Windows Media 9

I'm still using 6.4 (thats what came with my PC). I downloaded and installed WMP 8 earlier this year, but after I installed it Windows would no longer load

Question:
Just downloaded WMP 9 this afternoon. I had some favorites from WMP 6.4 that will not play..It gives me the following message:

Windows Media Player cannot play this file. Connect to the Internet or insert the removable media on which the file is located, and then try to play the file again.

Any ideas on what this means?

Tim Lones

I tried it, It seems the same to me with some more useless features.

When I went to the Update site, it said it was "Beta". IS that the same code you have? I don't beta test on my production machine, and only on my test environment if it is something I really want. I think I'd wait for Gold Code on this one

Originally posted by TimL
Question:
Just downloaded WMP 9 this afternoon. I had some favorites from WMP 6.4 that will not play..It gives me the following message:

Windows Media Player cannot play this file. Connect to the Internet or insert the removable media on which the file is located, and then try to play the file again.

Any ideas on what this means?

Tim Lones

Click to expand...

I would think this is some sort of copyright management. You've gotta believe with all the talk of Napster and other peer to peer file sharing that has gone on, Microsoft would lead the pack on finding a way to prevent you from playing music that you may not own. It is probably looking for a master of the recording to prove you own it, then it will allow you to play. I too have stayed with WMP 6.4. I found the latest version takes up too much of my resources and bogs down just playing CDs. I prefer WinAmp for MP3s and the old CD player to play CDs.

I just stick with Turtle Beach AudioStation 5.5 (there's no free version of 6.0, and no good reason for me to pay $40 for a full copy of the program) for music and PowerDVD XP (well worth the money) for video and movies. I couldn't IMAGINE going back to WMP, unless they've improved it A LOT! So have they? I don't want to download anything from MS without good reason to do so

Thanks Mike..
I should have been more clear..the "Favorites" were Radio Stations I had bookmarked. I am finding that 9.0 seems too complicated and bogs down my machine..I had some of the same.."File will not Play" issues with WMP 7x so I went back to 6.4 as well.

Tim Lones

Let me get this straight, if I'm running a peer to peer program such as Bearshare and I download music, are you saying that Wmp 9 will no longer play that music? Thanks.

It still plays MP3s,Divx,Movies and takes a few seconds less to load but other then that nothing big was changed.

Did you guys notice that there is no way to uninstall this program on XP? It seems you have to do a system restore to remove this beta and go back to version 8. That sucks!

I think that Microsoft may be a bit too willing to kiss the *ss of the RIAA and MPAA so that it can become the official big brother for them. The level of control that these organizations want in the digital age is ludicris. And it seems that Microsoft is going to do what ever it takes to make them the official controler of the on/off switch! The heck with the customers and the fair use provision of copyright law!