Media Player 11

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I've just (finally) 'upgraded' from Media Player 9 to Media Player 11, and I'm already really angry with it - and it's only been on the computer for an hour!

Does anyone know how to stop the damn thing from monitoring all folders (which it adds to its library)? I don't want it to create a library, I don't want it to monitor any folders at all and I certainly don't want it phoning home! And now I also need to completely trash the library it has created... I can't seem to find the right combination of keys.

I hate it when Microsoft do the thinking for me - they almost always get it wrong...

 

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If you are having the screen filled up with media player as its connected to the site, right click on the site part of media play and split it.

Then go to the settings de-select all the crap like download new channel etc.

Yes I know its a pain in arse, and yes it pisses me off when Microsoft add unnecessary things to media player etc.

 

Yep - I got all that, so I'm OK there - I'm still trying to configure my firewall to allow WMP11 to read web-based media files, without at the same time giving it permission to secretly phone home...

What I wanted to stop it doing was creating the library. I have managed to trash the one it created (without asking my permission) by deleting all the .wmdb files in C:\Documents and Settings\current user\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Media Player.

And I have found some radio buttons that give me the option to have it only search in future in Documents and Settings/My Music, which media player describes as the 'rip folder' (I assume it rips CDs to this location - I don't keep my music there). But it would be useful to stop it creating a library at all.

Why?

I don't like parts of windows spying on me, and I'd prefer it just did what was asked of it rather than all sorts of other stuff I don't want...

 

You can tell it not to do this I am sure I did it, there is some setting that brings up a display like in a tree and you can check them all or uncheck them all then all you have is something that plays music or films.

Thats all I want it to do

 

Tools - Options - Library - Monitor Folders

 

Been there!

In tools>options>library>monitor folders I have two buttons. It will let me select one or the other, but not neither. One button is for 'My personal folders' and the other is for 'my folders and those of others I can access'. There are loads of greyed out folders showing in the white box, which are the ones I have disabled/set to ignore. There is no option to disable/ignore the 'rip folder'.

I don't suppose it matters too much because there is no music in the folder for it to find, but it's a pain that it even tries...

 

Yep - that's exactly what I found as well. No-one stores music in their 'my documents' folder though, do they? It's one of those workarounds that do exactly what you want - but in a roundabout way

 

Goto, Tools, Options, then install Winamp and forget MP11.

 

I'd be very happy to lose it altogether, but sometimes you just have to have it - most people don't seem to worry about all the other stuff it does, and a lot of web based video etc. is wmp.

 

Well, I suppose you could also set the 'Skip files smaller than' section to a really large value, thus causing wmp to ignore all files.

 

The problem with that, is that the largest possible setting for music files to ignore is 9999kb. I have quite a few high-quality files that come out larger than 10MB, so it would still capture them.

Maybe I'm just being paranoid, but the reason I am concerned is because my 'Outpost' firewall says that media player is trying to connect to the internet every time I shut it down, again, without asking me, or advising me that it is going to do so. Why would it want to do that, I wonder?

 

Alot of people swear byt this :-

http://www.videolan.org/vlc/download-windows.html

Seems to support a wide variety of codecs, unfortunately they don't seem to have ironed out all the vista related issues yet but its a good option for XP / 2000.

 

its likely one of the settings in the privacy tab.

 

I've tabbed everything off in the privacy settings and everywhere else where I can see that WMP might need to call out, but it still does it - http: TCP 80 redir.metaservices.microsoft.com.

Apparently, it can't be stopped from WMP, but can be firewall blocked or added to the HOSTS file. I don't like it!

Regarding alternatives, there's also this:

http://www.songbirdnest.com/

I already use Thunderbird and Firefox, so I'm minded to take a look... Has anyone else used this?

 

I've just had to reinstall windows and I've now got a crappy version of Windows Media Player. I was going to upgrade to the newest version, but I think I'll just upgrade to version 10 instead again.

Thanks for the warning!

 

It might not help you - WMP 10, apparently does the same thing. The last version not to phone home was WMP 9...

I think I might need to start again and go back to where I started with WMP 9. The only reason I updated was to solve a problem with 'directshow' that I hadn't been able to fix...

The more I look into this, the more suspicious of microsoft I become...

 

You could try Media Player Classic. It's a paired down version of Media Player that will play almost any file you throw at it.

If you do a search for Real Alternative, or Quicktime Alternative on google it will take you to downloads for either of the above. Both very useful as you can then play Quicktime or Realplayer without having the bloatware versions of both programs on your system. You also get Media Player Classic with both of them.

 

Funnily enough, I got the Real Player Alternative just last week - I was getting fed up with not being able to deal with Real Player files - it works a treat and doesn't invade like Realplayer. I'll have a look at the QT one and Media Player Classic...

 

Shambles

Aren't you being just a little paranoid here?

The URL WMP is trying to 'phone home' to is actually just somewhere to retrieve album info that might not be in the tags for your media files. Whilst I appreciate it's more than a little daft of M$ not to include a feature to completely remove all possibility of WMP connecting to retrieve 'lost' or 'missing' info - should you so desire it - the workaround already posted - one you've already figured out for yourself (point WMP at a directory not used to house your music files) will work perfectly well.

Yes WMP will probably still try to 'phone home' every time it's fired up, but why would you care about this? I'm betting you have Google's cookie installed in your browser - which keeps far more private information about your browsing habits, for a far longer period of time - and their disclaimer is waaaay more sinister than Microsoft's.

Windows media Player is NOT just a media player - it never has been. Microsoft make no bones about this - and never have. They have always seen it as a way not just to play your media files, but also to organise and tag them into a coherent media library (like a replacement for the ever-shitty ITunes) without people having to resort to things like WinAmp or (my personal favourite) FooBar.

You have to understand that M$ appeals to the lowest common denominator, and products like WMP are arguably targetted at the very lowest end of the PC consumer market (people who have absolutelyt no interest in using their PC for anything other than working, and playing music files whilst they're doing so). Not everyon'es mum is like Dilbert's mum - there's a massive swathe of people that just want to use WMP as a jukebox and don't give a monkeys about the inner workings of it.

Personally, I like WMP - but wouldn't ever use it to tag my library. For that I use Tag & Rename - and make sure I keep my own coherent directory structure for all my media files. If you're worried about it 'phoning home' (I HATE that phrase - but can't think of a snappier one!) then uninstall it and use WinAmp, or FooBar or even (hoick... PTUI) ITunes. The aforementioned VLC is an excellent bet for playing WMP files without using WMP.

 

Privacy - use it, or lose it...

I use 'GoogleAnon' to anonymise my google cookie (I used to block it completely, but couldn't set preferences then). All other cookies get zapped every session.

I use peerguardian to block everyone their blocklist will allow.

I have hardware and software firewalls, set to stop everything unless I need to open a route in or out.

I could go on and on, but you get the point!

I might be paranoid, but that doesn't mean they're not trying to get me. I quite like WMP too, probably because I've got used to it. But I could get used to something else just as easily, I suppose...

The thing about WMP phoning home for tags - like you, I have tagging software to do that. And, as I said above, I have hit every tab that says 'don't call home' and it still does it! I don't especially want microsoft to add my media list to their database, whatever it might get used for...