I finally get to listen to my 10 wma files in itunes, about darn time. And no there is not itunes or ipod support for wma right now.
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iTunes 5?
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Sorry, but that's just not true.
The reason MOST bluetooth headsets have only one earphone is because they are specifically designed for hands-free functionality with mobile phones.
Bluetooth's theoretical peak throughput is 721kbps. (http://www.rf-solutions.com/about_standards.htm#short)
An uncompressed CD quality audio file is 1150kbps.
So...to fit a decent quality stream, you have to drop a track and go mono. (Decoding MP3/AAC/WMA/OGG/whatever on the headphones is crazy.)
...also, keep in mind that that's THEORETICAL max speed. If you go more than 5 feet away from the transmitter, you'll probably get skips in the music, or worse.
An uncompressed CD quality audio file is 1150kbps.
So...to fit a decent quality stream, you have to drop a track and go mono. (Decoding MP3/AAC/WMA/OGG/whatever on the headphones is crazy.)
...also, keep in mind that that's THEORETICAL max speed. If you go more than 5 feet away from the transmitter, you'll probably get skips in the music, or worse.
check your facts..
here is a pair from openbrain:
http://www.openbrain.co.kr/e_site/e_products/e_products03.htm
if you read the brochure (PDF) it clearly states that if the headphones are on a conencted-state with the PC, you can listen wirelessly. or, if you are out of range, they act as a stand-alone music player (hence the flash memory)..
I would not discount the possibility that iTunes Music Store for Windows users may be using WMA. Maybe that RIAA doesn't want AAC going around the PC world, since it may be easier to break?
I'd say there's a good 40% chance that iTMS Windows will be WMA. Don't be surprised if it happens.
I'd say there's a good 40% chance that iTMS Windows will be WMA. Don't be surprised if it happens.
I can't believe Apple would ever do this. They're commitment is to open standards and opensource...wma is neither. I could see them having iTunes be able to play wma so pc users can transfer their music collections to iTunes though....that makes sense.
Weapon of Mass Assimilation
Funny how most MP3 players, other then iPod, play WMA. How more then a few DVD players play WMA, How some CD/MP3 players play WMA, how even some car CD decks/changes play WMA. WMA may not be a standard in the pure sense of the word but they are doing a good job at emulating it. The fact of the matter is there are a whole heck of a lot of devices that play WMA. Name me one device other then the Mac and iPod that play AAC? We aren't talking about MP3 because last I heard, other then MP3PRO, there is no way to place DRM on an MP3 and DRM is the ONLY way you are going to get the RIAA to open to online sales. This is really simple. If Apple wants to win the Windows platform they need to support WMA.
PS - Please note that I dont have a single Weapon of Mass Assimilation located on my computer. (Or my fav Windows Monopoly Advancer.) Go to http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com and search for jonathan1 and WMA. Since 2001 Ive rallied against WMA and ANY type of DRM. Esp anything coming from MS. But Ive learned a simple lesson in that time. You cant and wont beat Microsoft in direct completion. Its not going to happen. If Apple wants to win the online music game they have to eat their pride and support WMA. That doesnt mean they cant promote the use of ACC at every turn but it does mean that to get the market share in the online music game they are going to have to buddy up to MS for a while. At least close enough to them to pick their pockets of switchers and iTunes\iTMS converts.
Funny how most MP3 players, other then iPod, play WMA. How more then a few DVD players play WMA, How some CD/MP3 players play WMA, how even some car CD decks/changes play WMA. WMA may not be a standard in the pure sense of the word but they are doing a good job at emulating it. The fact of the matter is there are a whole heck of a lot of devices that play WMA. Name me one device other then the Mac and iPod that play AAC? We aren't talking about MP3 because last I heard, other then MP3PRO, there is no way to place DRM on an MP3 and DRM is the ONLY way you are going to get the RIAA to open to online sales. This is really simple. If Apple wants to win the Windows platform they need to support WMA.
PS - Please note that I dont have a single Weapon of Mass Assimilation located on my computer. (Or my fav Windows Monopoly Advancer.) Go to http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com and search for jonathan1 and WMA. Since 2001 Ive rallied against WMA and ANY type of DRM. Esp anything coming from MS. But Ive learned a simple lesson in that time. You cant and wont beat Microsoft in direct completion. Its not going to happen. If Apple wants to win the online music game they have to eat their pride and support WMA. That doesnt mean they cant promote the use of ACC at every turn but it does mean that to get the market share in the online music game they are going to have to buddy up to MS for a while. At least close enough to them to pick their pockets of switchers and iTunes\iTMS converts.
Doubtful for several reasons. The biggest being that Apple would have to store not one but two copies of the song.
-One for WMA, one for AAC talk about overkill on disk space.
-Second. I doubt apple would go too far in supporting WMA. I have to imagine it takes time to encode, what are they at now?, 300,000 songs. That is a lot of time and manpower and costs involved for supporting MS.
-Third. Let em wait for their music. Make things a bit difficult for the Windows folks by requiring them to convert their music. No free ride for using WMA. If you are going to use it you get to sit there like a trained dog.
The easies and best solution would be to have Apple license the WMA 9 codec and have iTunes for Windows do on the fly recoding of the song. Heck while its recoding the song you could have a little banner that says: Hate to wait for your music? Then try Apple's superior, open source, AAC format. Or something along those lines.
my .02
Just because ACC is the superior format, doesn't mean it's the more widely supported format. If i was a window user, i would stick with the format that more mp3 players support.
Just because ACC is the superior format, doesn't mean it's the more widely supported format. If i was a window user, i would stick with the format that more mp3 players support.
Supporting WMA is different than supporting WMA with MSFT DRM. Quicktime can decode and encode many different codecs. Apple should support WMA, just not WMA DRM. Why? Many PC users already RIP their legally owned CD's using WMA. So support it on both PC's and MACs. Just don't support MSFT DRM. Most WM players do not support WMA with DRM. The DRM takes too much processing power.
From what I know, Apple doubled the processing power of the 3rd generation iPods though the additional power is still going unused. Speculation is that the additional power would support movie decoding in the future. This makes sense. An iPod is a much better deal than a Media Edition PC if it can also record and play Movies. How cool would that be!
And too boot,having an iPod record your photo's on the road, you can take 1000's of photos! How awesome is that!
From what I know, Apple doubled the processing power of the 3rd generation iPods though the additional power is still going unused. Speculation is that the additional power would support movie decoding in the future. This makes sense. An iPod is a much better deal than a Media Edition PC if it can also record and play Movies. How cool would that be!
And too boot,having an iPod record your photo's on the road, you can take 1000's of photos! How awesome is that!
If Apple opened the iPod up to WMA, they would be providing a lot of competition for their own iTunes Music Store. As it stands now, the WMA-only stores don't work on iPods, so iPod owners will go to an MP3 or AAC source-- and i think the store is secondary to the player. The iPod is a huge hit, by NOT adding WMA support, they're doing a good job of keeping people with the iTMS...
I think your arguement is more "everyone should play nice" than "this makes business sense". And MS is the king of not playing nice. You think if it were reversed, MS would be supporting AAC? I think not. They've tried very hard to keep compatability to a minimum.
Bottom line: adding WMA support would cut into Apple's profits in the iTMS. NOT adding it would perhaps make a few people buy other players... but it wouldn't be nearly the loss that Apple would suffer if they abandoned the iTMS.
pnw
makes sence
if your going to make itunes for windows it should support WMA files. im not really a fan of this but im sure windows users have a lot more WMAs then us mac users.
if your going to make itunes for windows it should support WMA files. im not really a fan of this but im sure windows users have a lot more WMAs then us mac users.
This is exactly the way I see it, and why I'd be really surprised if Apple added WMA support to the iPod. I could believe it if they added non-DRM WMA, but I just don't see Apple buying into MS DRM whether it's a good idea or not.
The most likely thing, though, seems like adding non-DRM WMA support to iTunes (on Win, anyway), but not to the iPod.
We'll see, though.
Okay, I in no way think any of this will happen, but as long as we're throwing out lists of ipod possibilities, imagine this.
I present to you...the PowerPod!
With new camera attachment! Take stills and video with up to 40 gigs of storage space! Never be stuck looking for SD cards in a 7-11 in Cleveland again! (Hey, if cell phones can take pictures and video, why not powerpods?) Just plug in the adapter to the dock connector, the screen automatically flips, and you get b/w previews. (We went for decades w/o previews at all, so this isn't totally unthinkable. Well, maybe.)
And combined with Panther's new Home on powerpod feature, all your media is already with you, all of the time! Music, video, pics, all on demand!*
*adapters for video/audio presentation sold separately. Apple is not responsible for artistic talent and/or taste of owner.
Obviously this will not happen, but it *would* be cool, IMO. Plus, we reduce gadgetry by a factor of 2. Now I know some of us like to walk around with holsters for 87 different gadgets, but I really wouldn't mind having an mp3 player that doubles as a digital cam, dv cam, and hey, why not a dvr while we're at it? Plug in the inputs, set to record, and you're off. Can input/output go through the same channel? (not at the same time, obviously, but when set to play at one instance and record at another)
Oh well, just a dream.
I present to you...the PowerPod!
With new camera attachment! Take stills and video with up to 40 gigs of storage space! Never be stuck looking for SD cards in a 7-11 in Cleveland again! (Hey, if cell phones can take pictures and video, why not powerpods?) Just plug in the adapter to the dock connector, the screen automatically flips, and you get b/w previews. (We went for decades w/o previews at all, so this isn't totally unthinkable. Well, maybe.)
And combined with Panther's new Home on powerpod feature, all your media is already with you, all of the time! Music, video, pics, all on demand!*
*adapters for video/audio presentation sold separately. Apple is not responsible for artistic talent and/or taste of owner.
Obviously this will not happen, but it *would* be cool, IMO. Plus, we reduce gadgetry by a factor of 2. Now I know some of us like to walk around with holsters for 87 different gadgets, but I really wouldn't mind having an mp3 player that doubles as a digital cam, dv cam, and hey, why not a dvr while we're at it? Plug in the inputs, set to record, and you're off. Can input/output go through the same channel? (not at the same time, obviously, but when set to play at one instance and record at another)
Oh well, just a dream.
That's streaming files. Not the actual audio you get when you decompress the files to listen to them. Unless the headset has an decoder built into it (and that would really add to the size and decrease the battery life of said headset) I don't see the bluetooth headset being correct.
I would definately purchase the microphone and the MovieDock, but nothing more than that. Those are some pretty sweet ideas!
sorry for double post.
On the serious side, Dark iTMS *should* support WMA for compatibility and continuance of existence issues. It's not like Apple has to sell WMA on Dark iTMS or encode to it. In fact, it could be an opportunity to push AAC.
User: why does this file sound so crappy? oh, it's wma. I should re-encode all my music to AAC so it sounds good like the stuff I bought off iTMS. [/pure conjecture] (i really don't know how good wma sounds, does anyone here know?)
BT earbuds would kickass. I need new ones, so they'd definitely have one pair sold.
On the serious side, Dark iTMS *should* support WMA for compatibility and continuance of existence issues. It's not like Apple has to sell WMA on Dark iTMS or encode to it. In fact, it could be an opportunity to push AAC.
User: why does this file sound so crappy? oh, it's wma. I should re-encode all my music to AAC so it sounds good like the stuff I bought off iTMS. [/pure conjecture] (i really don't know how good wma sounds, does anyone here know?)
BT earbuds would kickass. I need new ones, so they'd definitely have one pair sold.
Well for me when i listen to WMA's words like, "tin-can" and "complete utter s***" come to mind.
Infact i refuse to have any M$ software or M$ related files on my G5. I don't want to soil it with their half-assed software and lame pseudo-standard formats.
I hope we never see WMA supported in any of apples software, doing so only hurts them in the long run. Supporting M$ "standards" only strengthens them, it sends the wrong signal to content developers, that it's OK to use M$ instead of a real cross platform standard format, and before you know it they'll try to force more users to use windows because WM11 requires "advanced" technology in their newest lame attempt to copy Apple's OS.
I wish I could find a source, but I think WMA was submitted as an open standard.
Low bitrate WMA files sound a hell of a lot better to me than other low bitrate files, I'd take a 56kps WMA file over the same size MP3 or AAC anyday. Above that it's a lot different. WMP9 defaults to ripping at 56k WMA files. If you want the Windows market at the lowest common denominator (aka non-savvy users) they need to be able to play the music they already have.
I'm not buying the "AAC is superior" line either, not over MP3 anyway. Let iTMS deliver it's content in AAC, but iTunesWindows should play WMA files on the fly, or it won't fly at all.
Low bitrate WMA files sound a hell of a lot better to me than other low bitrate files, I'd take a 56kps WMA file over the same size MP3 or AAC anyday. Above that it's a lot different. WMP9 defaults to ripping at 56k WMA files. If you want the Windows market at the lowest common denominator (aka non-savvy users) they need to be able to play the music they already have.
I'm not buying the "AAC is superior" line either, not over MP3 anyway. Let iTMS deliver it's content in AAC, but iTunesWindows should play WMA files on the fly, or it won't fly at all.