|
Microsoft
is out to win over the hearts of music, picture, and video fans
and with the advent of Windows XP, Windows Media 9, and the new
version of Microsoft Plus – Digital Media Edition they may
well be on their way. If you followed my earlier articles on
Digital Music Distribution, you may remember that I have
not been a big fan of Microsoft Media Player. My preferred format
for digital music is still MP3 but I can’t deny the inroads
that Microsoft has made into the digital media market over the
last few years. The new Windows Media 9 player and codecs do
sound very good, and over the next year or so I think it is possible
that the Microsoft juggernaut may very well put the MP3 format
to pasture. Why? Because they have both integrated their format
into the majority of digital video and music hardware as well
as the fact that they have produced a very robust set of tools
that allow the average music and video aficionados to produce
excellent digital media productions with ease.
What you will need
At a minimum you must be running
one of the multiple variations of Windows XP. You will also need
to download the new Microsoft Media Player 9. From a hardware
perspective, any computer that can run Windows XP can utilize the Windows Media
tool set. Today’s computers all have adequate sound capabilities,
so an add on soundcard like the Turtle Beach Santa Cruz or Creative
Labs Audigy is not a necessity, however to take advantage of
Windows Media 9’s ability to play back multi-channel surround
sound or to fully enjoy DVD playback with Windows Media 9 does
require a sound system capable of playing back 5.1 surround sound.
A good set of speakers or a connection to your home stereo is
also a plus for enhanced stereo music playback.
Overview of Windows Media 9
You can’t really talk about
the new Plus add-on without mentioning some of the new features
available in Windows Media 9. Here’s a link to download
the new Windows Media 9 player:
http://windowsmedia.com/9series/home.asp
See box for what Microsoft has to say about the new feature set:
 Microsoft Plus – Digital Media Edition
You can download this new add-on
for $19.95 directly from the Microsoft site or save yourself
$10.00 or more by purchasing it at any of the typical software
stores or online venues. The Microsoft link is: http://www.microsoft.com/windows/plus/dme/dmehome.asp
What’s included:
- Alarm Clock
- Analog Recorder
- Audio Converter
- CD Label Maker
- Dancer
- Party Mode
- Photo Story
- Sync & Go
Toys for the Kids & College
Dorms
Alarm Clock
If you fall asleep at your computer
and / or if your computer is set up in your bedroom, the Alarm
Clock program may be for you. For the rest of us, it is a cute
little app that will never be used.
Dancer
I have to admit I was intrigued
by how realistic these dancers were. If you want to learn some
new dance steps, or if you just like eye candy, the range of
dancers will provide some fun and ideas. Microsoft has dancers
for everything from Hip-Hop to Ballroom. For most of us, a few
minutes will suffice, but young teens may find these dancers
great for parties. Watch out for drive space however. It will
take over 670 mb’s of storage space to download all of the
available styles.
Party Mode
This tool will allow you to configure
a full screen graphic and combine it with an auto playlist or
playlist you have created. The useful stuff here is the ability
to cross-fade tracks. This feature is what the pro DJ’s
use, lowering the volume of the tune that’s finishing while
increasing the volume of the next tune up. Parents may find a
useful place for this tool if they have a networked audio system
that plays there music library through their home stereo.
Toys for the rest of us
Audio Converter
If you don’t mind using the
WMA file format or if you have a portable device that will only
accept WMA formatted files, this tool is a easy to use way to
get all your files into the WMA format. Windows Media 9 has introduced
a new format – WMA Lossless. This format reduces a CD audio
file to approximately ½ the original size without any
loss of fidelity. Similar to other lossless formats on the market,
such as SHN, this is a great format for preserving audio files.
Unfortunately, I have found no way to utilize it with the Analog
Recorder mentioned below. I see no reason to use this format
on anything other than analog recordings, so you would first
have to use another program such as Cool Edit or AudioSurgeon
(see my earlier Digital Media series for info on these) to make
a wave file, and then use the Audio Converter to cut down the
size of the wave file to approximately 50% of the original.
Analog Recorder
This is a simple to use program
to record LP’s and tapes to the WMA format. It will automatically
set recording levels, and even split LP’s into individual
tracks. If you don’t like messing with settings and just
want a simple way to record analog formats to digital ones it
doesn’t get any easier. The down side however is that you
can only record to the WMA format. Unfortunately, wave and /
or WMA Lossless formats are not available in the program. My
advice, don’t use it. You’ll end up with compressed
files that will never sound as good as the original format.
CD Label Maker
This program is as good as any I’ve
worked with. It only comes with one background image, but it
has a huge collection of label templates to work with. It also
allows you to utilize your own jpg, bmp, or gif image as a background
file.
Photo Story
This program makes Plus worth looking
over. If you have a large collection of digital picture files
and are looking for a way to make slide shows with narrations
and background music that can be played on a PC, look no further.
It is simple to use, and has a great subset of features, the
most exciting of which is a filter that automatically creates
motion in a still image. What happens is each shot is zoomed
in and out creating an illusion of motion that is quite pleasing.
Big thumbs up for this module!
Sync & Go
If you own a Pocket PC this module
alone is worth the cost of Plus. It allows you to download news
and music from the internet while your Pocket PC is connected
to its cradle. You obviously also need to have your PC connected
to the Internet when doing this. I have used this to download
news from MSNBC, NPR, and USA today on a daily basis. You can
then watch the video at your leisure when not connected. When
your business meeting doesn’t start on time, you can while
away the extra minutes catching up on the latest news of the
day, well this mornings news anyway. And if your music library
is in WMA format, you can use Synch & Go to download new
playlists and tunes to your storage media. You will need a media
card for storage (Smart Media, Compact Flash, etc) to save both
the news files and music files. A unintended extra is that you
can also archive the news files to your hard drive. Being a news
junkie, it has been great to save the NBC evening news files
of such events as the tumbling of Saddam’s statue in compressed
WMV format.
Final Thoughts
The big issue I have with the tool
set is they are all Windows Media centric. Alarm Clock, Dancer,
Party Mode, and Photo Story will utilize MP3 files, but the Audio
Converter and Analog Recorder will only render to the Windows
Media format. If you use Windows Media already then the tool
set is excellent. The Photo Story and Sync & Go modules are
enough to justify the $19.95 full price if you have digital photos
and or a Pocket PC. The rest of the tools are mainly for the
novice audiophile and or the teen / college set. For that reason,
the program may be a great choice for a graduation gift for someone
getting ready to hit the college dorms, and /or a young teen
that enjoys learning new dance steps. If you are after a robust
set of audio tools however, stick with the recommendations I
made in my earlier series. MusicMatch, AudioStation, and or Pyro
are much better choices for true audio junkies!
What Microsoft is saying
about MS Plus
- Fast Streaming —get instant-on,
no-interruption streaming for broadband users, effectively eliminating
buffering time when connected to a server running Windows Media
Services 9 Series. For dial-up users, the new player dramatically
improves streaming responsiveness and reliability. (All supported
OS versions)
- Mini-Player & Full Screen Audio
Modes—frees up space on the desktop, making it easy to control
playback of music and video from the taskbar or via full screen
controls. (Windows XP version)
- New audio effects including Crossfading
& Volume Leveling—Crossfading enables you to create
radio-style transitions in your playlists by overlapping song
endings and beginnings. Volume leveling minimizes the volume
difference in playlist items by equalizing the volume. (Windows
XP version)
- Queue-It-Up—instantly add
new music to your current playlist queue with one click. (All
supported OS versions)
- Variable Speed Playback & Media
Link—Control the speed of audio or video without changing
the pitch and tone perfect for quickly getting through a long
video, or for aiding comprehension. Use Media Link to Email links
to your own highlights from streamed news, presentations, home
movies and more. (Variable Speed Playback on Windows XP, and
Media Link on all supported OS versions)
- Info Center View for WMA and MP3
Files—view artist details, ratings, lyrics, related news
and radio stations, and even discover downloads and videos in
the Now Playing window. (Windows XP version)
- Advanced Tag Editor for WMA and
MP3 files—supports over 35 media information tag types,
including pictures, lyrics, mood, comments, and even synchronized
lyrics. (Windows XP version)
- Smart Jukebox Organization—Features
including file and folder monitoring keep your library in sync
across multiple folders, drives, even networked PCs. (Windows
XP version)
- Auto Info—Automatically add
or fix album details such as composer, year, genre, and album
art for your existing WMA and MP3 collection. (Windows XP version)
- Auto Playlists—enables the
creation and editing of smart mixes that automatically update
to reflect new additions or changes to your Media Library. You
can also edit and personalize over a dozen presets or add your
own. (All supported OS versions, creation and editing of Auto
Playlists on Windows XP)
- High performance CD burning—ets
you easily and quickly burn audio CDs with Volume Leveling. Burn
music and video content as data on a CD-R for backup or playback
in Windows Media-compatible DVD players, car stereos and portable
CD players. (Audio CD burning on all OS versions, audio CD burning
with volume leveling and data burning on Windows XP)
- Support for Windows Media™
Audio and Video 9—Windows Media Audio and Video 9 offer
breakthrough audio and video quality at any bitrate, with a 20%
boost in quality compared with Windows Media Audio and Video
8. New audiophile-grade features such as WMA VBR, WMA Professional
(24-bit, 96khz, 5.1+ channel), and WMA Lossless deliver unparalleled
quality and flexibility. (All supported OS versions)
- 5 Types of Plug-ins—For maximum
personalization, a new plug-in model makes it easy to add audio
and video effects, new UI features, rendering formats,skins,
and visualizations to your player. (All supported OS versions)
|
|
