Arrrrgh. Just killed Windows Media Player. Help!

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jmoose
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Arrrrgh. Just killed Windows Media Player. Help!

Post by jmoose » Wed Nov 30, 2005 8:33 pm

Yah, I know it's soooo 'moist pro' but I use WMP on the office PC to listen to CD's & MP3's and junk. I was running version 8.whatever and just downloaded the updates for 10 and the install keeps failing with a "Cannot complete setup, please run again" message. If I try to launch the player or open a file it mocks me with "An Internal application error has occured".

My attempt to completly remove version 10 through the control panel also went down in flames because it'll only let me roll back. Then I tried rolling back to version 8 and that failed. Successive attempts to uninstall 8 & 10 and install version 9 have also culminated in major suckage.

So, does anyone have ideas? Is there another do-all freebie media player I can use to listen to MP3's & watch porn? :D

FWIW I'm running XP service pack 1 on a PIII 500. Older & slower but still rockin'!

Thanks,
J. 'Moose' Kahrs
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www.oxidelounge.com

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;ivlunsdystf
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Post by ;ivlunsdystf » Wed Nov 30, 2005 8:47 pm

Winamp (go to nullsoft.com).

I think you'll soon find that it's far less clunky than the Micro$oft player.

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wedge
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Post by wedge » Wed Nov 30, 2005 9:50 pm

Dude

This exact same thing happened to me... Good to know that I'm not the only one...

I tried the FastStone Player, and have had success. Winamp didn't work for me. Had lots of small nagging probs. FastStone's interface is simpler, too. I find winamp to be too fiddly for my taste...

Odd thing is, after I installed FastStone, suddenly Windows Media started popping back up in web browsers to play the occasional video, where before, after it died, it wouldn't do so...

So, for me, FastStone is win-win. Your mileage may vary...

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Post by Cyan421 » Thu Dec 01, 2005 2:15 am

did you guys get some downfall from the sony rootkit stuff?? I read that some very bad things happen when you try to remove that software? You guys heard anthing about this.

http://billboard.com/bbcom/news/article ... 1001524942

Theres a link i could find qucikly about some of this. Just a shot in the dark.
"What a wonerful smell you've discovered"

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jmoose
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Post by jmoose » Thu Dec 01, 2005 11:49 am

I've heard about it but I don't own any CD's that have that poo on it. Sony went onto my boycott list as soon as I heard what was happening. Why would anyone buy a CD that might not actually play in a player?!?

No, this was a "simple" upgrade that turned out to be not-so-simple. I'll give Faststone a shot. I used to have Winamp on there before I rebuilt this R2D2 unit but I thought it was a little clunky & fugly.

Thanks much!
J. 'Moose' Kahrs
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darjama
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Post by darjama » Thu Dec 01, 2005 12:49 pm

VLC is a great freeware player, very little bloat:

http://www.videolan.org/

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Post by ;ivlunsdystf » Thu Dec 01, 2005 3:12 pm

I think Sony sought to create controversy with their latest move. I think they hoped that the furor would be widely reported in the press which would give their DRM goals a leg up by making us all afraid to rip any commercial silver CDs. Of course, the press was happy to oblige with a series of hard-hitting investigative reports.

I feel sorry for the band that got pulled into the middle of the shitstorm. What was their name again? Years from now, their allmusic.com entry will almost certainly include a passing reference to the Sony software scandal.

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wedge
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Post by wedge » Thu Dec 01, 2005 8:47 pm

Tatertot wrote:I feel sorry for the band that got pulled into the middle of the shitstorm. What was their name again?
BRMC?

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;ivlunsdystf
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Post by ;ivlunsdystf » Thu Dec 01, 2005 9:00 pm

Van Zant (no apparent relation to the late, great Townes) I remembered it about ten minutes after I typed the post. I think they're a Rascall Flatts type of outfit. Poor bastards, probably going to be paying back Sony Music for years for "production and promotion costs" for their misbegotten record

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Post by jmoose » Sat Dec 03, 2005 5:28 pm

It's not just the one band...I saw a whole display of them at either Borders or Barnes & Noble. That DRM crap is also on the new Trey Anastasio CD and that bummed me out a little because I wanted to listen to it.

Whatever. It's not like either Trey or Sony need my $1.75!
J. 'Moose' Kahrs
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