"multimedia" farce

[OldCorpse]

OK, admittedly, I'm pretty irriatated right now, prolly not the best time to post

But I'm pretty frustrated. I like everything about the iBook, but I just hate the fact that it's pretty much USELESS if you want to watch any non-quicktime audio or video files. What's up with the "mac is a multimedia computer" hype? That's just totally assinine and completely untrue. There's zero doubt that folks on XP have access to way much more media content than apple folks... now maybe that's MS's fault, but whatever, as a consumer I'm PO'd.

And that VLC thingie, what a POS! I've downlaoded the latest, and it has to yet open a single file! If I could I'd kick it down the stairs and down the street!

Today I went on Amazon, and that was the breaking point wrt. this issue. I can't even listen to the audio samples of CD's... niether the windows one, nor the realplayer one... so I select to open the files with VLC and OF COURSE, the POS fails with a lame message... WTF?? I mean, really, on my PC I wouldn't ever use realplayer, I used a free player that played real files, it wasn't even from realplayer... why doesn't something similar exist for macs?? That's just so crippling!

OK, I vented. Back to the cave, shaking my fist.

 

[rhodest]

get windows media player for mac

 

[.Andy]

OK, admittedly, I'm pretty irriatated right now, prolly not the best time to post

But I'm pretty frustrated. I like everything about the iBook, but I just hate the fact that it's pretty much USELESS if you want to watch any non-quicktime audio or video files. What's up with the "mac is a multimedia computer" hype? That's just totally assinine and completely untrue. There's zero doubt that folks on XP have access to way much more media content than apple folks... now maybe that's MS's fault, but whatever, as a consumer I'm PO'd.

And that VLC thingie, what a POS! I've downlaoded the latest, and it has to yet open a single file! If I could I'd kick it down the stairs and down the street!

Today I went on Amazon, and that was the breaking point wrt. this issue. I can't even listen to the audio samples of CD's... niether the windows one, nor the realplayer one... so I select to open the files with VLC and OF COURSE, the POS fails with a lame message... WTF?? I mean, really, on my PC I wouldn't ever use realplayer, I used a free player that played real files, it wasn't even from realplayer... why doesn't something similar exist for macs?? That's just so crippling!

OK, I vented. Back to the cave, shaking my fist.

There's always realplayer and window's media player for mac. Free downloads if you want to use them (if you can find them on their respective POS websites). Or you could just go and listen to audio samples on the iTMS and then purchase them through Amazon? Should work for most songs..

As for not being multimedia. Out of the box your iBook has iTunes, iMovie, iDVD, iPhoto, and Garageband. That covers most media you'd ever want to use. Your qualms are with Real and M$ for releasing sucking software and not opening their proprietry file types.

And complaining about VLC - how much did you pay for it again?!

As far as I'm concerned not being able to play realplayer or MMV files is a feature .

 

[OldCorpse]

There's always realplayer and window's media player for mac. Free downloads if you want to use them (if you can find them on their respective POS websites). Or you could just go and listen to audio samples on the iTMS and then purchase them through Amazon? Should work for most songs..

As for not being multimedia. Out of the box your iBook has iTunes, iMovie, iDVD, iPhoto, and Garageband. That covers most media you'd ever want to use. Your qualms are with Real and M$ for releasing sucking software and not opening their proprietry file types.

And complaining about VLC - how much did you pay for it again?!

As far as I'm concerned not being able to play realplayer or MMV files is a feature .

Re: VLC... yes, it's free. Does that mean we can't speak the truth about it? So happens that I support developers by donations when I can. At the same time if we're gonna praise VLC as a great piece of software, we should also have the freedom of speech to pronounce it a POS, if true. That way, it spares others from having unrealistic expectations that it actually works... a public service if you will... user feedback... the way the web is supposed to work. So no, I don't feel bad about telling the truth about VLC - I'm not *demanding that the developers fix it*, it is free after all, but I'm also free to say it hoovers major moose spheres... stay away IMHO. YMMV.

 

[LethalWolfe]

Sounds like the problem is between the keyboard and the chair.

I'm at work on a company iBook and I can listen to the WMV samples at Amazon.com.


Lethal

 

[.Andy]

Re: VLC... yes, it's free. Does that mean we can't speak the truth about it? So happens that I support developers by donations when I can. At the same time if we're gonna praise VLC as a great piece of software, we should also have the freedom of speech to pronounce it a POS, if true. That way, it spares others from having unrealistic expectations that it actually works... a public service if you will... user feedback... the way the web is supposed to work. So no, I don't feel bad about telling the truth about VLC - I'm not *demanding that the developers fix it*, it is free after all, but I'm also free to say it hoovers major moose spheres... stay away IMHO. YMMV.

Wow you are in a bad mood OldCorpse ! Perhaps I should have put a smiley in that VLC sentence and worded it more along the lines of you get what you pay for.... I actually like it - but I don't use it for what you're trying to.

Did any of the other suggestions work for you though? WMV and realplayer for Mac should hobble you through your needs.

As for hoovers major moose spheres, I'm not sure what it means but I like .

 

[OldCorpse]

Wow you are in a bad mood OldCorpse ! Perhaps I should have put a smiley in that VLC sentence and worded it more along the lines of you get what you pay for.... I actually like it - but I don't use it for what you're trying to.

Did any of the other suggestions work for you though? WMV and realplayer for Mac should hobble you through your needs.

As for hoovers major moose spheres, I'm not sure what it means but I like .

Yeah, I lost my temper... not good . I didn't want to download WMV or realplayer, because I don't really want MS software on my mac, if I can avoid it.... and I don't like realplayer from way back when they'd install a bunch of spyware on your system... I guess these days Apple and those guys are not on good terms either...

So, I was hoping that I'd be able to do it with some open source players... you can do that on windows... I haven't used MS or RP viewers for years, just used the open source alternatives...

Look, I don't want to make this political or anything, but as consumers, if we continue to use and support monopolistic companies, we'll have fewer and fewer alternatives... so I'm trying to just say "no" to their software. The only way for Apple, Linux and other alternatives to get any traction is if consumers go to extra trouble to make choice a reality in the marketplace. I don't think it is healthy for the IT industry that MS has a 90+% lock on the desktop... or that Apple seems unable to break 5%. I know my single action is less than a drop in the ocean, but you gotta live by your princiiples such as they are K, enough of the soupbox

As to the guy who thinks that somehow it's me who is the problem, well I'm going to politely decline to give him/her a piece of my mind... suffice to say, that when clicking on a link results in messages about missing plugins, this is not an experience a user should have with a stock machine.

Anyhoo, I've beaten this to death, I'm giving it a rest. Reluctantly I'll have to power up my PC to actually watch/listen to non-quicktime content.

Edit: Oh and "As for 'hoovers major moose spheres', I'm not sure what it means but I like it" - substitue synonyms for all words except moose, and you'll get the drift

 

[livingfortoday]

Two things first:

Sounds like the problem is between the keyboard and the chair.

- Comedy gold.

...enough of the soupbox

- That's a small box, don't fall off.

But seriously, I would just get Windows Media Player. It's a player made specifically for those files, and it's free. As for VLC, It's great for pretty much everything but WMV and Real Player files. I know it seems like it's a pain that these things don't come bundled with Mac OS X already, or at least some sort of support for them, but as another poster already noted, considering the sheer volume of quality free software that Apple includes and supports... I just can't complain about having to download one or two extra free media players.

I dunno, to each his own, I suppose.

 

[hob]

Yeah, I lost my temper... not good . I didn't want to download WMV or realplayer, because I don't really want MS software on my mac, if I can avoid it.... and I don't like realplayer from way back when they'd install a bunch of spyware on your system... I guess these days Apple and those guys are not on good terms either...
...this is not an experience a user should have with a stock machine.

Ok, so let me get this straight. You want to play proprietary media files, which by their very definition are locked-down standards, without downloading the plug-ins for those proprietary standards.

Let me run you through what I, and I should imagine every other seasoned OS X user is used to.

1)VLC plays every kind of .AVI flavour you could mention, and probably 10 more that you didn't even know existed. It has saved me a whole load of hassle on a number of ocassions.
2)Spyware and Adware do not exist on the Mac platform. Realplayer and Windows Media Player for Mac come as they are. They just play the files, which is how they should be. I can understand years of Windows usage hammering this kinda of ideology out of you, but you're on a mac now, everything's ok
3)The last time I bought a Windows computer, which wasn't that long ago, it didn't even support .ZIP files out of the box, let alone .RM, .MOV, .AVI, DivX.....

I hope as you get used to using your iBook more and more you'll change your mind about the way things work. As the old cliché goes... Think different!

EDIT: Someone else always says it better... LivingForToday slipped their post in as I was writing mine... But I think I'll leave it, it took a good 5 minutes!

 

[DrNeroCF]

You're pissed at your iBook because you don't know how to download Windows Media Player and Real Player?

Flip4Mac rocks for those who hate streaming media like me, btw...

 

[GimmeSlack12]

Learn how to use your machine. Even though the Mac is "easy" doesn't mean it does everything for you. The iBook isn't the problem, it's user error.

 

[livingfortoday]

3)The last time I bought a Windows computer, which wasn't that long ago, it didn't even support .ZIP files out of the box, let alone .RM, .MOV, .AVI, DivX.....

That's a good point. Whenever I reinstalled Windows I had to spend a few hours hunting down all the programs I needed, not to mention fighting with Microsoft's ridiculous update program. Install - restart - install - restart - ad nauseam. Soooo happy Apple lumps all updates into one big update.

And I may have said it first, but I hardly said it better!

 

[OldCorpse]

Ok, so let me get this straight. You want to play proprietary media files, which by their very definition are locked-down standards, without downloading the plug-ins for those proprietary standards.

Let me run you through what I, and I should imagine every other seasoned OS X user is used to.

1)VLC plays every kind of .AVI flavour you could mention, and probably 10 more that you didn't even know existed. It has saved me a whole load of hassle on a number of ocassions.
2)Spyware and Adware do not exist on the Mac platform. Realplayer and Windows Media Player for Mac come as they are. They just play the files, which is how they should be. I can understand years of Windows usage hammering this kinda of ideology out of you, but you're on a mac now, everything's ok
3)The last time I bought a Windows computer, which wasn't that long ago, it didn't even support .ZIP files out of the box, let alone .RM, .MOV, .AVI, DivX.....

I hope as you get used to using your iBook more and more you'll change your mind about the way things work. As the old cliché goes... Think different!

EDIT: Someone else always says it better... LivingForToday slipped their post in as I was writing mine... But I think I'll leave it, it took a good 5 minutes!

Wow. I really should resist, but anyhow I'll try one more time. You, and several other posters completely misunderstand me. No, I'm not "pissed" at the iBook. And no, it's not that I "want to play propriatary formats but don't want to download the appropriate plugins". Instead, what I'm pissed at is not the iBook, or Apple, or Jobs, or Wozniak or any other irrelevant thing/person - rather, I'm PO'd at the fact that trying to limit myself to mac/open source/non MS/RPetc. wares, leaves me a second class citizen, because everyone goes along with those companies (MS/RP etc.) and as a result it limits the choices of consumers (why does Amazon have to use propriatary formats?). And as consumers, too often we collaborate on this, by downloading MS and RP stuff, just so we as Apple users are not second class citizens. So, if you have no choice, because the format is propriatary, it's not that I "don't want to download the appropriate plugins" - rather, I'd like to download OTHER players (open source, or not, as long as not MS or RP), which can play those files... K, think of this as analogous to being pissed at sites that don't code for other browser than IE, it leaves Safari etc. as second class citizens... and if you're talking about propriatary formats, when the company in question has a near monopoly, consumer advocates are not even bothering to ask for open standards, instead, they're asking for OTHER software to handle those formats - if I want to open a .doc file, are you going to tell me "just get MSWord"? So what are all those folks doing by the thousands like openoffice.org who try to make sure their users can open .doc files without dealing with MS??? Same thing here, I don't want MS or RP players on my mac, please, and I shouldn't have to just to open the propriatary formats (same situation as with .doc) simply because Amazon etc. decide to use those formats which lock mac users out or make them go through hoops or treat them as second class citizens. I want to use my mac and I wish not to be treated as a second class citizen because of that choice. It's sad when consumers buy into such nakedly monoplistic practices and defend MS etc. to their own detriment - that's how you get non-compliant sites that don't work on Safari and other crap. I was hoping, that just as with the .doc situation (and many, many others), folks recongnized what's going on, and developed alternatives for the good of the entire IT industry (and consumers in the long run)... VLC is not it. OK, this is really the last post from me on the subject.

 

[thirdkind]

The last time I bought a Windows computer, which wasn't that long ago, it didn't even support .ZIP files out of the box

XP supports ZIP archives natively. You can browse them like a folder.

I have WMP and Office 2004 Professional on my Mac. Why? Because they work. Very well from what I can see.

 

[bursty]

I use VLC for everything and love it. No problems whatsoever.

 

[Flowbee]

As someone said earlier, the Flip4Mac WMV player is a great way to play Windows media files within Quicktime. It's $10.

 

[bemylover]

I'm with you man

same experience

 

[OldCorpse]

As someone said earlier, the Flip4Mac WMV player is a great way to play Windows media files within Quicktime. It's $10.

Thank you! If it works, I'll gladly pay $10, though I'd be ecstatic if it also played other propriatary formats such as RP ... otherwise you end up with 15 separate pieces of software to deal with 15 different file types... in other words, I'd like something like a "VLC that actually works", and I'd be happy to pay a reasonable price for it... free is useless if it doesn't work.

 

[mduser63]

OldCorpse, I see where you're coming from, and agree with you for the most part. However, I must say that for all the complaining about it that goes on around here, I've found the Mac version of RealPlayer to be a well-designed, nice-looking, lightweight app that just works. No spyware, no annoying bloatware type features, etc. Besides, Real doesn't have a monopoly, and they're no more proprietary than Apple or MS. In fact, Real offers an open source player for Linux (Helix I believe is the name) and has a free version of their video encoder for the Mac as a QuickTime plug-in. Sure, Rob Glaser says some really dumb things sometimes, but for the most part I don't have any problems with Real on the Mac. Windows Media Player on the other hand...

 

[floyde]

It's sad when consumers buy into such nakedly monoplistic practices and defend MS etc. to their own detriment - that's how you get non-compliant sites that don't work on Safari and other crap.

IMHO, the proper way to fight back at MS is to not use their propietary formats at all. If you use an open source player you are still generating hits at their websites, increasing the format's popularity and ultimately putting money in their pockets.