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Gator Lager · Oct 31, 2006, 09:40 AM

wow the original thinking at microsoft sometimes scares me.

http://www.wired.com/news/culture/re...rss.technology

Dakar² · Oct 31, 2006, 09:45 AM

Microsoft even includes a feature that lets you scroll through your music files by album cover -- exactly like iTunes 7.

Uh, since Apple bought a company to do that feature (if its like coverflow) I hope they sue.

Big Mac · Oct 31, 2006, 10:37 AM

Just because Apple bought the company that made the software does not mean that company or Apple has a patent for it.

Dakar² · Oct 31, 2006, 10:40 AM

Mmm... I think my logic here is why would Apple buy it if they couldn't just steal it (a lå Konfabulator)?

zerroeffect · Oct 31, 2006, 11:16 AM

Did MS actually put coverflow into Media Player, or is it just similar enough for comparison?

I'm not sure I see the problem if they aren't directly copying the technology. There are all kinds of crappy knock-offs of every product on the market as it is.

TETENAL · Oct 31, 2006, 11:26 AM

Originally Posted by Dakar�

Mmm... I think my logic here is why would Apple buy it if they couldn't just steal it (a lå Konfabulator)?

Maybe to avoid the bad publicity that this always generates.

Maybe the decision to put this feature into iTunes was made very late and having the code speed it up considerably.

And according to the article the new WMP features the same album view as iTunes, but not the cover flow view.

Dakar² · Oct 31, 2006, 11:27 AM

Originally Posted by TETENAL

Maybe the decision to put this feature into iTunes was made very late and having the code speed it up considerably.

Seems equally plausible.

zerroeffect · Oct 31, 2006, 11:36 AM

Oh, I see. Album view as in the one that looks like flipping through a jukebox. That's different.

Well, this is my last post on the boards, not that anyone cares. I've reached 100 (my goal). Thanks for the memories. I'm off to the real world and (hopefully) higher productivity.

Dakar² · Oct 31, 2006, 11:41 AM

Odd goal, but good luck.

Oisín · Oct 31, 2006, 11:46 AM

Originally Posted by Dakar�

Mmm... I think my logic here is why would Apple buy it if they couldn't just steal it (a lå Konfabulator)?

“A lå”? Any self-respecting Jut knows that it’s “Æ lå”

(I just realised that both æ, ø, and å are easily available on the standard American keyboard layout!)

Dakar² · Oct 31, 2006, 11:48 AM

I meant to do á, but for some reason I did å instead. Text on my screen is so small I can barely see the difference.

Salty · Oct 31, 2006, 12:07 PM

Can anyone say we weren't expecting Windows Media Player to copy iTunes? I mean really how surprising is this. I bet Apple expected it, and I doubt they'll sue MS. Can we say threat to pull out office?

Dakar² · Oct 31, 2006, 12:08 PM

Originally Posted by Salty

Can anyone say we weren't expecting Windows Media Player to copy iTunes? I mean really how surprising is this. I bet Apple expected it, and I doubt they'll sue MS. Can we say threat to pull out office?

They went 5 years seemingly avoiding it. Why the change of heart?

Oisín · Oct 31, 2006, 12:25 PM

Originally Posted by Dakar²

I meant to do á, but for some reason I did å instead. Text on my screen is so small I can barely see the difference.

I take you mean that you meant to do “à la”

Dakar² · Oct 31, 2006, 12:28 PM

Yes. I can take the ribbing since its fancy-ass french I'm forgetting here.

Rumor · Oct 31, 2006, 12:31 PM

Originally Posted by Dakar²

Text on my screen is so small I can barely see the difference.

Have you tried opening your eyes?

Dakar² · Oct 31, 2006, 12:33 PM

Oh please. The symbol might be a half a millimeter wide on my screen at best.

kmkkid · Oct 31, 2006, 01:49 PM

Actually Apple stole the album view from Media Player 11. The Media Player 11 public betas had it long before iTunes 7 was released.

mdc · Oct 31, 2006, 03:43 PM

I was about to say the same thing as kmkkid.

I haven't seen anything in Windows Media Player that resembles coverflow, but it has had the 2nd iTunes view (album covers on the left, songs on the right) since I first used the beta.

When I saw iTunes 7 for the first time I thought to myself that Apple copied the view from Microsoft.
Honestly, I hate that view though. I don't like it in iTunes and I don't like it in WMP.

hey!_Zeus · Oct 31, 2006, 03:57 PM

I like the look of the application better than iTunes metal. Mmmmm black and more dimensional.

But info inside sucks. No separation of information for the eyes to not go cockeyed with.

Dakar² · Oct 31, 2006, 03:59 PM

Well I think my question was answered. Thanks, guys.

Drakino · Oct 31, 2006, 10:42 PM

http://winsupersite.com/reviews/wmp11.asp

Paul's review of it is actually a good read. He is quite honest, stating that many people will use it, but it's very much a lame duck release following in the iTunes 7 release shadow, as well as not quite getting it. I find it really odd for example the Zune won't even sync using WMP11.

It's a nice improvement over its predecessors, albeit with one that continues to ignore Apple's market realities.

- - e r i k - - · Nov 1, 2006, 12:26 AM

What I don't get was all the MS-fanboy comments on that site. It was just disproportionate to how many MS-fanboys I actually imagine exists. Or Computer Stockholm Syndrome Cases as I've taken to call them.

Jawbone54 · Nov 1, 2006, 12:47 AM

Originally Posted by Drakino

http://winsupersite.com/reviews/wmp11.asp

Paul's review of it is actually a good read. He is quite honest, stating that many people will use it, but it's very much a lame duck release following in the iTunes 7 release shadow, as well as not quite getting it. I find it really odd for example the Zune won't even sync using WMP11.

I generally like Paul. He doesn't back off of his criticism, and he's usually pretty fair (IMHO). At times he seems to be only a few steps away from Machood.

Jawbone54 · Nov 1, 2006, 12:50 AM

Paul's conclusions from his WMP 11 Review

While I enjoy the Windows Media Player 11 look and feel, and appreciate the steady evolutionary improvements that Microsoft has made to this product, I feel that the software giant needs to face reality. Windows Media Player 11 lives in a world dominated by Apple's iTunes and iPod, and this product does nothing to embrace either of those de facto standards or offer customers compelling reasons why they should switch. Sure, WMP 11 is better than its predecessor. But its missing numerous necessary features, such as integrated support for podcasts and a decent tag editor. I won't be switching to WMP 11, and recommend that most users simply use iTunes, whether they have an iPod or not. On the other hand, WMP 11, like Internet Explorer (IE) 7 (see my review), is a solid offering and will likely be quite satisfactory for many, many people. If you're currently using an earlier WMP version, or a Windows Media-based portable player, you should upgrade to WMP 11 immediately. It's a nice improvement over its predecessors, albeit with one that continues to ignore Apple's market realities.

voodoo · Nov 1, 2006, 05:34 AM

In this case, whatever MS does is irrelevant. They might just as well release a bit for bit copy of iTunes and it would help their marketshare as much as it would help Apple to change OS X to a carbon copy of Windows.

iTunes isn't even that amazingly good. It is good, but it is still very limitied in many ways and its video integration is crap.

The iPod syncing and iTS aside.. there have been only cosmetic or minor upgrades to iTunes - some of those minor upgrades, were very important, like gapless playback - took Apple many years to implement.

Point being, iTunes isn't that great and MS is yet again failing to understand its success. Making WiMP look more like iTunes is nice and al,l but it is not going to help WiMP gain any marketshare, which is the only thing MS is concerned about.

I think a name change would be more important. WiMP?

V

houstonmacbro · Nov 1, 2006, 07:50 AM

i am amazed, but not surprised. it seems all ms does is copy, burn, and flood the market with cheap imitations of all the good stuff.

after all, look what they did for hotmail. it was good before they took over, and now it is crap.

Nov 3, 2006, 12:02 AM

Originally Posted by kmkkid

Actually Apple stole the album view from Media Player 11. The Media Player 11 public betas had it long before iTunes 7 was released.

Uhm.. no. Apple's album view is Coverflow, which was available as a separate Mac product long before WMP 11 public betas were available. Apple just bought it and integrated it into iTunes.

TETENAL · Nov 3, 2006, 12:06 AM

Originally Posted by hayesk

Uhm.. no. Apple's album view is Coverflow, which was available as a separate Mac product long before WMP 11 public betas were available. Apple just bought it and integrated it into iTunes.

Apple's album view is album view. Coverflow became the coverflow view.

olePigeon · Nov 3, 2006, 12:54 AM

Originally Posted by Dakar²

Mmm... I think my logic here is why would Apple buy it if they couldn't just steal it (a lå Konfabulator)?

I give Konfabulator props for making the idea popular again (and cool looking), but Dashboard is a feature brought over from NeXT.

- - e r i k - - · Nov 3, 2006, 12:56 AM

Nov 4, 2006, 12:27 AM

Originally Posted by TETENAL

Apple's album view is album view. Coverflow became the coverflow view.

Oops, you're right. Apple's Album view reminds me of their RSS feed for iTunes new releases.

kmkkid · Nov 4, 2006, 05:20 PM

Originally Posted by hayesk

Uhm.. no. Apple's album view is Coverflow, which was available as a separate Mac product long before WMP 11 public betas were available. Apple just bought it and integrated it into iTunes.

If you read the thread you'd see that the view in question is not coverflow, but just plain album view.

Again Apple copied MS this time, even if it was the next obvious evolutionary step in music software.