Submission details
Windows Media Player 12, Functionality, UI and file handling!
We need the "Default Programs" to work like it should.
Under set programs and computer defaults, when you go there to set, persay, Winamp or Zune as the default media player, firstly nothing happens to file type associations, and secondly, the generic media player button on my keyboard sill brings up windows media player..... Sigh
Windows Media Player 12 is a step back from 11 in terms of UI layout. Particularly the now playing screen. Accessing the equalizer is so convoluted now and going from the now playing screen to the library is fairly odd. The button to go to the Now playing screen is at the bottom right of the now playing screen, but to go back to the library, the button is at the top right of the now playing screen. Why the inconsistency.
Also, now to access different features you have to go all over the UI to get to sync now playing, media sharing..... In WMP 11 everything was in those main buttons just over top. and the mini drawers under the main buttons to access the extra features for that particular option was fantastic and easy. Accessing the Equalizer under Now Playing was a snap compared to now.
Also the position of the Now playing window isn't completely independent from the library window which is also odd, because in the event i wanted to have the now playing window crammed into the bottom right of the screen and the library in the upper left, i cant!!!
The navi bar is customizable so thats an improvement for me. The taskbar mini player mode is gone, thou we still have it with the Zune software and the live preview for the player has some navi controls which i like; but this feature was really nice for when you were browsing songs in their folder and double clicking them all the time.
When u double click on a song, WMP12's usual habit is to come to the front and get in ur way. With WMP 11 in taskbar mode, it would just stay on the taskbar and play back whatever you double clicked without popping up and having u to minimize it every time. Saying this is a pain is a gross understatement, and with that i have completely moved to Zune now.... for me to be saying that, u can understand how much i dislike this thing.
Windows Media Player, has some nice feature none the less, but this in no way makes up for the poor UI design and lack of filetype control through the "Default Programs" feature and inability to set another media player as the default so i can use the "Media Player" button on my keyboard to launch another media player other than WMP 12!
Well they could bring back Medial Player 11 but the performance loss would be intollerable. Sigh....
Medium
Medium
Not fixed
Discussion (12 comments)
Changed title from [Windows media plater 12, Functionality, UI and file handling!] to [Windows Media Player 12, Functionality, UI and file handling!].
Thge UI is a huge mess. i miss the black rich UI that was in 11. Also from 9.0-11.0 you could change the color of the media player window. Can't in 12.
Media player is so poorly designed that I can not use it, and a matter of fact I removed it from my system. I hope media player 13 (or 14 given microsoft doesn't like the number 13) will be much better
They should really use the Zune software (eirther call it what its called, or rename it media player, I don't really care)
Well from what ive been hearing, they are gonna do away with the WMP Moniker and the entire multimedia arm of microsoft will fall under the Zune brand, as it has in the Xbox.
Hypothetically if they want to put the focus on Zune they may actually be intentionally crippling the WMP experience to force ppl to switch to Zune as its comparatively better
Quick question.... how did remove WMP12? from the "Turn windows features on and off"
Yep. under "media features"
Sweet
All WMP12 users out there, i suggest you switch to my player, or at least give it a spin... ;P
http://www.elementsoftware.co.uk/erecords
For the record, Media Player 12 isnt all the bad, its just the UI that seems completely broken to me.
I'm not just a complainer i also like to find solutions to problems or at least interim workarounds. You are offering up your player for my dissection, as such i'm going to review it and take it apart in fine detail.
To begin with, I installed it and it wouldn't even start. It said i had to close all apps that could potentially be using SQL ... how the hell am i supposed to know what these are?
So i closed everything... It still wouldn't start
So i already would tell everyone don't bother using this app.
Secondly from the screenshots on the site it looks totally uninspired. You even used the same bars visualisation from WMP.... thats a big nono.
Your player brings nothing new to the table. If anything its a mishmash of WMP 10 & 11. To add to this, the elegance in UI design with both those players is non existent in your app i'm sorry to say.
I am using a clean install of windows to test this app.
Please remove you comment.
veer01 42: Im all for opinion, but giving an opinion on a program that you couldnt get to work on your PC is not an opinion. You cant judge an app just on its screenshots.
Maybe if you gave me some more information I could fix the problem. Its probably to do with Live Messenger running or the SQL service.
Im sure other people would have other opinions, so no, i am not removing my comment, why should I?
Remember, i exited all the apps i had running. Including some background processes and it still didn't run on my freshly reinstalled Windows 7. I even donned it in a virtual machine, still a nogo.
Now concerning my review, i reviewed what i had experience with, the screen shots that were posted on the site which should be the same as the actual player and if so, there should be no problem with me basing my opinion of what the UI looks like based on the screenshots.
Secondly i never commented about functionality because i never got to use it.
And thirdly, i would never recommend a program like this, that would need the user to know which apps were using SQL and then to close them , some of which would probably only be exitable by killing the process in the task manager; and thats hoping the person even knew what the task manager was.
For the average person thats not Latin, thats Martian!
Look, ur making a product, and im a potential user. I gave u all the info i could, it gave an error stating that i need to close all apps using SQL. Now take that info and work it into you program design. I told you in better terms your program looks like crap. Take that info and try a different UI that doesn't look like a rip off of every media player pre WMP 12, but way uglier.
Have you taken a look at the "Blu Twitter Client"? Its built on Microsoft's Windows Presentation Foundation and it is absolutely beautiful. If you can take my comment about the UI being crappy to heart, this may be a good place to start.
Check them out: -
http://www.thirteen23.com/experiences/desktop/blu/
They're even hiring so it may be ur opportunity to get some experience with a company that has experience with the platform.
I'm not trying to be an asshole although thats what i often come across as, not intentionally of course. I live on my computer but i also work with some of the least tech savvy people around and even when i'm with tech savvy ppl, i make them look normal. As such I have a pretty good idea of what will and will not move an app.
And what you have will not sell an app. It isnt even eyecatching so that in a list alongside other Media Players it wont even catch your eye.
Keep at it and if you want more feedback from me, let me know and id be happy to beta test for you and let you know what i think as it goes by.
I am already farmilier with thirteen23, and yes, I have worked with WPF, as I helped contribute to the Witty project.
It is strange how eRecords will not start on your computer, and I will ask the team what issues with SQL may be stopping it from running under certain scernarios.
The rest of your comment I wont even respond to because I cant take people serious when they use the word crap regarding my software.
I really do hate the new GUI for media player...
I find it very difficult to just select all songs and just hit random, as most of the time when I select a song (to start off with) it will only play songs from the same album from then on...
As clunky as the older versions are, I much prefer them.
Comment edited on February 15, 2010, 2:21pm
As with most of you I hate the Media player 12 UI. The only reason I am here is because of the things I cannot do. I am looking for answers to such things as; why when I put rip in new music does the media player not automatically update it? (I had to completely wipe out my library and start from scratch, and yes tried all the obvious fixes). And I cannot change the color of the interface, so I have thie really super bright screen to deal with whereas is ...Media Play 9 and below the UI was black with the green font. That was perfect. Media Player 10 I could at least mess with the colors enough to make it a dark purple. I have looked everywhere to no avail. I tried other media players but had the same problem with updating media, even though I set the folder where my media is located. Thanks for letting me rant.
+1. WMP12 has been severely damaged by Microsoft. See http://xpwasmyidea.blogspot.com/2011/10/feature...-in-windows-media.html
veer01_42 wrote on January 13, 2010, 5:24pm
Changed problem description.