it’s messages are poorly crafted and are identifying IE instead of “the default browser”? Do you see iexplore.exe running in a Task Manager or Process Hacker display?

Edit: I see above that you still have IE set as the default browser. That could make the difference. It’s new territory for me, but I plan to investigate how well a 3rd party browser can fill that bill soon myself.

-Noel

Reply | Quote

FF is my default browser.
Not running Help files.
Haven’t run Process Explorer.
Just know that it never did that before fairly recently.

Reply | Quote

PKCano wrote:

FF is my default browser.
Just know that it never did that before fairly recently.

I have the September Win 8.1 updates and I’m not seeing iexplore.exe running more often. I just looked in my last night’s run of LogSystemInfo and, comparing to some old runs, I don’t see anything running that wasn’t running before, so the behavior your seeing is not something the recent updates have caused I don’t think.

Do you have add-ons installed in IE?

-Noel

Reply | Quote

By the way, IE DOES linger for a few seconds after you close all visible instances of it. I think it tries to hang around so if you start a new window it’ll be most responsive.

I suggest watching your proceses to gauge the behavior of iexplore.exe. It’s definitely supposed to exit – and I can confirm it does so – if nothing’s using it.

-Noel

Reply | Quote