WMP 11 Final released!

[Romario]

Finally, three or four hours ago, Microsoft finally released their long anticipated Windows Media Player 11 Final.

Microsoft is so kind to provide us direct download link, without validation process.

Direct link for download is http://download.microsoft.com/download/0/9/5/0953E553-3BB6-44B1-8973-106F1B7E5049/wmp11-windowsxp-x86-enu.exe

[celtic_druid]

64bit installer (player appears to be 32bit only):
http://download.microsoft.com/download/3/0/8/3080C52C-2517-43DE-BDB4-B7EAFD88F084/wmp11-windowsxp-x64-enu.exe

[banesi]

well, what's so "special", "thankful" and "kind" to make me install it ?

[Sharktooth]

exactly NOTHING unless you want stronger DRM and no possibility to backup/transfer your licenses.
i suggest you to read this: http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=34523

@all: stay away from WMP11. dont say i didnt warn you...

[celtic_druid]

Windows Media Player 11 (64-bit) is designed to work with Windows XP Professional x64 Edition.
There aren't that many alternatives for 64bit players and the above would suggest that it (the actual player and filters) was 64bit, but task manager shows 32bit. So yeah, really no reason to install.

[pookpooi]

The best media player M$ ever made. WMP11 is really crap name, let's change to WMP Live.

@all: avoid DRM files.

[4Dude]

wmp11 is gabage!

22.9 Megs????

The BEST wmp in the series is 9 :)

[pookpooi]

Size does not matter, it's much smaller than iTunes7.

[zambelli]

exactly NOTHING unless you want stronger DRM and no possibility to backup/transfer your licenses.
i suggest you to read this: http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=34523
DRM can't be made stronger by the player itself. Stricter rules can only be imposed by those who DRM protect their media, and that has nothing to do with the DRM version of your client runtime. It's not like somebody's existing music collection is going to suddenly stop working if they install WMP11. And certainly people who don't consume DRM'ed media will never be affected in any way by the presence of DRM v11 on their system. I'm really not sure what is accomplished by sticking with WMP9 or WMP10.

@all: stay away from WMP11. dont say i didnt warn you...
Yes, because it might eat your pets while you're sleeping. Beware. And watch out for the unmarked black helicopters.

[Sharktooth]

Well, at least having WMP10 permits to use FairUse4WM while it wont work with WMP11 installed. That's (IMHO) "stronger" DRM...
And still you cant backup/transfer your licenses...
That's exactly what the MAFIA(A) (http://mafiaa.org/) wants...

[4Dude]

Size does not matter, it's much smaller than iTunes7.Yes your right on that mate...

[CruNcher]

@zambelli
Sharktooth is right it forces something up on us that most users in this world are not aware of and no Democratic votes where done we have no choice this is forced by the Industry, Content owners and Politicians (small part of the population that benefit from it) on the humanity like the A-Bomb was forced on us like many things were/are forced on us past/future.
You can't just say to those that think about it they are against it sure we have strange feelings about it and how it turns out in the future on our society if you don't care it's your thing you life right in the heart of one Empire that forces those things, but anyway this is going way oftopic and will end in a massive against the rules post so what i ask you for is just stop trying that people accept DRM we have good reasons not todo so thx.

[dumbuser]

Just two cents for what it's worth! Two users showed up yesterday on VLC's Forum claiming that after installing WMP 11 release that VLC no longer functions. Considering VLC is a stand alone player that uses its own libraries to decode media files, tells me there is more going on here than meets the eye.

[Sirber]

wmp11 is gabage!

22.9 Megs????

The BEST wmp in the series is 9 :)
Wasn't 6.4?

[foxyshadis]

Just two cents for what it's worth! Two users showed up yesterday on VLC's Forum claiming that after installing WMP 11 release that VLC no longer functions. Considering VLC is a stand alone player that uses its own libraries to decode media files, tells me there is more going on here than meets the eye.

It's called extension hijacking, practically every software does it. No one here has reported anything like a malicious disabling of VLC, if it was even in microsoft's interests to do so; more likely these two are just clueless about why VLC stopped opening when they double-click files.

[zambelli]

what i ask you for is just stop trying that people accept DRM we have good reasons not todo so thx.
I never asked anybody to use DRM. I never asked anybody to go and purchase DRM'ed music or video from some online store. But resisting having DRM runtime on your computer is about as pointless to me as resisting having DirectShow or OpenGL runtimes. Why does it matter if you don't plan on using it? I just don't see the big deal. That's my 2 cents, and I'll shut up about it from now on.

[Sirber]

But resisting having DRM runtime on your computer is about as pointless to me as resisting having DirectShow or OpenGL runtimes.I don't get why I should have things I don't want to. You get DirectX, opengl, or any other programs coz you need it. I do not need Outlook Express, Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player and DRM, but I'm forced get them even if I have no use for them.

anyway...

[unskinnyboy]

OK, let's say Microsoft does install unwanted junk on my PC, my biggest gripe is not that. My biggest gripe is how difficult they make it to uninstall any of them. It is performing an exorcism, only worse.

hmm, actually, you cannot even uninstall WMP, you can only "rollback" them to a previous version.

[celtic_druid]

Best to create a new windows CD with them removed before you install.

[dumbuser]

It's called extension hijacking, practically every software does it. No one here has reported anything like a malicious disabling of VLC, if it was even in microsoft's interests to do so; more likely these two are just clueless about why VLC stopped opening when they double-click files.

VLC still opened, just failed to play the file(s), so it kinda seems doubtful on the extensions hijacking issue that they were quite this clueless. When the betas were going there were reports of WMv3 and WVC1 not working, but I'm not surprised at this.

Did I mention the "malicious" word ???

[Lemonzest]

some external players like MPC are having trouble playing WMV files after installing this, i'm told as the codecs have changed and the stubs or something is different (there not files any more, just 4kb stubs linking to something else) cant really explain better as i dont really understand.

[zambelli]

some external players like MPC are having trouble playing WMV files after installing this, i'm told as the codecs have changed and the stubs or something is different (there not files any more, just 4kb stubs linking to something else) cant really explain better as i dont really understand.
Do you have a link to an ongoing discussion on another forum? I can explain the stubs. It's nothing to be concerned about - the encoder/decoder binaries just got renamed between 10 and 11.

[Lemonzest]

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=66826&st=255#

that explains a temp fix.

[zambelli]

http://www.msfn.org/board/index.php?showtopic=66826&st=255#

that explains a temp fix.
Thanks for the link. I'm not a registered member at MSFN, but if you are, could you please do me a favor and post the following explanation:

"Encoder and decoder binaries have been re-organized and renamed in v11 runtime. The support for previously supported codecs hasn't changed though. For example, WMV3 decoding used to be handled by wmvdmod.dll, now it's handled by wmvdecod.dll. The installer replaces old DLLs with duds for compatibility reasons (for apps that check for existance of specific DLLs), but in actuality all the codecs have simply been registered and associated with the new DLL files which is perfectly fine when dealing with COM+ based binaries such as these. Copying and registering old codec binaries might serve as a temporary solution, but in the long run we should really try to figure out why the new codecs are causing problems with 3rd party players so that Microsoft can address the issues."

Thanks!

[4Dude]

Wasn't 6.4?No i think 9 is even better :)

[zambelli]

No i think 9 is even better :)
I'm just glad nobody said WMP7. :D

[Sharktooth]

Well, a fix for FairUse4WM has appeared and it is now able to remove DRM infection with WMP11 installed too.
So, if you like the new interface and the few new functionalities you can safely install it now without being concerned about the DRM issues.