Don't reward Microsoft for hijacking the hardware - down with WinME!

[MadRat]

If you create MP3's then don't expect to move them over to Windows ME-edition. The multimedia player that Microsoft gratiously builds into the OS disables music sources that don't carry their little seal of approval.

Damn it, if I want to play my music on my machine it should be my choice. Screw Windows ME. I'll stick with Windows 98se until a decent X-windows comes out.

 

[Narse]

I have WinME and I must say i am rather disappontied with microsfot
Not near as stable as 98SE

 

[gplracer]

What do you mean? All of my mp3's seem to play fine.

 

[Narse]

My mp3's play fine as well it just seems that ME is not near as stable as 98SE was

 

[MadRat]

Did you make the MP3s or download them?

 

[MWink]

What is wrong with my MP3s??? All of mine work fine. I created some and downloaded others. Also, am I the only one who thinks ME IS stable? It seems a little more stable than 98FE. It is FAR more stable than 98SE. I guess I am just lucky.

 

[HaVoC]

I wish the damn 9x kernels would just die die die...

Then IHVs could concentrate on optimizing for Win2K...then we will have a STABLE HIGH PERFORMANCE Windows OS.

 

[Midnight Rambler]

I think WinME falls in to that category known as "Your mileage may vary ..."

 

[fergiboy]

All of my mp3s work but the os is a little dissapointing, I do like the fast boot up though.

 

[PliotronX]

I'm one of the few others experiencing perfect stability with WinME. Why use MediaPlayer for MP3s? Just use WinAMP and associate the MP3 files with WinAMP

 

[nippyjun]

Me is very good. Just use Winamp if you don't like the media player. I can never understand why people don't like MS products.

 

[wesman2]

ME seems more stable, and it does boot faster. as for the MP3s mine work fine. but Media player doesn't make mp3, it uses the windows media format which sucks. it also has a built in ability to work with your portable mp3 player...scratch that, your portable digital music player (only wma files)...I guess my PMP300 is out of luck.

 

[Kanly]

Whistler seems to be pretty interesting

Whistler Preview

So far, I think WinME is a crapshoot for each person.

Mine's been a lot more stable than 98SE, but others seem to have problems.

 

[brassmonkey7]

All MP3s that you have already or download will play fine in the new mediaplayer, however if you rip a CD into MP3s mediaplayer 7 puts a copywrite to your computer and if you try to transfer the files from your PC to someone elses at that point they won't play, Microsoft's way of kissing the record companies butts

 

[SUOrangeman]

If making CDs with WMP7 (no only available for ME, BTW) is the only issue here, I'm sure it can be easily circumvented (Nero or any other CD burner worth the download?).

I use WinME alot, typically for the occasional gaming session, Napsterizing, or warezing ... so that I can keep my Win2K install pristine. I have had little to no problems with this OS. The only things that don't work are things that I haven't tried or don't want to try.

-SUO, WinME beta tester

 

[blurredvisionx]

DO NOT USE MEDIA PLAYER 7 TO MAKE MP3'S!!! When ripping an MP3 in Media Player 7, Microsoft has made it to where when you rip from their program, it puts a copy protection scheme on it, and you cannot play it on any other computer! So if you are having problems with MP3's that won't play, don't rip them in media player!!

 

[AfterBurn]

WMP7 does not rip CD's to MP3, and MP3 most certainly does not provide in copy protection schemes.

WMP7 rips CD's to WMA format, which does support copy protection. Which incidentally, you can turn off.

Why are some of you guys ranting, when you 'forget' to do your homework right?

-AB-

 

[blurredvisionx]

We rant so guys like you can come along and prove us wrong. Thanks.


Oh yah, a little side note. Media Player 7 will rip mp3's. I've done it myself.

 

[Shudder]

Screw ME!

I set my resolution and colour scheme bad in Windows 9x just so I know how bad it is and I'm forced to reboot to 2k. I used to use it for one burning program, but now that Nero finally got it to work right with my burner, I really absolutely have no reason to reboot to 9x.

 

[HaVoC]

Then for God Sakes, man, DELETE WIN9X

 

[Paladinexe]

Have read that ME is also video maker "friendly". Ala HDTV, etc.

 

[wesman2]

Actually the only reason I've heard that it would be called 'video maker friendly' is that it comes with a video editing software program called windows movie maker. I haven't played around with it yet, but I think Tom's hardware did a winME review and it included a section on using movie maker. (too lazy to find link)

 

[Wingznut]

I think that WinME is an excellent OS. No problems whatsoever, here.

 

[NicColt]

Win ME is just an idiot proof version of 98 for newbies, but there's nothing that ME can do that win98 can't.

 

[CamaroGuy]

Actually, ME can do some stuff that Win98SE can't do. How about System Restore, which I've use once already to save my butt from having to do a reinstall. Or what about FastBoot? No more autoexec.bat and config.sys files to wade through before getting into the GUI. I don't know anything about that music copyright feature since I don't download/upload MP3 formatted entertainment, so I can't rightfully comment on it.

Personally, I've had a great experience so far with ME. My only two complaints about it so far is that I had to start over and do a clean install to get it the TCP/IP stack to work correctly, but that didn't really bother me since I use about 5 programs and 2 games routinely and have hardware that's not too picky about IRQ's and driver versions. Second, ME disables DMA by default, but it's not to hard to click the mouse on the checkbox to fix this. The majority of the people with ME problems are those that tried to upgrade--those who did a fresh install are for the most part, pleased.

I love how some of you people enjoy bashing the Windows 9x/ME kernel and take a pro Windows2K stance when you most likely use your computer at home for games and internet browsing. The only people that have a right to complain about the 9x kernel are those who need SMP support and the increased security that NT/2K offers. The 9x kernel is designed to be a home operating system and works great if you use it in it's intended mode. I have never had a blue screen from 95, 98, ME, etc. just appear out of nowhere anytime in the last five years--it would only occur when I was tweaking drivers and settings. I know some people say that there's memory leaks associated with the 9x line of OSs, but my computer is a home computer and I turn it off everynight when I'm done working/playing. Therefore, I never notice an OS crash after 20-something days of constant uptime.

And then there's those of you who bash ME in favor of Win98SE. I bet you people were the same ones who bashed 98 (the first edition) in favor of sticking with 95-OSR2. MS will release a second edition of ME in the future, and when they do, it will probably win your approvals, just as 98SE did over 98, and OSR2 over 95. Until then, don't upgrade or start new with ME--stick with 98SE. But did it ever occur to you that maybe your hardware is the reason to blame for your OS problems, and not the OS itself? I'm sure that many vendors will soon find the need to release updated drivers to fix some incompatibilities.

To conclude, just because you have a bad experience with a particular OS, that doesn't mean that it should be condemded as the originally post stated ("down with WinME!&quot, because others, like myself, have had plenty of good experiences with the product.

-CamaroGuy