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Windows Media Player is safe - for now

By Mack Male | June 22, 2007 at 11:01 pm

One of the tech industry blogs that I consider to be a “must read” is Mashable. Not only do they offer a ton of very timely news, they have some great analysis too, which generally leads to healthy discussion. The latest such post is entitled No Download Required: 30+ Apps That Are Killing Microsoft. Inside, author Ben Gold details new online competitors for Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and even Windows itself.

Notably absent from the list of applications is Windows Media Player.

Perhaps this is because it is more difficult to make an online media playing application than an online word processor. Or, perhaps it is because Windows Media Player is a pretty decent application. I have some issues with version 11, but generally speaking, it’s a solid piece of software.

WMP is fast, has pretty good codec support, and handles large libraries of media very well. It integrates with a number of online stores, and synchronizes with mobile devices superbly. Ripping and burning CDs is also a pretty good experience inside WMP.

And yet it could be so much more! If I were Microsoft, I’d treat the Mashable post as a call to action for the WMP team. Take WMP to the next level by extending it to the web before the competition beats you to it! Here’s an example of what I mean: make a Facebook application and WMP plugin that displays what I’m listening to on my profile page, just like the plugin for Windows Live Messenger. Or revamp the wmplugins.com site and integrate it into the application itself.

And please, please do something about the lack of podcasting support. That should be priority #1!


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Topics: Windows Media Player |

2 Responses to “Windows Media Player is safe - for now”

  1. Ben Gold Says:
    June 23rd, 2007 at 12:05 am

    Actually, no The reason I left out a Media Player is because there really is no online media player. Such player would require you to upload a file in order to play it. Also I’m a mac user and haven’t used windows media player in years.

  2. Mack Male Says:
    June 25th, 2007 at 12:38 pm

    That’s what I meant about it being more difficult to build an online media player. Perhaps I should have said it’s not realistic.

    Thought that might not hold true forever - there are lots and lots of music sharing sites popping up.

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