Windows Media Player 12 Problem

[strugglez]

Hey, I haven't had Windows 7 Long, but over the last past week i have beein oraganising my Itunes library and thouroughly cleaned out and correctly labeled all my music with correct Artist/Album/Album art (Artwork is embedded by the way with a few handy tools i have found).

But, the problem is, I wanted to be able to use Windows Media Player 12 too, cause in my opinion it seems to use less resources and doesn't slow down as much BUT!...
Over atleast 50% of my music is in the Itunes format .m4a... And i seem to be having problems importing them to the library.
I know that WM12 is meant to have Compatibility and i have tested this by renaming a .m4a to the extension mp4. And after doing that it seems to add fine to WM12 Library.

But is there any way around this of not having to rename every m4a i have got with mp4???
And if i do have to resort to doing this, will this affect Itunes by any chance?

Any help would be greatly appreciated! I am sure others have come across this but gave up in frustration. xD

StruggleZ!

 

[Petey7]

If you change the file extension on all m4a files, you might have to add them to your itunes library again. Then you will probably have all those songs removed, then re-added to your ipod by itunes the next time you connect it.

 

[strugglez]

Cool Cool, So Do you think there is any other way around this though? Codecs or something i am missing? I just find it weird that WMP12 Hadn't just implemented m4a Support as well?....

 

[Petey7]

I've never used m4a format songs so I don't really know. A quick google search shows that many people have the same question and everyone agrees that WMP doesn't support the file type at all. m4a is commonly called "Made for Apple" so I guess MS didn't include it for that reason. I'm not even sure about what I said before. It was just a guess based on my experience with itunes in the past. Try doing it to a few songs and see what happens.

 

[strugglez]

Ok, My next question then is, Would there be an easy way to rename all my music files within my Music folder to rename the extension to mp4 from m4a? Through cmd.exe or something, I am no computer whizz or anything but i do know what i am doing with a fair bit of guidance. Cheers for your help btw!

 

[Petey7]

Looks like a program named Extension Renamer is the only way to do multiple files in one go. You have to download and install it, but it will make things a lot easier and might come in handy later too. Here's a guide on using it:
How to Change the File Extension of Multiple Files | eHow.com

 

[strugglez]

Thank you very much,

I think i am incorrect in what i said, I don't think WMP12 actually adds .mp4 to the library like i thought, it adds it to the "other media" category...

I hope Windows come out with an update for this i guess. Anyway, thanks for your time on trying to help me!

Cheers!

 

[Jacee]

Download Shark007's codecs Shark007's FREE Codec solutions - Windows 7 codecs

 

[Shark007]

Download Shark007's codecs Shark007's FREE Codec solutions - Windows 7 codecs

If choosing this solution there are 2 things you need to know about M4A files. 1st thing, on the Help TAB, choose to associate filetypes to the Windows players. 2nd thing, M4A can contain 2 different types of audio, AAC, and ALAC. The itunes files contain ALAC and to play those in the Windows players there is a checkbox on the bottom right of the Audio TAB.

 

[strugglez]

Ooooh, I will give this a shot, can i just ask one more thing if you guys happen to know the answer,
This is quoted also from Sharks Website but i am sure i saw it quoted off others too...

"The Windows 7 Codecs offered here do not change or interfere with the support Microsoft has provided concerning native codec support in Windows Media Player 12 and Media Center"

From my understanding, i thought that is what they implemented,.. So we didn't have to need any other codecs, Heh.


Ok, I have now installed your codecs but it hasn't gotten me alot further, all it has done is made my Default player for .m4a files WMP12.

How do i get it to arrange all my meta data under the library and not under "other Media"
Cause under the "other Media" tab, it is missing the Artist and Album sort by arrangements, and only lists the name of the song alphabeticaly.

Cheers

 

[Capt.Jack Sparrow]

Hello,

Try these seems like it worked for lot of them Playing FLAC files in WMP & Media Center and WMP Tag Support Extender - Home

Hope this helps,
Captain

 

[strugglez]

Nope, unfortunately, i have got 3 different tag support plugins, but none of them seem to do the trick.
I might just give up and let Itunes have it for the win. Heh

 

[Jacee]

What happens if you right click a song in ITunes, and choose open with whatever media player is listed? Be sure to uncheck the box that says "always do this" first.

 

[strugglez]

What you mean? you cannot open a file within itunes to play in another player... Lol
Confusing, All you can do, is play the selected file within itunes....

 

[Jacee]

Oh ... I don't have ITunes. I have Rhapsody music in a folder that I can choose which player to use, so I thought maybe you could do that too with ITunes.

 

[Tim De Baets]

How do i get it to arrange all my meta data under the library and not under "other Media"
Cause under the "other Media" tab, it is missing the Artist and Album sort by arrangements, and only lists the name of the song alphabeticaly.

Are these lossless M4A files, in the Apple Lossless Audio Codec (ALAC) format? WMP 12 has built-in support for MPEG-4, but not for ALAC. The result is that lossless M4A files are added to Other Media instead of Music. The only known workaround so far is changing the files' extension to MP4.

 

[cdbowy]

Was having the same and found a solution to the problem. It is discussed in the attached link. Basically I think that your wmp12 is currupted and needs reseting. Unsure if media sharing causes the corruption. I too use Itunes to rip music yet use wmp to access. I did the following:
1.empty recycle bin (personal safety reasons in case needed to restore)
2. start
3. computer
4. In search tab (top right) type .wmdb
5. Deleted files (had to close homegroup to delete 1 of them)
6. Reopened wmp12
7. Press f3 (i didnt nedd to as wmp automatically started to add folders)

This worked for me and all files were added to wmp library (all my files are m4a). Currently ripping to make sure that they continue to be added to music. If I have an issue i will let you know. Just a point havent reset homegroup yet (too scared) so be wary if my beliefs are right. Hope this helps. A similar way to address the solution is repeated by microsoft moderator in the attached link.

http://social.answers.microsoft.com...ad/2477bbf7-53b2-4a8f-b971-a80424aba69e/ouble

 

[lilmoe]

can't play files

Hi, I cannot play divx or xvid or mpeg's on my wmp 12..I thought we didn't have to install other codecs in order to play these types of files. I have tried everything and nothing solves this issue. I've tried the resolutions microsoft suggested and they didn't work. The codecs are all there, wmp is set to default. I welcome any and all suggestions...thank you.

 

[Fayla]

You should have made your own thread

The range of codecs installed by default range isn't that extensive. I had to install the DIVX suite to get most of my videos working. I Still have to get around to finding a decent OGM codec lol

So you did end up downloading codecs? Was it a codec pack or various individual codecs?

On my first install of Win 7 I added a single MKV codec and had to do something to register it in WMP, but even then it didn't work 100% right. This is my second install of Win 7 and it seems that after installing the DIVX suite-- it all automatically installed and registered correctly, no WMP issues.

Long story short, you may have downloaded codecs or a codec pack but they may be registered in a way that WMP does not pick up on them.

Hi, I cannot play divx or xvid or mpeg's on my wmp 12..I thought we didn't have to install other codecs in order to play these types of files. I have tried everything and nothing solves this issue. I've tried the resolutions microsoft suggested and they didn't work. The codecs are all there, wmp is set to default. I welcome any and all suggestions...thank you.

 

[lilmoe]

wmp 12 problems

I'm sorry, I didn't know that I should have started my own thread, I am new to this forum.

I did have divx codecs installed and then I removed them because wmp 12 is supposed to play divx, xvid and many other types of files. If they are registered in such a way, then I suppose I have to reinstall the divx codecs, which I didn't want to do. Any other suggestions? Thank you for any help.