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View Full Version : Windows Media Player 8.5

marlof
10-18-2002, 06:33 AM
<a href="http://www.pocketpcmagic.com/wmp85/">http://www.pocketpcmagic.com/wmp85/</a><br /><br />On <a href="http://www.pocketpcmagic.com/wmp85/">Pocket PC Magic</a> pt gives an overview of the new features and enhancements of Windows Media Player 8.5 that is included in the <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/mobile/newsevents/news/sp_10_11_02.asp">EUU3 service pack</a> that should be released by the OEMs pretty soon now.<br /><br /><img src="http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/images/bregonje/wmp85.gif" /><br /><br />The new Windows Media Player 8.5 gives:<br />• improved performance and quality, including faster playlist and content loading, improved video and audio playback, and improved memory use, <br />• improved playlist management<br />• better connection manager integration<br />• more robust streaming support<br />• a fix: Media Player full screen playback no longer breaks on second played clip.
bdeli
10-18-2002, 06:55 AM
Nice review, so we will be all waiting for EUU3 to be released.

As for mp3 players, it seems that the company which released withMP3 is going to release an updated one with WMA capability + a video player as well.

More news here:
http://discussion.brighthand.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=62475
Anthony Caruana
10-18-2002, 07:22 AM
Great review. Looks like EUU3 is going to fill some of the gaps in PPC2K2. Now if only the included a decent file manager...
Paul
10-18-2002, 07:56 AM
Man, I sure hope they include the ability to alphabetize a playlist in wmp.
unxmully
10-18-2002, 08:17 AM
Still haven't announced a fix for the failure to pause/restart correctly when playing MP3 files :? Or are MS not aware that's an issue?

And it would be nice to be able to play files of a shared directory from my desktop. That way I could have access to all the files at work, not just those on my Ipaq.
farnold
10-18-2002, 09:18 AM
Hm, I'm missing what I really hoped form. How about optimization for XScale? Was it expected that we should see a version that actually takes advantage of the new processors? 8O
krisbrown
10-18-2002, 10:03 AM
Downloads new Media player :D
It's ferkin huge 8O
Runs application :)
Lose 90% of your system resources :?
It takes over your PDA :(
You try to remove it :cry:
It just won't leave :evil:
Ed Hansberry
10-18-2002, 01:13 PM
Downloads new Media player :D
It's ferkin huge 8O
Runs application :)
Lose 90% of your system resources :?
It takes over your PDA :(
You try to remove it :cry:
It just won't leave :evil:
What are you talking about? It goes in ROM. Where did you download it?
van_mierlo
10-18-2002, 01:27 PM
What are you talking about? It goes in ROM. Where did you download it?

Not for the people who upgraded their ppc 2000 rom to ppc 2002.
krisbrown
10-18-2002, 01:43 PM
Sorry Ed ,I was just being sarcastic about every microsoft update that just gets bigger and bigger and takes longer to boot up, so you have to buy a pc with more ram and faster processor to keep up..etc
you get the drift :D

I just dream of the day Microsoft says 'hey we've updated this application, it's smaller uses less ram and runs quicker!'

I take it back that's exactly what they say it does...WOOHOO!
Ed Hansberry
10-18-2002, 01:47 PM
Not for the people who upgraded their ppc 2000 rom to ppc 2002.
Yeah, but actually I am not sure what happens there. A separate RAM download will have to be made available. They did this with EUU2 which included 8.0 build 0103. www.windowsmedia.com had a 3600 upgrade install made available. I don't know if that will happen with 8.5 or not.
Ed Hansberry
10-18-2002, 01:49 PM
I just dream of the day Microsoft says 'hey we've updated this application, it's smaller uses less ram and runs quicker!'
In defense of MS, Windows XP is much larger than previous desktop OSs but is MUCH MUCH faster on every machine I've loaded it on. Some were old PII 300's with Win95, some P700's with Win2K or NT4. Every single one is much faster after installing XP Pro.
JvanEkris
10-18-2002, 01:50 PM
Hi Johan,

Why don't you use the PocketPCClub Logo ???
In fact, why dont we both use it :)

Jaap
van_mierlo
10-18-2002, 02:55 PM
Hi Johan,

Why don't you use the PocketPCClub Logo ???
In fact, why dont we both use it :)

Jaap

Look below this post Jaap 8O
TomB
10-18-2002, 03:23 PM
Jason, you may have noticed that in every press release on this software, MS has carefully avoided any reference to XScale. This does not sound good to me for the people who upgraded to this processor. Is there any way you can nail this down through your MS contacts?
Foo Fighter
10-18-2002, 03:28 PM
Sorry Ed ,I was just being sarcastic about every microsoft update that just gets bigger and bigger and takes longer to boot up, so you have to buy a pc with more ram and faster processor to keep up..etc
you get the drift :D

I would agree with you except....this is true of every operating system under the sun. It is the price of progress. Platform zealots will cover this fact, but it is an absolute fact. OSX is wonderful, but it is the very epitome of bloatware. BIGGER, slower, consumes worlds more resources than OS9. But do Mac users admit this? No. And Linux? DON'T MAKE ME LAUGH! Oh, it runs 10 times faster than Windows XP on an old Pentium II 350 all right....but only if you DON'T install the GUI. Gnome and KDE will grind that old classic Pentium to a halt.

Even PalmOS has gotten bigger over the years. The days when the OS was no larger than 64k are long gone. Now it is several megabytes in size.

Don't believe the FUD, Krisbrown. Look at the facts and make an unbiased conclusion. Microsoft does release tiresome bloatware, but there are an awful lot of pots out there calling the kettle black. As sure as the sun rises each morning, you can count on EVERY new OS release to be bigger, slower, and more hardware hungry than the previous release. FYI.
Jason Dunn
10-18-2002, 03:37 PM
Jason, you may have noticed that in every press release on this software, MS has carefully avoided any reference to XScale. This does not sound good to me for the people who upgraded to this processor. Is there any way you can nail this down through your MS contacts?

I'll see what I can find out...
Janak Parekh
10-18-2002, 03:51 PM
Don't believe the FUD, Krisbrown. Look at the facts and make an unbiased conclusion. Microsoft does release tiresome bloatware, but there are an awful lot of pots out there calling the kettle black. As sure as the sun rises each morning, you can count on EVERY new OS release to be bigger, slower, and more hardware hungry than the previous release. FYI.
Indeed. The only exception I could think of was BeOS, but it didn't evolve nearly long enough to be able to draw a conclusion as to speed and size.

Many consumers have asked why software has gotten so big... it's generally because they want it to do more. People don't realize how much more functionality they use on their PC's than 5-10 years ago. Admittedly, the "power user" may not want all the extra wizards and other amenities XP offers, but they're there for a reason...

--bdj
crispeto
10-18-2002, 03:54 PM
I can't believe they haven't included an equalizer. All my files are wma's but when connected to certain speakers, I need to have an equalizer. Is there anything out there?
pt
10-18-2002, 04:01 PM
I can't believe they haven't included an equalizer. All my files are wma's but when connected to certain speakers, I need to have an equalizer. Is there anything out there?

there's an app called "withmp3" google for it, it's sweet.

cheers,
pt
crispeto
10-18-2002, 04:09 PM
Yea, I've tried withmp3 and you're right, it's great. It would be my first choice if it supported wma's. I heard a rumor it might in the future. That would be ideal.
TomB
10-18-2002, 05:57 PM
Jason, Derek Brown just answered the question on WMP 8.5 optimization - it was coded for the StrongArm not XScale. Click here (http://discussion.brighthand.com/showthread.php?s=b378f87ba63120559e13cc0df93a4159&threadid=62794) for the full post.
Jason Dunn
10-18-2002, 06:26 PM
"One of the key features of Windows Media Player 8.5 for Pocket PC was overall performance improvements which are across the board no matter what processor you are running. These performance improvements are not XScale (in particular Cotulla) specific." - Program Manager, Windows Media Player
Jason Dunn
10-18-2002, 06:27 PM
Jason, Derek Brown just answered the question on WMP 8.5 optimization - it was coded for the StrongArm not XScale. Click here (http://discussion.brighthand.com/showthread.php?s=b378f87ba63120559e13cc0df93a4159&threadid=62794) for the full post.

Hmm. I'll have to convince Mr. Brown to visit here more often... :wink:
TomB
10-19-2002, 04:10 PM
Jason, Derek may be open for that. The thread at Brighthand became pretty confrontational as some of the younger crowd went ballistic about Microsoft not supporting their own platform. I must say that Derek maintained his cool through the whole affair and answered all questions right to the bitter end. That said, you have to wonder how he actually feels about what he was saying. I think Microsoft's stated policy of "hands off v5" could easily wreck all the hard work Derek has put into building the PPC platform in the first place. That isn't good for anyone.
jgrnt1
10-21-2002, 02:25 PM
I have to agree. Derek did a great job of calmly explaining MS's point of view regarding X-Scale. There will be many people who dislike the MS policy (myself included, since I have an X-Scale PPC), but there is logic behind it.
klinux
01-06-2003, 09:06 PM
I carefully named my music files in 01 songname, 02 songname format but when adding it to a playlist, WMP insists on adding it in descending order! Anyone has a solution to work around this? Where can we go to enter bug lists? Grrr.